Week 32 - Easy Eats and Local Treats

Printable Version of Meal Plan

Last Saturday we took the ferry to Halifax for brunch at Stayner's Wharf (nice patio, great food!) and as we were passing through the Alderney Farmers Market we picked up much of the produce we used this week (including kale, zucchini, tomatoes and carrots).  On Sunday we fit in our annual trip to Between the Bushes, a blueberry u-pick in Canning, NS and on the way home popped into Tangled Garden for a jar of Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly.  It all resulted in some pretty good eats this week.  Have I mentioned how much I love summer in Nova Scotia?!

I'm sticking to the same format I used last week... thought is was more to the point and I feel I have a lot to say about the food this week so "to the point" is probably a good thing!



Let's talk about the food...

First - Snacks!  Tuesday evening was cool here so I took advantage and got baking.  I put my fresh blueberries to good use in these Blueberry Spelt Muffins (recipe from The Athlete's Plate).  This was my first time using spelt flour and I was really impressed with the outcome.  They came out perfectly moist and not too sweet. 

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers (recipe from Weelicious).  Haven't made these in awhile and we were all a tad excited when they came out of the oven!

Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers

Toast w/ Butter, Maple Syrup and Blueberries - I don't usually talk about breakfast (well except for hounding you to try Overnight Oats!) but this is one of my summer favorites so I had to mention it.  I'm a toast girl... prior to this year I probably had toast, with either peanut butter or jam and cheese, nine mornings out of ten.  But come summer when I have fresh blueberries and in-season juicy peaches I like to switch it up.  Toast, butter, blueberries or sliced peaches and optionally a drizzle of maple syrup.  mmm. mmm. mmm.

Cheese and TVP Quesadillas - Quesadillas are a go-to packable lunch that I've mentioned before but this time I opted to add a little TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) which is a bit different for me.  I rehydrated the TVP and then browned it with Mexican Spice Blend, using it as you would ground beef.  This is really the only way I've ever used TVP - as a ground beef substitute in quesadillas or nachos.  Just can't seem to get on board with it.  What am I missing?

Grilled Pesto Salmon Packets w/ Roasted Potatoes and Kale Chips - So I totally enjoyed this meal.  I had made the pesto the night before - first time ever, but now I know how ridiculously easy it is so it probably won't be the last!  In fact this whole meal was ridiculously easy and required almost no cleanup.  Bonus!  I coated the inside of each piece of foil with olive oil and then layered carrots, peppers, cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas.  On top of the veggies I placed a piece of salmon (boneless skinless) and topped that with a spoonful of pesto and a squeeze of lemon juice.  In a separate foil pack I had mini potatoes halved and coated with olive oil, salt and pepper.  While all that was grilling I made a batch of Kale Chips (recipe from 100 Days of Real Food).  It had been a long time since we had a batch of 'green chippies' and Marin devoured them.  Dave liked supper but wasn't as enthusiastic as I was... I don't know, maybe it was just that cleanup only required putting our plates in the dishwasher and throwing away the foil, but I thought this meal was pretty awesome.

Quinoa Feta Patties and Kale Salad - I was loving this lunch too!  I like to turn pretty much anything into a patty these days.  Remember I did whole week themed Patty Cake??!!  I'm at the point that I rarely follow a recipe - just use whatever grain, legume, ground meat or fish I have on hand... throw in a couple of eggs, spices, cheese, breadcrumbs and then shape them into patties and fry them up.  This week was Quinoa with Oregano and Feta and they were delicious.  If you want to follow a recipe I've linked one from Marin Mama Cooks and while you're there you can also grab the recipe for Kale Salad... which I'm pretty sure I'm now addicted to.

Pork Chops with Roasted Vegetables - Another easy one.  Preheat the oven to 425.  Put the pork chops in one baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Chop a variety of veggies (I used sweet potato, carrots, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper in a second baking dish.  Bake until done... I find the veggies will take longer so get them started first.  But what took this meal from 'ok' to 'wow!' was my Tangled Garden Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly.  I spread a little on the chops for the last few minutes of cooking and then had another little spoonful for dipping.  I could actually skip the chops and the veggies and just have the jelly.

