What's for Dinner?

sarenu1

I need some ideas for next week.

Monday: Chicken salsa tacos

Tuesday: left overs

Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff

Thursday: Chicken Cheese Quesadillas

Friday: ?

And as a bonus, this is a recipe for awesome turkey burgers:

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/pesto-turkey-burgers/

Skip the second 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt and add an egg as a binder.  They are awesome.

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sarenu1

SecretAgentKate said:

Monday: waffles and fruit

Tuesday: left overs

Wednesday:  cajun rice & summer sausage

Thursday: meatball subs

Friday: fish tacos

Saturday: grilled chicken salad

i feel like we eat the same 10 meals over and over again

Same here.  Chicken Tacos are usually my go to meal when I have no idea what I want to make.  Plus I can do several things with the leftovers (salad, quesadillas, more tacos).  I haven't tried doing a soup with them yet.

stoneycakes

We're having Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner tonight.  I use the Pioneer Woman recipe.  I'm making a bunch of substitutions in it tonight, though, because we're doing the Whole 30.

Tomorrow night DH is grilling.  Chicken breasts and veggies.

There will definitely be a taco salad or two for dinners this week.  I make a garden salad, top it with taco meat and make a dressing by adding mayo or olive oil and lime juice to salsa.  Yummy.

I don't know what else we're having this week.  We just went shopping yesterday and basically threw a bunch of veggies into the cart.  I'll have to get creative!

km_md

I think we are either going to do chicken, veggies and rice or breakfast for dinner and have bacon and eggs.

I cooked so many different meals when I was pregnant, especially in the few weeks I had off from work before E was born. Now I'm in a slump and I actually miss trying out new recipes and cooking good meals in general.

stoneycakes

SecretAgentKate said:

Monday: waffles and fruit

Tuesday: left overs

Wednesday:  cajun rice & summer sausage

Thursday: meatball subs

Friday: fish tacos

Saturday: grilled chicken salad

i feel like we eat the same 10 meals over and over again

I know the feeling!  When I get in a rut, I like to browse through my cookbooks and force myself to follow a recipe.  I almost always pick up something new from it.   I love buying old cookbooks at yard sales and used book stores and I have a small collection.  Food is so trendy that sometimes we forget all the good stuff our moms and grandmothers used to make!

stoneycakes

Oh cool @stringy813! We'll have to share ideas.  So far, I've been trying to make what we would regularly eat for dinner, but with substitutions for the stuff we're not eating right now.  For example, I made an American Chop Suey, but I added chunks of eggplant to the meat sauce instead of pasta.  I also made a Bolognese sauce (obviously without wine or cream) and we ate it on both eggplant noodles and cauliflower rice.  DH especially liked that one.

Tonight, I'm making the Tikka Masala sauce with coconut milk instead of cream.  I already know that's tasty because I used to make it that way when I was dairy free.  We'll have that on spiced cauliflower rice and top it with fresh cilantro and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice.

I made a Mexican meal with grilled chicken, onions and peppers (fajita style) which we topped with salsa and guacamole and ate with sliced plantains sauteed in coconut oil.  That one was really good and very filling with the starchy plantains.

Breakfast works really well with the Whole 30 thing, too.  My favorite has been a flannel hash I made with leftover mashed parsnips, carrots, and pot roast served with a couple of fried eggs on top.  I've also made home fries out of sweet potatoes.

Oh and one of my favorite meals has been steak with a chimichurri style sauce and sauteed radishes.  You wouldn't believe how yummy sauteed radishes are and they only take a few minutes to cook.

Amores0121

Monday: Crockpot Black bean & Corn chicken

Tues: Pesto pasta with shrimp, bread, and salad (really dont' feel like cooking this tonight)

Wed: Hotdogs, beans, veggies

Thurs: pick up something

Fri: Chicken quesadillas

bumpuser9353653

We just finished up all the leftovers, so time to start from scratch again.
I'm envious of all you guys able to meal plan for the week. We are totally not that organized.

Tonight, we're making a rotisserie pork loin with a dry rub.

I think DH is thawing out some chicken thighs, so that will be one day this week. We'll do fish or shrimp one night as well. And we bought a whole wheat pizza dough, so well prob make pizza on Friday.

Saturday is Rae's bday, so that'll be burgers and dogs on the grill.

stoneycakes

@stringy813, I'm on my 9th/2nd day, lol.  We did it for a week, but then decided to take a week off because we had a lot of family/friend things coming up and we didn't want to have to deal with not eating everywhere we went.  So we just started over on Sunday.  I make a lot of simple things, too, but I find that we both enjoy meals a lot more if we put a little more effort into the cooking.  It helps us feel less deprived.

If you have a food processor, the cauliflower rice is super simple.  You cut the cauliflower into chunks and steam it for about 5 minutes.  Then put it through the grating blade in your food processor.  I add a little olive oil and salt and pepper to it.  I honestly enjoy it as much as regular rice, but it's definitely not exactly the same.

I use this recipe for the eggplant noodles: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/eggplant-pasta-recipe.html

The recipe includes a sauce, but I just followed the directions for the eggplant part and added my own sauce.

The flannel hash was made from leftovers.  It was boiled parsnips and carrots mashed together with a potato masher.  I actually made this one on our cheat week so I used butter in them, but you could easily substitute ghee, olive oil or coconut oil.  I mixed them with some chopped up leftover pot roast and seasoned it with a little poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.  Then I crisped it up like hash browns in a nonstick frying pan.  It was seriously good.

stoneycakes

That sounds really good, MK.

km_md

@stoneycakes‌ thanks for sharing all of that! The cauliflower rice sounds delicious. I'm definitely going to give that one a try.

stoneycakes

@stringy813, it seems like the cauliflower would get mashed, but it really does come out like rice.  It's like a magic trick.

bumpuser10179393

I've also had luck using a cheese grater with the cauliflower to "rice it" I grate it raw and then steam it in a pan. Makes great fried rice.

stoneycakes

linewifekat said:

I've also had luck using a cheese grater with the cauliflower to "rice it" I grate it raw and then steam it in a pan. Makes great fried rice.

