Weekly Meal Plan

My meal plan last week ended up being awesome, so I wanted to share.  I made:

Stuffed Green Bell Peppers (Mel's recipe w/ a few tweaks)
Amy's Crock Pot Roast and Corn Bread
Mackenzie's Enchiladas (sort of)
Chicken Cordon Bleu (Mackenzie's recipe)
Corn Chowder
Steak Tacos and Nacho Libre Corn
Greek Chicken Souvlaki Pitas

Click on "read more" for the recipes!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

4 large green bell peppers
1-2 cups orzo pasta
½ lb lean ground turkey
2 garlic cloves
Olive oil
1 jar marinara or favorite pasta sauce
Mozzarella cheese (sliced or shredded)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Boil water and cook pasta. While pasta is cooking, sauté garlic in some olive oil, add turkey and cook until browned. Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Spread a light layer of sauce in bottom of 13x9 pan and place peppers in pan, open side up. Drain pasta, add to meat and stir in remaining pasta sauce.

Scoop mixture into each bell pepper half. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and top with mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Serve with rolls or breadsticks.

Number of Servings: 4-6

Amy’s Crockpot Roast and Cornbread

Roast
Roast meat (3 to 4 lbs)
4 medium sized red potatoes
½ to ¾ small bag baby carrots
1 package brown gravy mix
1 package of ranch dressing seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1-2 cups water
Place carrots and potatoes in a ring around the bottom of pot, add roast meat and remaining ingredients (liquids last). Cook according to crock pot directions and desired cook time.

Corn Bread
Prepare 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix according to package directions
Add 1/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
Bake according to package directions
*you can use any homemade cornbread recipe you like as well. Adding the yogurt or sour cream just makes it super moist and melt-in-your-mouth.

**Reserve enough roast meat for steak tacos and hopefully enchiladas too later in the week, and reserve enough corn bread to accompany the corn chowder.

Mackenzie’s Enchiladas (with a few tweaks)

Enchiladas
Leftover roast meat (or reserve some ground turkey from the stuffed peppers if you run out of roast)
1 can black beans
1 can refried beans (i like the ones with green chiles)
Shredded cheese (any blend you like)
8 flour tortillas
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans enchilada sauce
1 can black olives
Lime juice
Serve w/ corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together beans, meat, olives and half of the shredded cheese. In a separate bowl mix 2 cans of enchilada sauce and 1 can of cream of chicken soup. Add some of the sauce mixture to meat mixture to moisten, but reserve enough to pour over top of casserole. I love lime juice with Mexican food, so I add it to the filling, and pour some over the top before adding the final layer of cheese, so do as much or as little as you like.
Spoon mixture into 8 flour tortillas. Roll up and place in a 9x13 casserole dish lightly greased with non-stick spray or oil. Pour remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and top with remaining cheese. Bake 20-30 minutes or until bubbling on top.

Nacho Libre Corn
4 cobs of corn (boiled or roasted)
2 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons sour cream (or sour cream mixed with mayo)
Lime juice
1/2 cup of cotija cheese, crumbled
Cayenne or chili powder to taste
Spread butter and sour cream over hot corn and roll in cotija cheese. Sprinkle with cayenne or chili powder to taste.
**this corn is AMAZING! If you don’t want to go to the effort of corn on the cob or you’re in the wrong season, just use canned or frozen corn and follow the recipe. If you don’t have the cotija it’s still good- just not AS good.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
6 boneless chicken breasts VERY THIN SLICED OR POUNDED THIN
Swiss Cheese
12 slices thinly sliced honey cured or black forest ham
2 cups breadcrumbs
½ cup butter
1 can Cream of chicken soup
5 oz Sour cream
Milk
12 toothpicks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut cheese into ½ inch spears. Wrap 2 slices ham around each spear. Wrap chicken breast around ham and cheese and secure with toothpick. Roll chicken in butter and breadcrumbs and place in baking dish.
Bake for 40-55 minutes (outside should be golden brown and chicken should be white when cut open).
Mix soup and sour cream in small saucepan. Add milk to thin it out to your liking. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Pour over hot chicken breasts and serve.

Corn Chowder
2 cans Campbell’s Chicken Corn Chowder Soup
Heat and serve with leftover corn bread (with butter and jam!)

*I realize this is a total cop out, but I always have one or two meals like this planned per week for those nights you’d rather die than cook dinner, or the nights you’re in a rush.

Steak Tacos
Leftover stew meat
Taco seasoning (add to leftovers stew meat in a pan and heat according to package directions)
Leftover tortillas
Sour cream
Lettuce
Shredded cheese
Diced Tomato
Salsa or Taco Sauce
*Serve with leftover Nacho Libre Corn and tortilla chips w/ salsa

Greek Chicken Souvlaki
½ cup lemon juice
3 tsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano
4 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
Warm Pita Bread
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Tzatziki Sauce

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal and shake to combine. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 1 hour, turning once.
Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Thread chicken onto skewers. Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once. (I used my Panini press and it cooked really fast and still had a grilled look and flavor).

Tzatziki Sauce (cucumber sauce)
1/2 cup seeded, shredded cucumber
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon Greek seasoning
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

*I didn’t have dill, vinegar, or greek seasoning, so I added a few dashes each of oregano, basil, thyme, and minced onion and it was still to die for!

Serve chicken in warm pitas topped with lettuce, tomato, and tzatziki sauce. Serve alone or with a side of greek salad and/or greek lemon rice pilaf (I’m still looking for a good recipe if anyone has one).