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.
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