If you read my first journal-style blog “Messy Health” , you’d know that I’m on a bit of a quest to start eating a little healthier and be more conscious of what I’m buying, spending, and throwing out. This was my first week doing this and I have to say, knowing what I’m going to make during a week really alleviates some stress. Many of us have had definitely had this conversation: “What do you want for dinner tonight?”, “I don’t know, what do you feel like?” “It doesn’t matter, whatever you feel like”. EVERY time we have this conversation I get a video clip running in my head of the vultures from The Jungle Book. Then we end up getting frustrated and making something not-so-good for us because now we’re out of time because we deliberated too long. Also, we’ve gotten into a recipe “rut”, rotating through the same 10 meals each week. So I’m also trying out several new recipes. Now I didn’t make a commitment per day, just 5 days worth of meals. I gathered my recipes, worked out the ingredients I already had on hand and made a list of the ones we needed. In all, I spent $110 on meals (breakfast and lunch included) for a family of four, our kids are 12 and 14. So without further adieu. Here is how last weeks’ meals turned out complete with recipes and reviews Monday
1 egg soft poached ½ cup sharp cheddar ¼ cup diced cucumber ¼ cup halved grape tomatoes 1 green onion sliced 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro 1 Tbsp salsa 1 slice of bread butter Sprinkle each of garlic powder and dried parsley Put poached egg in half an avocado and sprinkle with ½ of sharp cheese. On cookie sheet, bake at 450 for 5 minutes. Transfer to serving plate. Top with cucumber, tomato, cilantro, green onions 1 tbsp of salsa and a little more cheese. Butter one side of bread. Sprinkle with garlic powder and dried parsley. Broil until start to brown, about 5 minutes. Lunch - ½ Tuna Salad I love tuna salad especially when it’s mixed “salad style with crunchy veggies. 1 can tuna 1 Tbsp real mayonnaise ½ cup shredded lettuce 8 halved grape tomatoes 1 Tbsp minced onion Pepper to taste Mix and enjoy half Dinner - Chicken Quesadillas Nice easy dinner packed full of flavour. 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 1 pkg Taco Seasoning 2 cups shredded Monteray Jack/Marble/Mozzarella cheese 4 10” Tortillas Toppings I used: Avocado, chopped tomatoe, lettuce, salsa, ranch dressing, cilantro Cut chicken into strips. Pan fry in batches with a little oil until cooked through. Return chicken to pan, add taco seasoning and 1 cup of water. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until liquid is evaporated. In a seperate pan large enough to accommodate ½ a tortilla shell, over medium heat, add 2 tsp butter. When melted, lay tortilla in pan. Add enough chicken to almost cover ½ the wrap. Sprinkle ½ cup of cheese over chicken. Fold tortilla over chicken and cheese. Flip when first side is lightly browned. Remove from pan and top with your favourite toppings or eat plain dipped in your favourite dip eg: ranch dressing, salsa & sour cream. NOTE: You will have leftover chicken. I used it for my kids lunches in wraps and salads. ANOTHER NOTE: My DH & Kiddos ate the whole thing with a side salad. I ate ½ my quesadillas with topping piled on top and saved the other half for a quick lunch later. TuesdayStir fry spinach, tomatoes, garlic & onion until spinach is wilted. Set aside. Whisk milk into egg. Pour egg into buttered fry pan over medium heat. Cover and cook until egg is set. Pour spinach mixture down the center of egg. Sprinkle ½ of feta over spinach. Fold both sides of egg over spinach. Transfer to plate. Top with avocado and remaining feta. Serve with slice of toast. I used dark rye. Lunch - Soup I used Lipton Chicken Noodle Reduced Salt. Added some of the leftover chicken and a handful of baby spinach. I ate ½ and saved the rest for another lunch. Dinner - Sausage & Bean Stew - (link) I got this recipe out of the Food Network’s Magazine. It was easy to follow and turned out a hearty stew full of flavour. There is NO shortage of meat in this one. I used venison sausage. One thing I did different was cook the sausage in the oven on a broiler pan to reduce fat (not that venison is fatty but the pork it’s mixed with is ;) ). Other than that followed the recipe exactly. I did have one issue during the cooking of the vegetables. I ran out of liquid before they were done. It was easily remedied by adding some water here and there and didn’t affect the stew.
WednesdayBreakfast - Egg Salad on Toast 1 hard boiled egg mashed 1 Tbsp real mayonaisse 1 sliced green onion 2 romaine lettuce leaves chopped 1 slice toast Mix egg, mayonaisse and onion. Put romaine on toast. Pour egg salad on top and enjoy! Lunch - Leftover Soup & Quesadillas I reheated the other ½ of soup made on Tuesday and the other ½ of quesadilla from Monday and dipped it in Ranch Dressing. Dinner - Super Stuffed Potatoes with Cucumber Tomato Avocado Chickpea Salad
probably add some pepper, garlic and parsley to the potatoe mixture and reduce the milk. Overall a very simple weeknight meal with great potential. I omitted the bacon on ⅓ of these for my DS as he doesn’t like bacon….that’s right, DOESN’T LIKE BACON :O and he said they were yummy!
vegetables! Half of my family (my picky pants DH and DD) didn’t like this but my DS and I did! The dressing doesn’t overpower the veggies but lets itself be known. Definitely will become a regular for me. I halved the recipe and only used red grape tomatoes.
Cream butter and sugar, then stir in bananas. In a separate bowl stir together dry ingredients. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Pour mixture into buttered and floured loaf pan Bake at 375 F for 50 -60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let pan rest on wire rack until pan is cool enough to handle Remove loaf from pan and finish cooling on wire rack Thursday Another one out of this month’s Food Network magazine. I really wanted to like this one. From the ingredient list to the way it smelled cooking I kept thinking “Oh my goodness this is like Chicken Pot Pie without the Pie part!”, it wasn’t. I found the chicken mixture sort of bland and really didn’t taste all that good. Bland. I tried adding salt to my serving to no avail. However, the star of this dish wash the Kale Mash. I will definitely be making this as a side dish in the future. It was really tasty! FridayBreakfast - Spinach & Feta Omelette (see above) Lunch - Leftover Chicken Shepherd’s Pie with Leftover Tomato Avocado Salad. Although I didn’t enjoy the Pie, I refuse to throw out food unless it’s gone bad. Dinner - same as lunch (see reason in lunch ha!) So that was my week of meals! All in all, only one recipe won't be made again, well maybe part of it. I didn't have a day where I felt hungry. I kept my portion sizes small by using a side plate and loading up on salad first (if it was applicable). let me know if you you've made these and how they turned out!Yours Happily,
M.Messina
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AuthorI am a working mother and "wife" trying to make it by with a smile on my face! What you'll find here are my thoughts, dreams, and general musings as I explore this journey. "Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better." Archives
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