Menu for April 18 to April 24

I want to take the time to talk to you about portion control.  You have to watch your portions.  For most of my recipes the serving size is 1 cup.  Vegetables are usually way more than that.  That's because you can basically eat as much veggies as you want.  If I have Veggie Straws or cracker chips I follow the portions on the nutritional label. Chicken I try to keep it between 3 to 6 ounces.  And I have a food scale that I use to make sure that my servings are accurate. When people ask me what I eat I tell them that I still eat ALMOST the same as I used to.  But, mostly I keep an eye on my portions, and try really really hard not to stuff my face.

Saturday:  Homemade Pizza and veggie straws.  My daughter requested to have pizza sometime this week.  And she would actually prefer homemade pizza to Pizza Hut.  I think the main reason she likes my pizza is that I control how much sauce goes on it.  She usually doesn't like a lot of sauce on her pizza and even when I ask Pizza Hut to go light on the sauce they seem to put too much for her.  Also I use big, huge pepperonis.  She and I pretty much like the same toppings on our pizzas.  Pepperoni and hamburger, but I substitute turkey and it comes out just as good.  My husband likes to have different things on his and I'll talk about that in a bit.  First up though mine and my daughter's favorite.

Homemade Pepperoni and Turkey Pizza

1/4 cup Contadina pizza squeeze pizza sauce

1/8 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 cup cooked ground turkey

12 deli slices of pepperoni

1 ( 13.8 oz.) tube pizza crust dough

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (part skim milk, low moisture)

Preheat oven to 425.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam.  Roll out dough on the cookie sheet. Spread pizza sauce over dough. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over sauce. Place pepperonis in a single layer over Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle turkey on top. Then top with mozzarella.  Bake 14 - 16 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Slice into 12 even slices and serve!

My husband's favorite pizza

1/2 cup Contadina pizza squeeze pizza sauce
1/8 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
1 cup cook ground turkey
2.25 oz can sliced olives, drained
4 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained
1 (13.8 oz.) tube pizza crust dough
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (part skim milk, low moisture.

Preheat oven to 425.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam.  Roll out dough on the cookie sheet. Spread pizza sauce over dough. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over sauce. Place olives, mushrooms, artichokes, and turkey over Parmesan cheese. Then top with mozzarella.  Bake 14 - 16 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Slice into 12 even slices and serve!

The best thing about these pizzas is that you can customize them to your own personal tastes.  If you want just veggies or different meats go for it.  Just remember to make sure that all meats are cooked before you put them on the pizza.

Sunday: Hoisin- Orange Pork Chops, brown rice, and veggies.  I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers 5 ingredient 15 minute recipe magazine.  And I tried to find it online but I couldn't.  So here is the recipe which I did not change one thing.  What really caught my attention is the cook time.  This was fast and delicious, just my kind of recipe.  At first I was kind of skeptical because you broil the pork chops and that's not a method I'm very familiar with, but they came out beautifully and delicious.

Hoisin-Orange Pork Chops

3 tbsp. hoisin sauce

2 tsp orange peel

1 tsp. less sodium soy sauce

1/4 tsp. Chinese five spice

1 tsp sesame oil, divided

4 pork loin boneless center cut chops

Preheat broiler.  Combine hoisin, orange peel, soy sauce, and five-spice in a small bowl. Stir with a whisk.  Rub pork chops with sesame oil, and baste with hoisin mixture. Place pork on a broiler pan coated with Pam. Cook 4 minutes on each side or until done; basting occasionally with remaining hoisin mixture.

Brown rice is a boil in the bag kind.  Just make it according to package directions.  I like to toss a cube of chicken broth into the water to flavor the rice.  When it's done, I season the rice with Mrs. Dash, a splash of less sodium soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp. Land O'Lakes Light Butter with Canola.

The vegetables are Green Giant Steamers: Antioxidant Blend.  Just make them according to the package directions.

Monday:  Steak, vegetables, and side salad.  I'm not a big steak eater, but my husband and my daughter love it.  Tonight was steak night.  It's a London Broil.  I put it in a Lawry's Steak and Chop marinade in the morning and let it soak up those flavors all day long, in other words 8 hours.  Then when I get ready to make it, I'll take a frying pan spray it with Pam and heat it to medium.  When the pan is hot then I'll put the steak in and cook it for about 4-5 minutes then flip it over and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes until done.  Because of my daughter I cook the steak to well done.  When it's done then I'll put it in baking dish and cover it with foil for 10 minutes to let it rest and to let the juices redistribute.

The vegetables are Green Giant Steamers: Baby Vegetable Medley.  Just make according to package directions.

I always keep salad ingredients prepped and ready to go which I have written about in a previous blog:  http://harddoesnotequalimpossible.blogspot.com/2015/03/menu-planning-and-meal-prep.html. That way side salads are a cinch to throw together.

Tuesday: Baked Paprika Flounder, veggies, and coleslaw.  This week I had wanted to try a different kind of fish.  I have made cod, salmon, and tuna.  When I saw the flounder at the store my first thought had to do with eating The Little Mermaid's best friend.  But I set those thoughts aside and figured what the heck I'll give it a try.  So I bought Flounder, it's not like I killed him or anything, and came home to look on pinterest to find a recipe.  And after a few minutes I found one that I was pretty sure I could manage.  It's actually a very easy recipe and the flounder came out delicious.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/14396/baked-paprika-flounder.html

Baked Paprika Flounder

4 to 5 small flounder filets
Pam
salt
pepper
Italian herbs (1 tbsp. dried oregano, 1 tbsp. dried basil, 1 tbsp. thyme.  Mix)
paprika

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray baking sheet with Pam.  Place filets on baking sheet and spray lightly with Pam.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, Italian herbs, and paprika to taste.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until white and flaky.

