Menu Week 7/18-24

Meal One: Rosemary turkey burgers with pasta salad

Meal Two: Taco Salads

Meal Three: Grilled Chicken Breast with BBQ (baked) potatoes

Meal Four: Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and steamed green beans

Recipes:

Rosemary Turkey Burgers:

Mix together 1 c mayo, one sprig of fresh chopped rosemary and one minced clove of garlic. In a separate bowl combine half of mayo mixture with one pound ground turkey, season with salt and pepper. Form into four patties and grill 7 minutes per side. Then place a spoonful of mayo mixture on a toasted bun, top with patty, sliced tomato and fresh arugala.

Pasta Salad:

Cook 3/4 lb rotini pasta. Meanwhile combine your favorite combo of antipasto items: this time I chose kalamata olives, marinated mushrooms, feta/olive mix and sun dried tomatoes. I also added about 1/2 c minced mozzerella cheese, and 1 c sliced fresh basil leaves. In a small food processor or blender combine, 2 T red wine vinegar, 2-3T of reserved oil from sun dried tomatoes, 5 sun dried tomatoes, 1 t capers, 1 t garlic and 1 t each of salt and pepper. Pulse mixture and use as dressing for salad. Place all items in large bowl and combine, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and let cool in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Taco Salad:

Cook taco meat in skillet and season with your favorite taco seasoning. Heat one can of refried or black beans, if you are using black beans you can just mix them into the meat. If you have a taco shell maker, bake your flour tortilla in oven at 300 for about 20 minutes. If you don't have a special pan you can use an oven safe bowl or just crunch chips on top of salad. Layer chopped romaine, diced tomatoes, diced red onion, chopped avocado, then meat, cheese and beans. Then top with sour cream and salsa.

Grilled Chicken and baked potatoes on the Grill:

Marinate chicken breasts in your favorite marinade, I just use bbq sauce and montreal steak seasoning. Wrap potatoes in foil. Heat grill and put potatoes on grill first and turn every 15 minutes. They need to cook for about 45-60 minutes. Place chicken on grill during last 20 minutes of cooking, grill about 10 minutes per side, depending on size of chicken breasts, int. temp of 165. I would also serve this with a small salad.

Spaghetti with meat sauce:

This is pretty basic. I like to saute some diced onion with a pound of burger in a large skillet, then drain any fat that may accumulate. Add your favorite jarred tomato sauce, I like Muir Glen, but whatever you like. In the meantime cook pasta in salted pasta water, remember to add the salt after the water has come to a boil, that way you won't increase the boiling time. Make a nice green salad on the side and steam fresh/frozen green beans and toss with a small amount of olive oil, pepper and spike.

Shopping List:

chicken breasts

ground turkey burger

2 lb ground burger

cheddar cheese

black or refried beans

lettuce

arugala

tomatos

onions

avocado

green beans

potatoes

antipasto combo

basil

rosemary

flour tortillas

burger buns

pasta, rotini and spaghetti

sour cream

salsa