Sunday, November 2, 2008

Weekly Menu Plan

I love to cook and I'm always on the look out for new recipes. Since I have enjoyed seeing the menu plans of others, I thought that I would begin to share mine. We try to eat healthy, as we have worked very hard to get to a healthy weight. So, most of my menu plans are under 500 calories a serving size. If you'd like a recipe, leave a comment and I'll post it for you! I'm toying with the idea of doing a cooking blog(check out the poll!), we shall see....

Monday: Polynesian Chicken with Pineapple (this I got from Juan Carlos on the Food Network) and Hoisin Couscous (this I made up on my own)

Tuesday: Chili (I have modified a Cooking Light chili recipe to suit our tastes, for now! Plus it's only 300 cal. for a cup of it!) with Double corn cornbread (I add frozen corn to cornbread mix. We only eat 1 each, so usually I bake the whole box and freeze the ones we don't eat)

Wednesday: Spicy Orange Shrimp with Sweet Potato Noodles (Another great Cooking Light Recipe! I may have to make it with pork though if shrimp doesn't go on sale.)

Thursday: Spaghetti w/ Ground Turkey (I had plenty of tomatoes to make sauce this year, so now we have to use it!, ground turkey is lower in fat and calories than ground beef, so it helps to keep us healthy)

Friday: Black Beans and Rice with Turkey Sausage (this is a new recipe for me, so I'll have to let you know about it.)

Saturday: Penne and Sausage with Peppers and Onions (I'm not sure how this is going to come together, since at this point it's all in my head!)

Sunday: Jerk Chicken w/ broccoli and baked sweet potato (This is one of my hubby's favorites. I got the recipe for the spice blend from the web when we lived in Peru and we used it ever since.)
There's my plans for the week. It's going to be good eats here at our house!

3 comments:

Dina said...

Hi, my name is Dina. I enjoy reading your blog. I'm impressed that you're educating yourself at the same time as your daughter!
I'd love to see your jerk chicken and orange shrimp recipes.
Cheers,
Dina

Paige said...

Dina--

Here they are...

Jerk chicken-I just coat the chicken with jerk seasoning combined with a spash of cider vinegar and cook till done.
Jerk seasoning:
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp chile powder (more/less)

Spicy Orange Shrimp(serves 4):
I adapted this from a cooking light recipe.
1 1/2 lb of shrimp (peeled/deveined)
1 TBSP cornstarch
dash of salt and pepper
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/8 tsp grated orange rind
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP honey
1 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1 TBSP chile paste with garlic
1 TBSP minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chopped green onions

Put shrimp in a med bowl and sprinkle with cornstarch, salt and pepper, toss and set aside. Combine juice, rind, soy sauce, honey, vinegar and chile paste, stir well. Meanwhile heat a skillet over med heat. Coat with spray oil, add ginger and garlic, stir-fry for 15 sec. Add shrimp mixture, stir-fry for 3 min. Add juice mixture, cook for 2 min until sauce thickens and shrimp is cooked. Add onions and serve over noodles(I use sweet potato noodles, but you could use udon or spaghetti noodles).

Hope you enjoy!

Dina said...

Thanks! Also, I wanted to let you know that I loved your habitat poster idea, so we've been doing the same thing. What a great way to help them remember about the different habitats as we continue to learn about animals!