Week Menu 7/12-17

Wow, coming home from vacation makes it really hard to get back into the swing of things, but it also makes me really want to eat some veggies.

Meal One: Chinese Chicken Salads, with a side of stir fried veggies over rice.

Meal Two: Teriyaki beef with edemame and peas over brown rice

Meal Three: BBQ chicken salads

Recipes:

Chinese Chicken Salad:

Top a mix of shredded 2 parts shredded romaine and one part shredded cabbage with shredded carrot, scallions, edemame, mandarin orange slices, toasted almonds and shredded chicken. Toss all ingredients with your favorite sesame dressing. Meanwhile stir fry a couple handfuls of your favorite veggies, like snap peas, carrots and broccoli in a little sesame oil, adding a little garlic and ginger during the last couple of minutes.

Teriyaki Beef with edemame and peas over brown rice

2lb flank, round or blade steak, sliced thin against the grain

black pepper

2 T veg oil

1/2 c soy sauce

1/2 c sugar

2 T mirin, sherry or white wine

2 t cornstarch

2 t fresh grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/8-1/4 t red pepper flakes

2 scallions, sliced thin

large handful each of frozen peas and edemame

Prep the sauce ingredients and assemble sauce while beef browns (soy, sugar, mirin, cornstarch, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes). Pat steak dry with paper towels and season with pepper. Heat 1 T of oil in large skillet over med-hi heat until just smoking. Brown half the steak on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer steak to clean bowl, and repeat with remaining oil and steak. Add sauce to skillet and return to med-hi heat, simmer, scraping up any brown bits until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add steak, veggies and any accumulated juices to skillet and continue to simmer until steak and veggies are heated through. Sprinkle with scallions and serve over brown rice. I found some super yummy and easy to make brown rice in a microwave bag at trader joes, you should try it.

BBQ Chicken Salads:

2 chicken breasts, in a large bag with 2-4 T bbq sauce

shredded lettuce

shredded cheddar cheese

diced tomato

diced red onion

diced/sliced avocado

black beans

corn

pico de gallo

Either grill, bake (425 for 25 minutes) or "george" the two chicken breasts. Let cool slightly once cooked through and then slice at an angle. Assemble salads, base of lettuce then in sections of each of your favorite toppings, mine are the ones above. Then top with sliced chicken breasts. This salad is good with a little ranch dressing on the side, but I usually don't even need that.

Shopping List

Chicken breasts (enough for both salads)

round or flank steak

cheddar cheese

lettuce

cabbage

tomato

onion

avocado

scallions

carrots

edemame

snap peas

broccoli

frozen peas

mandarin oranges

black beans

corn

pico de gallo

brown rice