Menu Planning

I thought, with the new year, and slow-down of the schedule, as well as our recommitment to menu-planning healthy, vegetable laden meals, I would start by sharing our weekly or monthly menu plans with you.  This week, I'll be using up the bags of onions and green beans I bought at Costco, as well as the butternut squash.  I like to menu plan 4/5 meals for the week, because usually something comes up.  If we don't have a plan for the fifth meal, I'll make either veggie burgers with sweet potato fries, or pasta (this time with veggie crumbles meat sauce).  I'm also using recipes that I found in the January issue of Self magazine.  Usually I don't make most of these, but we're really trying to eat better and the recipes in this issue seemed to be better than usual, and a bit more veg-friendly.

So this week, we'll be eating (from www.self.com):
Quinoa and Pepper Sauté
Sauté 1 cup chopped red bell peppers, 1/2 cup chopped red onion and 1/4 tsp smoked paprika in 1 tsp olive oil until vegetables are soft, 5 minutes. Add 2 cups spinach; sauté until spinach wilts. Serve vegetable mixture over 1 cup cooked quinoa. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp grated Parmesan, 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley.


Indian Shrimp and Squash
Place 2 cups cubed butternut squash on a baking tray; drizzle with 2 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp turmeric, black pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional); bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Add 4 oz frozen, raw shrimp to baking tray; drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil; sprinkle with 1/4 tsp ground cumin; bake until shrimp are cooked through and squash is tender, 10 minutes. Serve with 1 cup green beans sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil. Drizzle meal with lemon juice.


We will also be eating:  
Black bean and goat cheese burritos
Some kind of Butternut Squash Curry Soup or Butternut Squash Apple Soup