The vegetables are Green Giant Steamers:  Healthy Vision.  Make according to package directions. 

To make the coleslaw I mixed 1 1/2 cups of tricolor coleslaw mix, with 1 tbsp. Kraft Creamy Poppy Seed dressing and the juice of one lemon wedge. Stir to combine.  That makes one serving.

Wednesday:  Leftovers.  So today I made....Chicken tostadas.  It's only my favorite way to use my prepped chicken.  But this time I thought I would try one regular, and one buffalo chicken.  I have written about how I prep my chicken here is the link:

http://harddoesnotequalimpossible.blogspot.com/2015/04/recipes-for-prepped-chicken.html

As a refresher though, on Sundays I like to prep chicken for the week.  I use a lemon pepper marinade.  First I trim all the fat off of boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Then I cut them in half, and with a meat mallet, I pound them all to an equal thickness.  Put them in a ziplock baggy and refrigerate about 6 hours.  When I get ready to cook the chicken.  I spray a frying pan with Pam, and heat to medium.  Then I take the chicken sprinkle each side with lemon pepper seasoning and place them in the pan.  Cook for about 6 or 7 minutes.  Flip them over and continue to cook for 6 to 7 minutes.  Take them out of the pan and place in a baking dish to cool down.  Cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the chicken tostadas I preheat my toaster oven to 375, you can use the regular oven too if you are going to make more that two tostadas.  Line the baking pan with foil, and spray it with Pam.  Warm up two corn tortillas in the microwave.  Place them flat on the baking sheet and then spray the tops with Pam.  Bake for about 10 minutes turning once until light brown and toasty.  Keep on eye on them because they will go from being perfect to burnt in a blink of an eye.  I know, it's happened to me.  Once they are done.  I split one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese between the two corn tostadas.  Then spread black beans, that I also prep on Sundays,
http://harddoesnotequalimpossible.blogspot.com/2015/03/menu-planning-and-meal-prep.html, divide 6 ounces of diced warmed chicken and pile it on top, add salsa, sour cream, and devour.  You can add any kind of salsa and guacamole as well.  This time though I added 1 tbsp. buffalo wing sauce to 3 ounces of chicken. And used hot sauce on the other one.  Add a serving of veggie straws, yummy!

Thursday: Brussels Sprouts & Noodle Stir Fry, vegetables, and spring rolls.  I love stir fry.  It's quick and easy.  This one caught my eye in one of my magazines and I wanted to try something totally different.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/brussels-sprouts-and-noodle-stir-fry-with-cilantro-and-almonds/

Brussels Sprouts and Noodle Stir Fry

3 oz. whole wheat thin spaghetti

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced red onions

3 cloves garlic, minced

16 oz brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

2 tbsp. less sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup grated carrots

Break spaghetti into 1-inch pieces. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. Return spaghetti to hot pan; cover and keep warm.  Pour oil into a large skillet; heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add Brussels sprouts, ginger, and crushed red pepper; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add broth and soy sauce.  Cook about 2 minutes more or until liquid is almost evaporated, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.  Stir in cooked spaghetti and carrots. Before serving, if desired, sprinkle with almonds and chopped cilantro. 

IF you want you can add 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast or ham or cooked shelled and deveined shrimp to the skillet when you add the broth. That way it's not just a vegetable dish.  Like my husband said, "Do I look like a vegetarian to you?"

I didn't have 2 cups of cooked chicken, I only had a 2 ounce piece of my prepped chicken so I added that to my plate.  My poor husband had to be a vegetarian for that one meal.  Don't tell him that it had chicken broth and not a vegetable broth. But next time I will definitely add 2 cups of some sort of cooked protein.

The vegetables were Green Giant:  Teriyaki Vegetables.  Just make them according to package directions.

The spring rolls, were mini vegetable spring rolls, that I baked in my toaster oven.  Once again just follow the package directions.

Friday:  Red Curry Chicken Burgers with lime mayo and Special K Sour Cream and Onion Cracker Chips.  I had been wanting to try a different burger recipe.  And one day on pinterest this one came up.  It's really really good.  The only thing is that the mix is very wet.  But don't worry it's supposed to be.  And my favorite thing about the recipe is that there are only 2 ingredients.   The lime mayonnaise is a perfect accompaniment to the chicken burgers. This recipe is so simple, super easy, and done in less than 30 minutes.

http://foxeslovelemons.com/red-curry-chicken-burgers-with-grilled-pineapple-a-giveaway/

Red Curry Chicken Burgers

2 tbsp. thai kitchen red curry paste

16 oz raw ground chicken

Preheat grill over medium high heat. In a medium bowl combine chicken and curry paste. Form 3 patties (you can make 4 patties but they are kinda on the small side), making sure not to over work meat mixture.  Spray both sides of chicken patties with nonstick spray. Transfer to grill. Cook patties for 13-15 minutes or until internal temperature of 165 is reached, turning once. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

Once again you can make these in a frying pan.  Which is what I did.  Instead of spraying the patties I sprayed the pan with Pam, heated it to medium and followed the directions.

Lime Mayonnaise

1/2 juice of 1 lime

1 tsp lime zest

1/4 cup best foods canola mayonnaise

In a small bowl, stir together lime juice and zest, and mayonnaise. Refrigerate until ready to use.

I always make my burgers with sandwich thins or a Hungry Girl foldit flatbread, instead of hamburger buns.  I like those two so much better.  To make this red curry chicken burger: on the top bun I spread 1/2 tbsp. of the lime mayonnaise, on the bottom bun I smeared a wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese, added a squirt of hot and spicy mustard, then comes the chicken patty, topped it with tomato, red onion, and spinach.  Add Special K Sour Cream and Onion Cracker Chips and it's ready to go!