The BOY and I came back from our grocery shopping trip today with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, lean meat, and healthy snacks. As always, Monday is prep day for the week ahead. For this week’s meal plan, I had to simplify things a bit. Last week was way too busy and crazy for me to be making dinner each night, so I made things a little easier with some store bought stuff. And I know that I can always eat leftovers for lunch.
Monday: Indian Spiced Chicken Burgers (recipe below)
Tuesday: Orange Ginger Salmon
Wednesday: Almond Butter Stirfry
Thursday: Store Bought Chicken Sausages with Roasted Mushrooms
Lunch: Leftovers and Carrot, Chickpea, and Barley Soup*
Snacks: Coconut Balls
*Do you ever make soup and it tastes great but doesn’t picture well??? Well that’s what happened with this orange creation. I was planning on dedicating an entire post to this soup, but since my photos didn’t turn out, I scrapped that idea.
But you can find the recipe for this wonderful soup at Shape Magazine. This is an old recipe that I have been making for years, and I just discovered that you can find fresh carrot juice at Mariano’s. Enjoy!
Moving on to tonight’s dinner…
The Indian-Spiced Chicken Burgers were the BOY’s suggestion.
He found them in the Martha Stewart’s Great Food Fast cookbook.
I modified the recipe a bit to make it easier and quicker, and it turned out just as good!
The BOY tucked his burgers into a toasted pita with sour cream cumin sauce (sour cream, cumin, lemon juice, salt, and pepper). As always, he rapidly began assembling his sandwich, so I had to snap my photos quickly to keep up with him.
One bite into dinner and a big smile spread across his lips. For those who know him, the BOY has a VERY picky palate, so his rave reviews of this dinner were great to hear!
Instead of a sandwich, I decided to eat my burgers with a huge salad and a side of roasted broccoli.
I couldn’t agree with the BOY more! These chicken burgers are full of flavor, and I can’t wait until this summer when we can cook them up on the grill! Warning: you might see these at our next BBQ!
And with that…I’ve gotta run and catch the second half of the Biggest Loser Finale!
Indian-Spiced Chicken Burgers
From Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken breast
4 scallions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger (or ground ginger)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper, to taste
For Sandwich:
4 pitas (6 inch)
1 cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, place the chicken, scallions, ginger, lemon juice, paprika, cumin, cardamon, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper; mix well with your hands to combine. Set aside to marinate for at least 10 and up to 30 minutes.
Gently form the mixture into sixteen 3/4 inch patties (about 3 tablespoons each). Season the patties with salt and pepper (if desired) and place on a foil lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake for ~15 minutes, turning once mid way until chicken is fully cooked.
For sandwiches…halve the pitas crosswise (toast on the grill, if you like). Into each pocket, place 2 chicken patties, cucumber slices, and cilantro sprigs. Serve with cumin yogurt sauce (1/2 cup plain yogurt + 1/2 tsp cumin).
Note: I made some changes to the original recipe for ease and time. Read the Recipe as Written
