Recipes for This Week

As promised, I am letting you all know what recipes are on the menu for this week. I generally do a weekly shopping spree on Sundays and get everything I need to make a week's worth of recipes. I only buy 5 meals, usually, because I know we tend to go out to eat twice during the week, and then it's back to shopping again on Sunday. Here's what we have planned:

• Pasta Fagioli (made with ground turkey instead of ground beef & whole wheat elbow pasta)
• Linguine & Peas with Ricotta Pesto (WW recipe made with spinach linguine and fat free ricotta cheese)
• Salad topped with Steak & Goat Cheese
• Buckwheat Pancakes with Eggs & Canadian Bacon & real Maple Syrup
  
• Grilled Chicken with Mango-Lime Couscous & Sliced Avocado (couscous is a WW recipe)

Tonight we're making the Pasta Fagioli. It's a super easy recipe. You need 1lb of ground beef or turkey, 2 cans of navy beans, 1 small can of tomato paste, a box of elbow pasta, fresh garlic, salt & pepper.

You brown the fresh garlic for a few seconds in olive oil spray, then add the ground turkey. Season with S&P and let the turkey brown for a good 8 minutes or so, cooking out the moisture. Then add the entire can of tomato paste and coat the turkey, and let brown for a few minutes. Then add water (I used a large drink cup out of my cabinet) and let it simmer on low.

You can add the beans (drain and rinse first) to the mixture, or if you're "counting points" like me, you can keep the beans separate and measure those out into your bowl, then measure how much meat you're adding, add some broth (which is "free" in terms of points), then measure the pasta and add to the whole thing. It should be a soupy consistency. Sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. Makes great leftovers! Great family recipe and so cheap to make.

Looking forward to trying some new things this week out of our new cookbook. I've been in the mood for "breakfast for dinner" so the buckwheat pancakes, I think, will be really tasty. I'll add some light butter and real maple syrup (measured, of course) and savor every delicious moment. :o)

Some things that are going to help me stay on track this week (food-wise) are:

• WW Barbeque Crisps - 2 pts per pack
• WW Cinnamon Crisps - 2 pts per pack
• Skinny Cow Chocolate Dreamy Clusters - 4 pts per pack (will probably enjoy half a pack)
• Fresh sliced mango (already sliced from Costco) - YUM! - 0 pts
• Hodgson Mill Multi-Grain Hot Cereal - 4 pts per serving
  

Have a great week everyone!!