Meal Plan Monday May 14

Linking up with Laura @ OrgJunkie today!

Click the image to visit other meal planning bloggers!

PS. Getting on her website on Mondays is tough. Bandwidth issues.

With very few days until the move actually starts in earnest I've got to get back into meal planning so I can get the most tasks done with minimal effort.

I have packed up my kitchen, keeping out what I thought I would need and in cooking a full, SIMPLE meal on the stove I kept reaching for things I had packed up. So this week I'm going back to the crock pot - ALL WEEK!! I'm also using what is already in the freezer (less to move!) so that means lots of chicken!

Monday & Tuesday: Second Chance Meals Chicken Enchiladas & Enchilada Bean Soup
Wednesday: BBQ Rubbed Crock Pot Chicken
Thursday: Chuckwagon Stew
Friday: Four Bean Chili
Saturday: MOVING DAY #1! We'll eat somewhere, at some time... I promise?
Sunday: Leftovers or Creamy Farmhouse Garden Soup

I'll also be adapting a few of these recipes. I pulled these from OLD blog posts before we started eating healthier, so I am going to do my best to adapt them to something a litte more suotableto match teh P90X@ meal plan we've been eating.

• Less salt (the BBQ Rub has 1/4 cup!!!!!)
• Less fats (including whole milks, butters, & creams)
• More whole grains, like brown rice, etc.

I'll update the recipes in a new post if I make any major changes, otherwise I'll just add a note to the original. :-)

Chicken Barley Soup

Those of you that know me well know that I never follow a recipe to a T. I have been doing well following the P90X2 recipes but we've been using them since January so I wanted to mix it up a bit. This came out even better than expected! I am AMAZED! I even had it for breakfast today! what?!?! It's good! 

Chicken Barley Soup

Serves 6-8

Time till serving: approximately 1 hour

Crockpot Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs shredded or diced frozen potatoes (thawed), or fresh peeled & diced. (Divide this into 2lbs and 1 lb.)
• 1 16 oz bag frozen cauliflower, thawed & chopped (optional)
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 1 large shredded carrot
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 lb diced extra-lean ham
• 1-2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock (enough to cover, +/- more/less to desired consistency)
• 1/2-1 cup flour (gluten free flour mixes work GREAT but you may have to simmer them longer to achieve a creamy texture)
• 1/4 oil or butter
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• seasonings to taste (salt, seasoning blends, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and/or herbs de provence are all good add in options)
  
  

Directions:

1. In crock pot combine 2 lbs potatoes, cauliflower, celery, onion, carrots, garlic, & ham.
2. Add broth to cover by 1" and cook on low 6-8 hours; It can remain on low afterwards until you are ready for step 3.
3. In a nonstick skillet on stove combine butter/oil and enough flour to make a thin paste. Cook on medium-low for approximately 5 minutes.
4. Whisk in half & half until completely combined then add parsley & black pepper. 
5. Add to crock and season to taste.
6. Stir in additional 1lb of potatoes.
7. Allow to cook on high for another 30-60 minutes to thicken.
8. When potatoes are cooked, stir in cheese and add broth until desired consistency.
9. Allow to warm through again and serve.

Notes:

• If cooking on stove top, process remains the same but time is lowered to 1-2 hours in step 2 and 15-30 minutes in step 7.
• If using gluten free flours an additional 1 hour simmer may be needed due to the texture of the grains.
• The add in of the 3rd lb of potatoes is to add texture and the first 2 will cook down to a creamy consistency. If you prefer more texture you can divide 1lb for step 1 and 2lbs for step 6.
• Never allow the mixture to boil after adding cheese and half & half. It won't spoil the soup but it will spoil the look as it will separate.
• The cauliflower is optional but is a great way to hide it from your kids.
• This can also be created with chopped broccoli used in place of all or half oft he potatoes.

Seven Bean & Barley Soup: Revisited

So the faithful will remember this post about seven bean & barley soup that I posted soon after starting my anti-inflammatory diet...

