Food for the week

I was having a discussion with my friend Katie about cooking. She doesn't really like to cook, and even though I do, I hate cleaning all those dishes from making big dinners! Plus, it is getting warm, and I want to have lighter fare at night so we can go on walks after dinner.

However, this week, I am trying to use what I have at home to clean out the big freezer. Here are recipes from my last issue of Real Simple that looked good. So this week, on the menu, we have the following:

Spice-Baked Sea Bass (Halibut for us, Orca brand from Costco) and Red Lentils
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1608894

Tortellini with Bacon, Greens and Brown Butter
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1609327

Golden Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1608901

I will report back and let you all know how the recipes turn out.

I also made a double pot of brown rice today and refrigerated it. I think I finally perfected my brown rice technique. Then it will be perfect for stir-fry one night.

We have pizza dough, so perhaps chicken and rosemary pizza (http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/36531/) on Friday and we have dinner out on Wed.

Here were my thoughts after the other night. I will designate one night at the beginning of the month for cooking lots of meat and perhaps brown rice as you can freeze both.

Next week when I go to Costco, I will get the big package of chicken breast, pork chops and ground meat for sure. I will cook all the ground meat, drain really well (as it is only 87% lean) then divide into 4 freezer bags (about 4 cups each bag).

My husband loves to use his new grill, so at least 10 chicken breasts will go on there. Eat some that week, cut up the rest and freeze. Then when I don't want to cook, we can have chicken fajitas, etc. The pork chops are so thick, that I cut them in half and will freeze them 6 at a time. Perhaps cut some up for stir-fry and cook them that night, then freeze once done. This way, I have lots of things in the freezer to quickly thaw and put dinner on the table.

I am looking at using my crockpot for some vegetarian recipes like lentil stew or maybe the Spicy Peanut stew recipe I have in my files.