Sunday smarts- meal planning for the week

Christmas has come and gone which we are all sad about, but the holiday festivities continue!   Some guests leave and more arrive!  With new cookbooks to browse, we came up with some healthy and guest friendly dishes.  A few adjustments from last weeks menu were taken into consideration for this week.

Our week at a glance:

Sunday: white bean soup, from new book Chop,Chop, and chicken & cheese quesadillas.  I have some left over chicken from the other night so the quesadillas will be simple to cook up.

For the soup the necessary ingredients are 4 c cooked or canned white beans rinsed & drained,( I prefer great Northern), 2 garlic cloves, 1 onion coarsely chopped, 2 celery stalks sliced, 2 carrots sliced, 1 large potato, scrubbed and cubed, 2 teaspoons dried rosemary or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh, 8 c low-sodium chicken broth, 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1/4 c chopped fresh Italian flat- leaf parsley leaves.

Instructions: place beans, garlic, onion, celery, carrots, potato, rosemary & broth in pot and turn heat to high.  When mixture comes to a boil, turn heat to low and cook partially covered, until beans have fallen apart, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add tomatoes and continue to cook, partially covered, until soup thickens.  Just before serving add the lemon juice and fresh parsley.

Monday:  baked ziti and meatballs.  Easy meal because I made an extra baked ziti last week.  I'll heat in oven throw some meatballs in my pot of sauce.  Meal is done!  I'm also trying my sister's baked quinoa dish.  I'll make quinoa in vegetable broth.  While that is boiling, carmelize red onion and sauté mushrooms and halved grape tomatoes.  Pour the quinoa over fresh spinach send mix the other
veggies into it.  Use some goat cheese in the mixture as well.  Toss together and spread in basking dish to bake.

Tuesday:  New Year's Eve!  Lots of appetizers: homemade sushi, vegetable dumplings, pig in a blanket, chips & guacamole with pomegranate, hummus and veggies, white bean and garlic dip, fondue....the list goes on!!

Wednesday: Happy New Years!  Possibly some left overs?  If not much, we'll make some individual pizzas and a big, green salad.

Thursday: chicken Caesar salad with Grandad's leftover dressing and rolls.  Romaine lettuce, chicken, parm cheese and dressing.

Friday:  split pea soup
New recipe from cookbook.  We need olive oil,  1 onion chopped, 1/2 pound carrots sliced, 1 teaspoon dried tarragon, 1 pound split peas, rinsed and picked over, 10 cups vegetable or chicken broth, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.

Instructions: place pot on stove and turn heat to medium.  When hot add oil.  Add onion and cook til tender.  Add carrots, tarragon, split peas and broth.  Raise heat to high and bring to boil.  Turn down heat to low and cook partially covered until peas have fallen apart, about 2 hours.   Add lemon juice.  Serve right away or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.

Saturday:  sautéed tilapia with salad greens and honey scallion dressing.  Ingredients: 2 1/2 T fresh lemon juice, 2 T chopped green onions, 1 T honey, 1 T lower sodium soy sauce, 1 t bottled ground fresh ginger, 1/4 t dark sesame oil, 1 T canola oil, 4 (6oz) tilapia fillets, 1/2 t salt, 1/8 t freshly ground black pepper, 4 c salad greens.  Combine first 6 ingredients in small bowl, stirring well with whisk.

Next, heat a large nonstick skillet add canola oil and sprinkle fish with salt and pepper.  Add fish to pan and cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork.  Serve fish with greens and dressing.  Serves 4 so adjust  amounts of ingredients to your family size.  We're going to do some rice noodles on the side as well.

Additional note, the soup recipes above serve 8-10 people.

Thank you to Cooking Light 3-step express meals and Chop Chop, the kid's guide to cooking real food with your family for their great ideas and recipes!

Enjoy all!  Here's to a happy and healthy 2014!  Contact me for any additional help with recipes or to share some of your own ideas.

Sunday Meal Planning

It's Christmas week!  We are having house guests and excited for the festivities to begin!   Tonight my father-n- law arrives so we have a nice meal planned.  Our week ahead looks like this...

Sunday-   Boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs over spinach & kale, grape tomatoes & chick peas.  I layer a pan with the kale and spinach, halve grape tomatoes and rinse and drain chick peas.  I then pour some chicken broth over the layer and place the chicken thighs on top.  Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and pour a little more broth over the chicken.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and check chicken.  The chicken turns out so moist and delicious!  One of our favorites.

Monday- tacos!  Ground turkey and all the fixings!  We use soft whole wheat tortillas instead of the hard shells.   The kids have their favorite toppings- avocados, salsa, cheese, peppers, & refried beans.

