Our Menu: Week of January 28 to February 3

I only have five meals this week since a couple of days sort of fell apart when we started sleep training with O.  Here they are!

Chicken Parmesan
There’s nothing fancy about this one!  I use jarred or canned pasta sauce (I really like Hunt’s Thick and Rich 4 cheese, although there’s nothing low calorie about it) and sometimes we have a bagged Caesar salad with it or a steamed vegetable.  I coat the boneless, skinless chicken breasts in breadcrumbs that I season with S&P, garlic powder and oregano and bake it on a parchment-lined baking pan.  When the chicken is cooked, I spoon some sauce over each piece and grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top then broil for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Served with brown rice pasta (spaghetti, penne, whichever you like). 

Tacos
Easy-peasy!  I always use ground chicken (I don’t eat beef) and sometimes buy a taco kit.  Occasionally I make my own taco seasoning using this recipe and now that I’m gluten-free I buy corn tortillas.  Shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa and diced tomatoes for toppings.  Served with a salad and/or a steamed vegetable.

Jen’s “Jambalaya”
Traditional jambalaya has shrimp and smoked sausage, but I don’t like either, so I use mild Italian sausage (a package of 5 or 6) and 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Here’s how I make it:

Cook the sausages (whole) in a big skillet (I use a wok-like deep frying pan).  When they are almost cooked, I cut up the chicken breasts into large bite size pieces and add them to the skillet.  Once the sausages are cooked, take them out and slice them into 1 inch pieces and put them back in the skillet.  Add in two chopped peppers, three stalks of chopped celery, and one chopped onion.  Occasionally I add mushrooms if I have extras on hand.  Saute this all together till the chicken is cooked.  Sprinkle in 1-2 tbsp of dried thyme (depending on how much you like thyme) and a PINCH of cayenne pepper.  Add a can of diced tomatoes, plus half a can of water.  Add 1.5 cups of uncooked rice.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.  This really is a complete one-dish meal but we also have a salad with it.

Coq au Vin
Jack Tripper’s specialty!  I loved Three’s Company.  RIP John Ritter. 
I have made this one twice, once in the crock pot using boneless, skinless chicken thighs and once on the stove top in a large pot using skinless bone-in chicken thighs. I actually preferred it on the stove top with the bone-in thighs.  I let it cook for about 2.5 hours on the stove top which was plenty of time. The chicken all fell apart in the crock when I did it that way.  I skipped the fresh tarragon too.  This is not a throw-it-in-the-crockpot-before-work kind of recipe.  It does take some preparation and pre-cooking, so I save this one for the weekend.  It is good over rice and I have tried it over rice stick noodles which was nice too.  Click HERE for the recipe. 

BBQ Pulled Pork in the Crock Pot
This is the second time I’ve attempted BBQ pulled pork using different recipes and I just can’t get it right.  There just seems to be way too much BBQ sauce and it comes out super sweet.  We did eat it though, with rice and steamed broccoli and a salad.  Here’s the recipe I used, but I wouldn’t make this particular one again.

Salad
I mention that we have salad often, and thought I should comment on that.  I hate, hate, hate making salad, especially when it means washing lettuce!  The only way we are sure to have salad regularly is to buy pre-washed mixed salad greens.  Throw in a few cherry tomatoes, a sprinkle of sunflower seeds, maybe some cucumber and a crumble of blue cheese and you have an amazing salad!  I also make all my own dressings, which are much better than store-bought.  Salad dressing is simple to make.  A basic vinaigrette is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and sugar.  Just mix it up to your taste!

Bon Appetit!