Red Meat Free: Weekly Dinner Plan – Week 6
Posted by Amy | Filed under Food
Because we have high cholesterol, I’m cutting out red meat and pork as much as possible. It’s very hard to find meal plans without meat as a main dish. If you find any good ones, let me know!
Here is what’s for dinner this week…
Cream Cheese-and-Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas
Salmon Cakes & Mashed Potatoes
Four Cheese Baked Penne
Turkey, Tomato & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Monday
Cream Cheese-and-Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- 4 chicken breast halves
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Filling
- 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon pesto
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
- Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
- Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs.
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake about 20 minutes.
Serve with rice and broccoli.
Recipe by Eating Well
Tuesday
Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 can of Rotel
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 cup rice
- corn or flour tortillas
- frozen corn
- guacamole (I use store bought, but here is a link to an easy homemade recipe)
- Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream or salsa (optional)
Directions
- Marinate chicken in 1 can of Rotel.
- Slice chicken and place chicken with Rotel in the crock pot.
- Add sliced green peppers and sliced onions and combine with chicken and Rotel.
- Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours.
- Serve chicken and peppers on tortillas, topped with guacamole, and a side of rice and corn.
Recipe & Photo by Erin at $5 Dinners (Every meal Erin makes is only $5!)
Wednesday
Salmon Cakes & Mashed Potatoes
- 6 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread
- 2 (15-ounce) cans boneless salmon, drained
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 5 scallions
- 1/2 cup finely chopped canned water chestnuts
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- Potatoes for mashing or store bought instant
Directions
- Remove crusts from the bread, break into pieces, and process in a food processor until you get a fine bread crumb.
- In a large bowl, flake apart the salmon with a fork. Add the egg and mix well. Finely chop 4 of the scallions and add to the bowl. Add the water chestnuts, cilantro, pepper, and the bread crumbs and mix well.
- Shape the mixture into 12 patties.
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil over a medium heat. Add 6 patties and cook for 5 minutes on each side. Transfer the cooked patties to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil to the pan, and cook the rest of the salmon cakes, 5 minutes on each side.
- Serve with chipotle sauce or your favorite dipping sauce and mashed potatoes.
Recipe & photo by Ellie Krieger via Food Network
Thursday
Four Cheese Baked Penne
- 1 pound whole-wheat penne
- 1 1/2 cups small-curd low-fat cottage cheese
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 1/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 (15-ounce) can low-sodium crushed tomatoes
- 1 (8-ounce) can low-sodium tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Cooking spray
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (3/4 ounces)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Combine the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella and parsley in a bowl and stir with a fork to incorporate and set aside.
- Cook pasta until tender but still firm, a minute or 2 less than the package directs. Drain.
- Heat the oil in the same pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, rosemary, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes until sauce thickens slightly. Return pasta to pot with sauce and turn off heat. Add cottage cheese mixture.
- Spray a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray then transfer pasta mixture to pan. Top with remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella and the parmesan.
- Bake until heated through and cheese is melted, 30 minutes.
Recipe & photo by Ellie Krieger via Food Network
Friday
Turkey, Tomato & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
I like to use my George Forman Grill for these. Easy and yummy.
- whole grain bread
- 1 slice 2% cheddar cheese
- deli turkey, sliced thin
- 1 slice tomato
Weekend is leftovers!
Have a great week- Amy
Tags: $5 dinners, chicken, dinner, Eating Well, Ellie Krieger, fajitas, four cheese penne, meal plan, menu, recipes, salmon
April 11th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
In place of ground beef, use ground turkey. It tastes just as good in things like spaghetti and tacos!
[Reply]
April 11th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hi – I love your site! I’m a vegetarian and while I realize it’s not for everyone, there are a TON of veg recipes out there that you could use a few times a week. This is my favorite random recipe place:
http://www.vegcooking.com/searchRecipes.asp
AllRecipes.com is also a great site and this page is my favorite:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Twenty-for-Twenty-Vegetarian-Edition/Detail.aspx
Have fun!
Kristi Glaze’s last blog post..Find Your Way Home
[Reply]
April 11th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I agree, ground turkey is a great substitute for ground beef. If you are looking to cut out meat in general I would def. recommend the book “The Vegetarian Family Cookbook” by Nava Atlas — don’t let the “vegetarian” label scare you off! We tried this out when we were trying to cut back on meat and absolutely loved the easy, comfort-food style recipes in this book (I imagine your library has it …) There is a whole chapter on tofu that you can just skip if that’s not your thing
Also, you would be surprised at how many dishes can be done without meat — think of tacos. Instead of using ground beef you could mix some beans and brown rice in a tomato sauce/taco seasoning mixture and have tacos sans meat. If you’re making lasagna, make a veggie lasagna. If you’re making soup, leave out the meat and put in tons of veggies and hearty wheat noodles. The easiest meat-free dishes are going to be mexican foods because beans and brown rice make a complete protein so they are incredibly filling without the meat. Good luck!
Marcie’s last blog post..Great things in the works …
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April 11th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I can’t wait to try the Crock Pot Chicken Fajita recipe. I just love using my crock pot.
Last week, we tried your Chicken with Broccoli and Rice Casserole and we loved it. Of course, I also loved the fact that it was so easy. Thanks for the great recipes.
Amanda @ Mommy’s Idea Book’s last blog post..Dining Out on a Budget
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April 11th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I’m with the last commentor, I love anything having to do with using my crockpot. It just makes life so much easier.
You should come over and check out some of my recipes – like the meatballs or the Parmesean chicken. They are easy and kids love them : )
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April 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I love these ideas that you find and share with all of us Amy – you know I need all the cooking help I can get!
I also am a huge fan of crock pot cooking and ground turkey. I’ve gotten to the point that I prefer ground turkey over ground beef now.
I hope you, the hubby and the kids all have a wonderful Easter!
theArthurClan’s last blog post..My Five Senses.
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November 12th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I just love your weekly meal plans!!!
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