Dinner Recipes, Fall Meal Plan #1

What to cook for dinner this week:

1.) Slow Cooker Pot Roast  with Roasted Potatoes , Green Beans and Bacon , and Sautéed Vegetables 2.) Perfect Roast Chicken  with Vegetable Rice Pilaf  3.) Cuban Chicken and Rice  with Sautéed Vegetables and tortillas 4.) Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara  5.) Leftover Pot Roast Soup  6.) Cocktail: Perfect Cuban Mojitos

If you’re not familiar with this blog, here’s the basic idea:

Using some of the same ingredients in multiple dishes throughout the week is the key to getting delicious, wholesome, good for you, home cooked meals on the table several nights of the week. The recipes in each 5-day meal plan include some prep-work for another meal later in the week.

Like every other meal plan on this blog, this week’s recipes are designed to make healthy, delicious, home cooked meals every night of the week much easier with each meal building on the previous night’s efforts. A little = a lot.

Meal Prep, Day by Day

Day #1

What’s for Dinner Tonight: 5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Pot Roast  with Roasted Potatoes , Microwave Green Beans with Bacon , and Sautéed Vegetables

For me, “Day #1” is usually a Sunday, and it’s the day with the most heavy lifting when it comes to meal prep for the rest of the week. I am always so grateful to myself for taking a couple of hours on Sunday to make getting dinner on the table that much easier the rest of the week.

Whatever day of the week you choose as your “Day #1”, here’s your meal prep task list:

• Pot Roast: Get the pot roast in the slow cooker and let it cook for about 8 hours. After dinner reserve leftover pot roast AND the leftover cooking liquid. You’ll use both in Leftover Pot Roast Soup on Day #5.
• Potatoes: Tonight’s Roasted Potato recipe will make a lot of potatoes on purpose. Reserve the leftover potatoes for Leftover Pot Roast Soup on Day #5.
• Green Beans with Bacon: Tonight’s Green Bean Recipe will make a lot on purpose. Reserve 1 cup leftover beans for Vegetable Rice Pilaf on Day #2. Save any other leftover beans for Leftover Pot Roast Soup on Day #5.
• Sautéed Veggies: Use whatever vegetables you and your family likes. Just be sure to make about 6 cups of sautéed veggies tonight. Serve one third of the vegetables for dinner tonight. Reserve one third of the vegetables for Vegetable Rice Pilaf on Day #2. Reserve the remaining third of the vegetables to serve alongside Cuban Chicken and Rice on Day #3.

Day #2

What’s for dinner tonight: Perfect Roast Chicken , Vegetable Rice Pilaf, and Bread (optional)

• Roast Chicken: Roast one or two chickens, depending on how big the chickens are, how much you believe your family will eat, and whether or not you’d like to have some leftover roast chicken meat in your refrigerator or freezer.
• Vegetable and Rice Pilaf : Use the leftover Green Beans with Bacon and Sautéed Vegetables you reserved from last night’s dinner.
• Bread and Croutons: I also like to serve this meal with a few slices of sourdough or French bread. If you choose to do the same, you might want to use the leftover bread to make croutons to top the Leftover Pot Roast Soup on Day #5. You might even want to prep the croutons while the chicken is roasting, sliding them into the oven as you pull the chicken out.
• Simple Chicken Broth: After dinner, pick all leftover chicken from the bones and use the chicken bones to make ultra simple chicken broth, letting it simmer on the stovetop or in the slow cooker overnight. Reserve 3 cups of the chicken broth for Cuban Chicken and Rice on Day #4 and the rest of the broth for Leftover Pot Roast Soup on Day #5.

Day #3

What’s for dinner tonight: Cuban Chicken and Rice , Tortillas, and Sautéed Vegetables

• Use some of the homemade chicken broth you made earlier in the week for this simple one-pot meal.
• Reheat the remaining Sautéed Vegetables that you cooked on Day #1 in the microwave and serve alongside Cuban Chicken and Rice.
• If you’ve never made homemade tortillas, I encourage you to try it. They are much easier than you might think, and infinitely better than anything you can purchase.
• Consider serving tonight’s meal with a Classic Cuban Mojito.

Day #4

What’s for dinner tonight: Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara

• In this vegetarian version of spaghetti carbonara, caramelized portabella mushrooms and smoked mozzarella replace the bacon for a dish that even meat eaters will love.
• The recipe calls for dried pasta, but homemade fresh pasta is even better. If you’ve never made homemade pasta but want to try your hand at it, here’s a pasta making picture tutorial that will take you through the process, step-by-step.

Day #5

What’s for dinner tonight: Leftover Pot Roast Soup

• Tonight’s soup will be on the table in less than 30 minutes and is your reward for all the leftovers you made earlier in the week. Use leftover pot roast and the reserved pot roast liquid, roasted potatoes, green beans with bacon, sautéed veggies, and chicken broth to make this warm and comforting soup in a flash.

This Week’s Featured Cocktail: The Perfect Cuban Mojito

Useful Equipment:

• Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• Slow cooker

Suggested Recipes for the Baker:

• Caramel Apple Pie
• Crustless Custard Tart
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves
• Gingerbread Biscotti with Ginger Chocolate Bark

Shopping List, Weekly Fall Meal Plan #1

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*Does not include ingredients for suggested baked goods, homemade tortillas or homemade pasta.

• 5 lbs potatoes – I like to use Yukon Gold, but red potatoes or russet potatoes will also work
• 3 medium yellow onions
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 1 small shallot
• 24 oz (2 lb) cut green beans, fresh or frozen
• 1 lemon
• 6 cups vegetables for sautéing (suggested: Red peppers, carrots, asparagus, zucchini)
• 1 red (or any color) bell pepper
• 8 oz portabella mushrooms
• 1 cup parsley
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped dry roasted almonds
• 4 – 7 lbs beef chuck roast, depending on how many people you’re serving and how many leftovers you want
• 1 1/2 lbs thick cut bacon
• One 3-4 lb whole roasting chicken (If you want leftover roast chicken meat for lunches this week, purchase two chickens.)
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (for rice pilaf, can also use water)
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp dried herbs for pot roast soup (such as thyme, oregano, rosemary, or Italian seasoning)
• 1-oz packet dry ranch dressing mix
• Three 1-oz packets dry onion soup mix
• 25-oz jar mild pepperoncinis
• 2 cups long grain rice
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• One 15-oz can diced tomatoes
• A couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce (optional, for pot roast soup)
• 1 1/2 cups (15 oz) black beans
• 10 oz dried spaghetti noodles
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 cups of buttermilk per chicken (optional – purchase if selecting the buttermilk brined Roast Chicken option)
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
• 7 oz smoked mozzarella cheese, grated
• 5 oz grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Ingredients for Cuban Mojito (2 drinks): 12 fresh mint leaves, 2 limes, 1 & 1/2 tbsp sugar, 4 oz white rum, 1 cup club soda

NOTES: This week’s meal plan includes making homemade chicken broth from the bones of the roast chicken on Day #1. If you would rather purchase prepared chicken broth, you’ll need a total of 8 cups for this week’s meal plan.

For Cuban Chicken and Rice on Day #3, you can use a 15 oz can of black beans (included in the shopping list), or opt to cook a batch of dried black beans in the slow cooker. Ingredients for cooking dried black beans not included in shopping list. Click here for Slow Cooker Beans recipe and ingredients.