Menu Plan Monday: Noodles!

Ingredients

Red Lentils

Fry the bacon/ham and the onion in the oil.

Add everything else and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 30 minutes, adding water as it gets too thick. Finally, blend it for a nice, smooth, thick texture.

Tomato, Bacon, & Lentil Soup with bread

Great with fruit salad with a little coconut sprinkled on top

Homemade Taco Salad

Josh and I invited an American guy, a Nigerian guy, and a Nepalese guy for dinner on Friday.  We decided it was our duty to introduce the latter two to Tex-Mex.  They were unsure, but very brave and all seemed to enjoy!  I love feeding single guys- they are soooo appreciative of a homemade meal!  Go here for a how-to on homemade taco salad shells.

All the "fixins" for taco salad

My pile of taco salad shells

My concoction, tho there was some debate on what order to layer things

This Week’s Menu Plan

A few left-overs from last week and a few new recipes I’ve made before but never blogged.  Enjoy!

• Monday: Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
• Tuesday: Terriyaki Salmon with rice
• Wednesday: Three-Cheese Chicken & Penne Florentine, salad and bread
• Thursday: Date Night!
• Friday: Greek Chicken
• Saturday: Beef Sesame Noodles
• Sunday: Homemade Pizza, salad

3-Cheese Chicken & Penne Florentine

• 1 t olive oil
• cooking spray
• 3 c thinly sliced mushrooms
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 c chopped red bell pepper
• 3 c chopped fresh spinach
• 1 T chopped oregano
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 (16-oz) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
• 4 c hot cooked penne {you cna sub another type of small pasta if you’d like}
• 2 c shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast {or you can boil 3 chicken breasts}
• 2 c (8-oz) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 c (2 oz) grated, fresh parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 (10 3/4-oz) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• handful of chopped, fresh basil

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Heat olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over med-hi heat.  Add mushrooms, onions, and bell pepper; saute 4 minutes or until tender.  Add spinach, oregano, and pepper; saute 3 minutes or just until spinach wilts.

Place cottage cheese in a  food processor; process until very smooth.  {I skipped this step and used a red sauce instead because I like to keep you guessing.}  Combine spinach mixture, {cottage cheese}, pasta, chicken, 1 c shredded cheese, 1/4 c parm, milk, and soup in a large bowl.  Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with remaining cheeses.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

Great with crusty bread and a crisp salad.

Cook and drain any small-sized pasta (penne, farfale, etc...)

Cook mushrooms, onions, and red peppers

Boil and dice chicken.

Add spinach.

Watch it wilt, then add more...

...until it looks like this.

Toss it with the pasta. {Sprinkle more cheese on top.}

Beef Sesame Noodles

I was very, very surprised this recipe called for deli meat.  However, after making it, I really liked it.  It was also a much cheaper alternative to beef.

• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/2 c reduced sodium beef broth
• 1T grated fresh ginger
• 2t dark sesame oil
• 1/4 t sugar
• 1 (9-oz) pkg sugar snap peas
• 2 or 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced into wedges
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef, cut into 3×1 inches
• 1/4 pound mushrooms, quartered
• 1 c cherry tomatoes
• 10-oz Japanese curly noodles

Cook noodles.  Combine rest {minus meat} and then saute veggies until tender.  Combine it all and serve.

Check out Org Junkie for more menu ideas!