Weekly Meal Plan 014
Weekly Meal Plan 014
When the sun starts shining brighter and the air starts warming up, I immediately want to trade in my soups and casseroles for salads and grilling! However, the change of season in this area is extremely weird. You can experience winter, spring and summer all in a week or even just a day! It makes deciding what to wear and what to eat SO difficult so I chose the “warm weather recipes” in hopes the temps will stay.
Here are the recipes from last week’s menu. Click each meal to take you to its recipe below!
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Salad with Coconut Lime Rice
Hamburgers/Hot dogs, Baked Beans and Potato Salad
Chicken Lime Chicken Burgers with Avocado Salsa
Pantry Pasta
Pantry pasta is exactly what it sounds like. I boiled some pasta and then just added whatever we had in the pantry and fridge to make a sauce or toppings! We all had some allergy flare ups last week and I wanted to do something that resembled a vegetable soup or chicken noodle soup to soothe our throats but without the soup. Sometimes it’s just a jar of sauce and maybe some veggies added but this week I put a little more effort into it. Here’s what that looked liked this week:
Cold Fighting Pasta
Ingredients
- ¾ lb uncooked pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 ribs of celery, chopped
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp turmeric
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 c vegetable broth
- ¼-½ c milk or heavy cream
- ½ lemon, squeezed
- ½ c parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium heat. Add chopped carrots, celery and onion and cook until vegetable start to soften. Add minced garlic and cook additional minute. Add turmeric, herbs, salt and pepper and stir. Add vegetable broth, enough to cover vegetables and cook until reduced in half. Add milk/cream until desired creaminess. Remove from heat and carefully blend with immersion blender. Add in lemon juice and additional salt and pepper to taste. Toss noodles and sauce until combined. Top with parmesan cheese and serve!
Meatball Sliders
We wanted to do something with meatballs that wasn’t the usual. So I came up with meatball sliders and sort of went by the recipe we use to make cheeseburger sliders. We made them not too long ago (click HERE for that recipe) so they were fresh on my mind! I found this recipe that works for this as well and I will list what I did differently below.
https://www.loulougirls.com/2018/04/meatball-sliders-2.html
Modifications:
- I prefer making meatballs to frozen ones. I like to make this recipe, double it and freeze what I’m not using: Easy Baked Meatballs
- I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and placed the bottom half of the rolls on it.
- Before placing a meatball on each roll, I laid sliced provolone to cover the rolls. Then after placing the meatballs, I put a dollop of marinara on top. The cheese slices on the bottom kept the rolls from getting soggy!
- Then sprinkle with mozzarella and place the tops of the rolls on the mozzarella.
- I only melted a little butter with no additional additives and brushed the top of the rolls with it.
- I baked uncovered for 10-12 minutes, or just long enough for the cheese to melt and the tops to brown.
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Salad with Coconut Lime Rice
This was a new salad we tried and it was good! It is very acidic so if you are sensitive to acidic foods you might want to rethink this one. I planned to have this with our favorite rice but I completely forgot to make it! Mom brain. Here are the recipes for the salad and the rice:
Modification:
- I made my own teriyaki sauce instead of buying some and used this recipe: Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Black Bean Quinoa
When my husband and I got married, a friend of mine made a cookbook for us. Our favorite recipe from that book is this quinoa salad! This recipe is slightly different than what I make but I’ll list the modifications below. It’s delicious served warm or cold and we like to eat it by itself, with chips or even in a tortilla.
Modifications:
- I have always used red onion and no cucumber. But cucumber would be good! I’ve also added corn so you can make it to your taste.
- I’ve never added cheese although when can you ever really go wrong with a little cheese?!
- I like to add all the chopped ingredients once the quinoa is done and warm them up before eating but I also eat it cold and it’s just as good.
Hamburgers/Hot dogs, Baked Beans and Potato Salad
I suggest you make your hamburgers and hot dogs however you prefer and choose your favorite toppings. I usually just buy potato salad and eat that on the side but the beans, I make. For the burgers, I do use this recipe for the rub:
https://www.iheartnaptime.net/hamburger-seasoning/#recipe
I usually make a whole batch and store it in a container and use it as I go! After rubbing this on the burger patties I pour a few drops of Worcestershire sauce on top.
For the baked beans I like to use this recipe below. Know that this is not a quick recipe and it makes A LOT. As a family of 4 (with the toddlers) I make this and divide into 4 square aluminum pans. I’ll cook one and freeze the other three and we’ll use the over the next few months.
Modification:
- I leave out the jalapeños and only add a little adobo sauce from the chipotle peppers. My kids don’t like it as spicy as we do! But the spice is so good.
Chopped Salad
My dad has this ability to eat something somewhere and then come back home and recreate it by taste or make it even better, and this chopped salad happens to be one of those. It’s so good and refreshing!
Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- Smoked turkey
- Smoked ham
- Genoa salami
- Artichoke hearts
- Provolone cheese
- Toasted pine nuts
- Finely chopped onion
- Grape tomatoes
- Fresh basil
- Chopped romaine lettuce
- Balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Instructions
- Chop all ingredients and toss with dressing.
Chicken Lime Chicken Burgers with Avocado Salsa
I love poblano peppers and these burgers are so delicious. We serve them on a bun, or not, and just top it with the avocado salsa. So. Good.
Modification:
- Instead of rubbing the patties with the seasoning I prefer to split it in half and mix half directly into the burger patties and the other half in the avocado salad.
As always, I hope this helps your make meal planning a little easier! Happy cooking!