This week the dinner recipes are heavy on poultry because I landed a couple of great deals on free-range chicken and free-range turkey. I always feel bad sharing food deals after the fact (though if you live near a Raley’s, Bel Air, or Nob Hill Foods, you may still be able to find 1 1/4 lb of 93% free-range, ground turkey for $3.38), so I have decided instead of sharing a picture of my bargains, to post my shopping list before I go hit the sales!
Beginning this Wednesday, I will host a carnival devoted to Real Food Deals. I will share the sales (and coupons) for real food in my area and I invite you to do the same. Your posts can be on anything related to saving money on real food. Each of us will define real food a little differently (i.e. posts need not contain organic items) and that is fine. We are all working with different budgets and food requirements, but hopefully by working together we can stretch our budget a little farther to include healthier ingredients in our meals!
Menu Plan
Monday – Garlic Pasta with Vegetables
Tuesday – Orange Chicken and Rice
Wednesday – Deb’s Lentil Soup (recipe below)
Thursday – Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore served over leftover rice from Tuesday
Friday – GF Thai Chicken Flat Bread
Saturday – Use the leftover chicken from Chicken Cacciatore to make Chicken Enchiladas. If there is any leftover rice, I will add salsa to it to make a fast Mexican Rice, and serve with Black Beans.
Sunday – One Pot Chicken Dinner
Breakfasts: Sweet Potato Egg Puffs, Lemon Berry Muffins, Oatmeal Pancakes, and Scrambled Eggs, and Fruit
Lunches: Quinoa Potato Salad, Red Lentil Chili, and Leftovers
Snacks: Chewy Granola Bars, Veggies and Hummus, Fruit, and GF Apple Jumble Cookies
Deb’s Lentil Soup
Deb shared a recipe in the comments on my Spicy Lentil Soup post and it sounds so good I will be trying it this week. I am going to reprint it here, in case you missed it.
Ingredients:
1 medium chopped onion
1 large bunch Kale, stripped from stem and chopped
2 large chopped carrots
2 medium baked potatoes, chopped
*1.5 cups cooked northern beans (see note)
1 cup lentils – red or regular
1 box organic chicken broth
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
1 large can chopped tomatoes with juice
1 rounded Tbs yellow curry
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp tandoori
salt & pepper to taste
1 lb ground turkey meat, cooked
Directions:
In a large dutch oven or stock pot, saute onions & carrots in a bit of olive oil until just soft, and then add kale. Saute for 2-3 minutes more.
Add all the rest of the ingredients, turkey meat is optional. Cover and let simmer for 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more water if you would like this soup a bit thicker (if you omit the turkey, you probably won’t want to add more water).
Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top. This soup is really delicious and nutritious!
*note about beans: instead of buying canned beans, I buy dry beans and soak/cook them to directions. I then drain them, and store them in 1.5 cup portions in the freezer, which is the amount in the standard can of beans. Much more economical and no BPA this way!
Thanks for sharing your recipe Deb! I will also be trying Melynda’s suggestion to use lentils in place of other legumes in chili, Melodie’s suggestion to make Lentil Dahl, and Christie’s suggestion of Lentil Tacos. My husband and I are overdue for a date night, so I am also going to follow up on my sister’s suggestion to try Lentil Soup at a Lebanese restaurant.
For more menu ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday.
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Anonymous says
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
Alea says
Deb,
Thanks for answering our question and thanks again for sharing your delicious recipe!
Deb says
woops, meant to leave my name in the comment above. Deb
Anonymous says
I use the baked pototoes more as a thickener – but if you want them as texture, you can certainly used raw potatoes instead. I've actually done it both ways. Hubby prefers the potatoes as texture, so I make it that way as well.
There are no rules with this soup, just play with it and enjoy!
tamilyn says
I need like 5 days off from work locked in my scrap room with all my cookbooks, recipe boxes and my laptop cookbook program so I can finally come up with a meal plan. It would make my life so much easier……
Vanessa Nielsen says
I really like your advice on how to avoid the chemicals in canned foods.
Alea says
Laura, I had the same question. I can see it be done either way. Using the "baked potatoes" as a thickener or using baking potatoes as a main ingredient. Hopefully Deb, can will let us know which way is correct.
Laura says
Alea, the soup recipe looks delicious (and will appear on our menu soon as will the chicken cacciatore), but is it really *baked* potatoes (already cooked) or is it *baking* potatoes (raw)?
Date night with middle eastern food sounds divine.
vickie says
I love the last one best try the soup at a resturant! Have a fun date night.
vickie