Ravioli with Cherry Tomatoes -  Again, easy peasy!  I picked up some fresh Spinach and Cheese Ravioli at Costco which takes no time to cook.  While the water was boiling I heated some olive oil in frying pan, added some minced garlic and cherry tomatoes and tossed them around until the tomatoes started to burst.  I added the cooked, drained pasta to the pan to coat it with the tomatoes and oil and that's it!  I wasn't sure if it would dry out or reheat well for lunch but it was fine!

Summer Squash Strata -- This was another meal that I was enthusiastic about but Dave and Marin not so much.  Dave liked it but felt it was more of a breakfast dish... fair enough.   I made some substitutions... 

• Grape Tomatoes instead of Beefsteak Tomatoes
• English Muffins instead of French Bread
• Dried Thyme instead of Fresh
• Old Cheddar instead of White Cheddar

Summer Squash Strata

Plum and Oregano Chicken Kababs, with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots - Dave was happy to fire up the grill again.  I actually used boneless skinless chicken breasts and had read a review that said the plums got overcooked and mushy on the skewers so I just placed the chicken and plums on the grill separately.  I did the potatoes and carrots in separate foil packs.  This chicken was super easy and nothing fancy but turned out really good.  We could have skipped the plums but overall this meal was a hit.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese - My niece Bailey is the "Gourmet Grilled Cheese Queen".... no Kraft Singles for that girl!  I think she'd approve of the Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly with Old Cheddar combination.  However, Dave had a hankering for nachos so we had nachos tonight and I'm saving the grilled cheese for Sunday night.  We're off for a weekend getaway with friends so an easy supper on Sunday will be perfect!

Happy Weekend Everyone!  Hope you're all getting out to enjoy some of your own local flavors!

Sandra

Week 27 - Quick and Easy Summer Eats!

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

We were at the cottage on the weekend and Monday was a holiday so no groceries until Tuesday this week.  On the drive back I jotted down some ideas to get us through until I could get to the grocery store and since I was shopping mid-week it turned into a small order.  I took the opportunity to refresh a few of our staples.

Recipe Quick Links

Tex Mex Rice Cakes, Weelicious
Southwestern Beans on Toast, Chatelaine
Tex-Mex Salad, Chatelaine
Raspberry Vinaigrette, What's that Smell?
One Pot Pasta, Marin Mama Cooks

Week in Review

Tuesday

Lunch - Tex Mex Rice Quinoa Cakes. I was limited by what we had on hand so I made up the Weelicious Rice Cakes using Quinoa instead of rice.  Not bad.  These "cakes" are becoming a go-to lunch.  The recipe is easily modifiable to suit your mood and/or what you have on hand.

Supper - Southwestern Beans on Toast with Tex Mex Salad.  This was a really quick week night meal that I enjoyed A LOT!  I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I just heated the beans in a frying pan with a little oil and the spices.  They were a tad on the dry side so I think next time I'll boil them as suggested.  But I actually just ended up mixing them in with the salad (which was totally yum!) and then had the cheese bread on the side.  Marin is not a big bread eater but ended up eating her cheesy bread first and noted how much she loved it.  Kid thumbs up!

Southwestern Beans on Toast with Tex Mex Salad

Wednesday

Lunch - Beet, Chickpea and Feta Salad.  I meant to make the salad that I'm linking here but I forgot to "Pin" it so when I went to get lunches ready I couldn't find it.  So I actually made a slightly different version which I also forgot to "Pin" and now I can't find that one!  GAH!  Anyhoo... the beet, chickpea and feta combo made for a tasty salad and there's lot of recipes out there with slightly different dressings so take a look and pick one that speaks to you or uses ingredients you have on hand.  I used canned beets and chickpeas making this a really easy meal to put together on a hot summer night!

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Supper - Deli Chicken and Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette.  Deli chicken makes for a super easy supper.  You can make your own in the slow-cooker or pick one up at the grocery store.  I do love the slow-cooker version but sometimes you just can't beat convenience!  The salad was spinach, fruit (blueberries and peaches) and walnuts with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.  I'm really loving making my own dips and dressings... most of them take little effort but taste so much better than bottled.  And they're typically healthier too.  Plus from an economical point of view most of the dips/dressings I've been making use common ingredients and I no longer have a fridge full of expired bottles that have barely been touched.    Tastier, healthier, cheaper... Win, win, win!  Don't know why it took me so long to make this transition.

