Do you hear trumpets sounding? Or lots of celebratory music playing? How about a few cheers? Nothing…hmmm, I was just sure that it come with the accomplishment of getting my stuff back together and making a real What to Cook Wednesday menu (although, technically, I made this whole WTCW thing up so I guess I can really determine what makes it real)!
Want more reason for some boogey down music? This one comes with bonuses. Bonus 1: It’s an actual weekly menu with a (loose) theme added in (more on that in a sec). Bonus 2: I was so excited with this whole menu planning stuff that I threw in a What to Cook on Wednesday item…meaning, today.
Get your pens/paper (do people use those anymore?) ready to write out that grocery list…here we go!
A good friend of mine is planning a milestone birthday trip to a sunny locale for next year. I’m currently pleading with them to allow me to go even though I’m technically the youngest in the group by several years. I still go to bed earlier than most of these people though…counts for something, right? Anyhoo, I made an “agreement” with Mathlete that we would only go if I reached my weight/fitness goal by then. It’s a monster of a goal which means I have a lot to do. Since we’ve been so busy recently, I’ve been eating some really tasty but definitely NOT healthy food. I had joined Weight Watchers but slacked off and stopped paying attention to what was going in our mouth. All the accomplishments I had made reversed and pounds started going on and not off. So, the first step to get to this trip: Eat better!
If you’ve ever been on Weight Watchers (or read through some of their online content), you’re probably no stranger to Gina’s Skinny Taste. Gina takes recipes and lightens them up while still keeping all the taste. For WW folks, she even posts points! While I am not (currently) planning to start up WW again, I have been reading a lot of her recipes. Caught onto the theme, yet? It’s WTCW: Skinny Taste Edition**. All of the main dish recipes for this week come from Gina’s site. If you click on over to her site, I guarantee you will leave hungry!
Sunday: I love the taste of cumin! I stumbled upon the recipe for Ground Turkey with Potatoes and Peas and it sounded absolutely divine! If you’re low on time (not that this is really time intensive), you could probably brown the turkey and then put all the other ingredients in the crockpot to finish cooking. Monday: Mathlete is blessed with a tape worm fast metabolism. He also loves to have homey, simple stuff a lot too. I’m going to try Skinny Sloppy Joes to try and please us both.
Tuesday: Our local grocery store has frozen the price on their boneless pork chops for 2011 so we tend to keep a pack around the house for dinners. Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops sound like a tasty way to make them.
Wednesday: Both of our kids are huge pasta fans. I think probably almost all kids are. I always like to do a little something more than just pasta with sauce for our pasta night. Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage fulfills both the pasta and “adult” elements for pasta night.
Thursday: Summer is in full swing here which means hot days! I try to make things that don’t require the use of the oven/stove a lot such as Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken to limit the heat in the house.
Friday: I plan to thrown these Filipino BBQ Skewers on the grill with beef (on sale!) versus pork as shown in the recipe. Yummy!
Saturday: It is rare that we go a week without at least one Asian flavored meal. Asian Grilled Chicken is going to fill our Asian craving for this week.
And now, it is time for the bonus I mentioned. What to cook on Wednesday! For this, I chose a favorite in our household that Gina lightened up but kept super tasty: Macaroni and Cheese. Enjoy the yummy, cheesy goodness!
**Just as a note: I did contact Gina to let her know I was a fan and would be featuring her recipes for this WTCW. However, she did not request, pay for or in any way suggest that I include her as a feature of WTCW. I just love her recipes and have had great success in making them.**
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The crock pot Santa Fe chicken is very good. Made it a few weeks back and Hubby loved it. It makes a lot of leftovers so I put it over rice one night and romaine lettuce with crushed tortillas chips the second night.