Meal Plan: March 29, 2008

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thrusday	Friday
White Chili	Chicken stew and buttermilk biscuits (for 4-6)	Soft-shelled beef tacos with salad and homemade salsa	Chicken wings and salad	Mustard chicken and steamed vegetables	White beans and barley with ham (slow cooker recipe)	Horseradish and herb-crusted beef roast, roasted potatoes and mixed romaine salad (for 6)

Saturday
Lunch: Chicken soup (leftovers)
Dinner I was supposed to make this last Friday. Instead I'll load the crockpot and set it to slow cook for the day. It's a chicken-based chili with white beans. It came out OK, but surprisingly bland. My spices aren't dead, but I should have doubled them.

Sunday
Lunch:
Dinner: My guests canceled and I didn't feel like making dinner, so I ended up having a PBJ & a glass of skim milk. But hey - it was a fancy meal. I had the milk in a wine glass.

Monday
Lunch: Vegetarian cassoulet (from the freezer)
Dinner: Chicken wings and salad. Not healthy, but sooo tasty.

Tuesday
Lunch: Adonis' Small Old Fashioned Gyro Platter with salad (no fries, no rice). I went out to dinner with a friend.
Dinner: Soft-shelled beef tacos with salad and homemade salsa. This is one of my favorite meals. I used the Taco mix recipe I posted here previously (made fresh). The spices were a bit strong. The homemade salsa was a quick salsa verde. And I have enough leftovers for a small serving of nachos.

Wednesday
Lunch: Boccacino's Monteray wrap (grilled chicken with cheddar, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and their spicy mayonnaises. Served with salsa and a huge green salad. I brought 1/2 of it home for later in the week. It's a delicious sandwhich.
Dinner: Mustard chicken and steamed vegetables. Dreg the chicken in flour, sauté in a mix of 2:1 olive oil to butter. Do not flip often. When both sides are browned, place in a pre-heated oven. To the sauce add: 1/2 cup white wine, allow to boil down by 1/2. Then add 1/2 cup chicken broth, allow again to boil down by 1/2. Stir often. When the mixture will coat the back of a spoon add 1 portion butter, 1 portion dijon mustard. Stir well. Serve over chicken with a side of steamed vegetables.

Thursday
Lunch: Out to Eggspectations with the team.
Dinner: White beans and barley with ham (slow cooker recipe). I found this on RecipeZaar and it picked my interest. The overall recipe was ... missing something. After discussing it with my guests - we settled on tomatoes.

Friday
Lunch: The other 1/2 of the Boccacino's Monteray wrap with a dozen blue organic taco chips (to finish off the salsa that came with the wrap)
Dinner: Horseradish and herb-crusted shoulder roast, roasted potatoes and mixed romaine salad (for 6). The roast is small enough that it should be done by 7pm tonight for dinner. I hope to use the leftover drippings to make beef consumer.

Meal Plan: March 22, 2008

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thrusday	Friday
Roast turkey (unstuffed) au jus with roast potatoes	Roast turkey (stuffed), baked turnip, green beans, mashed potatoes	Meat loaf and steamed green beans and carrots	Cheeseburgers, all dressed	Chicken soup	Wings	Dinner out

Saturday
Lunch: Split pea soup
Dinner: Roast turkey (unstuffed) au jus with roast potatoes
I don't often roast a turkey; and I blame a sudden fit of madness for trying it on Saturday. I spent all afternoon making chicken broth then most of the evening finishing off a turkey that caused so much steam my fire alarm went off twice. It was, however, succulent and very delicious.

Sunday
Lunch: Late brunch of eggs and toast.
Dinner: We went over to a sibling's house and had the traditional holiday meal (TM). It was, as per usual, so much better than mine. I did, however, feel better when I walked in and noticed her fire alarm was disconnected.

Monday
Lunch: Turkey wraps
Dinner: I made meatloaf a few weeks back and froze a double-serving. I reheated them and served them with green beans and carrots. It was a quick and tasty meal.

Tuesday
Lunch: Out with a friend.
Dinner: Cheeseburgers, all dressed. I had something else planned but by the time I got home I had completely forgotten what it was supposed to be. The hamburger was thawed, so that's what I made. BTW we don't normally eat so much hamburger but (a) it was on sale, and (b) after two days of turkey, we needed a break from poultry in general.

Wednesday
Lunch: Vegetarian cassoulet (from the freezer)
Dinner: With friends coming over, a fridge full of broth and poultry, and rainy weather on the forecast -- making Chicken soup seems perfectly reasonable to me. Besides, I need a couple of servings for future lunches as my freezer's getting low on ready-meals.
The soup was well appreciated and not just because I added lots of ginger and garlic to the fennel, carrots, celery and onion I usually add; but I'm sure it helped.

Thursday
Lunch: Chicken soup (from last night), and whole wheat crackers
Dinner: Southewestern chicken. No, not really. I wimped out and had boxed-frozen medium-spice buffalo wings. Yes, I know they were bad for me. I had them with a side of air-popped popcorn and a big glass of milk (not for the health, but just to scrape the spice out of my mouth. The wings were good, but I am a spice-wimp. I did cook up the white kidney beans though (soaked them overnight and then put them in the crockpot to cook with a big handfull of dried sage leaves and enough water to cover).

Friday
Lunch: Vegetarian cassoulet, the last of it.
Dinner: Out -- no clue where, it's his choice (although I suspect we'll be going to one of the rotissery restaurants in Montreal. Rotissery chicken is a really big thing here -- every restaurant seems to offer it; but only one or two do it right (note to self - review the restaurant and the meal).

