Week 43 - Fast Food

Printable Version of Meal Plan

This week was busy busy so I needed supper to be on the table fast to free up our evenings for other priorities.  The solution for me was food that I could prep, at least partly, the night before and both lunches and suppers that were familiar enough that I didn't have to be constantly referring to recipes - ie. I could prepare them in a zombie-like state in the late evenings (pardon the Halloween pun).

Recipe Index

 

Carrot Smoothie, Real Simple
Caesar Dressing, Recipe on my Salad Dressing and Dip Printout
Asian Salmon Cakes, Chatelaine
Kale Pomegranate Salad, Simple Provisions
Quinoa Patties, Eating Well Living Thin
Simple Turkey Chili, Allrecipes.com
Whole Wheat Tortillas, 100 Days of Real Food
Pumpkin Muffins, 100 Days of Real Food

 

Week in Review

Smoothie of the Week - Carrot, Pineapple, Orange.  So good!!

 

Sunday

Supper - Breaded Chicken w/ Roasted Vegetables. This is one of those meals that I don't have to refer to a recipe.  I mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese (roughly 2:1) in one bowl and whisk an egg and milk in another bowl.  I dip the chicken pieces in the egg then coat well with the breadcrumbs and bake at 425 until done.  At the same time I roasted some vegetables - for this I chop the veggies and toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them out on a cooking stone.  The veggies typically take longer so I get them on first.

Prep Ahead Ideas

• Double the chicken to have leftovers for Monday supper.
• Make the Caesar dressing for Monday salad and store in fridge 
• Make double batch of quinoa for Monday and Wednesday lunches.  (I prepared 1 cup)

Monday

Lunch - Quinoa Vegetable Fried "Rice".  No recipe required again, this was just my regular fried rice with quinoa in place of the rice.  I sauteed a mix of chopped vegetables (use whatever you have on hand), added the quinoa and a little soya sauce.  I push that to that side of the pan once it's well mixed and add a couple of eggs that I roughly scramble.  Once the eggs are cooked I mix it all up.  Done. 

Supper - Speedy Chicken and Kale Caesar - The chicken and dressing were prepared the night before so this supper just had to be assembled.  I chopped the Kale and massaged it with a little olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice before adding the Caesar dressing.  We added Parmesan and croutons.  While I was making the salad I popped the chicken in the oven to reheat and crisp up - totally optional.  This was very popular with the kid in the house!

Prep Ahead Ideas

• Prepare the salmon cakes up to the step of forming the patties and store in the fridge overnight.  Note:  I used canned salmon.

Tuesday

Lunch - Kale Pomegranate Salad w/ Ryvita Rye Crackers.  I was totally excited to try this salad because I had "attempted" to make my own dried cranberries on the weekend.  I love the tartness of cranberries so I always find the dried versions too sweet.  I won't share my experiment because it was a flop - right flavor, wrong texture.  I'll keep trying.  The salad was good, I added chickpeas to make it a meal but I think I'd prefer it as a side dish rather then the main course.

Kale Pomegranate Salad

Supper - Asian Salmon Cakes w/ Avocado Mayo and Arugula Salad.  I really liked these but they were not as popular with the kiddo as the previous night's Kale Caesar Salad.  As mentioned I used canned salmon.  I also cut way back on the mayo and supplemented with some plain yogurt.  I thought the flavor was great and actually preferred it before I fried them up.  I think it would make a nice sandwich or wrap.  The arugula salad was our new go-to... Arugula, drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper and shaved Parmesan.  So easy yet so good!

Prep Ahead Ideas

• Premix the Pad Thai sauce (see recipe below) and store in the fridge overnight
• Chop any vegetables you plan to add to the Pad Thai and store in fridge overnight

 

Wednesday

Lunch - Quinoa Patties w/ Veggies and Dip.  The quinoa was made earlier in the week so this was a quick lunch to throw together.  Last time I reported they had a good texture but were a tad bland.  This time I actually found them to be perfectly flavorful... perhaps I missed an ingredient last time??

Quinoa Patties

Supper - Tofu Pad Thai.  This is a quick meal regardless of how much prep you do the night before.  I actually ran out of steam Tuesday night and opted to make this meal from scratch after work.  No biggie.  This is one of my sister's favorites from this blog. 


Tofu Pad Thai (Adapted from Crazy Plates cookbook)

Cook Vermicelli Noodles according to package.  Drain and rinse in cold water.

To make the sauce, combine the following and set aside:

• 1/4 cup Ketchup
• 2 Tbsp each soya sauce, lime juice, brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Heat 1 tsp of sesame oil in a skillet and add cubed firm tofu (press out as much as possible), 1 package of coleslaw mix, 1/2 small red onion (diced), 2 cloves of minced garlic.  Cook until tofu is browned.  Add sauce and bring to boil.  Stir in noodles.

Serve garnished with fresh cilantro, green onion, chopped peanuts and a wedge of lime.

Prep Ahead Ideas

• Complete step 1 of the Simple Turkey Chili recipe and then add everything to the slow cooker and store the crock in the fridge overnight.
• Make muffins for Thursday breakfast

Thursday (Halloween)

Breakfast - Pumpkin Muffins & Latte.  Since it was Halloween we started our day with Pumpkin muffins.  I made them the night before because there is no way I could get myself out of bed early enough to pull that off!  I also had to save time to make these cute "Boo"-nanas for Marin's daycare class.  Marin was super excited about these!  Thank-you Pinterest!

Boo-nana

Lunch - Leftover Pad Thai.  Gotta love leftovers!

Supper - Simple (Slow-Cooker) Turkey Chili.  I think this is going to be a Halloween tradition.  Nothing like nice bowl of comfort food before hitting the streets.  I topped the chili with cheese and sour cream.  Meant to take a picture since this is being added to Slow Cooker Favorites but I was too preoccupied to think about it.

Prep Ahead Ideas

• Make a batch of tortillas

Friday

Lunch - Ham & Cheese Wraps w/ Veggies & Dip.  Ham, Havarti, Mayo, Mustard and Arugula all wrapped up in a fresh whole wheat tortilla.  Delicious!  Seriously... go make a batch of tortillas.   You won't be sorry.  We used them as a base for tuna melts last weekend - also delicious!

Freshly made batch of tortillas

Supper - Quesadillas.  Marin and I are on our own for supper tonight and although it will be my second time having the tortillas in one day I can think of nothing wrong with that.  This time will be traditional Mexican style with cheese, refried beans (from the freezer) and all the fixin's....

Tortillas all loaded up!

Can you believe it's November?!!

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