Is it meal plan time again?! Where does the time go. This week I am so excited to have been able to incorporate some produce from my garden! It is harvest season and there is nothing better than freshly picked veggies for your meals. Asher is a great little garden helper. He loves to pick fresh strawberries, water the flowers, and most importantly look for bugs. I hope a garden near you is also thriving, and you are reaping the benefits! (Hopefully not being over run by zucchini!) I want to add that there may or may not be meal plans posted in the next couple weeks. We have been building a house and we are finally going to get to move it! It may take me some time to get my life back together!
A quick recap on how this meal plan works. There will be 1 meal prepped lunch for grown ups, 3 dinners with leftovers every other night. One of the dinners will be vegetarian/ vegan. This is a tiny step we are taking to try and lower our impact on the planet.
What’s on the menu…..
- Summer Vegetable Farro Salad (lunch)
- Vegan Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Bake
- Ginger Garlic Lamb Roast and Crispy Potato Wedges
- Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Restaurant Style Salsa
- Oven Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Shopping list……
Bellow you will find a complete shopping list for everything on the menu. I have separated everything by recipe, so there are a few duplicates of pantry staples.
Summer Vegetable Farro Salad
10 lunches https://thefreshfig.com/summer-vegetable-farro-salad/#tasty-recipes-387-jump-target
So obviously I didn’t use farro….the grocery store was out. 😢 I substituted for quinoa. After I mixed everything up I tripled the dressing recipe because I felt it needed more. This was also great way to use up that summer squash! At the end of the day this was a great light, fresh summer salad.
Vegan Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Bake
4 adult meals, 2 toddler meals https://cookingwithparita.com/sun-dried-tomato-pasta-bake/#wprm-recipe-container-10035
Kyle said this was his favorite meal he’s had in a long time, and he thought it could be served at a restaurant. It is SO easy to make! You literally throw everything into your baking dish, mix it up and bake. Took less than 15 minutes to put together. I decided to risk using a chickpea pasta instead of regular and it worked great! I used the brand Banza. Kyle said he would never have known it wasn’t traditional pasta!
Ginger Garlic Lamb Roast with Crispy Potato Wedges
4+ adult meals, 2 toddler meals https://turtlelion.com/2021/07/31/ginger-garlic-lamb-roast-and-crispy-potato-wedges/
You may have seen this recipe I shared yesterday, I am still so proud of how well this turned out! The sauce came from the episode of Selena+Chef with Roy Choi. I made his breakfast taco’s a while back and saved all this extra sauce and have been trying to dream up what to do with it. This week inspiration hit. You know you have a winner when your toddler eats it with gusto! I served Asher’s sauce on the side because I wasn’t sure how he would feel about it. He LOVED it! He dipped everything in it and then almost drank it. We get a lamb every year from my in-laws farm so I am always looking for ways to use it. If lamb isn’t in the cards for you this would also be great with a pot roast or something similar.
Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa
4 adult meals, 2 toddler meals https://healmedelicious.com/fish-tacos-with-mango-salsa/
I took a risk with these tacos because I don’t typically enjoy white fish. These were light and easy to make and I would eat them again. I will say the highlight for me is definitely the mango salsa. I also added a little bit of the salsa I made this week. The heat from the salsa was a great addition. I recommend adding something spicy, salsa, or even adding a diced jalapeno to the mango salsa. I knew Asher wouldn’t do a taco. So I made him a little quesadilla (which is a recent like for him) and served the other elements on the side. The recipe called for cassava tortillas, I’ve seen them all over the internet so I thought we’d try them. They are pretty good, certainly not as good as a flour tortilla, but they did the job.
Salsa Party!
The biggest reason I grow a garden is for the salsa! I have made the red salsa for a couple years, but this is the first year I’ve grown tomatillos. It is so fun to have both and to be able to contrast the difference in flavors. The tomatillo salsa is very zesty, and the tomato salsa has great depth of flavor and heat. Try them out for yourself and pick your favorite!
Oven Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
https://lifeonwesterlycreek.com/roasted-tomatillo-salsa/#recipe
Tomatillo’s are such a cute little plant. They look like little paper lanterns. A little advice when making this recipe. Poke a hole into each garlic clove before putting them in the oven. I had one EXPLODE all over my oven. Talk about garlic smell for days. And as always add one pepper at a time.
Restaurant Style Salsa
https://themodernproper.com/fresh-restaurant-style-salsa
This is definitely a favorite at our house. Kyle isn’t a fan of chunky salsa because, “he doesn’t like tomatoes”. The recipe calls for roma tomatoes, but I always just use whatever kind I have pulled out of my garden. I have never added the avocado, but I am sure that would be good! I also only cook half of the onion and add the other half diced up after I’m done blending. Again be sure to add your peppers one at a time.
I hope you enjoy this weeks meal plan. Again I want to add that there may or may not be meal plans posted in the next couple weeks. We have been building a house and we are finally going to get to move it! It may take me some time to get my life back together! As always I’d love to hear from you if you try it out. Please like, share, and enjoy!
Turtlelion 