Dinners Aug. 26- Sept. 1

I have said this many time, I LOVE having dinners planned for the week!  It gives my husband and I something to look forward to in the evenings.  Cooking dinners beside him is rewarding in my book.  It gives us time to not focus on work, what events we have to go to on the weekend, and just be ourselves and make delicious, mostly healthy, meals.

This week we are using only meats that we have had frozen so as not to go over our monthly grocery budget.  We had $42 bucks left for this weeks meals. (oops - that means I overspent!)  Luckily, I made it out of the grocery store with about $11 to spare.  Phew!  I went to Aldi and Schnucks and only bought one thing that wasn't on my list, a jar of raspberry jelly.  I couldn't resist when I saw it on sale and checked the ingredients to only find raspberries, concentrated grape juice and fruit pectin (yay for no added cane sugars or fructose!)

On the menu this week:

Meal 1 - Turkey Burgers (see below)
Meal 2 - Fish Taco's
Meal 3 - Spicy chicken with Quinoa (based partially off this Rachel Ray dish)
Meal 4 - Shrimp Stir Fry
Meal 5 - Spaghetti - Neal's will be with marinara and mine with a mixture or spices since I still can't have tomatoes :(



Meal 1 - Turkey Burgers
Neal makes THE BEST BURGERS EVER!  Seriously, no other burger compares.  He puts garlic spices, salt, pepper, oats, siracha sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.  He never measures the ingredients, instead just going by what he 'feels' is the right amount.  These always turn out delicious!

For the turkey burgers, he cooked them on the stove.  If they are beef burgers, he will cook them on the grill.

Since I can't have ketchup (no tomatoes) I decided I would grate up some carrots and combine them with a little honey and balsamic.  I had some coarse ground mustard on the buns and some lettuce for more crunch and some feta cheese for a kick of flavor!

Amazing!

Meal 2 - Fish Tacos
I wanted some veggies to go along with our tacos, so on the stove top, I warmed up some corn, peppers and beans with a little spices.  I put a sliver of butter in another pan, enough to barely coat the bottom.  Then I put my tilapia on that pan and sprinkled seasoning as the fish cooked on one side, flipped, and seasoned again.  Served with sour cream on whole wheat tortillas.

Meal 3 - Spicy Chicken with Quinoa
YUMMY!  We made extras for lunches.

Ingredients

1 C dry quinoa

2 lbs chicken, cut in to bite sized pieces

1.5 T Oil - I used 1 T coconut and .5 T truffle oil

2 peppers (I had yellow and red)

Green chilies (I use the small can)

4 garlic cloves

1 t ground red pepper flakes

1 T Siracha sauce (or other hot sauce)

20 leaves fresh basil

1 T fresh chives

 

Cook your quinoa according to packaged directions. 

Warm a pan on medium and then add your oil and chicken.  Cook 3-4 minutes or until chicken turns white and is almost all the way cooked. 

Add your peppers, green chilies, garlic, red pepper flakes and siracha sauce.  Turn your stove down to low and let your dish simmer for at least 10 minutes, more if you want more saturated flavor.

Right before serving, add your basil and chives.  Cook until the basil leaves are wilted.

Serve over your quinoa.

 

ENJOY!

 

I added 2 dollops of organic yogurt to mine so it wasn't as spicy...doctors orders :-/

 

Meal 4 - Shrimp Stir Fry

Stir fry is one of the easiest meals.  Take frozen veggies and heat them up in a pan.  Cook your shrimp, or take precooked peeled shrimp and add them to the pan once the veggies are thawed.  I like to add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some stir fry sauce.  I don't have a favorite yet and am still looking for a healthier sauce. 

Do you have a healthy stir fry sauce?

Do you enjoy cooking with other people, or are you a solo chef?