What To Cook for Dinner This Week:
- Tamale Pie with White Beans, Chorizo, and Salsa Verde
- White Bean and Kale Soup
- Scallops with Chorizo and Roasted Corn
- Roast Chicken and Israeli Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette
- 20-Minute Chipotle Pasta with (or without) Chicken
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.
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, #2, and #3, OR Days #4 and #5, work well together, one meal building from the next.
Day #1: Tamale Pie with White Beans, Chorizo, and Salsa Verde
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. Whatever day of the week you choose as your “Day #1”, here’s your meal prep task list:
1. Use canned OR dried white beans. But, if using dried, plan ahead.
Two of this week's meals use white beans, including tonight's Tamale Pie. You can use canned beans for both recipes, OR cook a pound of beans in the slow cooker, which only takes about 5 minutes of hands on time.
If cooking dried beans, it's important to read the recipe instructions about soaking the beans before dumping them into the slow cooker. You'll probably want to soak the beans overnight and then dump them into the slow cooker in the morning.
2. Use prepared salsa verde in tonight's Tamale Pie, OR make your own.
Homemade Salsa Verde is easy to make and packed with flavor when tomatillos and peppers are at their peak. In the off-season months, just open up a jar of the best quality prepared salsa verde you can find. My favorite varieties are Herdez, Frontera, and Pace.
3. Chop some extra veggies for tomorrow.
While dicing the onion for tonight's Tamale Pie, go ahead and chop TWO onions, reserving one in the refrigerator for tomorrow's White Bean Soup.
Get even more of a head start on tomorrow's soup by slicing 2 stalks of celery and 2 large (peeled) carrots into thin slices. Store the chopped onion in one container and the chopped celery and carrot in a seperate container - both in the refrigerator.
4. Cook 24 ounces of chorizo (instead of 12 ounces, as specified in the Tamale Pie recipe) along with the diced onion. BEFORE moving on to step #4 in the recipe, use a slotted spoon to remove the chorizo and onion from the pan. Reserve half the chorizo slices in the refrigerator for Day #3.
Pour the oil into a bowl. Add two tablespoons of oil back into the saucepan and reserve the rest of the oil in a covered container in the refrigerator. You will also use this reserved chorizo oil on Day #3.
Return the remaining half of the chorizo slices to the saucepan along with the onions and proceed with the recipe.
Tamale Pie with White Beans, Chorizo, and Salsa Verde
*Be sure to read prep instructions above before making this dish.
This simple tamale pie starts with a quick cooking white bean chili made with Spanish chorizo, white beans, and salsa verde that’s spread into a baking dish, covered with a crispy-tender cornbread topping and plenty of cheese, and baked until golden, bubbly, and delicious.
Dessert Pairing: Spice Cake cupcakes
Day #2: White bean and Kale soup
Useing the beans and chopped veggies you prepared on Day #1 will save you some time in prepareing tonight's meal.
White Bean and Kale Soup with Wild Rice
This simple vegetarian soup is packed with wild rice, white beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and kale. It is both hearty and light, homey and filling without weighing you down.
Dessert Pairing: Apple Cobbler with Gooey Brown Sugar Cookie Crumble
Day #3: Scallops with Chorizo and Roasted Corn
Skip the first step in this recipe by using the reserved cooked Chorizo and Chorozo Oil you prepared on Day #1.
Because you've already cooked the chorizo, this dish should come together in about 20 minutes.
Scallops with Chorizo and Roasted Corn
Roasted sweet corn and chorizo sausage that’s been cooked in a creamy mixture of green chilies, scallions, garlic and jalapeños and topped with tender scallops gorgeously seared in chorizo oil.
Dessert Pairing: Mini Ginger Snaps
Day #4: Roast Chicken and Israeli Salad
Tonight's simple Roast Chicken comes with two options for roasting. Both methods require minimal prep time (5-10 minutes) and only 3 ingredients, including the chicken. However - one method suggests soaking the chicken in buttermilk for a few hours (up to 24) before roasting. I suggest reading through the recipe ahead of time and deciding which method you would like to follow.
Whichever method you decide to follow, Roast Two Chickens if you want to add some chicken to Chipotle Pasta on Day #5. Even if you don't want to add chicken to the pasta dish, I'd suggest roasting two chickens. Roasting two birds takes very little additional time and provides you with extra meat to use in all sorts of dishes (Right before the recipe for Roast Chicken, you'll see a good list of recipes that start with leftover chicken.).
Roast chicken will freeze well, so I almost alwayas make more than I need, freezing the rest for another day.
Make some Chicken Broth. If you roast a chicken, you can also make a few quarts of chicken broth for only the cost of the water in the pan.
Homemade chicken broth is simply a matter of picking the meat from the bones, adding the bones to a pot, covering them with water and letting them simmer for a while. The process is even easier when you use a Slow Cooker. In most cases, after roasting a chicken or two (or three!), I'll let the bones cook in water in my slow cooker overnight. The next day, simply pour the broth through a strainer into a container.
