Menu Plan Monday

Last week I was flying blind in the kitchen, just winging it!  We all got fed but there was very little planning, it was a clean out the pantry and freezer week.  I love those weeks, I love looking into my fridge at the end of the week and thinking, geesh, there is no food in here!  Of course when I'm standing at the checkout of the grocery store thinking, geesh, that was a lot of money I'm not as in love with clean out the fridge week.

Here's this week's plan:
Sunday-grilled steak and chops with quinoa black eyed pea salad with roasted corn
Monday-left over meats for the boys with fresh beans, tortillas and jicama cucumber salad
Tuesday-teriyaki chicken/tofu with purple jasmine rice and steamed broccoli
Wednesday-lemon dill tuna pasta salad
Thursday-at my In Law's to celebrate my sister's birthday
Friday-shrimp tacos with fresh beans
Saturday-roasted chicken with forbidden rice and white navy beans

For more inspiration visit Menu Plan Monday on Organization Junkie's blog!

Creamy fiesta three bean salad

Phew, it's been a rough month!  I've been cooking, we've been eating, but frankly I just was not up to sharing.  So, thanks for your patience and I hope that things will get back to a normal posting schedule now that the end of the school year stress is over.

Beans, we eat a lot of beans in our house.  I love them because they are cheap, nutritious and very filling.  I was never a big bean eater growing up, the extent of my love affair with beans stopped at the good old American can of pork n beans.  We had refried beans for our taco night, but always from a can.  Once I met my husband's mother and experienced what fresh beans were all about I was hooked.  Sometimes though, I want a cold bean side dish and that's what we had last night.

Creamy fiesta three bean salad

1 1/2 cup dried beans, assorted varieties, sorted rinsed and placed in a crock pot
water to cover by 3"
1/4 cup veganaise
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix (check the label to eliminate the nasty stuff or make your own mix)
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
2 tomatillos, husks removed, washed and stem removed

Cover the dry beans with water and cook on low for 7-8 hours until done, but still firm.  Drain the beans and set aside, reserve the juice if desired for another use.

In a high power blender combine the veganaise through the tomatillos and blend on high until well combined.  This will make more sauce than you need for this dish, save the rest for green salad, a marinade or a dip for veggies.  Add the sauce to the beans and toss well to coat, set aside or refrigerate. 

You can add whatever other veggies to this dish you'd like.  Last night I tossed in the last little bit of my frozen corn and chopped up a roma tomato.  The time before I added diced raw zucchini.  Diced avocado would be good too.  It's limited only by what you've got on hand and need to use up.  It could even be turned into a main dish if you wanted by adding cooked chicken, shrimp or tofu, which sounds like a good alternative to dinner salads during the **hopefully** warm weather on it's way for us. 

Tropical chicken

I wasn't able to get a picture of the chicken before it was devoured but Rene was a big fan of the marinade I made tonight.  So here goes:

1/2 can pineapple, with juice
2 cloves garlic
1/2" ginger
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
basil, 5-6 leaves

Blend all the above in a high power blender until smooth, pour over chicken breast and marinate at least 3 hours, longer if possible.  Grill chicken and enjoy!