Easy Weekly Dinner Menu #6 – Kitchen Testing

As I’ve mentioned before, I try lots of recipes to find seven great meals for you every week, and some of them are flops. Recently, I have tried buttermilk oven fried chicken, cube steak sandwiches, turkey and spinach meatloaf, and baked ziti to name a few, none of them good enough to share with you, fellow chefs. What dishes have you tried lately that were not as good as you expected? Do you have a version of my recent flops that you would recommend? Maybe I’ll try again with your recipe!

Here is your shiny new menu for the week, full of recipes I tested and think you will enjoy.

1. Slow Cooker Asian Beef Rice Bowl – We live in San Francisco, home to excellent Asian cuisine, but this simple dish rivals our Chinese takeout options. Cook for 3 hours or all day, then toss in veggies and make the rice 30 minutes before serving.
2. Salmon Nachos – What is now Fiesta Night at our house used to be called Nacho Night. This is how it all began, although the recipe has improved over the years. These nachos taste best with fresh guacamole and margaritas.
3. Moving Day Pasta – I made this exactly as written, and it was really tasty. I would recommend whole wheat pasta instead, but otherwise I like it as is. Even The Tall One, after very reluctantly trying it, said, “I was wrong! This is really good!” Winning him over is no small feat, so you know it must be delicious.
4. Lemon Chicken Soup – I shared this dish with you in my first weekly menu, and it is worth featuring again. A reader recently made it with No Knead Bread and said her family enjoyed it, so you don’t have to just take my word for it!
5. Pizza Muffins – Tasty and fun pizza alternative, even great for tomato sauce haters because the sauce is on the side. Serve with an assortment of raw fruits and veggies for a fun dinner to eat with your hands.
6. Turkey Burgers with Cajun Oven Fries – For easy burgers, buy preseasoned turkey burger patties in your meat department, or mix ground turkey with French onion soup mix (I make my own).
7. Lemon Spinach Spaghetti with Yogurt Chicken – This chicken is buzzing around Pinterest under the name “Melt in Your Mouth Chicken.” I’m going to be honest here; I think that is a little over the top. It tastes a lot like any other piece of well-cooked chicken, and I didn’t really notice much melting in my mouth going on. It is really easy though and pretty good, so I won’t argue with all the pinners who love it.For the spinach spaghetti, I would recommend wilting the spinach in the oil before tossing it with the pasta. It was a little too raw for our taste as written. I also considered adding 2-4 tbsp. of white wine to the oil next time, but I haven’t actually tested that out. If you do, let me know how it goes!

I have not created a list for you this week. Why? I don’t think anyone is using that feature since the list files have gotten under 10 clicks total. It takes me a while to create a complete grocery list for seven meals, and frankly, I don’t want to do all that work for no reason. If anyone reading this is disappointed because they really do use my weekly lists, please speak up, and I will gladly whip one up for you. (You can leave a comment or email me at andi at wearychef dot com). I do have a trick up my sleeve for building custom grocery lists, so stay tuned for that in the next week or two.