Meat and veggies did some role-reversal this week. Read on for details!
Had in kitchen: Olive oil, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 can black beans, 1/4 block queso blanco, instant brown rice, pico de gallo, guacamole, Greek yogurt, handful shredded lettuce, 1/2 vidalia onion, 1 stick butter, Italian breadcrumbs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, tostadas,
Bought: 1 lb. ground pork, 1 lb ground chicken, 3 Macintosh apples, 1 head cauliflower, 1 bag clementines (for snacks), 1 green pepper, minced white onion, 5lb red potatoes (it was on sale in this size or I wouldn’t have bought this many at once!), 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 bunch green onions, 1 shallot, chopped kale, carton 1 dozen eggs, 28oz San Marzano peeled plum tomatoes, 1 box whole wheat thin spaghetti
Spent: $34.46 (aka $6.89/day for 3 meals per day)
Daily Breakfast: Breakfast Tostadas
Comments from Claire: I had so many leftover tostadas and instead of using them for dinner again, I decided to use them for breakfast! I scrambled eggs with some peppers and onions, and then added to the tostadas with cheese and pico de gallo. Yum!
MONDAY
Lunch: Weekend Leftovers
Dinner: Pork Taco Bowl
Comments from Claire: I had guac, pico de gallo, cheese, and black beans left over from the weekend and rice in the pantry, so I knew some type of taco bowl was in the cards for this week. I planned on using ground chicken or turkey, but since I was already buying it for tomorrow’s meatballs and it’s on the more expensive side for ground meat, I picked up ground pork. It’s about half the price and I thought it put a little twist on the typical taco bowl. After I cooked the rice and browned the meat with “homemade” taco seasoning (salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes), I put everything in a bowl and called it a night.
TUESDAY
Lunch: Taco Bowl
Dinner: Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs
Claire’s Quips: I made Marcella Hazan’s famous red sauce and my mom’s homemade meatball recipe (1-1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey, 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup dried Italian breadcrumbs, 1 egg beaten with 1/4 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Combine egg, milk, onions, salt, breadcrumbs and cheese in large mixing bowl. Add the meat, mix well, and form into 2-inch meatballs). I cooked them right in the sauce (15 minutes covered on steady simmer, then remove lid, stir, and simmer uncovered for another 15 minutes). I used ground chicken because my grocery store was out of ground turkey on a Sunday night, but they still tasted good!
WEDNESDAY
Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti
Dinner: Cast Iron Cauliflower Steaks with Blistered Tomatoes, Kale and Yogurt Sauce
Claire’s Quips: This was a recipe of my own invention–and it mostly worked out! I cut a head of cauliflower into “steaks” (I would say about half an inch thick, though next time I would have cut them thinner because they were a tad bit hard to bite into in the middle), and cooked them on a hot cast iron skillet with olive oil, I would say about 6-8 minutes on each side, until they had some nice char marks. Then I took them out and put them to the side, covered with tin foil. Add more olive oil to the pan and add grape tomatoes, cook for 5ish minutes, add kale and some minced garlic, and cook down until kale is nice and sauteed and the tomatoes are blistered. Squish some of them with the back of a spoon so they burst. Top the cauliflower with the tomato/garlic/kale mixture, and drizzle with yogurt sauce (I just whisked some Greek yogurt with milk and salt/pepper until it was the consistency I liked). I also ended up topping with some red pepper flakes for spice, and some Parmesan cheese. It was really tasty and very healthy!
THURSDAY
Lunch: Leftover Cauliflower Plate
Dinner: Grilled Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Greek Yogurt Potato Salad and Kale
Comments from Claire: A big bag of potatoes were on sale so I figured I would make my mom’s potato salad (plus I had a big container of Greek yogurt). It’s basically just boiled and cut red potatoes, mostly Greek yogurt with a little mayo, salt, pepper, chopped green onions, and some paprika. I also added some chopped shallot. I wasn’t sure what to pair it with, but knew I wanted to use something else from the week. I made the full meatball recipe, and decided to split it in half so I had half with the spaghetti and I kept half for this night. I grilled the meatballs on a grill pan to try something different (just a few minutes on each side) and added buffalo sauce after they were cooked, because I thought it would counteract the creamy mildness of the potato salad well. I added some kale to the plate just to get greens in too.
FRIDAY
Lunch: Leftover Meatballs and Salad
Dinner: Savory Crepes and Wine
Comments from Claire: Ok, I went out to eat for this dinner, but I feel like it’s a great idea for a homemade “treat” meal, so expect that in the future!
See you next week! To see what I’m eating in the meantime, follow me on Instagram or Twitter @ClaireLeaden
Nice recipe
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Thanks so much!
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[…] ingredients I needed to use up (they would’ve been bad in another day or so). Besides just as breakfast, another way I use my leftover tostadas is to break them all up and use them as tortilla chips for […]
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