Week 18 – Spring has (finally) sprung!!

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List  

I really enjoyed the menu this week. I concentrated on using seasonal ingredients and the combination of that, the weather being beautiful and being rested from an awesome vacation, I was feeling energized and happy to be in the kitchen.  But in the end I actually spent very little time in the kitchen... this is a week of easy lunches and quick suppers.

Over the weekend I made a batch of Almond Milk, one thing I missed it while I was away! And Marin enjoyed eating Goldfish crackers so much on vacation that I decided to make a homemade batch on Sunday. These are two recipes that yes, require a little more work than buying – but both are not comparable to their store bought counterparts. They are much much better!!  

Recipe Quick Links:

Almond Milk, Oh She Glows
Cheddar Crackers, Weelicious
Fish Tacos with Mango Avocado Salsa, Canadian Living
Maple Dill Chicken, Chatelaine
Avocado Salad, Canadian Living
Whole Wheat Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuits, 100 Days of Real Food
Asparagus Pasta, All Recipes
Maple Baked Beans, Chef Michael Smith
Saucy Shrimp and Feta Toss, Chatelaine    

Week in Review

Monday

Lunch – Turkey, Cran and Brie Quesadillas. We made a trip to Costco on the weekend and precooked, pre-sliced turkey breast was on sale. I also picked up a round of brie – hands down my favorite cheese. We nibbled on both on the weekend and then I came up with this quesadilla for lunch. Yummy! I added spinach as well because I had it. If you keep some wraps in your freezer you can basically whip up some quesadillas for a quick/easy lunch with whatever you happen to have on hand.  

Supper – Fish Tacos.  My last attempt at fish tacos kinda failed – they were just ok. This time was a big hit! These were so full of flavor. This recipe is going straight to my Favorites.  I made my own corn tortillas but if you go with store bought this meal could be on the table in 20 minutes. 

Tuesday  

Lunch – Greek Quinoa Salad with Tofu. I’ve made this numerous times since I’ve started blogging – sometimes with store bought dressing other times with homemade (found in Week 4 recipes). This week I used homemade and I have to say, another one of those things that’s worth the extra effort. This was really tasty and easy to throw together – quinoa, feta, cherry tomatoes, diced firm tofu, cucumber and dressing. I made enough for 2 days’ worth of lunches. Note, I added the cucumber for day two the morning of because I find it can get a little soft and I like it crunchy.  

Supper – Maple Dill Chicken and Avocado Salad. Nothing says spring like maple syrup! I use maple syrup all year round but I thought a spring week deserved for it to be highlighted. Dave was going to be late getting home this day so since I had extra time I decided to try these Whole Wheat Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuits from 100 Days of Real Food. OMG! Go make them right now! The ingredient list is very similar to the Cheddar Crackers but a totally different texture obviously. The only problem with them is how quickly they disappear. Next time (oh yes, there will be a next time!) I’ll make a half batch for portion control! Since we ate late Marin had already eaten a fair amount but she still came to the table and ate most of her supper with lots of mmmm’s. So kid-friendly alert here too!  

Wednesday

Lunch -- Leftover Quinoa Salad. Even better the second day.  

Supper – Asparagus Pasta. This recipe is filed in my recipe binder. I find I refer to my binder less and less now that I’m constantly getting meal ideas on-line but it’s nice to go back to some old favorites. This is super easy, nothing too fancy but pretty good. I had some leftover maple dill chicken from Tuesday night which I just diced up cold and had on the side. I have to say – that chicken is excellent cold, would be great in a salad! Shrimp would go well with this pasta as well but it can stand alone as a meatless meal.

Thursday

Lunch – Leftover Pasta. This pasta is best eaten fresh but reheated pretty well for lunch.  

Supper – Maple Baked Beans. I LOVE baked beans! But this is actually the first time I have ever made them myself. I found it a bit mind boggling looking for a recipe, there was many to be found. I knew didn’t want one with ketchup or any other tomato-based product. I found one from Chef Michael Smith that looked close to what I was after. Unfortunately it turned out just ok because here was my big mistake…. I omitted the bacon!!  You’re probably reading that and thinking ‘well that’s just crazy!’.  Which of course it was.  My thought was that I wanted to just throw everything in the slow-cooker with no extra steps and that omitting the bacon would simply save some fat grams.  But of course the bacon was totally necessary, without it the ginger was too prominent.  So I added it after the fact.  I also added black-strap molasses – just a few tablespoons – more for color than anything else.  That was my mini mistake, that flavor trumped the maple.  Next time I make this recipe I will actually follow the recipe!  

Friday

Lunch -- Leftover beans. Leftovers for lunch again. Gotta love them! This was a super easy lunch week!  

Supper – Saucy Shrimp and Feta Toss.  This is another gem from my recipe binder, a Chatelaine find from years back.  This is one of Dave’s favorites and we used to make it so often I could throw it together with my eye’s closed.  You may have noticed we’ve had no shellfish on the menu until now.  Last summer/fall I started to notice I was getting hives and the only common denominator seemed to be shellfish.  But the hives were always days later so I thought it was time to do some control testing.  I’m sitting here with my fingers crossed that there will no hives… and no trips to emerg!