Thursday

Lunch - Pesto Chicken Pita Pizza.  I left this on the menu but we actually had enough leftover chickpea salad that I just chopped up the rest of the chicken to have on the side.

Supper - One Pot Pasta.  I first noticed this on Marin Mama's Cooks blog and have seen it around Pinterest a lot too.  I was intrigued and had to try it.  The verdict... pretty darn good!  It couldn't be any easier to make yet I felt like I was eating at an Italian restaurant.  Do make sure you read through Jackie's post though because I think I would have been concerned about the extra water and likely would have overcooked it had I not been properly warned.  We had it with cheesy garlic bread (slice of French bread spread with butter, a sprinkle of garlic powder, shredded mozza and broiled until the cheese bubbles and bread browns on the edges).  The only downside was that it was a really warm night and we ate it warm so weren't exactly beating the heat with this one.  So although I'd highly recommend trying it and it is a perfect no-fuss summer meal, save it for a night that's not too hot or let it cool... I nibbled Marin's leftovers and found it even more flavorful when it was cooled down.  Also a note about making this for kids... Marin liked it but I went easy on the red pepper flakes.  I'd say either go easy on them or add them at the end after you've scooped out the kids servings.

One Pot Pasta

Friday

Lunch - Date Lunch!  It was so nice out Dave and I decided to save the leftovers for the weekend so we could meet up on patio.  Lobster Poutine at Cut Grill... yum!!!  And for the record I didn't have Poutine last friday after all so I'm not actually OD'ing the stuff.

Supper - Cheese Platter. I left this night open when I planned the week so that we could do whatever pleased us.  That's how I like to roll in the summer.  I'm planning to pop back into the grocery store for some Brie and we're going to clean up on some of the odds and ends and have a no-cook supper of cheese, fruit, nuts and bread.  I think I'll make us some fancy drinks too and have an al fresco night!  I love summer!!


That wraps up week 27... can't believe I'm past the half way mark of my 52 week goal!  Thanks for following and welcome to all the new followers over the past few weeks!

Sandra

Week 23 - "Pin"spiration

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

We had another busy weekend so I decided to not bog myself down with a theme.  I got up super early on Sunday morning, made a coffee and did a one-stop shop visit to Pinterest to throw together a quick meal plan and grocery list for the week.   I threw in a few stand-by’s too.  Sometimes you just need to not over think things!

Recipe Quick Links

Chinese Chicken Salad, Weelicious
Tex-Mex Rice Cakes, Weelicious
Grilled Portobello Burger, 52 Weeks of Meal Planning
Kale Salad, Marin Mama Cooks
Grilled Romain Hearts, Key Ingredient
Crispy Sweet Potato Fries, Foodvee
Overnight Oats, The Yummy Life

Snack spotlight - Fig Bars

You might have noticed these in my snack list recently.  I found these treats at Costco last month and we're on our second huge box.  They're certified Non-GMO which is great... but mostly they are just really, really tasty!  And convenient.  If you like Fig Newtons, you'll LOVE these!


Nature's Bakery Fig Bars



Week in Review

Monday

Lunch – Chinese Chicken Shrimp Salad.  I didn’t think I was going to rant and rave about this one but I have to say the dressing for this recipe is awesome.  I’m a huge fan of salad dressings, I used to have a fridge full of them.  The problem was I could never go through a whole bottle so I was forever throwing them out.  So stumbling upon this Asian Sesame dressing was a big deal for me… and it uses ingredients I always have on hand.  I was actually all chickened out from the weekend so I substituted shrimp for the chicken which worked well and I used coleslaw mix to save some prep time.

Supper – Goat Cheese Portobello Burger.  This is one of my own recipes, something I came up with trying to use up odds and ends in the fridge one night.  The last time I made it (Week 5) I used the indoor grill, this time I roasted the vegetables in the oven because it was raining out.  Always good but highly recommend grilling the veggies on the barbecue – it just adds a little something extra. 

Tuesday

Lunch – Chinese Chicken Shrimp Salad.   Dave didn’t need lunch so I used up Monday’s leftovers.  I added some cashews this time and enjoyed the extra crunch.

