a week of meals

Our week 1 menu with annotated reviews by Brett

Last week was a success. I didn't make the soup, we just didn't need it but something tells me we might need a hot bowl of soup this week in Atlanta! Only one real dog: the quinoa salad. For some reason the quinoa didn't cook correctly, it had an oatmeal consistency instead of its usual fluffy quality. The best was the wheat berry waldorf salad - recipe below.

Here is this week's lineup:

Sunday night: STUFFED PEPPERS with MEDITERRANEAN QUINOA

Monday night: swim practice - eat burritos with the team.

Tuesday night: jewelry class! I'll probably grab a smoothie.

Wednesday night: PAN FRIED TILAPIA with ROASTED TOMATOES

Thursday night: BEEF + BROCCOLI

Friday night: CORNMEAL CRUSTED CHICKEN with SUNDRIED TOMATO SAUCE

I have a recipe for gluten free, healthier brownies made with coconut oil and coconut flour. Gonna give it a try! The ingredients were pricey - but something tells me spending more than 99 cents on a brownie mix and some canola oil might be the right decision anyway.

WHEATBERRY WALDORF SALAD with HAM

1 cup wheatberries (soaked overnight to soften)

little bit of ham, I used a 7 oz. prepacked ham steak from Whole Foods, diced.

1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

1/4 small red onion, minced

1 cup golden raisins

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chhopped

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp each honey, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and freshly grated ginger*

Boil wheatberries for about an hour until very tender. Allow to cool a bit and then mix with all other chopped ingredients and raisins. Whisk together the dressing from wet ingredients and ginger and pour over the wheatberry mixture, tossing to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

* I thought the ginger was a bit strong with the onion and when I make this again I will probably eliminate or reduce it. Overall though, awesome and made a great next day lunch.

Any cooking success last week for you? Have a great week!