Menu plan (Jan 30 - Feb 3rd)

Erika here ~
This is my first solo meal plan and I have a hard act to follow with Sara's great menu last week!
Monday: Chili Con Carne and Cheddar Biscuits
Tuesday: Lime Soup with Tortilla Strips and Chicken
Wednesday: Chicken with Cashews and Pineapple (see recipe below)
Thursday: Easy Pad Thai
Friday: Kitchen Sink Day - (see below)
Here is a link to the Shopping List.
Please read these important tips BEFORE you shop to help make the week go smoothly. I have included some suggestions and substitution ideas, don't worry the shopping list incorporates these too to make it easier:

Weekend/ Monday: Chili Con Carne
Consider making Monday's chili recipe on Sunday. You can either have it for Sunday dinner and eat the leftovers on Monday or just make it for Monday. The biscuits are best if made on the day you intend to eat them, they are easy to make and your kids can help. This is like a fancy version of a Sloppy Joe, you serve the chili over the biscuit. Oh and just a heads-up, my husband always asks me to double the biscuit recipe. If you have little kids, my advice is leave the jalapeños out of the biscuits or do half in and half out. I buy a good quality roast or steaks for this to ensure the meat is nice and tender, but if you have a slow cooker you can probably adapt for that and make any cut of meat tender enough or even use stew meat. For those of you watching your weight, you can sub plain yogurt for the sour cream.
Tuesday - Lime and Chicken Soup
After a big meal of chili and cheddar yesterday, this is a nice light soup. The chicken and tortilla strips make it hearty enough for a meal, but you could throw a few nachos and shredded cheese under the broiler and serve with it if you want. You can use flour tortilla's instead of corn if you find those easier to get at the grocery store.
Wednesday - An Asian taste to shake things up.
This is easy and delicious. Feel free to sub chicken breast for the thighs (but thighs are much more flavourful) and peanuts for the cashews. If you get peanuts you can use them for tomorrow's recipe too.
 

Recipe

2 tbs shredded coconut

1/2 cup cashews (peanuts will work too)

1 onion cut in chunks

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tsps chopped red chili (optional if you think your kids won't like it, but overall this is a sweet dish)

350 g chicken thighs, chopped (boneless / skinless)

1/2 red pepper chopped

1/2 green pepper chopped

2 tblsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 cups fresh pineapple chopped

2 green onions chopped.

1 cup Basmati or other rice

Preheat the oven to 300F and toast the coconut on an oven tray for 10 min til golden.

Remove coconut from tray immediately to prevent burning. Increase heat to 350 and roast cashews for 15 min - remove from tray and set aside to cool.

Heat oil in deep frying pan or wok. add onion, garlic, chili and stir fry for 2 min on medium heat. Remove from pan. Add chicken and red and green pepper in two batches stir fry until chicken is light brown. Return onion mixture to wok. add oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and pineapple toss for 2 min. Toss cashews through. arrange on a platter and garnish with coconut and green onion. Serve with rice.

Thursday - Easy Pad Thai
 I have raves about this before. We ate it twice in one week because my husband liked it so much and it is the only time I have ever used tofu and actually enjoyed it. Make sure you start with hot oil to give the tofu a golden and slightly crispy texture. You can sub chicken or shrimp if you have Anti- Tofu Protestors in your house... or you can just lie.... Mwahhh ha ha!!!
Friday - Kitchen Sink Day
I have found that at the end of each week I have a lot of leftover produce and other things from the week's menu. So I decided to call Friday "Kitchen Sink Day" and give you an opportunity to use up whatever is left in your fridge and cupboards. You can make a quiche, omelette, pasta, pizza or stirfry. Just be sure to add the ingredients you need for whatever you choose to the shopping list. If you need to find a basic recipe for any of these things I suggest using Epicurious , but here is a simple quiche recipe you can add anything too and here are some flexible pasta recipes.