Tuesday- Christmas Eve!  Baked clams, shrimp cocktail,  & dumplings for appetizers.  For the main course, BBQ pulled chicken.  It's Ellie's night and this is her pick!  Not a traditional holiday meal but well make it festive!

Wednesday- Christmas at Grandma's!  Aunt Ria's homemade lasagna, and a new dish for the wheat and dairy intolerant- bakes quinoa with vegetables.  Tons of appetizers will be served and desserts!

Thursday-baked chicken tenders and rice pilaf with a big salad and steamed broccoli

Friday- baked ziti and Caesar salad

Saturday -chicken chili with brown rice and salad

Sunday-new house guests arrive- lots of kids so family friendly meal of meatball subs and for the vegetarians, roasted veggies- Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, parsnips and red onions with quinoa.

Happy Holidays all!  Enjoy your time with family and friends.  Meals are my favorite connection with family and friends.  I love being in the kitchen preparing and talking and sharing food.

Until next week...

Sunday Meal Planning

I feel like this week is the home stretch before the holidays. Lots of after school activities, school parties to volunteer, and getting ready for Christmas! Having my meals planned out will come in handy with the crazy week ahead!

When I asked the kids what they felt like making for their dinners this week the boys immediately called out some of their favorite dishes, but Ellie and I skimmed cookbooks and web sites.

Our week ahead looks like this:

Monday- turkey meatball subs on whole grain rolls with a mixed salad (lots of cucumbers, celery and carrots in this one!) The meatballs are easy to make. I use 1.5 lbs. lean ground turkey, 1 beaten egg, 1/2 c.whole wheat bread crumbs, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1/4c. parmesean chesse, and salt and pepper to taste. After I form the meatballs I bake them in the oven and then add them to my sauce to simmer. A pretty easy meal and all love it! Left overs usually for Scott to bring to work. I keep homemade sauce in the freezer, you can always buy a jar of tomato sauce. I look for ones that have little sugar and no artificial anything.

 Tuesday-Peanut Noodle Stir Fry found on Mywholefoodlife.com . Ellie and I saw this and knew we had to try it. Looks healthy, simple and quick to make, which is perfect for during the week. Check out this website. It has great ideas and recipes.

Wednesday-Roasted chicken and veggies. I'll roast a whole chicken earlier in the day so it's all ready to eat by the time the kids get home from school. This way I can help with homework and am able to play games with Teddy and Johnny and not have to stop to prepare dinner. I buy an organic oven roaster bird, drizzle it with olive oil, salt and pepper and place half a lemon in the cavity. I surround it with cut parsnips, carrots, celery, onions, sweet potatoes and sometimes brussel sprouts. Easy and yummy!

Thursday-spaghetti carbonara. For this I use whole grain spaghetti, I may try this time the brown rice spaghetti. I have a light recipe from Family Circle magazine. While I am boiling the salted water for the pasta, I saute 6 slices of Applegate farm bacon in a pan. Cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes. Drain on paper towel and save 1-2 T of the drippings. Then I blend 1 cup skim milk, 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks and 1/2 t. salt. I heat the saved bacon drippings over medium heat and whisk in 1 T. all-purpose flour ( I use the whole grain white or wheat), cook for one minute, quickly pour in the milk mixture, whisking constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling. Cook 2-3 minutes until thickened. remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup of grated parm. Then toss the drained pasta with the sauce, crumbled bacon and remaining cheese(about a 1/4 cup) with some of the reserved pasta water. We like to sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper before serving. A spinach tomatoe salad will be on the side along with snap peas and carrots! (Teddy's favorites!)

Friday-Turkey, black bean chili with carrots and red peppers. This is one of my favorite chili recipes because of all the veggies in it. I saute a whole chopped onion, some chopped garlic cloves, grated carrots and chopped red pepper in a pot with olive oil. After all has softened I add the spices, red pepper flakes, cumin and chili powder. After a few minutes I add the ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Then add the 2 cans of rinsed and drained black beans, can of tomato paste and 3 cups of chicken broth. Let come to a boil and then simmer for an hour. I make a side of brown rice to go on the bottom of our bowls with the chilion top. Salad to go with this too.

Saturday -party night so pizza for the kids and babysitter. I may make it easy for myself and instead of making the pizza buy Newmwn's own frozen pizza or Amy's pizza. A heathier version for frozen pizza so I don't feel so bad! Fruits and veggies to go with it!

Sunday- Granddaddy arrives so we'll be having a nice baked fish dinner and vegetable dish. Need to see what fish is on sale to determine what I'll make. Thinking about maple glazed roasted brussel sprouts.

