Week 9– Pinterest “Recipes to Try”

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

My magazine inspired week inspired me to tackle my Pinterest “Recipes to Try” board – it was getting a bit out of control with almost 80 pins!  I’d like to say it’s smaller now but I think I went a little pin crazy this week and pinned more recipes than I tried.  I did find some new favorites though!

Recipe Quick Links:
Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup, Healthy Seasonal Recipes
Salmon Cakes, Healthful Pursuit
Brussels sprouts, beet and pomegranate salad, Chatelaine
Honey Lime Chicken Skewers, Kitchen Meets Girl
Chickpea Burgers, Marin Mama Cooks
Kale Salad, Marin Mama Cooks
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken, 5 Dinners 1 Hour
Loaded Baked Potatoes, Easy Cookbook Recipes
Chocolate Cookies, The Spunky Coconut
Pop Tarts, 100 Days of Real Food
Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers, Weelicious


Monday – Lunch was leftover Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup from Sunday night.  I picked this recipe on Sunday because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.  I’ve mentioned before that we’re not big soup people but this one is a winner – so tasty!  Officially moved to my ‘Favorites’ board.  Supper was Salmon Cakes with Brussel Sprout, Beet and Pomegranate salad, both of which were… ok.  I didn’t have a pomegranate so I added a little Pom Wonderful juice to the salad dressing instead.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the dressing and think the salad would have been better if the beets & brussel sprouts had been roasted perhaps – just a little something to bring out a bit more flavor. For something so packed with ingredients I found it somewhat bland. Dave did like it though and he’s not typically a fan of brussel sprouts. I on the other hand LOVE brussel sprouts! I could steam a bowl and make a meal out of them.


Tuesday – If you’ve been following me you’re no stranger to the quinoa salad we had for lunch – have made something similar a few times already this year. I made this version on the weekend and liked it so much I made it again. Really like the addition of the kale and I used the greek dressing from Week 4.  Supper was Honey Lime Chicken, rice and some raw veggies to give our plates some color. The chicken was good, the marinade is full of flavor… I will say however that this is a grill recipe and would likely be much better cooked on the BBQ as opposed to using the Foreman as I did.  But I will definitely pull this one out come BBQ season! This would be a great marinade to add to chicken to toss in the freezer for an easy summer supper.  After supper for a treat I used up the almond pulp from the latest batch of almond milk to make these chocolate cookies. I made these a couple of weeks ago adding a little whole wheat flour – they were good but not great. This week I added a little coconut flour and coconut (as suggested by my sister who I now have hooked on homemade almond milk!) and they were really good!! I set aside half the batch to eat and half to make ice cream sandwiches… we ate those Wednesday night. OMG – so good! So now that I have a healthier cookie for my ice-cream sandwiches I have to find a healthier filling (currently using Dream Whip). Guess I’ll have to make more almond milk so I can continue experimenting!   

Wednesday – Lunch was tuna salad, veggies with dip and crackers. This is what I call “munchy lunch”. It’s nothing special but easy to throw together and always good.  But let’s not talk about lunch – supper was most definitely the highlight! A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this blog called Marin Mama Cooks. Of course, being “Marin’s Mama” I had to check it out and before I knew it I had spent an entire lunch break browsing this gorgeous site.  Her recipes all look delicious and are also super easy to follow because she documents each step with beautiful photography.  I tried the Chickpea Burgers and Kale Salad – both really good!  I knew I couldn’t even come close to doing this meal justice so I asked her permission to use this photo...  
Photo by Jacquelyn Grandy @ MarinMamaCooks   

Ingredients for this meal included chickpeas, cilantro, avocado, tzatziki…. seriously if I personalized the song ‘These are a Few of my Favorite Things’ these would all be in my list so it was no surprise I enjoyed it so much.  The kale salad is something I can see making quite often. Here’s a funny kale story – I’ve been trying to find kale for weeks, Marin has even been making special requests for green chippies.  Last week while at the grocery store I could see the kale from a distance and I said ‘Marin, guess what??? I see KALE!’ and we both literally cheered! We made green chippies as a snack last weekend.  As she was eating this salad she was saying ‘mmm….I love kale!’  I just love that I have a 4 year old who knows what kale is! So definitely try this meal and definitely check out Marin Mama Cooks… just make sure you have a good chunk of time before you do!  

Thursday – Dave didn’t need lunch so I got to enjoy the leftover chickpea burgers and kale salad!! The only thing better than leftovers for lunch is leftovers that I know are so darn yummy!  I think I actually ate early because the lemony goodness of the salad was calling my name and it was in fact better on day two.  But unfortunately supper, Honey Sesame Chicken, was a big disappointment.  And I was really looking forward to trying this one.  In fact I had it pinned twice I wanted to try it so bad!  I have to say though I don’t think it was through any fault of the recipe, it was just that 9 hours was far too long and the sauce burned. I’m keeping this one on my Recipes to Try board so that I can give it another shot and it might be time to invest in a slow-cooker with a timer so that I’m not limited to 8-10 hour recipes.   

Friday -- The plan shows leftover honey chicken but since ours was pretty much burned to a crisp that didn’t happen. We just ended up having hard-boiled eggs, veggies and dip and some whole wheat cheese crackers. The recipe refers to these as a homemade version of Goldfish crackers. I find them nothing like Goldfish but in fact much prefer them. Just 4 ingredients and if you have the right tools they are a cinch to make! 




Supper was inspired by this recipe for Loaded Baked Potatoes.  In reality I went a bit more ‘potato skins’ with this meal… I microwaved a couple of potatoes and cut them into rounds, brushed them with bacon fat and baked them until crispy.  Then I topped them with cheese and bacon, served with sour cream.  Not the healthiest meal we ate this week but pretty darn good just the same!

 



Sneak peek for next week - Winter Favorites!

Happy meal planning everyone!