Week Menu 3/7-3/13P

Wow, back from a ten day vacation, and I'm pretty sure all I did was eat junk. So needless to say I need to have some seriously healthy home cooked meals for a couple weeks. So there are five meals for this week, lets see how we do.

Meal One: Pasta with Escarole and Roasted Broccoli

Meal Two: Fish Tacos with Radish Slaw and Pepper Salad

Meal Three: Cauliflower Soup with Pancetta crumbles and salad

Meal Four: Buffalo Burgers with Blue cheese crumble and Oven Fries

Meal Five: Butternut squash Soup and Salad (Friday meal, it's lent you know)

Recipes:

Pasta with Escarole: go to foodtv.com for recipe, easy and quick

Fish Tacos: recipe on week 2/14

Pepper Salad: chop 1/2 red onion, 3 bell peppers (any colors), hand full of fresh cilantro, 2 celery stalks, and 2 roma tomatoes. Mix together with one drained and rinsed can of black beans. Toss with dressing of 1t cumin, 1t brown sugar, 1/4 c olive oil (sometimes I use less) and 2T fresh lime juice. Then salt/pepper to taste. You can serve it as is, or over mixed greens, your choice.

Cauliflower Soup: I use the Rachel Ray recipe, found on foodtv.com, then I just bake some of the left over pancetta from the pasta dish then just crumble over the soup.

Buffalo Burgers: I buy pre-made burger patties from Trader Joes, then grill them and top with crumbled blue cheese right at the end, you could also use some bacon or pancetta on this, that would be yummy.

Oven Fries: Dice or slice up potatoes, depending on how many people. Drizzle with small amount of olive oil, then sprinkle with pepper, salt and herb de Provence. Slide onto a Pam sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 425 for about 30-40 minutes, tossing once.

Butternut Squash Soup: 2T unsalted butter, 1 diced onion, 3 lb squash in 1/2 inch cubes, 5 c chicken broth, 2 sprigs of thyme, pinch of nutmeg and 1/2 c heavy cream.

Melt butter in large dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, 5 minutes. Stir in squash, broth, thyme, and nutmeg, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until squash is tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Remove thyme sprigs, and puree soup either in batches in the blender or with an immersion blender. Return soup to pot and stir in cream. Bring back to a simmer, then remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Shopping list

Cauliflower

broccoli

salad mix

potatoes

celery

onions

red onion

3 bell peppers

roma tomatoes

cilantro

butternut squash

thyme

jalapeno

radishes

limes

red jalapeno

escarole

pancetta

buffalo burgers

cod, or other white fish

black beans

blue cheese

parmesan cheese

pasta

pine nuts

tortillas, corn

burger buns, I like the sandwich thins

chicken broth