Meal Plan Oct 15 - 18

Meatless Monday - Homemade Crepes

Tuesday - Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

Wednesday - Maple Baked Chicken, thanks to the recommendation of my friend at Mixing up Meals

Thursday - Pad Thai

Friday - Make your own pizza night

Creamy Dijon Chicken

Creamy Dijon Chicken

I have been in a Dijon mustard mood lately. I have made several recipes with this ingredient and I have been using Honey Dijon Dressing on my salads. Soooo yummy.

I loved this recipe and it was super fast and easy to make. I will definitely be making this again. I made it with a side of potatoes, but I think it would be good on some kind of Lemon/Garlic Parmesan Pasta.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (Left whole, cubed or flattened)2 garlic cloves, crushed
250ml cream
2tsp Dijon mustard
1tsp wholegrain mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to tastefresh Parsley to serve
olive oil for frying

• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken **I seasoned the chicken with some dry parsley, basil, salt, pepper and lemon pepper** until cooked through and browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Sautee the garlic until fragrant and softened.
• Add the cream and mustards and allow to simmer and reduce for 3 minutes.
• Add lemon juice and place the chicken back into the sauce.
• Season to taste and serve with the starch of your choice and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

Meal Plan Oct 7 - 11

Monday - Chili

Meatless Tuesday - Huevos Rancheros

Wednesday - Creamy Dijon Chicken, roasted potatoes and raw veggies

Thursday - Mac and Cheese with leftover chili in it

Friday - Went out to Ryan Duffy's for my Father in Law's 60th birthday

Saturday - Pumpkin Cheesecake for my parents Thanksgiving dinner

Vegetable and Barley Soup

This is my second recipe I am blogging about this week. I could blog about the recipe to the frozen meat pie....but once it had thawed, I realized it was APPLE pie. Good thing I had back up! We ended up eating Friday nights planned meal instead....plus yummy dessert!

So, this soup was another BIG keeper. It is almost identical to my tortellini soup, all I had to do was make a few adjustments. I added celery and barley and I replaced the chicken broth with vegetable broth. I made this the night before and I just added the spinach before serving. This would be a fantastic freezer meal.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 cups of chopped onion
4 Garlic cloves, minced
12 cups/3 L of Vegetable Stock (I used Organic)
14 oz can of Diced Tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cup of chopped carrot
1 1/2 cup chopped Zucchini with peel
1 cup of chopped peppers (I used red, yellow and orange)
1 cup of chopped celery
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp of Dried Rosemary
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 - 1 cup of Barley (I used 1/2 cup origianlly and it wasn't enought to my liking)
3 cups of fresh Spinach leaves

Instructions:

1. Heat cooking oil in Dutch Oven or large pot on medium high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 5- 10 minutes, stirring often, until onion is softened.

2. Add Barley, veggies, broth and spices. Stir and bring to a boil. Cook until Barley is fully cooked. I cooked mine for almost an hour. 
3. Add Spinach, stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Discard Bay leaves.

Chicken Pizzaiola - Only 6 ingredients!!

Chicken Pizzaiola (original recipe)

This supper was great! It used the bare minimum ingredients and I had them all on hand already. It would be great to make after you have made pizza so you can use the leftover ingredients in your fridge. It was also very fast to make and we will be making this again for sure.

The only adjustments I made was that I added some seasoning to the chicken before I cooked it.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 6 ounces each)
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella
• 2 ounces sliced pepperoni
• 8 ounces spaghetti

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chicken: Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Spread tomato sauce into a 9×13 baking dish. Spread Parmesan in a shallow dish. Trim chicken pat dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper *I added some dry  Italian seasoning, Parsley, Paprika and basil* and coat with Parmesan. Lay chicken on top of tomato sauce. Bake for 15 minutes.
2. Chicken: Sprinkle Mozzarella and pepperoni over the chicken. Increase oven temperature to 475 and continue to bake until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.
3. Spaghetti: Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve ½ cup cooking water, then drain and return to pot.
4. Spoon some sauce from the baking dish into the pasta and toss to combine. Add reserved cooking water as needed. Serve with chicken and remaining sauce.

Meal Plan Sept 30 to Oct 4

Monday - Chicken Pizzaiola (Only 6 Ingredients!!!)

Meatless Tuesday - Vegetable and Barley Soup (healthy and soooo good!)

Wednesday - Spicy Sausage Pasta Skillet (a family favourite and bursting in flavour)

Thursday - Meat pie (homemade frozen pie)

Friday - Steak, potatoes and fresh veggies

Vegetable Lo Mein

Vegetable lo mein

This was an okay recipe. It was easy and quick, but it was not bursting in flavour and didn't taste much different then most Asian noodle dishes I have made. It was still good, so I am going to blog about it because it is a good meatless recipe and it would be a great side dish with other Asian dishes. It also was a great lunch the next day at work.

I halved the recipe because it was just me and my man eating it. I also added some red pepper flakes for heat.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb Chinese Noodles *or any other kind of noodle*
2 tbsp olive oil
1 organic red pepper, chopped
1 organic yellow pepper, chopped
1 organic green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 cup fresh Thai Basil, optional
Bean Sprouts

SAUCE

1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup vegetable stock
4 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, with a wisk, mix the sauce ingredient and set aside.

Cook noodles according to package instructions. On the mean time, in a skillet, over medium to high heat, add the oil and stir-fry the peppers, ginger and onions for 4-5 minutes or until tender.

Add the noodles and scallions, then add the sauce (I added red pepper flakes to the sauce) and heat for 1-2 minutes or until sauce as thickened. Add the basil if using and serve immediately.