You might want to make extra Israli Salad and Ja'ala (roasted nuts).
Serve tonight's chicken with Israli Salad topped with Ja'ala (roasted nuts) for a simple, healthy, absolutly delicious meal. Ja'ala is also the perfect topping for Chipotle Pasta on Day #5, so make enough for tonight and tomorrow.
While you're at it, you might want to make enough salad to last you a day or two. Israeli Salad will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and having it on hand is perfect for simple, healthy lunches or snacks.
2 Fool Proof Methods for Perfect Roast Chicken
Two genius methods, from two of the most acclaimed chefs, for how to make the most tender, juicy, richly flavorful Roast Chicken. Both methods require minimal prep time (5-10 minutes) and only 3 ingredients, including the chicken.
Israeli Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette and Roasted Nuts
Israeli Salad is a delicious, fresh mix of vegetables and herbs chopped into very small pieces so that every bite contains a variety of flavors and textures. This version of the classic salad is dressed with Pomegranate Vinaigrette and a handful of crunchy Ja’ala (roasted spiced nut and seed mix).
Dessert Pairing: Profiteroles {Cream Puffs} filled with vanilla ice cream.
Day #5: 20-Minute Chipotle Pasta with Chicken
This simple pasta dish is delicious with chicken or without. If you saved some leftover Roast Chicken to serve with tonight's meal, great. If not, no worries.
Instead of topping this dish with roasted almonds as the recipe suggests, top it with leftover Ja'ala from last night's Israeli Salad.
20-Minute Garlic Chipotle Pasta with Chicken
This delicious Garlic Chipotle Pasta with (or without) chicken requires only 7 ingredients and will be on your table in 20 minutes.
Dessert Pairing: New York Black and White Cookies
Shopping List, Winter Meal Plan #11
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Print*Does not include ingredients for suggested desserts or cocktails
- 2 yellow onions
- 2 stalks of celery
- 5 large carrots
- 2 jalapeños
- 2 red bell peppers (any other color is fine)
- 1 English cucumber
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
- 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes (For White Bean Soup on Day #2; can also use canned diced tomatoes)
- 2 bunches of scallions (about 12 scallions)
- 2 limes
- 1 large shallot
- 10 oz kale leaves
- 12 cloves garlic
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 12 oz corn kernels, frozen or freshly cut from the cob (approximately 5 large ears of corn)
- 24 oz aged chorizo sausage (*see note below for substitutions)
- 1 – 3 roasting chickens (*See notes in Day #4 for thoughts on how many chickens to roast.)
- 12 scallops (1 lb), fresh or frozen
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried herbs or seasoning for Roasted Corn – used in Scallop recipe on Day #3. (My preferences are Tajin Seasoning, paprika, oregano or mild chili powder)
- 12 oz diced green chilies
- 2 – 7 oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- One 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted – I like Muir Glenn Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
- 4 cups (32 oz) vegetable broth
- 14 ounce package dried spaghetti noodles (OR pick up the ingredients for homemade pasta)
- 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses (*see note below)
- 1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3/4 cup wild rice
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 2 cups of Buttermilk (optional – There are two methods for Simple Roast Chicken. Method #2 requires 2 cups of buttermilk which is used to brine the bird before roasting.)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth (for White Bean Soup on Day #2)
- 1 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 cup toasted sesame oil (plus more for drizzling over pasta on Day #5)
- 3 tbsp butter
- Salt and pepper, including at least 2 tablespoons kosher salt for roasting chickens
The salad dressing for Israeli Salad on Day #4 includes pomegranate molasses. You can find pomegranate molasses at many supermarkets, or order it online. It’s also extremely easy to make – get the recipe for Homemade Pomegranate Molasses.
Ja’ala is a roasted nut and seed mix that’s used to top Israeli Salad on Day #4 and Chipotle Pasta on Day #5. The kind of nuts and seeds used in the mix are completely up to you and so I have not added them to the shopping list above. Click here for the recipe, choosing whatever nuts and seeds you prefer.
Two of the meals in this week’s meal plans require white beans. You’ll need a total of 3 1/2 cups. You can use canned beans OR dried beans, cooked in a slow cooker. See the notes in the prep schedule for Day #1 for more information about the difference. If using canned beans, you’ll need three 15-ounce cans or white beans. If cooking dried beans you’ll need 1 lb dried white beans PLUS 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce.
Tamale Pie on Day #1 requires 1 cup salsa verde. Either Pick up a jar of prepared salsa verde or make your own. Get the recipe for homemade Salsa Verde.
Cured chorizo, which comes in links, is much better in this dish than ground, fresh chorizo. But it can be difficult to find in some areas. If your local supermarket doesn’t carry cured chorizo, use andouille sausage instead. In a pinch, you can also use kielbasa sausage. Kielbasa won’t add any heat like chorizo or andouille, so you might want to add a dash or two of cayenne or hot chili powder.
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