Hope this gives you some ideas! Please share and contact me for any more info.

Enjoy! Donna

New Favorite Breakfast!

I was recently introduced to the website, mywholefoodlife.com , and absolutely love it! I have tried the Pumpkin Overnight Oats and love having it each morning for breakfast. You can eat it cold or warm, I prefer warming it up. I bought small mason jars and make 6 at a time and store them in the fridge. The recipe calls for: 1/2 c. gluten free steel cut or rolled oats (steel will have a crunch and rolled will be smoother) 1 1/2 T. pumpkin 1 t. chia seeds 1 t. flax meal 1/2 t. cinnamon 1/4 t. nutmeg 1/4 t ginger 1/8 t cloves 1 Medjool date chopped 1/2 c. milk (almond, coconut, whatever you desire) Throw all contents into a jar and mix well. Stick in fridge overnight. Enjoy warm or cold in the morning! I am looking for more yummy recipes on this site. Great ideas and so healthy and yummy! Yours in health, Donna

Nutrition and your skin

Good nutrition and skin care go hand and hand. Since your skin is the largest organ of the body it is important to nurish it just like you want to fill your body with the right foods. I listened to a call last night with my Healthy Body Team, and learned so much about skin care products and foods that not only help you on the inside, but also the outside. There are some "power" foods that we all should be incorporating into our diets. For instance, avocados help to prevent dryness, the omega 3s in salmon help with your skin's elasticity, eggs and beans provide protein which help repair cells, pomegranates create more collagen and help speed healing in the body, walnuts are a great source of omega 3s and add shine to your hair and help with smoother and younger looking skin, and instead of sipping coffee try green tea which also benefits what's happening on your inside and outside! I love working for Isagenix because it has products for your overall health. I have been using the supplements and shakes and feel fantastic, and now I am going to branch out and try the skin care line. The products have no chemicals or parabens, fragarances or artificial colors. It uses only natural botanicals and ingredients you can read and pronounce. So remember to read you skin care product labels as carefully as you would your food labels. Everything you use on your body becomes absorbed into your skin. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Enjoy. Donna sources: Isagenix and Fitness Nutrition

Sunday Planning

Since I am new to blogging and do not know how to successfully save and publish, this is round 2 for me with this one!  Tried to publish last night but no success! I hope I can remember all that I wrote.  I did detailed recipes, so I will try again.

In between tree hunting and basketball games, the kids and I were able to choose some healthy meals for our busy week ahead.  Elle and I hit the market in between getting the lights on the tree and decorating the tree.  We girls know how to shop and shop quickly!

So here is what we came up with for our meals:

Monday: chicken parm and salad.  I bought thin chicken breasts and will bread them with whole wheat Panko bread crumbs.  Bake until crispy and then spoon some sauce and sprinkle with cheese and pop back in oven until cheese has melted.   Meanwhile, Grant will make his favorite romaine salad with broccoli slaw.  Easy to quick fix after we return from his evening game.

Tuesday:  broiled salmon, string beans, and quinoa.  Ellie's night, so she will prepare the string beans so they can be steamed, I'll cook the quinoa, and together we'll make the honey glaze for the salmon. I use 1-2 tablespoons of honey and mix with the juice from one orange.  Then drizzle over the fish.  The kids love how sweet the fish tastes.

Wednesday:  Chinese noodles with tofu and sesame sauce.  This is a new one for me!  Johnny found it in our new Cooking Light cookbook.  I bought flat, wide, brown rice noodles and will boil them in water while we stir fry broccoli, carrots, snow peas, and fresh finger in the wok seasoned with sesame oil.  I'm not using the tofu because no one is crazy about it.  Instead I'll throw in some shrimp.  Once veggies look crisp I'll toss in the noodles, stir it all up, add some low sodium soy sauce and it's a meal!  Chop sticks are always a bit hit with meals like this one.

Thursday:  Teddy's pick always involves some sort of soup.  So it's homemade meatball soup.  I bought lean ground turkey to make the meatballs and will mix egg, nutmeg, parm cheese, salt,pepper and garlic into the meat.  Teddy will help make tiny meatballs.  I'm using homemade chicken stock from the freezer as my base and will sauté onions and garlic and add carrots and celery to the soup.  Once it has come to a boil I'll add the meatballs and let simmer.  About 15 minutes before we are ready to eat I'll boil up some pasta (the kids are now used to the brown rice pasta that I love) and we'll be ready to serve it up.

Friday:  Scott's pick is baked ziti.  Easy for me to do early in the day.  I'll make the ziti, mix together with my sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and parm cheese and it will be ready to pop in the oven.  Easy for Fridays! However, not my favorite meal so I will have some roasted veggies for me.  Sorry, Scott!

