Meal Plan #2

This week I wanted to make an easy crock-pot meal, as well as a pasta dish and I was craving a burger as well! So on this week's menu, we have Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans, Portobello Mushroom Pasta, and Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries. And the Cilantro Chicken lasted us till Wednesday! So I made the pasta dish on Thursday and the burgers on Friday and ate some leftovers for lunch. Hope you enjoy! Comment below if you try these recipes and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you!

Shopping List:

(This does not include spices or oils. Links to some ingredients are listed in the recipe as well as below. Use organic ingredients whenever possible...corn products are a must to avoid GMOs.)

• 6-8 organic chicken breasts (depending on the size of your family)
• 1 lime
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh basil
• 1 small bag frozen corn
• 7 garlic cloves
• Red onion
• 1 can black beans
• Tortillas
• Cheese
• Sour cream 
• 2-3 avocados
• 2 small bags of frozen edamame
• 1 box penne pasta (I like using a gluten-free option and this brand is my favorite)
• 2-3 large portobello mushrooms
• Rice wine vinegar
• 1-2 sweet potatoes
• 1 lb ground turkey
• Eggs
• Hamburger buns
• Lettuce
• 4 roma tomatoes

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1+ lime, juiced
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 small bag of frozen corn
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 finely chopped red onion
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Add everything to your crockpot and mix ingredients together. 

Cook in crockpot on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Serve with tortillas and dress with cheese, lettuce, avocados, salsa, sour cream...really anything that you would like!

*This is a great pre-make freezer meal! When I was pregnant with my first-born, I doubled this recipe  (split into two bags) and made it ahead of time, placing all ingredients in freezer bags and storing in freezer till we needed it. I labeled what it was and how to cook it. Came in so handy when my hubby had to take over in the kitchen! Simply thaw the night before and then dump in the crock pot and cook all day. So easy and delicious! 

**Use organic ingredients whenever possible

***Recipe from Over the Big Moon

Portobello Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients:

• 4 quarts water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• 4 TB extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 box penne pasta
• 2-3 large portobello mushrooms
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 TB rice wine vinegar (Don't use the brand in the picture! It's not bad, but the taste is not that great compared to what I had previously. The one I had last time I'm pretty sure was more of rice wine?? I'm not sure, but it was red and tasted much better!)
• 1 cup Roma tomatoes, chopped and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions:

1. Wash portobello mushrooms, remove the stalk and lift the outer skin from the cap by using a small knife or your fingers. It peels off easily. Slice the caps into quarter-inch pieces.
2. In a large saucepan, bring about 4 quarts of water to a full boil. Salt the water and add pasta and cook according to directions. 
3. In a small saucepan, cook frozen edamame according to package directions. 
4. In a large skillet, add about 2 TB EVOO, add mushrooms and sauce until they become soft. Add the minced garlic and rice wine vinegar. Stir. Cover and let cook over low heat for about 5 minutes.
5. Place edamame in skillet along with tomatoes and herbs and heat through. Pour mushroom mixture over pasta and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Serve with a little freshly grated parmesan if you like!

Veggies warming in skillet! Love the colors!

Top with a little fresh parmesan and it's ready!

*Use organic ingredients whenever possible
*Recipe adapted from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook

Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 3 egg whites
• 1 bell pepper (I like red for color)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Italian herbs
• Black pepper to taste
• Crushed red pepper to taste
• 1 tsp fresh cilantro
• Olive oil

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375º.
2) While oven preheats, start working on the sweet potato fries: peel the potato(s) and slice thinly.
3) Place in bowl and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

4) Place sweet potato slices on a foil-lined baking pan and cook for about 15 minutes at 375º.

5) While sweet potatoes are cooking, start working on the turkey burgers: mix ground turkey, egg whites, chopped bell pepper, and garlic.

 6) Add herbs, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and cilantro, and mix again.

7) Divide mix into 6 equally sized burgers. 

8) Place them on a baking sheet, also lined with foil and a bit of olive oil sprinkled on.

9) Before placing burgers in oven, flip sweet potatoes to cook the other side, and place back in oven.

10) Bake the burgers at 375º for 20-30 minutes, and sweet potatoes about the same (but check every 10 minutes to monitor burning).

11) Top burgers with lettuce, cheese, tomato, avocado, and anything else that you like!

*Use organic ingredients when possible

*Recipe courtesy of Jamie Eason

Supper Club - June "Smoking Challenge"

In the last Supper Club gathering, we (as in the wives) all decided that it was the men's turn to cook and have a little "smoked meat" challenge (aka the wives wanted a break from cooking!). And guess who was first up? Yup, yours truly! So to make it work for the men to smoke meat, it obviously had to happen on a weekend so they could be home and do all the work...well it didn't work that way for us so I was the one in charge of smoking the meat. Granted my hubby did marinate it and do all of the hard prep-work. I just smelled like a chimney when it was SC time! ;) We decided upon Pork Tacos! Yummy! So I diced up all the toppings for the tacos and made a big "topping bar" for everyone to pick what they wanted. (Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the topping bar. Boo.)

Here is the menu and the table setting:

We had it at the end of June, so decided to theme it up with the Fourth of July

In LOVE with my plates from Pioneer Women! Went perfectly with the theme.

The Menu

The menu included pico salsa and seasoned tortilla chips for an appetizer. Have to say, Market Street came in handy for this! I usually make EVERYTHING from scratch for Supper Club, but decided to cheat a bit this time!
For the main course, we served smoked pulled pork tacos with quinoa black bean salad on the side and roasted corn. My husband grilled corn on the cob and then we just ran a knife down the side to get all the kernels off. Very delicious and rustic!
For toppings for the tacos, we served the following: cilantro; pineapple salsa; pico salsa; cheddar cheese; feta cheese; cilantro-avocado cream sauce; avocado slices; red onion.
I tried out Joanna Gaines' recipe for lemon pie and it was AH-MAZING! So easy to make and so delicious!

Lemon Pie...simply delicious! 

Needless to say, the meal was a hit! Looking forward to seeing what the other guys "smoke" up for the next Supper Clubs! I will be hosting again in September so look for a post then!