Back to school and back to schedules. I have committed to 2 meals a week. That does not sound like much but I decided to start small. I am not a gourmet cook but appreciate everything about the family dinner and all the studies proclaiming it's fabulous impact on the family. We are keeping it simple with what we know works: Monday-Pasta night and Tuesday-Taco night. We will have different iterations of each of those themes and go from there. The are 5 other nights in the week and the family will be fed with a weekly rotation of extended family dinners out as well as "plating" protein and sides from Whole Foods or Central Market. Our Sunday night is always Flower Child or Meseros!
Monday, August 21:
Spaghetti Bolognese+Simple Romaine Salad:
Ingredients:
- 1 TJ prepacked mIrepoix mix
- 1 TJ organic marinara
- 1 TJ package grass fed ground beef
- 1 TJ GF Egg Fettucine Pasta
- 1 TJ triple washed romaine heart leaves
- 1 TJ package organic cherry tomatoes
- Salad Dressing: Garlic Expressions-not from TJ
- Garlic Bread-TJ Cauliflower Pizza Crust toasted with olive oil+garlic salt
- Salt, pepper, garlic salt, we love using the all in one Italian spice bottle
Directions:
- saute mirepoix mix until onions are clear, celery and carrots will continue to cook down once added to sauce
- pour marinara sauce over mirepoix mix
- cook meat in separate pan with olive oil, strain extra oil
- add meat to mirepoix and marinara, bring to high heat while stirring, then simmer
- boil pasta
- plate and serve sauce over pasta
Tuesday, August 22:
Verde Chicken with Colorful Mexican Salad:
Slow Cooker Verde Chicken:
Ingredients:
- 1-2 lbs raw organic skinless chicken breast
- 16 oz sale verde
- garlic powder, oregano, ground cumin, we love using the all in one Mexican spice bottle
Directions:
- season chicken with mexican spices and place in bottom of slow cooker
- cover with salsa verde
- cook high-2 hours or low-4 hours
- remove chicken, shred with 2 forks
- remove 2/3 cup of liquid from the slow cooker and place to side
- place shredded chicken back into the crock pot with remaining salsa, adjust seasoning to taste, and keep warm
Colorful Mexican Salad:
Ingredients:
- 1-2 TJ southwestern chopped salad kit
- 1 TJ fire roasted corn-frozen
- 1 TJ can organic black beans
Salad dressing: you can use the vinaigrette that comes in the salad kit-we also love Tessemes DF Avocado Ranch
We loved using our oval talavera platter to present the colorful salad. Once we showed the fam how fancy we can be, we tossed it together with the dressing, plated the salad, and then served the shredded chicken over it.