- Updated Friday, 28-Mar-2008 with Thursday and Friday info. Added a More tag.

Easy Asian Grilled Drumsticks

Taken from RecipeZaar Posted by Kittencal. The sauce is sufficient for 10 drumsticks, but can easily be doubled.

Version: 2.0	Preparation time: 10 minutes + 8 hours marinade time.
Serves: 5 (2 pc each)	Cooking time: 35-45 minutes.

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl and wire wisk
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• Cutting board and knife.
• Barbecue or baking sheet lined with tinfoil.
• Tongs.

Notes:
This is a great recipe. I halved the amount of honey, and chili flakes and it was still good. I've removed the oil, salt, and lemon juice from the original recipe due to health concerns. This works well with legs with thighs, as well as drumsticks.
Unless I'm barbecuing, I skin the legs before cooking, and divide the thigh from the leg at the joint before marinating. If using boneless, skinless chicken breasts - I suggest pan frying as the cooking time is very different.

This meal goes great with a large salad or a steamed vegetable side-dish.

Ingredients

1/4 cup	sodium reduced soy sauce
1/3 cup	lemon juice
1/4 cup	honey
1/4 cup	sesame oil
2 tablespoons	garlic, crushed and finely diced
2 tablespoons	ginger, crushed and finelydiced
2 teaspoons	chili flakes (optional)
	black pepper
10	chicken drumsticks, or other parts.

Instructions

1. In a bowl whisk together the first 8 ingredients.
2. Place the chicken parts in one or more large resealable bags.
3. Pour the marinade into the bag(s) and seal; turn to coat evenly.
4. Refrigerate for up to 8 hours, turning occasionally.
5. Set grill to medium heat, or oven to 375 F.
6. Remove the chicken and discard the marinade.
7. Place the chicken on the grill (if a barbecue) or on a baking sheet.
8. Grill or bake, turning chicken until crispy and golden brown and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
9. Turn once (if baking) or often (if on a barbecue)
10. If baking - turn the oven to broil for a few minutes at the end to crisp the skin.

Meal Plan: Leftovers

For the first time in a long time - we didn't go shopping on the weekend. I've always got a few weeks of food stored, so we shouldn't starve. Choosing to do this does, however, greatly limit my experimentation. It also means I'm using a some prepared foods (Hamburger helper, and the taco mix) that have sat in the house for a long time. The funny thing is - after this week I'll still have plenty of food in the house.

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Chicken Fajitas

Take out: BBQ chicken, french fries & cold slaw

Marinated butcher-block steak, romaine salad with red wine vinagrette

Hamburger helper, carrots & celery sticks

Chicken provincial and steamed green beans over brown rice

Chicken fried rice

Vegetarian cassoulet for 6

Saturday
Lunch: Chicken and hummus sandwich with romaine lettuce on a whole-wheat bagel.

Dinner: I went to a friend's house to cook. Fortunately (for me) he had olive oil as I forgot to bring mine. I fried up the trimmed chicken thighs in a bit of olive oil, then added the strips of bell pepper and 1/2 the onion to the pan. When the onion was translucent I added the seasoning and 1/4 cup of water. When the mix was incorporated, I added 3 tablespoons of medium salsa and stirred well. Then I took the pan off the heat. The mix was served on flat-bread with more medium salsa, cheese and sour cream.

Sunday
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Soba soup.

Dinner: It was a quiet day and neither of us felt like making dinner - so we ordered in. A local place does an amazing rotisserie chicken and it's almost as cheap as buying it from the grocery store. The meal was good, and as I said - we were lazy.

Monday
Lunch: Out with a friend.

Dinner: The butcher-block steak had been marinating since last night. It was sitting in a mix of 1 cup red wine, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons steak spice and 1 tablespoon thyme. We barbecued it until it was no longer red in the middle. It was served with a salad of romaine lettuce, a yellow bell pepper, and 2 oz cheese. The dressing was 3 tablespoons red wine vinagrette, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 shakes of pepper.

Surprisingly there's enough steak left for a sandwich or two.

Tuesday
Lunch: Lentil-barely stew (from the freezer)

Dinner: Hamburger helper.
Other than a few minor changes (smaller portions, extra-lean ground beef, more careful in removing the fat) -- this is the same orange box I cooked from when I first moved out. I served it with a crisp spinach and romaine salad and a tart vinagrette to try and round out the meal.

Wednesday
Lunch: Lentil-barely stew (from the freezer)

Dinner: Chicken provincial and steamed green beans over brown rice.
This recipe is surprisingly simple and quick. Other than taking a pulsing hand blender to the sauce (to make it creamy instead of chunky), I make no changes to the recipe. Often the main course is done just before the rice. If I have enough, I like to cook the brown rice in homemade fat-free chicken broth as I find it greatly improves the taste.

Thursday
Lunch: 1/2 Chicken breast Parmesan with extra sauce (from the freezer) and small salad

Dinner:Chicken fried rice
This, for me, is the penultimate way to get rid of leftover cooked chicken. I often double the amount of chicken that the recipe calls for. My frying man is an absolute mess when I'm done, but it tastes so good. We miss the salt, so I've begun adding a bit of Chinese 5-spice powder on top.

Friday
Lunch: PBJ, yogurt, and fruit

Dinner: Vegetarian cassoulet
There wasn't much left of this one - so I'm calling it a success. It's not quite a cassoulet (no meat, and it took only a bit over an hour to cook); but it is easy and very tasty. We served it with fresh belgian bread and additional paremsan cheese. I've got some garlic crutons left over; wo I'll have good things for salads next week.

Groceries