We spent the weekend at LegoLand, so we’re just getting to this on Sunday night…So, we’ll steal the menu from a year ago and go with that…This is payoff of doing this right?
Meals for the Week, Sept 14-20
- Pasta with Chimichurri Steak and grilled peppers and onion: Using this for Chimichurri Sauce, inspired by this pasta dish.
- BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad
- [Sunflower] Chicken Salad Wraps
- Southwest Skillet Ragu
- Tortellini with Edamame and Sausage
- Pizza
Meals for the Week, Sept 7-13
- Mexican Pie
- Southwest Pinto Bean Burgers and salads
- Pepperoni spinach quiche
- Skillet Chicken Souvlaki
- Parmesan zucchini crisps and grilled sausages
Meals for the Week, Sept 1-6
- Pasta with corn and bacon, salads
- Grilled steak with salsa verde, with Grilled Sweet Potatoes from this
- Spinach and Mushroom Gallette
- Grilled chicken, avocado, tomato and lettuce sandwiches, with corn on the cob
- Balsamic Marinated Pork Chops with Grilled Peaches and veggie
- Grilled cheese sandwiches and Spicy Watermelon Gazpacho
Meals for the Week, Aug 24-30
- Tomato, Broccoli and Mozzarella Pasta Bake, using Ham instead of Chickpeas
- Asian Cabbage Rolls with Spicy Pork
- Sweet Potato Ham and Cheese Salad
- Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Salads
- Something along the lines of Chicken Salad with Feta, Corn and Blueberries
- Bowtie Lasagne and green beans
Meals for the Week, Aug 17-23
- Bulgar and Chickpea Salad with Cranberries and Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette
- Healthier Egg Salad Sandwiches with Pickled Celery on homemade bread if I can get around to it this weekend.
- Grilled zucchini nachos with ground turkey and other nacho fixings
- Pizza
- Saag or Saag Paneer is we can find some Indian Cheese
- Super Sloppy Joe’s with Apple and Red Cabbage slaw
- Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice and Snow Peas
Brown Rice Salad with Grapes
Somehow I ended up picking a bunch of rice salads a few weeks ago. I think there were 3 on the menu in a couple of weeks–kind of odd given that we rarely make salad with rice…
But they were yummy and I made a couple of cups of brown rice early in the week and put it in the fridge and dinner was ready in no time! Worked out well. Also no cooking, which is always nice on a hot summer day.
This one came from TheKitchn. We switched out the walnuts for sunflower seeds due to allergies and maybe simplified things a bit here and there. With rice in the fridge, this can be ready in about 10 minutes. It’s a very hearty salad that could be a main dish.

Brown Rice Salad with Grapes
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 bag salad greens
- 2 cups red grapes sliced in half
- 1 cup crumbled ricotta salata Trader Joe's has this
For the vinaigrette:
- 3 Tbs white wine vinegar
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs brown mustard
- pepper
Instructions
- Cook the rice and cool. I found it easiest to make up a batch of rice in the morning, put it in the fridge for the evening or a day or two later.
- In a large bowl combine the cold rice, sunflower seeds, salad greens. Toss.
- In a small bowl mix the vinaigrette, whisking to mix.
- Pour vinaigrette over the salad and mix.
- Add the grapes and ricotta salata, toss a bit and serve cold.
Meals for the Week Aug 10-16
- Summer Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumber and Basil, adding Ham
- Summer vegetable empanadas
- Burgers with Crispy baked zucchini fries
- Chicken and Black Bean Quesdadillas, adding some bell peppers
- Linguini with Summer Vegetables and Goat Cheese
- Blueberry pasta salad
- Spicy Sunflower Seeds, Noodles, Veggies and Chicken
Sweet Potato Torta Española with Chard
This Torta Española with Rainbow Chard recipe on theKitchn sounded really good, though we tend not to eat regular potatoes. I wondered if it could be made with sweet potatoes and Googled around and ran into this recipe on Well Fed, Flat Broke. So, while I am sure Spaniards would complain that this has no resemblance to a true Torta Española, we mixed and matched between the recipes and came up with the delicious dinner. We increased the chard to 1/2 the bunch, and sautéed the rest with some garlic and served that on the side. Our only regret was that there were no leftovers!

Sweet Potato Torta Española with Chard
Ingredients
- 2 Medium sweet potatoes thinly sliced
- 1 Red onion thinly sliced
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Clove garlic minced
- 1/2 Bunch of chard sliced into strips
- 8 Eggs beaten
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the potato and onion slices, stir to mix and coat with oil.
- Add the garlic and mix in.
- Cover and let cook until potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Put the sliced chard on top of the potatoes and cover.
- Cook another couple of minutes so the chard wilts.
- Pour the beaten eggs over the chard and cover, cooking another 5-8 minutes, or until the eggs are mostly set.
- Loosen the edges with a spatula and carefully slide the torta onto a plate.
- Put the pan on top of the plate and invert so that the torta is back in the pan upside-down.
- Cover and cook a few more minutes, until the eggs are cooked through.
- Slice and serve.
Beef and Watermelon Stir-fry with Brown Rice
It’s summer and watermelon is everywhere. I was curious if watermelon could be incorporated into a main dish and started looking around. I came across this recipe at MyRecipes.com (originally from Virginia Willis in Southern Living) and gave it a try. The sweetness of the watermelon is nicely balanced by the salt and spices. The original called for hoisin sauce as one of the main ingredients of the sauce part, but we’ve not found one that we trust as not being made on shared equipment with fish, so I made up something that seemed to work well for the sauce.

Beef and Watermelon Stir-fry with Brown Rice
Ingredients
Marinade
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp water
- 2 tsp Low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs white cooking wine
Sauce
- 2 Tbs water
- 1 Tbs corn starch
- 1 Tbs Low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbs molasses
- 1 Tbs white cooking wine
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
The rest
- 1 lb sirloin strip steak cut into thin strips
- 1 medium sweet onion sliced
- 1 lb sugar snap peas
- 1/2 lb carrots sliced
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper
- 1 lb watermelon sliced in long 1/2in square sticks
- Brown rice
Instructions
- Mix marinade: garlic, cornstarch, water, soy sauce, olive oil and wine and marinate the steak slices for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the sauce: stir together water, corn starch, soy molasses, wine.
- Remove steak from marinade, discarding the marinade.
- Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook half of beef at a time without stirring, 45 seconds or until browned; turn beef, and cook 45 seconds or until browned. Transfer to a warm plate.
- Stir-fry the onion until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Add sugar snap peas, carrots, ginger, and crushed red pepper; stir-fry 2 minutes.
- Add beef and sauce mixture; stir-fry 1 minute or until slightly thickened.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in watermelon.
- Add black pepper, and red pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately over brown rice.