What’s for dinner this week and why:
Menu:
- Chicken Alfredo pasta with broccoli
- Greek salad with chicken and toasted pita
- Avgolemono soup
- Pork Tenderloin with potatoes and roasted vegetables
- Bean and cheese burritos
So last week we ended up eating a lot of red meat/ processed meats (Mother’s Day, I made a steak skillet thing, roast beef sub)- this week I want to focus more on lean proteins. It’s supposed to be really hot today and warmer for most of the week, so I know I don’t want to have the oven on too too much.
When meal planning, I usually start with my proteins. Knowing I won’t want to cook as much, I bought a rotisserie chicken. This is great cause I can get at least 3 meals out of it, I’ll use one breast for the salad, the other for the alfredo pasta and then the dark meat and bones for the soup. The pork tenderloin was on sale for like $5 and they’re easy to make tasty. In case we’re feeling like we’re eating too heavily, we also have a TON of beans, so our back up meal will likely be rice and beans or bean and cheese burritos.
Trent requested the chicken alfredo, and it’s been more than 3 months since we last had it, creamy pastas are once in awhile dinners. Broccoli is the classic vegetable pairing, the more bitter vegetal flavors shine through all the cream and cheese. I'm making this as is, I could doctor it up to be more nutrient dense by adding in more veg, using cashew cream instead of heavy cream, or using a whole wheat pasta, but then it won't quite hit the spot. I'd rather enjoy it, be satisfied, and do it again in a few months.
Avgolemono soup is a Greek lemon chicken and rice soup. Growing up, there was this restaurant called Mythos on Main Street in Brockport, and this soup was one of their menu standards. It's something I still crave and try to recreate. Its broth based and loaded with vegetables and herbs. It's thickened with cooked rice and tempered eggs. It’s a really sunny soup that’s good for warmer weather.
Those were the two dinners I actually want to make the most, so the chicken salad will use up the rest of the chicken, and be very nutrient dense. I typically will include tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, red bell pepper, chickpeas and feta with Greek salads. Last week I tried to make Arayes (grilled stuffed pita pockets) but the white pita I bought would NOT split into pockets, it just ripped, so this week I’m going to cut the leftovers into chips and bake them for a bit of crunch. I have tahini, lemon, fresh parsley, dried oregano and olive oil, so that’s the dressing.
That’s three dinners, I usually try to plan 4 so that we’ve got a day for leftovers, take out, or unexpected plans. We’ve got 3 chicken dinners and a bean dinner, so I wanted to do a different protein. We did tofu last week, so this week we can do another meat. Pork tenderloin is easy to get super tender and super flavorful with a 30-minute marinade, and most importantly this week, is cheap. When in doubt, protein, complex carbohydrate, and a vegetable make a meal, so I bought 2 russet potatoes to roast up and then I’ll likely roast some carrots at the same time cause I have a bunch in the fridge.
Our back up dinner is bean and cheese burritos- I had tortillas from a few weeks ago, Mexican cheese from a few weeks ago, black or pinto beans, sour cream, and salsa. I’ll probably saute the beans with onion, garlic, tomato and leftover red bell pepper to get more veg in there. I also grabbed an avocado this week cause I’m 10x more interested in a meal if there’s avocado.
