Cozy Cottage Meal Plan Week 16 - 2020

Zuppa toscana, lentil cauliflower stew, pesto chicken, tuna casserole, hamburgers, baked sole and zucchini and chile con carne nachos

This was week two of the meal plan I created last week. My goal was to focus on using ingredients with longer shelf lives or things that I had in my pantry or freezer. It worked pretty well, overall. The cauliflower had a bit of brown that had to be cut off, and I lost a few leaves of my romaine lettuce, but most things were still in great shape. I plan to continue reducing my trips to the grocery store as much as possible - hopefully, only once every two weeks.

Usually, I just work a week ahead in a Microsoft Word document to plan my meals, but lately I've found it really helpful to look ahead, at least a couple of weeks. I'm also hoping that this will help me manage what needs to be used up and recipes I've seen that I want to make. Sometimes there are so many things on my "to-make-soon" list that they kind of get "lost", or I totally forget about them. If you're looking for some free printables, Simply Stacie is from Ontario and has some really cute ones.

On the menu April 12 - 18, 2020:

Sunday 7-Ingredient Easy Zuppa Toscana Soup

This recipe comes from one of my favourite bloggers who writes, "Gimme Some Oven". This is just as she says - easy and really good! Although the recipe calls for one bunch of kale, my bunch was pretty huge and would have been way too much, I think. I used about 6 cups of it. I need 2 cups for tomorrow's recipe and then I froze the rest to use in soups or maybe even smoothies. Kale is one of those vegetables that I tend to buy with good intentions, but I don't always get around to using it as quickly as I should. Turns out, all you have to do to freeze it is wash it, remove the stems and put it in the freezer in a ziploc bag. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out in future recipes.

Monday Slow Cooker Lentil Cauliflower Stew with buns

My slow cooker may have been a tad small for this plentiful stew (the recipe says it serves 10), so I cooked it for part of the time on high. I think this would freeze well if you didn't want to use it all within a couple of days. It definitely made enough to give away if you're helping elderly relatives, friends or neighbours. Loved that this recipe used pantry staples and longer-lasting veggies like carrots, celery, leeks, and cauliflower. Tasty and filling! I really liked the herbed goat cheese on top.

Slow Cooker Lentil Cauliflower Stew

Tuesday Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Dinner

I've had this recipe on my "to make soon" list for quite a while, and I finally got around to making it tonight. It was so good! It was also easy and I loved that there was time to prepare the next part of the recipe while another part cooked. Once the potatoes and tomatoes were prepped and in the oven, you prepared the chicken. While that cooked, you got the salad ready. I am a big fan of pesto, and I really liked all of the flavours in this meal. The Caesar salad went really well with the potatoes and chicken. I think your whole family will like this one. I know I'll be making it again soon and it's definitely going in the book of recipes I'm sending my son off to college with.

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Dinner

Wednesday The Best Tuna Casserole with Noodles and Broccoli Salad

I forgot to take a photo of this tonight, but it was tasty. I am learning that I don't really love the flavour of smoked paprika, at least not in any quantity, so the only adjustment I would make to this recipe is to use less of that spice. I should also mention that if your family doesn't love red pepper, you can definitely taste it in the casserole. An entire red pepper was maybe a bit much. I think you could get away with using half of one. Overall, this was good, and I would make it again.

Thursday Burgers and fries with green salad

Tonight was one of those nights when I just wanted to make something easy, so I served burgers and fries. They aren't something we have very often, but we enjoyed them. I recently bought a toaster oven with an air fryer feature, so this was my first time testing it out. It worked great and the frozen fries I used turned out nice and crispy. Shout out to Trick's Creek Farm for another amazing beef product - their hamburger patties. I cooked them in a frying pan since we still don't have a barbecue, and they were juicy and delicious!

Friday Baked sole with brown rice, Easy Baked Zucchini and green salad

I've missed taking photos a few nights this week. I think I must be hungry by the time I get supper on the table! I didn't really follow a recipe for the sole. I just put it in a 9x13 pan with some lemon juice, melted butter, and dill and cooked it from frozen at 425 F for the same amount of time as the zucchini. Yummy!

Saturday Skinny Bell Pepper Nacho Boats

I kind of adapted this recipe tonight to make it my own. I had planned to make my Mom's Famous Chile Con Carne, so I went ahead and did that. But then I found some bell peppers in my fridge that needed to be used pronto. You can chop them up and freeze them, but I had a better idea. I cut them into wedges and made these nachos, using the chili instead of the suggested ground turkey, etc. I topped them off with some homemade guacamole and sour cream and they were super! Definitely another recipe I'll be making again soon. You could easily substitute ground beef for the turkey and add some beans for extra fiber if you like. Ten minutes was the perfect amount of cooking time for the peppers - they had just the right amount of crunch.

Skinny Bell Pepper Nacho Boats

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