Must have menu of the week

Before I make any menu list, I like to see what I have in my pantry.  For this week’s menu I do have a good number of the items, but I provided a list of everything you would need.  Looking at this list though, it doesn't appear that you would need a lot of ingredients. Also, I chose the meals based on what meat was on sale.

Monday -This week I am incorporating meatless Monday. 

Amy’s Organic Vegetarian Black Bean Soup (@ $2.50 a can) and Chipotle twice backed potato.

For meatless meals I usually like to make a vegetarian chili, but I make that on the weekends when I have more time.  

With the Black bean soup, I add chopped up onions and a dab of Greek plain yogurt or sour cream.  Since I have another item on the menu that calls for sour cream, I am going to put the cream on my list!

There are so many variations of twice baked potatoes.  They are like pizzas in my family.  We love to experiment and be creative with these.  In searching for ideas for the potatoes, I came across this web site.  http://www.americanprofile.com/recipes/twice-baked-potatoes

Tuesday

Stuff Chicken (Purdue Chicken on sale for $2.99/lbs.) with pepper jack cheese, spinach and caramelized onions served with spinach salad. 

Stuffed chicken is the easiest meal. Mine is not stuffed though, it is rolled.  The trick is to pound the chicken very thin, place your ingredients, roll up and place a tooth pick to keep in place. 

For this meal, I am adding about 1/8 cup of shredded pepper jack cheese spinach and onions, then season with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cook at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

For this salad I am going to make my own dressing with the left over Dijon mustard and rice vinegar from last week.  Also, adding chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds to the salad.

Dressing: Combine 1/8 cup of Dijon, juice from 1 lemon, 1 table spoon of rice vinegar and dice up a small shallot or onion.  .

Wednesday

Taco Salad

I only use ½ lbs. of lean ground beef.  After cooking the meat, I add a can of low sodium black beans, a package of chili mix, 1 small can of tomato sauce and a little water.  Mix together over medium heat.

Build the taco salad as follows:

Salad of your choice (baby spinach, mix greens, romaine)

Tomato

Cucumbers

Onions

Beef mix

Low fat shredded cheese

Sour cream

Salsa

**Also, make sure you marinate your chicken for tomorrow night’s meal.

Thursday

Grilled chicken with lemon basil

This recipe is amazing and a great summer dish. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/grilled-chicken-with-lemon-basil-pasta/

It calls for you to marinate the chicken for about 24 hours before grilling.

Marinate in the following concoction:

Olive oil
Juice of four lemons
Dijon mustard
A tiny bit of honey (use syrup instead if you do not want to purchase)
A dash of salt

For the sauce, you will need:

Four Lemons

a bunch of basil

1 cup of a hard cheese (either Parmesan or Romano cheese)

1 cup of fat free half-and-half.  It does call for cream and half-and-half, but to cut down on some calories it taste just as good with only the half-and-half.

It also calls for a ½ stick of butter, but I would use a light margarine spread as a healthy alternative.

I purchased whole wheat penne pasta for this dish. 

Friday

Going out to dinner this night J

Below is my grocery list of the items you need, if you don’t already have in the pantry or refrigerator:

4 chicken breast (Purdue chicken on sale for $2.99/lbs.)

1/2 lbs. of lean ground beef (as the meat department to cut a package in half) (on sale for $4.50/lbs.)

9 lemons

A couple tomatoes (tomatoes on a vine are on sale for $1.99/lbs.)

2 onions of your choice (Vidalia sweet onion is on sale for $0.99/lbs.)

Bag of spinach (Fresh Express spinach is on sale for B1G1)

1 fresh corn on the cob

Publix fat free sour cream (small)

1 small tube of light margarine spread

Shredded Mexican cheese (or cheese of your choice for the taco salad and stuffed chicken)

Shredded Parmesan

Small carton of half-and-half, fat free

1 can of Amy’s organic vegetarian black bean soup

2 cans of low sodium black beans

1 jar of salsa

1 package of whole wheat penne pasta.

1 small can of tomato sauce

Syrup or honey

Dijon mustard

Olive oil

Rice wine vinegar

Fresh basil