Week 1: Menu May 10

This week was a lot of fun. We prepped on Saturday and stored all the chopped veggies in baggies labeled with the day we would use them. My household typically eats green beans and broccoli for vegetables. We also like our share of French fries. Currently Krystal's waffle fries are our favorite. So this week was a vegetable challenge, complete with asparagus,red bell peppers, and snap peas. Everyone ate them like champs. Charlotte loves them raw but was less crazy about their cooked versions. 

Our menu this week included steak with zucchini and corn, steak fajitas, chicken fried rice, warm peanut noodle salad and Mexican bean soup. We were shocked by our favorites!

Second favorite was the vegetarian meal for the week: Mexican Bean Soup! 

It reminded me of taco soup only without the huge chunks of tomato (which thrilled James). It was a tomato paste base with zucchini, carrots, pinto and black beans, onion, red bell peppers, and corn. The corn added a nice crunchy sweet pop as you ate it. We had plenty of leftovers and enjoyed this soup two nights in a row.

Favorite was the most shocking: Warm Peanut Noodle Salad!

First, I want to say we changed the recipe a little. Charlotte is allergic to peanut butter so we used Sunbutter (made of sunflower seeds). Also it called for 1/2 c and we only had 1/4 c on hand. That being said, even I was scared of this dish. Originally I was going to omit the peanut butter altogether ( since the other ingredients in the sauce were ginger, honey, and lime juice); but James said to throw in the Sunbutter and I did. Now this is crazy because James LOATHES all things nutty, but somehow this dish managed to surprise up both and became our favorite this week. 

So, this dish had chicken, asparagus, snap peas, and cucumber. The snap peas and cucumber were raw and added a nice crisp, clean, crunch to the dish. Again, we had plenty of leftovers and enjoyed a second serving for lunch the following day.

So, that sums up our first week. Tune in next week when we consume leeks and Swiss chard for the first time (we had to google it even to know what it looked like! )... 

I almost forgot to mention, James and I both lost 2 pounds this week! Perk of healthy eating :)

Do you have any suggestions about what you would like to see in future fresh 20 posts? Leave a comment below with your questions and ideas.