Supper – Salt Cod Fish Cakes & Asparagus.  I prepped these the night before so when I got home I just had to fry them up a bit.  We make a very basic fish cake – I boil the cod with fresh water at least twice, drain and mix that with mashed potatoes, an egg and minced onion.   They were pretty wet so I think refrigerating them overnight ending up being a good thing.  Just before frying I coated them with breadcrumbs to give them a little crunch.  We had simple asparagus on the side.  I just cooked the asparagus in a frying pan with a small amount of oil until they were done but still crisp.  I crumbled some feta on top, pepper and a squeeze of lemon over the whole plate.  Totally enjoyed!

Wednesday

Lunch – Tex-Mex Rice Cakes.  This is a super easy recipe and I really enjoyed them.  This is a good basic recipe that you could easily customise with different veggies, cheese and spices.  Next time I think I would add a little Mexican Spice Blend for some added kick and perhaps even some black beans.  I do think these would be best eaten fresh out of the pan instead of reheated the next day, but still a satisfying lunch.  They'd make an excellent toddler food as well!

Tex-Mex Rice Cakes

Supper – Marin & Mommy night out.  Dave unexpectedly had to go out of town this week so I pushed the Lasagna I had planned to Friday and I took the night off.  Marin and I headed up to Cafe Brea, a new cafe that opened in our neighborhood that I've been wanting to try.  It's not really a supper place so it was nice and quiet and perfect for a date with my little monkey... kind of felt like we were girlfriends, going out for coffee.  We had some healthy stuff but made sure to save lots of room for treats!  Afterwards we headed to a local kids book & toy store - Marin thought it was the best store EVER!



Marin at Cafe Brea



This is what Marin thought of our date... or maybe it was the cupcake.



Thursday

Lunch -- Leftover Fishcakes and Kale Salad.  There was just enough leftovers from the fishcakes for one, so I held off on them until today when Dave was going to be out of town.  I had them with a side of kale salad which was perfect.  This salad is so simple yet so packed with flavor - love it!

Supper -- Grilled Chicken & Romaine with Sweet Potato Fries.  OK, I had to try it but I'm going to admit, I just don't get 'grilled lettuce'.  The Caesar dressing was good but I don't like my lettuce warm.  Maybe I did something wrong, maybe my lettuce wasn't crisp enough to start... I don't know.  But I doubt I'll try it again.  I also had high hopes for the fries but they didn't really turn out either.  I think I didn't add enough oil.  sigh... such a mediocre meal.

Friday

Lunch -- Tex Mex Rice Cakes.  Again.  Because I delayed the lasagna I had a couple of lunches to make up.  I had extra rice and really likes these the first time so I made them again.

Supper – Easiest Lasagna EVER.  I had originally planned the lasagna for Wednesday to get us through the rest of the week but having it on Friday is nice since I prepped it on Thursday.  All I have to do for supper is stick it in the oven and we'll have leftovers for the weekend!  I used pasta “sheets” for the first time and I’m never going back.  They were so easy to work with!  This lasagna came together in about 5 minutes...

Here's my layers:
Sauce (straight from the jar)
Noodles
Sauce
Cottage Cheese (mixed with egg & parmesan)
Shredded Mozzarella
Noodles
Sauce
Spinach (frozen, thawed and water squeezed out)
Cottage CheeseNoodles

Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella

I measured nothing.  We'll see how it turns out.



Cutting the pasta sheets to fit the pan



Pasta Sheets waiting for the next layer

Week 14 - Patty Cake, Patty Cake…

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

This week is all about the patties (chickpea and hamburger) and the cakes (quinoa and salmon).  Honestly, it was actually one of those accidentally themed weeks. Apparently I was in a patty mood last Sunday. I will say that I liked most of the meals this week, however I was so excited by the Patty & Cake theme that I failed to notice just how many beans there were on the menu.  Maybe a little overkill in that area.   But as a bonus all these patties and cakes made for a pretty kid-friendly week!

