green salad with goat cheese crostini, tomato bean soup with cheese, greek grain bowl with zucchini and halloumi, maple-dijon salmon with cauliflower pilaf, hash brown taco casserole, pesto cream tortellini and broccoli rice casserole with ham
I'm embarking on a bit of a "pantry challenge" this month as I focus on reducing my grocery bill and having less stuff on hand. For more information about a pantry challenge, and other great ideas for eating well on a budget, you can check out Jessica Fisher's website, goodcheapeats.com My plan is to continue using up what we have before purchasing more. As I've mentioned before, for some reason my pantry is fairly full of beans, canned tomatoes, pasta sauces and pasta. I'll be looking for some creative ways to use those over the coming weeks.
On the menu January 5 - 11, 2020:
Sunday Fresh Green Salad with Melted Goat Cheese Crostini and roast chicken
How pretty is this salad? My friend Yolanda first served us this a few years ago, and although she didn't make the melted goat cheese crostini, it was equally yummy topped with crumbled goat cheese. You could easily serve a sliced baguette on the side. If you feel like fussing a little or want to make the salad extra special, by all means, make the crostini. I had some leftover roast chicken to use up, and it made a perfect accompaniment to this salad. The dressing (not pictured, but it looks like a balsamic vinaigrette) is awesome, and although the combination of ingredients is a little unexpected, it's refreshing and delicious.
Monday Tomato Bean Soup with Cheese
I first tried this recipe at one of our local grocery stores where a Community Food Advisor had prepared it for customers. The focus of their outreach was showing people how easy it is to create tasty, healthy and economical meals. I'd say this soup definitely fits the bill. That day, the macaroni and corn were omitted but if you'd like to stretch your food dollars (or if you have a lot of pasta and frozen corn on hand as I do!), I would definitely include them. If you're leaving the macaroni out, use only 1 cup of water rather than 2 and simmer the soup, uncovered, for 10 minutes. It's a little heavier on carbs than I usually like, but it is so good. This soup uses readily-available ingredients and is great for students, seniors or anyone on a budget. Don't skip the cheddar cheese on top, and you could also add a few bacon bits, too! It would also be tasty with sliced hot dogs in it if you like those (but definitely less healthy.) Kids will enjoy this soup.
Tonight I tried recreating this dish with my own ingredients rather than the Good Food box. I came pretty close, I think, and it was awesome! I had trouble finding bulgur on its own, so I used a President's Choice bulgur and quinoa mix, found in the rice section. I got a great deal on Halloumi at Costco (2 for $9.99!) and I was really happy about that as it is a must-have for this recipe. I do find that the oven-fried zucchini is a tad time-consuming, but it is well worth it. I used about 1 1/2 cups of panko bread crumbs and 2 eggs for 4 small zucchini. I had a lemon pepper spice mix on hand as well as some Epicure Lemon Dill seasoning, so I combined the two to make this since I didn't have the Good Food packaged spice mix. The flavours are very different in this grain bowl, but I think your family will love it!
Wednesday Roasted Whole Salmon Fillet with Dill-icious Maple-Mustard Marinade and Broccoli and Rice Pilaf with green salad
This is my absolute favourite salmon recipe to date. I used fillets tonight and even though I failed to marinate them ahead of time (I never remember that step!), they were still so good. We also love this rice pilaf made with cauliflower instead of broccoli. Both dishes cook in about 20 minutes and they pair perfectly together, at least in our opinion. This is one of my most-requested rice dishes, and now we're 3/4 cup closer to being finished the ginormous bag of long grain rice we got at Costco. Only like 100 more cups to go!!
Thursday Hash Brown Taco Casserole with green salad
Remember when Tater Tots were sort of a hot food item and people were using them in all sorts of interesting ways? This recipe reminds me of that but using hash brown patties instead of Tater Tots... It made this week's meal plan out of my need to use up a box of hash brown patties that have been in the freezer for way too long. They make a great base for one of our favourite breakfast bakes but I wasn't feeling like breakfast for dinner tonight. I figured if they work in that recipe, they should be good in this one, too! And I was right. This recipe is good and definitely kid-friendly. We topped it with the suggested toppings, but you could totally customize this to whatever your family likes best - salsa, corn, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro and/or black olives. A nice change from the more traditional taco casseroles I've tried. Trick's Creek Farm grass-fed organic ground beef was great in this recipe, as always.
Friday Pesto Cream Tortellini with green salad and breadsticks
Tonight's supper recipe was courtesy of an online article called, "50 Things to Make With Pesto". This was recipe #10 - Pesto Cream Tortellini. I bought a bag of frozen cheese tortellini for about half the price of fresh and it was very good, but it took about twice as long to cook, FYI. I added some chopped cherry tomatoes to the sauce for colour and flavour. I would recommend that you check that your pesto jar doesn't say, "do not reheat". Ours did and I wonder if that impacted the flavour as we found it a little bland, although still tasty. We also think it could have used some extra Parmesan on top. I'd make this again, and maybe increase the amount of pesto as well. After all, it's one of my favourite sauces!
Saturday Broccoli Rice Casserole with baked ham and green salad
One of my best friends brought this delicious casserole to our brunch last weekend, so I thought I'd add it to this week's meal plan. (Thanks for sharing the recipe, Vicki!) After all, I am still trying to use up that giant bag of rice! Cheese Whiz is not something I usually keep on hand, so I bought it just for this. This casserole is very tasty and very cheesy, and pairs well with ham. It's not exactly healthy, but it's worth the splurge!
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