Tag Archives: Meal Plan Monday

Quinoa with Turkey Italian Sausage

Posted on October 10, 2011 | 5 Comments

It’s MPM time again, and this week I’m sticking to the plan!

Monday, Oct. 10

Quinoa with Turkey Italian Sausage (recipe below)

Tuesday, Oct. 11

Slow-cooker black beans atop brown rice

Wednesday, Oct. 12

Mini cheeseburger cupcakes

Thursday, Oct. 13

leftovers…I have a night class

Friday, Oct. 14

Portabella burgers and zucchini fries

Saturday, Oct. 15

Around the World potluck party…yes, just like the one you attended in college, but with food.

Sunday, Oct. 16

Hubs birthday! We’re going out to a restaurant of his choosing.

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Last week my friend, Veronika, asked for my tried and true quinoa recipes. I sent her a few, and decided it was time for me to create another. I decided to whip up a batch of Italian inspired quinoa for two reasons. One, I already tackled Greek(ish) and Mexican(ish) quinoa dishes, and two, I had a jar of opened pasta sauce that needed to be eaten. Quinoa with turkey Italian sausage was born.

Quinoa with Turkey Italian Sausage

Serves: 4

Nutritionals: cal: 303, carb: 37g, fat: 10g, pro: 20g, sugar: 4g, fiber: 5g

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

2 1/2 cups water or chicken broth

1 chicken bullion cube (if you use water)

2 1/2 links hot turkey Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled

1/2 cup sweet onion, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup nutritional yeast*

salt to taste

2 TBS-4 TBS pasta sauce of your choosing

*can sub shredded mozzarella if you don’t like, or don’t have, nutritional yeast.

Directions

Brown turkey Italian sausage, (I brown all 5 links and freeze half for later).

Meanwhile, bring water, bullion cube (or chicken broth), and quinoa to a boil. Reduce to simmer, adding the bell pepper, onion, spinach, garlic, Italian seasoning and black pepper. Cover, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add nutritional yeast. Mix well. Add browned Italian turkey sausage.

Serve, topped with pasta sauce. Enjoy!

What is your favorite dish from another country?

I need a fun dish or app to bring to Around the World. Last year the hubs made a Russian apple cake. The year before I think we made something from Mexico…I can’t remember. I

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Posted in regular

Tagged easy recipe, Meal Plan Monday, meal planning, quinoa, recipe

MPM, maybe

Posted on October 3, 2011 | 3 Comments

This weekend I cuddled up with my DVR, a cup of burnt coffee sans milk (because it was sour, gross), and my computer. I pinned for quite a while, and came up with an assortment of meals I couldn’t wait to try. I built my meal plan, made a Costco list for the hubs, and went on my merry grading way.

However, after creating my meal plan for the upcoming work week, I stumbled upon the Airfield Estates 5k Vinyard run.

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I quickly texted my mom, to see if she would be interested in being my companion, and decided a trip to Yakima was in order. I haven’t run, at all, since completing the Spokane Indians Pennant 8k in July. My poor IT band is still giving me issues, so I am being really nice to it. Telling it how pretty it is, massaging it with a foam roller, and soaking it in the tub. It hasn’t thanked me for my efforts yet. So I’ll be walking this 5k, but it is better than nothing!

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The hubs is staying in town, and maybe, just maybe, he will decide to give my meal plan a go (freezing any extras, hint hint!), instead of making burgers and grilling steak.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday, October 3

Zucchini & white bean soup, crusty bread and salad

Tuesday, October 4

Grilled Ahi, rice with veggies, salad

Wednesday, October 5

Warm quinoa, spinach, and chicken & shiitake salad, crusty bread

Thursday, October 6

Buffalo Grilled Cheese Sammies w/tomato soup

Friday, October 7

Mac and Cheese muffins

Saturday, October 8

Buffalo chicken enchiladas

Sunday, October 9

Homemade pizza, using this dough, salad

If he doesn’t stick to my meal plan, I’ll forgive him. He picked up a very special treat at Costco this weekend, and I’ll be enjoying non-burnt coffee from here on out.

Have you ever had coffee brewed from a Keurig?

When I visited my friend V last May, I experienced my first Keurig cuppa joe and was hooked! I’ve been not so subtly hinting that I wanted one ever since. Props to the hubs for using the awesome coupon in our Costco booklet!

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Posted in regular

Tagged Coffee, costco, Meal Plan Monday, meal planning

MPM: freezer love

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 5 Comments

When I was growing up, my mom always froze any leftover vegetables at the end of each dinner. Once we had a 4 cup container filled to the brim, my mom would make a big batch of soup. Just like Miss Smart, my mom didn’t like food to go to waste. The soup never tasted the same, and this is probably where my creativity in the kitchen started.

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After graduating from college and starting my first job, I began to make a big pot of soup every Sunday. I followed the same principal of throw in whatever veggie you have, along with a grain and protein of some sort, and I would eat it down all week long. By Thursday afternoon I was sick of whatever soup I had created, but I was single and broke, so I quickly got over my bored taste buds.

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A few years passed and I finally revisited the idea of freezer cooking. Aside from my staple frozen pizzas, lean cuisines and mom’s frozen vegetable soup, I didn’t have much experience with freezer meals. But I am so happy my friend Alanna introduced me to freezer cooking. She probably doesn’t even realize she did this, but I thank her nonetheless. A year and a half I was browsing her blog and ran across her cooking day recap. I was transported to Once a Month Mom* and quickly fell in love with freezer cooking.

*my friend Kelly writes the whole foods menu!

This week’s menu plan is chock full of meals that were either pulled out of the freezer, or will be made in double batches,freezing half for later consumption.