Saturday

Family BBQ – no cooking!

Sunday

Roasted Chicken with Barley and Green Beans (whole chicken, garlic, onions, barley pilaf, green beans, basil)

Monday

Turkey Quinoa Skillet (ground turkey, quinoa, diced tomatoes, cilantro, green onion)

Tuesday

Stuffed Bruschetta Chicken with Roasted Potatoes & Ontario Asparagus (chicken breasts, tomato, red onion, basil, cheese, mini potatoes, asparagus)

Wednesday

Pork Burgers and Salad (ground pork, onion, bbq sauce, buns, spinach)

Thursday

Grilled Chicken Salad (chicken breast, lemon, garlic, spinach, hard boiled eggs, tomato, cucumber)

Friday

BBQ Chicken Leg/Thighs with Quinoa and Salad (chicken leg/thighs, bbq sauce, quinoa, spinach)

Knowing that I had a pork tenderloin in my freezer just waiting to be turned into something glorious, I put my thinking cap on when I it came time to meal plan for the week.  The goal was to make something that had a fresh summery flavour all while encompassing some classic earthy and comforting flavours.  Sounds like quite the mouthful eh?  I had a vision, so I just rolled with it. Thankfully that vision came to life exactly as I had hoped. With a little prep time earlier in the day, and the use of my BBQ to cook the meat, this meal came together in about 30 minutes.  Perfect for nights that you don’t want to be glued to your kitchen.

Lemon Thyme Pork Tenderloin With Lentils

What You Need:

• 1 pork tenderloin
• juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• a nice bunch of fresh thyme
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 of an onion; minced
• 1/2-2/3 C dry green lentils

What You Do:

- The first step is to prepare your pork with a marinade.  You can do this either the night before, or several hours before you want to grill.

- Gather your ingredients

- In a large Ziploc bag, insert your pork and then add the thyme, lemon juice, roughly chopped garlic, salt, pepper and a few good glugs (maybe 2-3 Tbsp) of olive oil

- seal the bag and rub the mixture into the meat. Make sure the meat is completely coated and then set it in the fridge to marinate away.

- ready to start cooking?

- turn 2 elements of your BBQ on high to pre-heat

- meanwhile, start your lentils by heating up a medium saucepan to med-low and start sweating your chopped onions

- once they start to become translucent, you can add your lentils (rinse your lentils first though!) and a few sprigs of fresh thyme

- top off with some water. I like to use the same trick with most of my grains.. when adding water, the level should by high enough over the lentils to hit your first knuckle on your pinky finger.

- bring the mixture to a boil, stir and then cover.  Turn the temperature down to low and let it cook away.

- now head on out to your grill!  It should be pre-heated by now, so give it a quick clean down with a wire brush, set the temperature down to low now and get that pork cooking.

- it should take about 6-8 minutes a side depending on how thick of a tenderloin you have.  It will be read when the juices start to run clear.

- once the meat has come off of the grill, cover it with foil and let it rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the juices to re-set themselves.

- your lentils should be ready by this point

- once the meat has rested, slice it up and serve with the lentils and your favourite veggie!  Steamed beans complimented the meal quite nicely.

The subtle lemony flavour within the pork helped to make that nice fresh balance for the earthy lentils.  It is definitely a combination that I will put together again.

P.S. The meal tasted extra delicious when enjoyed outdoors.

Saturday

BBQ Salmon (fresh Atlantic salmon, bbq sauce, quinoa, spinach salad)

Sunday

Lemon Garlic Thyme Pork (pork tenderloin, mushrooms, lentils, green beans)

Monday

Roasted Chicken (whole chicken, garlic, onion, barley, spinach salad)

Tuesday

Turkey & Quinoa Skillet (ground turkey, quinoa, tomatoes, spinach)

Wednesday

BBQ Teryaki Chicken (chicken leg/thighs, teryaki sauce, zucchini, potatoes)

Thursday

Chicken Pasta (ground chicken, pasta sauce, whole wheat penne)

Friday

Hamburgers (lean and extra lean ground beef, burger buns, fixins’)

I come to you today with one of the most simple, yet cost-effective and flavourful dishes I’ve made yet! Seriously though folks, ANYONE can make this meal – so read on.

With Chris being a commuter for work and me having post-work activities (ie. riding Chelsea), we usually don’t get home during the week until around the 7PM mark. Due to this fact, I am always on the hunt for meals that taste unbelievable, but in turn are completely simple and quick to put together.  Several weeks ago while scrolling through some blogs, I came across a recipe that inspired me to throw this particular dish together. (unfortunately for the life of me, I can’t remember where I saw it!) When it comes to what meals I prepare, I never want to sacrifice on the health factor, or the budget factor.  I take pride in the fact that I am able to continue to create healthy meals for us on a very low-budget.  It’s a skill that has really helped us out thus far in our married life and a skill that will in turn, continue to help as time goes on.  Anyway, this dish has pretty much become a staple on our weekly meal plan and I am actually really surprised that it took me this long to finally blog about it!!  The dish packs a TON of fresh flavour and is just a complete rock star in the health department.  The best part?  It costs just over $5 to make.

Turkey & Quinoa Skillet Dish

What You Need:

• 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
• 1 can diced or stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 C (approx) quinoa
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2-3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• juice from 1/4 of a lime
• fresh baby spinach
• 1-2 green onions chopped
• cheese of choice

What You Do:

- gather up your ingredients

- preheat a nice shallow skillet and brown the turkey

- once the turkey is cooked, add in the can of tomatoes. You can used pre-seasoned, or plain. Completely up to you!

- stir it all up and now add the dried, uncooked quinoa

- stir up the mixture again and add your spices (do not add the cilantro yet!)

- now cover it up, set the temperature to low, and walk away!

- let the mixture cook away for about 8-10 minutes until the quinoa is cooked.  It will soak up most of the tomato liquid and flavour.

- once it’s cooked you can add the fresh cilantro for that extra little punch

- followed by the juice from 1/4 of a lime

- mix it all up and serve immediately on top a bed of fresh baby spinach then garnish with your favourite cheese (montery jack works great) and some green onions.

Please do try this out and enjoy!!

Have a FANTASTIC LONG WEEKEND!!