Saturday:  chicken chili.  This meal was such a hit from last week we decided to make it again!  Easy for me to make in the morning, so we can be doing fun things throughout the day and I don't need to think about cooking.

Sunday: crispy halibut with brown rice and veggies (not decided yet!). I'll lightly bread the fish and season with lemon pepper and drizzle olive oil infused with lemon on top.

I hope you find these helpful!  Please share some of your favorite meals.  I love learning new recipes and having more choices with my family.

Enjoy.


Donna

Sunday planning

After a busy and fun-filled weekend, I find myself in disbelief that Christmas is around the corner!  Lots of fun was had today cutting down our tree.  It took longer than usual today to find the right tree,  or maybe it just felt that way since it was freezing outside!  The tree is fully decorated and we made the switch to colored lights (I prefer white!).

In between tree hunting and basketball games, we decided upon our meals for the week so I could hit the market before the "storm" hits!

This is what we came up with for this week:

Monday:  chicken parm and salad.    I bought thin chicken breasts and will bread them with whole wheat  Panko bread crumbs and bake them in the oven.  Once crisp, I will add sauce and sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top and bake some more.  Grant will make his favorite romaine salad with broccoli slaw.  Simple and easy meal to make after coming home from his evening game.

Tuesday:  broiled salmon with a honey glaze,  steamed green beans, and quinoa.  I found some nice wild salmon on sale and will broil the fillets with some honey and freshly squeezed orange juice on top.  I mix 1-2 tablespoons of honey with juice from an orange and drizzle over the fish.  The kids love the sweetness!  Ellie handles the beans and I'll make the quinoa!

Wednesday:  Chinese noodles with tofu and sesame sauce.  This is a recipe Johnny picked from our Cooking Light cookbook.  I bought flat, wide, brown rice noodles,snap peas, carrots, broccoli, ginger, and sesame oil for this recipe.  It doesn't sound too difficult.  I need to heat up the wok, add the sesame oil, stir fry the veggies and then add the ginger.  While that is happening the noodles will be boiling and ready to go.  Not sure I am going to add the tofu since it is not anyone's favorite.  I maybe will add some shrimp.   This is Johnny's night, so he'll help with the prep work.

Thursday: Homemade meatball soup.  I bought some lean ground turkey and will mix some egg, gluten free bread crumbs, nutmeg, parm cheese, pepper and salt into very small meatballs.  I have some homemade chicken stock in the freezer and will sauté onion and garlic, add the stock, carrots and celery and let come to a boil.  Once boiling I will add the meatballs and let the soup simmer.  15 minutes before we are ready to eat I'll boil the water for the pasta.  Once ready, spoon some pasta into a bowl, add the soup, and we're done!  Teddy's night, so he'll help setting the table, pouring the drinks, and clearing!

Friday: baked ziti.  Scott's pick.  Pretty easy to do ahead of time!  Not my favorite meal, so I'll roast some veggies.  I have butternut squash, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, all my favorites!

Saturday:  chicken chili.  This was such a big hit from last week we decided to have it again!

Sunday:  crispy halibut with steamed broccoli.  I'll broil the fish, but first bread it lightly with whole wheat Panko bread crumbs and some seasoning.  I like to use lemon pepper and drizzle a little olive oil infused with lemon on top.


I just bought a new cookbook for a family Christmas present and I'm excited to have some more recipe ideas.    Please feel free to share your favorite meals from your home!

Enjoy!

Donna

Sunday Smarts: the week at a glance

Today was especially hard to get motivated and think about next weeks' meals.  We spent most of the day reorganizing bedrooms and setting up the new lofts from my sister in Vermont.  Once all was in place, the kids and I sat down, planned our meals, and headed to the market.
This week I kept fairly simple because we have dentist, orthodontist, and various practices in the mix!  Many of the meals I can start before the kids arrive home and then finish close to dinner time.

Monday-grilled chicken tacos with avocado, beans, salsa, cheese and cilantro

Tuesday- meatloaf made with ground turkey, goat cheese, and BBQ sauce , mashed potatoes and string beans

Wednesday- chicken chili (a white, chili with onions and white beans)

Thursday- shrimp risotto with mushrooms, scallions and zucchini

Friday- tomato soup and grilled panini sandwiches

Saturday- make your own pizza

Sunday- sausage-spinach rice bowl made with sweet Italian turkey sausage, brown rice and baby spinach

Enjoy all!  Have a great week and contact me if you'd like any of the recipes.

Happy December!
Donna