I fell in love with it so much that I took my canister back ot Whole foods and filled it before pouring it in to the baggie to weigh... 6 POUNDS @ $2.89/lb!!!  But I bought it anyway. I . Seriously. Love. This. Stuff....but I started thinking (ACK!)... It is PERFECT for my diet... but I don't want to get burned out on it either. So this round I decided to make another crock pot batch and play around with it daily finding new flavor combos. So far here's what I have come up with.

I put in the crock pot on low overnight:

Second Chance Meals: Chicken Enchiladas into 15 Bean Soup

I decided I'm tired of having leftovers as leftovers. this means a slight rise to the food bll (10%??) but it also means I'll be throwing away less food because people are sick of eating it.  So since hubby is on a business trip, I decided to test this out with the girls... and of course I used my crock pot!

Day 1: Chicken Enchiladas with "Instant" Spanish Rice

Beer braised pulled pork

My oven is STILL broken so I decided to try my hand at a crock pot pulled pork today. I My husband is in love and plannin on bringing a pot full to the next UFC gathering.. LOL!

Remember: Most recipes you can adjust things to your taste, but don't be afraid to try something new!

Crockpot Chicken Stew

I'll detail this later but for now, here is my crock pot chicken stew for Angela♥

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup

Tortilla Soup - revisited

We loved this stuff from a friend's blog that I blogged about before so we had it again. YUM!!!

Except this time I sautéed the chicken & seasoning blend then tossed it all in the crockpot on high for 4 hours while we went shopping (school clothes)! The chicken was melt in your mouth when we got home!

Mexi-Vegi-Chicken.... Tortilla Soup???

I wanted "Mexican" food tonight. Tacos, nachos, burritos... SOMETHING.. but I didn't want to run to the store to get ingredients. Digging through the freezer I found... vegetables. Lots of them. We're veggie eaters here. Now while I could live on a meatless veggie soup, George isn't so happy about meatless eating.. but I had chicken, too!!! No potatoes.. what to do????

Here's what I came up with:

Mexi-Vegi-Chicken Tortilla Soup

What is What-a-burger Wednesday?

Wednesday is burger night. I have class Wednesday night so dinner has to be filling, fast, and easy to clean up. What can be better than burger? Now that's not to say that we're going to eat a burger every Wednesday, but there will be burger IN the recipe for Wednesdays.

Tonight? Crock Pot Red Beans & Rice. These have to be started the night before so the house already smells great!!

Crock-Pot Red Beans
(start this the night before for the perfect pot!)

Chuckwagon Stew

My friend Brandy found this recipe for me and of course I changed some things, but we love it! It is going to make 2 so $2 per meal!

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey sausage, browned
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced

Mom's Four Bean Chili

This one was so easy in the crock. I prepped before I cleaned the kitchen the night before and it made it so easy the next morning. Use any canned beans you like.. these are my favorites :) These are just teh regular 12-14 oz cans, not the large ones.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb turkey burger
• 1 c seasoning blend

BBQ Rub Crock Chicken & Rice

Update: May 14, 2012
I'm tagging this post today because it has been a while since I made this recipe (it was also blogged before I took pictures for every meal - I'll try to add one this week!) and I added it to this week's menu. I am linking up with "Melts in your Mouth Monday's" from "Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's" because I remember my husband using those exact words when I made it.. "I want more! It melts in your mouth!"

Click to view the other 

Melt in Your Mouth Recipe links!

Original post: September 19, 2009
I made this rub a while back for some chicken and I don't think I ever blogged it. Haven't used it much because I don't own a grill, BUT it is yummy!

I put it on a whole chicken and threw it in a crock with soem instant rice and wow was it awesome!

Rub Ingredients:

• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c salt
• 1/4 c paprika

Mom's Diner Red Beans & Rice

Trying to adapt this for a crock pot so wish me luck!

• 1 lb Dry Red Beans
• 1 lb ground turkey sausage

Creamy Chicken Garden Soup

I adapted this recipe to create our own flavor.... took out some calories and sodium (butter & salt), added some veggies (potatoes). WE LOVED THIS!! And it made enough to set aside some for soup & sammies later in the week! Hubby said he even prefers it over the "usual" tomato broth beef veggie soups you normally see.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (16 ounces) frozen pepper stir-fry vegetable mix
• 1 c frozen diced potatoes