What We're Eating This Week

I am going to keep on posting these because I have heard some have gotten some use out of these.  I think meal planning is a chore for all of us!  So, if I am already doing the work, I may as well share.  Use some or all of the recipes, it's up to you!  But, the recipes I have posted thus far (and will be posting all this month) are tried and true recipes at our house.  These are regular hits.  The kids love them and they are all vegetable-centric.

I am also going to include some of our favorite snack recipes that are regulars for our home.  Our primary snacks throughout the day are fruits, but I also make a special snack either once a week or every other week.   A snack I am featuring this week are our favorite granola bars.  These last no time at our house.  They have a lot of protein though, and are excellent to bring with us on hikes.   They are ridiculously delicious!  So, we double this recipe or they would only last a day or so at our house!

Peanut Butter and Honey Granola Bars

from the Detoxinista blog:

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats

• ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter (unsalted) (make sure the only ingredient in your peanut butter is peanuts)

• ½ cup honey

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the honey to a boil. Set a timer, and allow the honey to continue boiling for 1 minute. In the meantime, place the oats in a large bowl and set aside. Remove from the pan of honey from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and salt.
3. Immediately pour the warm mixture over the oats, and use a spatula to stir well, coating the oats evenly. As the mixture cools, it will become sticky and difficult to mix, so be sure to move quickly!
4. Transfer the mixture to the lined loaf pan, and press HARD to pack it into the pan. Pressing firmly will ensure that the bars stick together well later. Place the pan in the fridge or freezer to cool, then use a large knife to cut the bars.

Notes: We store these in the fridge, and they are gone within a few days.  Also, we usually switch out some of the oats with cashews or sunflower seeds or both.  This adds even more protein.  We typically use 1/2 to 1 cup of cashews and then use oats for the remaining of the 2 cups.  You can sub sunflower butter if you have a peanut allergy.  These are completely gluten free, quick and easy to make and delicious!!!!

Here is this week's dinner meal plan:

I made the chicken enchiladas from last week's post this weekend.  We have the 2nd casserole dish of enchiladas left so we will start our week off with those leftovers.

Monday:  Chicken Enchiladas and Mango Salsa Leftovers

I love how colorful this meal is.  And it is equally as delicious!

Tuesday:  Baked Southwestern Eggrolls: This recipe is an excellent way to get your non-veggie lovers to eat and love veggies.    You can either use store-bought egg roll wrappers (you can find some that are pretty clean--especially if you go to an Asian market.)  But Whole foods and HEB (and even target and walmart) carry them.   You may need to ask an employee at the super market where to find them, because every store puts them in a different place.  The ingredients aren't in line with the "rules" we follow, but every now and then it's ok to break the rules, right?  We aren't perfect.  You can also make egg roll wrappers very easily: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/22532/egg-roll-wrappers. Making them is a way we get away with following all of our real food rules.  It just depends on how much time you want the meal to take.

Baked Southwestern Eggrolls Recipe:

INGREDIENTS: 

 2 cups frozen organic corn, thawed

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped organic spinach, thawed and squeezed dried

1 1/2 cups of monterey jack cheese, shredded

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained

4 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne red pepper

1 package (21) egg roll wrappers

 **1 egg beaten for sealing egg roll (or you can use water--that's what I usually do)

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers. Place ~1/4 cup mixture in the center of one egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling. Fold sides toward center over filling and continue to roll tightly to seal (see directions on egg roll wrapper). Using your finger, moisten remaining corner with egg. Repeat. Place seam-side down on a baking sheet coated with parchment paper. Brush tops of egg rolls lightly with olive oil. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until lightly brown. Turn them halfway through baking.

Serve warm with salsa, guacamole and/or sour cream.

We will eat these with chips and salsa, and maybe also add another vegetable (roasted) or a side salad. 

Wednesday:  Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins   You are going to LOVE this meal. 

Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins Recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 3/4 pound (about 2 small) boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 cups olive oil
• 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 3 whole chipotle pepper, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 (half a 10oz bag) cups spinach
• 5 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
• chopped cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash your sweet potatoes and prick all over with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until fork tender. Place your chicken in a baking dish and rub with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in the oven with the potatoes and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool and shred the chicken with a fork or your hands. When the sweet potatoes are done cut in half and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
2. In a medium size bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers, oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and wilt the spinach (this can also be done in the microwave). Toss the spinach and shredded chicken together, set aside and keep warm.
4. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel, leaving a medium size layer of flesh inside with the peel so that it can stand up on its own (I reserved the remaining flesh, for another use) and place in a baking dish. Brush the skins with with a little of the chipotle sauce and bake for 5-10 minutes until nice and crisp. While the skins bake mix the spinach, chicken and chipotle sauce together. Remove skins from the oven and stuff with the chicken mixture, top with shredded cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the skins are hot and crisp. Serve with fresh chopped cilantro (and greek yogurt) if desired.

Notes:  I put all the sweet potatoes that I remove from the skin in a big bowl and mash them with some honey and cinnamon.  They are delicious!   If you want to make them creamy, you can add some butter as well and blend them until fluffy with a hand blender.  I often add a couple more potatoes to this recipe and adjust the quantities of the remaining ingredients so that we can have leftovers the next day.  These taste even better the next day!!

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Chopped Salad, with quinoa, apples and sweet potatoes:  This is my favorite salad. My family knows it well because I always make it a big family gatherings---on July 4th or even Thanksgiving.  It is always a hit.  I pair it with my homemade maple balsamic dressing.  With the apples and sweet potatoes and then the sweet dressing, even the kids devour this meal.

Chopped Quinoa Salad with Apples and Sweet Potatoes Recipe:

Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

• 2/3 of a cup of organic quinoa

• 2 large sweet potatoes cut into small cubes

• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

• salt/pepper

• 2 large apples

• 7-8 cups of packed veggies – split between kale, romaine, spring greens and spinach or whatever you want (I like to chop these up)

• 1/4 cup of parsley

• 1/4 cup of red onion sliced or diced

Instructions

1. Set your oven to 400 and let it preheat

2. Put a dab of olive oil in your pot and add the quinoa to let it cook for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water to the quinoa and let it boil

4. Tun it to a simmer and let it cook for 14-17 minutes. Stir the quinoa halfway through. Keep the pot covered

5. Grab a rimmed baking sheet and place your potatoes on it. Drizzle the olive oil over top and sea salt as required.

6. Bake in one of the top racks of the oven for 22-23 minutes until crispy

7. Mix the quinoa, potatoes, apples, greens, onion and your favorite dressing (mine is the homemade maple balsamic mentioned above) in a large mixing bowl.

8. Serve fresh or pack in your salad container for a quick lunch tomorrow!

Each serving has 7.3 grams of protein.

My maple balsamic dressing: I really don't have exact amounts.  I do it to taste by simply mixing a good quality olive oil, with some balsamic vinegar and then add pure maple syrup to taste.  I would say the portions are close to a ratio of 4 times balsamic vinegar to 1.5 olive oil to 1 maple syrup.  You can also sprinkle in some sea salt or even add a teaspoon or tablespoon of dijon mustard.  You will have a lot left over of this going into the weekend!