Oh that's a good idea!  The recipe I used said you could use a hand grater and I was all like "How are you going to hold steaming hot cauliflower up to a grater to grate it????"

TJ1979

I food pro my cauliflower raw, then cook it.

stoneycakes

ovenrack said:

What is food pro? And, you guys seem so organized. I have chicken thighs and baby bok choy... Any recommended recipes? I also have cauliflower.

Are they boneless?  Something really simple I do with boneless, skinless chix thighs is pour a little vinaigrette over them, top with some bread crumbs and bake them.  I do it at 350 for I think about 40-45 min. Obviously check to make sure they're done It's easy and yummy.

TJ1979

ovenrack said:

What is food pro?

And, you guys seem so organized. I have chicken thighs and baby bok choy... Any recommended recipes?

I also have cauliflower.

Food pro = food processor. Mh does the cooking. We have fish tacos, pot roast, chicken and feta sausages, and those things @CLLDLL‌ told us about on the menu.
Hey @CLLDLL‌, do you mix the sauerkraut in with the meat or layer it inside the dough?

Mandmeesh

We made challah bread French toast and yogurt fruit smoothies for dinner tonight. M would not eat the French toast? Wth

Into+the+Kitty

@mandmeesh I'm sorry to tell you this but something is clearly wrong with your son.

TJ1979

I'll eat M's French toast @Mandmeesh‌. I French toast and can't seem to conquer it.

Crepes I can handle like a pro. Wedding cakes? No problem. French toast or scrambled eggs? Disaster!

Mandmeesh

Into+the+Kitty said:

@mandmeesh I'm sorry to tell you this but something is clearly wrong with your son.

I was worried about this.

TJ, I'll send you some

bumpuser10179393

We ended up having pork chops, salad, macaroni cheese, and dinner croissants. I stayed home from work today and it was nice to have a hot meal ready for my husband when he got home and not be exhausted from the day. 

TJ1979

Mk all of that sounds so delicious! But it seems too simple. Just chicken and OJ?

TJ1979

That really looks awesome MK. I wonder how it would work with just chicken and broccoli? Should I add the broc later?

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Mandmeesh

@charmingthemoon‌ why do you eat chicken now? Just wondering bc I'm a vegetarian too

ElleBeeDub

This week was 

Monday: Coconut Braised Chickpeas with Spinach served over Roasted Sweet Potatoes 

Tuesday: Tortellini Soup 

Wednesday: Veggie Burgers 

Thursday: Leftovers 

Friday: Red Kidney Bean Curry

 @RugbyMamma‌ I'm not really on top of it to menu plan weekly. What works for me is to use a paper calendar (like the book kind that goes week-by-week). If I'm ever just sitting watching tv, or if I come across a recipe that sounds good, I'll plug it in somewhere. Sometimes I'll have menus for the next two months planned, sometimes I don't know what we're eating that night, but overall it keeps me more organized. It also helps me see when we last had xyz meal so I can kinda diversify

bumpuser9353653

For those that love crockpots - ever heard of the Wonderbag? DH came across it and we bought one on Amazon.

Essentially, it's an insulated bag that you put your cook pot in and it cooks your food like a slow cooker, but without having to leave it plugged in all day. And for each one purchased, one is donated to a family in need in Africa (where it was invented).

We've used it a few times and really like it!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ESI96SW

CLLDLL

@TJ1979 I mix the sauerkraut in. I think it would be fine layered too though. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I spent most of my evening in the basement. We had some pretty nasty storms go through. Everyone's ok, but my sis's car is totalled and a huge tree is currently laying half on her house half in front of her door.

Our menu is/was homemade pizza, rosemary pork chops with rice, marinated cube steak with baked potatoes, nachos, and last night was super fancy -- Tyson chicken nuggets and Ore Ida fries. I blame the weather.

TJ1979

No worries @clldll. I'm just glad everyone is ok. My goodness, how scary!

GerardSyreeta

Monday: Spaghetti w/Marinara sauce & garlic bread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Hamburgers & sweet potato fries

Thursday: Tacos & black beans

Friday: Probably takeout or fast food, going out of town 

bumpuser9353653

@Mapleme‌ - essentially, you prep your meal in a large pot on the stove (we use either a cast iron Dutch oven or our chili pot) and once it's up to a boil for 5-10min, you transfer the whole covered pot into the bag and close it up and let it sit.

You do generally need a good liquid base so that you can get it up to a boil to retain the heat, but not too much because the liquid won't boil off as much as in a crock pot where it's exposed to constant heat.

We've made pot roast, chipotle chili, and a Spanish chicken and rice dish. The pot roast could have been a little more tender, bit the other dishes turned out very tasty.

The bag comes with a recipe book, or you can see what they have online. It'll give you a sense on types of recipes that work well.

stoneycakes

charmingthemoon said:

I am just transitioning to eating chicken after 15 years of being veg. When I eat it I still have to surround it with veggies to make it not too overwhelming. I am about to serve it for lunch. I will let you know how it is.

You might already be doing this, but may I suggest that you find yourself a really good local source of chicken?  It's worth the extra money, especially if you don't eat much of it.  It tastes so much better than the grocery store kind.  None of those off flavors that can sometimes be present in the factory farmed stuff.