Recipe Quick Links:
Layered Salad, In the Kitchen with Stephano Faita
Quinoa Cakes, Marin Mama Cooks
Chickpea Burgers, Marin Mama Cooks
Refried Beans, 100 Days of Real Food
Corn Tortillas, 100 Days of Real Food
Mandarin Almond Salad, All Recipes

Week in Review

We had two fabulous meals on the weekend. Saturday night with the MacNeil’s and Sunday night with the Robertson’s. Ham one night and turkey the next.  Add a ton of chocolate to that and this was definitely not a low cal weekend, but everything was delicious and worth every Weight Watchers point!! Shout out to my nephew Cameron who made the most amazing macarons. He made two batches – lemon and lavender, which apparently took him 6 hours. They were to die for, I’m sure you could not find any better at a French bakery. I was super impressed! I hear he makes maple as well which I can’t wait to try sometime… hint, hint

Monday – I had Monday off so Marin and I headed downtown to meet Daddy for lunch and then we enjoyed a rainy afternoon watching cooking shows at home.  Marin got particularly focused on watching In the Kitchen with Stephan Faita.  He made a layered quinoa salad and she said “I wish I could have that for supper”.  I took that as a sign that we all needed a boatload of veggies to make up for the rich foods we were eating all weekend.  So we headed to the kitchen and made a layered salad with everything we could find.  I didn’t have all the ingredients we needed for Stephano’s version but I’d definitely like to give it a try sometime!

Tuesday – Lunch was Marin Mama’s Quinoa Cakes.  I love this recipe hot out of the pan but they weren’t quite as good reheated in the microwave.  I also used water instead of broth so they were a tad bland.   Don’t let that deter you from trying this recipe though… they’ll just be a weekend treat from now on.  Supper was Salmon Cakes with Caper Mayo – although I skip the capers when I make this.  I’ve tried quite a few versions of salmon cakes and so far this is our favorite.  We love the dip!

Salmon Cakes with Caper Mayo (source unknown)
Ingredients:
• 2 lb fresh salmon
• ¼ c lime or lemon juice
• 1 c chopped green onion
• 1 c chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 c light mayo (or 1/2c mayo, 1/2c sour cream or plain yogurt)
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 Tbsp capers (optional)
• 1 1/3 c dry Italian bread crumbs
• ½ c cornmeal
• 2 tsp butter

Directions:
1. Break fish into pieces and microwave 6-8 minutes. Crumble and drizzle with lime juice. Add green onion and cilantro
2. In separate bowl, mix mayo, Dijon, and chilli powder. Add ½ to salmon and reserve the rest for dip.
3. Mix bread crumbs into salmon. Form into 8 cakes. Roll into cornmeal. Cover and refrigerate for 30 min - 24 hrs or freeze.
4. Fry in butter 3-5 minutes per side, cover and let warm through for 10minutes.

Wednesday – Lunch was one of things that I make when I don’t feel like making lunches – Hummus, melba and veggies.   I made us some apple sandwiches with almond butter, maple and coconut spread (Marin’s creation from last week) for work snacks as well.  They were as good as I had hoped.  Supper was slow-cooker refried beans, homemade corn tortillas and all the fixin’s!  Seriously… so good!
 
This is another snack I made up mid-week.  They’re called Granola Coins, are really quick and easy to throw together and make a great work or school snack at just 2 weight watchers points each.  I find them to be a good alternative to granola bars and you could easily personalize them with different add-ins.



Thursday – Pulled out another Marin Mama recipe… chickpea patties.  I was thinking of these because I had some cilantro to use up.  Instead of doing them up as burgers I packed just the patty on its own with a mandarin almond salad.  This lunch was excellent.  Light and full of flavors!  I’ve been making this salad for years, typically with mixed greens.  I had a salad at Pipa Restaurant last month which reminded me so much of this salad but using kale.  That was my plan but I can never seem to find Kale when I need it.  However, it worked out fine because I stumbled on PC Organic Field Greens with Herbs Salad Mix.  This was the perfect mix for this salad.
 
For supper I made hamburger patties with feta, red onion and oregano.  I grilled them on the Foreman but overdid them a tad so they were a bit dried out.  We did them up on pita with tzatziki and cherry tomatoes.  I have to remember to pull this idea out for bbq season.

Friday – Lunch was an exact replica of Thursday’s lunch… and just as good!  Supper was nachos.  I was planning on using the beans but instead cut up the leftover hamburger patty.  The beans will go in the freezer for an easy meal in a few weeks.

Happy weekend everyone!