Dinner Recipes, Winter Meal Plan #6

What to Cook for Dinner this Week:

1.) Slow Cooker BBQ Beef and Rice Bowls, 2.) Black Bean and Tomato Soup, 3.) BBQ Beef Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, 4.) Paprika Chicken and Rice Bowls, 5.) Crispy Chili Rellenos with Paprika Chicken and Chorizo, 6.) Cocktail: The Perfect Manhattan

This week's meal plan should be called the post-holiday bowl and finger food menu. Because, while I wasn't really intending this to be the case while creating it, every recipe here is meant to be eaten either with your hands or with a spoon. I think I'm just in the mood for wholesome super simple food. The holidays are great. But, come January, I crave a sort of casual no-fuss simplicity. That's what this week's meal plan is about.

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

A little advance planning and meal prep work every day is the key to getting delicious, wholesome, good for you, home cooked meals on the table several nights of the week. A little = a lot.

On this page, you’ll find a meal plan for the week. Each meal is designed to build on the previous night’s efforts by using leftover ingredients. You’ll also find a preparation schedule and grocery list.

Meal Prep, Day by Day

If you'd rather cook two or three meals instead of five: Five home cooked meals in one week is not feasible or desirable for everyone. If two or three is more your style, Days #1, and #3 – OR Days #2, #4, and #5 work well together, with one meal building from the next. Please note that the grocery list below is for all 5 meals.

Day #1

What’s for Dinner Tonight: Slow Cooker BBQ Beef and Rice Bowls

• Slow cooker BBQ Beef calls for Marinara Sauce, which can be store bought or made from scratch. Homemade marinara only takes about 15 minutes of hands on time, but it needs about 2 hours to simmer, so if you're going to make it, get it started early in the day.
• Make extra Slow Cooker BBQ beef so that you have enough leftover for BBQ Beef Grilled Cheese sandwiches on Day #3. For a family of four, a 6 pound chuck roast should be plenty (make 1 & ½ the amount of the sauce) - although, if you want additional leftovers to freeze or for lunches throughout the week, you might want to make as much as 8 pounds (double the amount of sauce).

Day #2

What’s for Dinner Tonight: Black Bean and Tomato Soup

• Tonight’s vegetarian black bean tomato soup is one of my favorite dishes because it only takes about 20 minutes to make, but packs some seriously delicious flavor.
• You'll need about 4 cups of black beans for this soup, which can be canned or dried and cooked in a slow cooker. Cooking dried beans in the slow cooker takes about 5 minutes of prep work and will be ready in plenty of time to make this soup in the evening. But, if you don't want to bother, a couple cans of dried beans works perfectly well.
• If you have time, consider making a batch of homemade tortillas to serve with this soup. Homemade tortillas are surprisingly easy and sooooo good dipped in warm bowls of this soup.
• Black beans make a nice side dish for Crispy Chili Rellenos with Paprika Chicken and Chorizo on Day #5, so consider making or purchasing enough to have some leftover.

Day #3

What’s for Dinner Tonight: BBQ Beef Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

• These yummy sandwiches are the ultimate comfort food. Use the leftover BBQ Beef that you reserved from Day #1. If you still have leftover beef after tonight's meal, just pop it in the freezer.
• If you have any leftover Black Bean and Tomato Soup or roasted cabbage, consider serving that alongside these sandwiches.

Day #4

What’s for Dinner Tonight: Paprika Chicken and Rice Bowls

• Make a some extra of tonight's Paprika chicken so that you have some leftover for Crispy Chili Rellenos on Day #5. You'll want about 1 pound of chicken for the Rellenos, so 1 & ½ times the recipe will be plenty.

Day #5

What’s for Dinner Tonight: Crispy Chili Rellenos with Paprika Chicken and Chorizo

• Since you've already made the paprika chicken for these tasty little chili rellenos on Day #4, you can skip that entire portion of the recipe.

This Week’s Featured Cocktail: The Perfect Manhattan

Useful Equipment:

• Crock Pot Slow Cooker
• Cast Iron Skillet 
• Dutch Oven

Sugar Free Sweet Treats:

• Coconut Maple Panna Cotta with Chocolate Clusters {Sugar free}
• Healthy 10-minute Chocolate Pudding 
• Banana Split Crepe Cake {Sugar free}
• Sugar Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Shopping List, Winter Meal Plan #6

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*Does not include ingredients for suggested sweet treats.

• 1 small red or green cabbage
• 1 large or two medium yellow onion
• 1 medium red onion
• 4 tablespoon minced garlic (8-12 cloves)
• 2 jalapeños
• 4 limes
• 2 lemons
• 2 cups fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
• 5-6 pounds chuck roast
• 4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• ½ lb ground chorizo sausage
• 20 egg roll wrappers
• 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1 ½ teaspoon oregano
• 5 tablespoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 3 cups marinara sauce – homemade or from a jar
• One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
• One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
• 4 cups black beans, dried and cooked in a slow cooker or canned (rinsed)
• ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 16 oz jar roasted red bell peppers
• 27 oz can roasted whole green chilies
• 3-6 tablespoon jalapeño tobacco sauce
• 2 cups wild rice
• 2 cups long-grain rice
• 2 ½ cups vegetable stock, or chicken stock
• 8 thick slices hearty, good quality bread
• 24 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1 cup plain, unsweetened greek yogurt
• 1 cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper
• ⅔ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
• About 2 cups of vegetable oil (for frying chili rellenos)
• 2 teaspoon sugar

Optional toppings for Black Bean Tomato Soup:

• Sour cream 
• 8 corn tortillas – OR – a bag of tortilla chips
• 1 cup corn oil (disregard if using tortilla chips)

For this week’s featured cocktail, The Perfect Manhattan (for one drink):

• 2 ounces Rye Whiskey or Bourbon
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• Garnish: maraschino cherries or brandied cherries