I don’t know where you live but where I live it’s hot, hot, hot! When the weather gets this way, I don’t want to eat. Give me some cold fruit and a salad and I am happy. However, that doesn’t quite work my husband. So, I’d thought I’d share my weekend menu with you. My hope is two-fold, one that I might encourage you and save you some time and money in the kitchen and two that you might share a recipe with me!
Last Friday, I went to the store and bought six free range chicken breasts. I came home and boiled them. The fixings were ready for the entire weekend.
The first night, I took two chicken breasts and cubed them and made chicken salad sandwiches on whole grain bread with romaine and tomatoes and watermelon slices for dessert. Everyone makes their chicken salad differently. I dice celery, add sweet pickle relish, dill weed, sliced almonds and fat free mayo to make mine.
The second night I night I shredded two more chicken breasts and made a mixed baby green chinese chicken salad with slivered almonds, crispy chow mein noodles and mandarin oranges in a sesame and ginger dressing. I made a fruit parfait with strawberries, bananas, apples, pears, grapes and fat free yogurt.
The third night I took the last two remaining chicken breasts and sliced them in cubes. I made a pasta salad, with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, spinach, artichokes, asparagus and italian dressing. For dessert we had pound cake panini, with nutella and strawberries, grilled on a foreman grill. The kids were still hungry so they got hot dogs on the side. The panini is easy. Buy a pound cake slice it in 8 slices. Spread nutella on each slice, add strawberries and put two slices together like a sandwich. Grill it on a panini grill or any kind of indoor grill for a few minutes until the pound cake is golden brown. Viola! It’s ready to eat.
Once I cooked the chicken the only other time I turned on the stove was the third night to cook the pasta and hot dogs. It was a simple weekend of tasty good food. I didn’t heat my home excessively baking or cooking and it was relatively healthy.
So often, we think eating out is the way to go but it is sometimes faster and easier to whip something up at home. Especially when you’ve already cooked the main ingredient that you’ll need for the dishes you are going to cook ahead of time. So what do you do to stay cool and still try to eat healthy meals?
Pastor Susan 