Meals (7/5 – 7/9)

MEAL PLAN:

Tuesday (7/5):  Spaghetti & Turkey-balls

Wednesday (7/6):  Grilled Chicken with Grilled White Corn Mango Salsa.

Thursday (7/7):  Ground Turkey Chili with Black and Pinto Beans

Friday (7/8):  Big Spinach Salad with leftover Grilled Chicken

Saturday (7/9): AM: Eggs with Spinach, Green Bell Pepper, Onions & Avocado

Lunch: Leftovers (Chili, Spaghetti, etc)

PM:  Burgers (with Morning Star Grillers)

SHOPPING LIST:

• Ground Turkey
• 3 ears of White Corn
• Mangoes
• Bell Pepper
• Lime
• Black Beans
• Pinto Beans
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Avocado
• Eggs
• Morning Star Grillers
• Swiss Cheese
• Hamburger buns

I had on hand:

• Pasta
• TJ’s 3 Cheese Marinara
• Onion
• Garlic
• Feta
• Chicken
• Diced Tomatoes
• Simply Organic’s Chili Mix
• Salad Dressing
• Fixings for Burgers

This is how I plan our meals each week.. I go through my fridge, freezer and pantry and see what I have on hand, then I go through the weekly ad for Sunflower Market and see what’s on sale and in season (usually the same things!)  and go from there. When I’m shopping if there’s a great sale on something not on my list, I ‘ll usually buy it and freeze or store it for the future. This makes meal planning simpler but also fun because we eat in season.

I’ll be following up with posts for each meal (hopefully) so stay tuned!

I’m back!

What a month it’s been for me! I dropped off the face of the blogosphere around mid-May (finals) and haven’t had a chance to even log in since then. I took four classes in summer school (so I can graduate in December!), took 8 exams in 4 weeks, trained not one but two new girls at work, went on vacation, moved to a new apartment, and almost had a meltdown because with all that going on I hardly got a chance to cook, let alone eat a normal meal at a normal time.

This is what led me to add a new page to this blog called, “Menus, Shopping Lists & Recipes.” I’d go shopping, get a few things that looked good and were on sale and then I get back home and realize I couldn’t really do much with what I got. Then having no time, it was easier to get a not-so-healthy alternative on the go. Perhaps having it all figured it out will make it easier on me when things get real hectic again and maybe it will help someone else out there, too!

It feels good to be back and on the right track to health again! I’m so excited!

veggie soup

I was craving soup (crazy, I know, it was like 96 degrees here yesterday!) and had a ton of veggies on hand so this just kinda came together. I cooked some onion and garlic in a little butter.

Added some chopped carrots and yellow bell pepper.

Poured in chicken broth and broccoli,

let simmer for a while before throwing in a few handfuls of spinach.

I blended batches of the soup and added a couple of tablespoons of flax seeds.

I returned the blended soup to heat and added a tablespoon of heavy cream.

Then came the fun part, I put the soup in ramekins and covered with a slice of provolone cheese.

After a couple of minutes under the broiler, this was the result:

The soup was so good, we each had a second serving (skipped the cheese). For dessert we each had half of this adorable mini watermelon.

mmmahi mahi

Last week, Sunflower Market had mahi mahi for $3.99 / lb! I was all over that deal! We grilled the mahi mahi with a mango chipotle sauce I picked up at World Market earlier this week. We made the mango salsa by combining mango, minced onion, garlic and green bell peppers with avocado, cilantro, a little orange juice and few dashes of our favorite hot sauce. We served the fish with the salsa on top and grilled white corn on the side. We combined the leftovers to make a cold salad for the next day. This salsa really complimented the fish’s flavor and the whole meal was fresh and summery.

grilling

Summer is here! In southern Arizona a grill is a must have cooking untensil for the summer. It becomes waaaaay too hot to cook indoors and even though it’s hot outside it’s worth keeping your home cool. Also, if your lucky, your grill is near a pool and you can stay cool, too!

We marinated these chicken breast tenders with jamaican jerk and hot sauce and they came out spicy and crisp! We grilled the aspargus in foil with butter and lemon and garlic. Yum! We used the leftover chicken in spicy spinach salads!

Breakfast tostada

We made this tostada with some leftover black beans, zucchini, scrambled eggs, salsa, avocado and cilantro over a toasted corn tortilla. It was fresh and very satisfying. Yum!

desayuno delicioso (delicious breakfast)

hearty breakfast

It’s been so long since I’ve posted on here! I’ve been crazy busy at the office and the spring semester is almost over which equals crunch time! I haven’t stopped cooking or taking photos, I just haven’t been able to find the time or energy to put it all together for a post. I’m glad I found some time tonight in between a late-night cereal snack attack and bed time!

 

We made this hearty breakfast awhile ago and it was a great one! I made the black beans the same way I did here and we mixed the eggs with some chorizo I bought for another recipe. This was a protein-packed southwestern breakfast fit for a rey (king in Spanish)!

grilled tilapia and pineapple salsa

The weather today was perfect for grillin’! This little dinner was fantastic and super easy! We marinated the tilapia in some pineapple teryaki sauce, sprinkled pineapple slices with a little margarita salt and chili powder and threw them on the grill. Once the pineapple was done, we chopped it up with some mango, green and orange bell peppers, cilantro, lime and a splash of orange juice to make the salsa. Throw some salsa on top of the fish and you’re all set to dig in and did we ever. I can see us making this dinner a lot in the coming months when it gets too hot to cook inside.

Chik’n Parmesan

Last night we had planned on grilling tilapia and pineapple but it was windy and drizzly and weird weather after record highs last week so we postponed that dinner to tonight and I threw together a quick chik’n parmesan (from Leftovers for Lunch) with broccoli. It was very good!

For desert we had a LOT of my current obession:

This frozen yogurt is so so sooo good. I can’t get enough. I keep running out of spoons

I’m looking outside my window here at work and I’ve got a bright blue sky staring back at me so I’m pretty sure we’re on for tilapia tonight before the next little storm moves in.

I love Mondays!

This semester the boyfriend has class on Monday nights and I do not. I use this time to do the grocery shopping, laundry and other chores. I also usually like to make something really good for dinner and leftovers for lunches throughout the week. I got a ton done last night! I set Pandora to my Francoise Hardy station, and went to work! I’ll admit I took a few breaks.. I made and enjoyed several slices of caprese bruschetta and pinot grigio on my balcony with beautiful french music in the background. It was wonderful and relaxing and the evening was so productive.

For dinner I made Tortilla Soup. It was different than the way I usually make it but it was good different. Authentic tortilla soup has a very simple, delicious broth and it’s they type I usually make. Last night, however, I wanted to use up some leftover pinto beans and white corn and thought this would be the perfect way. It came out very spicy which we like and gets toned down with the sour cream and avocado.