Meals for Week of March 21, 2011

OK, so I was actually working on this for last week and got side tracked.  But here it is for you to enjoy for this week.  I also hope that you can browse back at older posts and gain meal planning inspiration from those.  :-)

I want to take a brief moment to talk about breakfast.  There are a lot of breakfast foods that I love, but in spite of that sometimes I get bored or I'm not in the mood to extend the effort to fix myself anything.  I have recently discovered a company that makes delicious breakfast cereals and I'm happy they make some of my childhood favorites but they are natural and they make them with using renewable energy.  Three Sisters Cereal  is based in Minneapolis, MN and I buy it at Whole Foods Market.  The cereal comes in cute bags that has less packaging and my favorite cold cereal is the Sweet Wheat, which is a frosted shredded wheat.  They also make an instant oatmeal, which I tried recently and my kids love it.  Something I love about the oatmeal, is they designed the package so you can use it to measure your water for making it.  So simple, but yet so totally clever!  It makes it easy for older kids to make it themselves and I just love how they created the packaging to multi-task.  We have the brown sugar and maple flavor right now which is delicious, but I plan to try the chocolate soon as I have a certain 5 year old chocoholic who I know that will LOVE it.  Next time you are at Whole Foods, check them out.*  My local store has had them on sale several times, so I stocked up on multiple packages.  I sent one whole bag with my husband to work so that he can just keep it on hand and saves us money so he doesn't eat out.

I also came across this great article from Relish Magazine that I wanted to share- Re-Inventing Breakfast.  It has a great little bullet list of ideas for toast, plus a few delicious recipes.

OK, onto the recipes for this week-

No Prep Veggie Lasagna- For those who would rather assemble something from pre-made items, I like the products that come from Trader Joe’s.  This lasagna doesn’t require making sauce, sautéing vegetables or boiling noodles.  It’s just assembling the dish. 

Mini Skillet Meatloaves- Individual sized meatloaves that you can make on a weeknight.  You just need a skillet with a lid. 

Linguine with Cauliflower and Brown Butter- Fantastic way to eat cauliflower!  And the flavor of sage with browned butter is so good!

Corned Beef Hash- It doesn’t have to come from a can, just make a few extra potatoes to use with any little bits of leftover beef.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake- This is an “old school” recipe that you may have had some variation of it growing up.  I think it’s a good one for making ahead, or if you need to bring a meal to someone.  You can make healthier adaptations; ground turkey instead of beef, brown some veggies like finely diced carrot, celery or orange bell pepper with the meat; use fat free cottage cheese.  I don’t recommend a lower fat sour cream though or cheddar cheese, you need those to melt well. 

Quick Chicken Tostadas- Super easy and so versatile.  This version is perfect for a weeknight.  I've shared this before and it's had rave reviews.

Chicken with Artichokes and Angel Hair- This easy recipe has a little photo tutorial, which is nice because the the method of cooking this recipe is very adaptable to making this kind of chicken with lots of other sauces. 

Ham and Bean Soup- In case a hearty warm soup is still what you need, this soup is great.  It also freezes nicely.  I have made it with a ham bone or with just diced ham. 

Spring Salad with Strawberries and Creamy Oranage Avocado Dressing- I shared this recipe last spring, I love it.  Let’s pretend it’s not raining and there’s no more snow anywhere and it’s actually spring. 

Strawberry Balsamic Sauce or Jam- I love, love love this sauce!  I’ve also made it as jam.  This is a great way to use the not-so-sun-ripened-sweet supermarket strawberries.  It’s so simple and a great sauce to pour over ice cream or on your morning yogurt.  If you follow the instructions to cook it longer into a jam, then you have your own homemade jam for toast! 

Easy Strawberry Jam- Depending on the strawberries you get this may turn out a bit tart.  It’s great if you have wonderful naturally sweet strawberries.  But it is a great low sugar option for jam.

*Just as FYI- I wasn't paid or compensated by Three Sisters, I just wanted to share the love.  :-)