30 Days of Dinner - Week One

Week one of our September challenge is complete, and it was great. As mentioned earlier, for the month of September we are following the Canadian Living 30 Meals for 30 Days. We printed out the grocery list and have followed the calendar for the week. The groceries for this week were about $100, and that gave us dinner each night, with leftovers for lunch. Here are my thoughts for the first week, along with our favourite recipe from the week.

Day 1 - Tomato and Cheddar Baked Chicken
Brent made this while I was at a group study session, and he said it was really easy to prepare. It was really tasty, and I would have served it with some pasta maybe next time.

Day 2 - Spicy Green Bean and Tofu Stir-Fry
This was a super quick meal, although I didn't find it spicy at all. It felt like there was something missing from the sauce, maybe a little more hoisin sauce. It was actually better the next day, once the flavours had time to meld.

Day 3 - One-Pot Shrimp and Couscous
Again, super easy to prepare, although next time I would add the tomatoes sooner so they had a little longer to cook. A note on the tomatoes - beware that when you pierce them the juice will squirt and it's hot!

Day 4 - Grilled Steak and Asparagus Salad
We lucked out and it was a beautiful sunny day on Wednesday, which was perfect for grilling. I even grilled everything myself - a big deal since Brent usually mans the grill. The salad was perfect.

Day 5 - Sausage and Pesto Orecchiette
First of all, orecchiette is impossible to find. I went to half a dozen stores with no luck. I used small shells instead, which worked really well.

Day 6 - Chef's Salad Wrap
It was perfect that Friday's meal was portable, since I had class and needed to eat on the run. The wrap was great, and definitely filled me up for my economics class.

Day 7 - Broiled Salmon with Sweet Corn and Barley Risotto
Brent cooked this tonight, and it was by far the favourite for the week. The recipe for the risotto is below.

All of the recipes were easy to prepare, and came together in under 30 minutes. The only one that took a little longer was tonight's recipe, which was perfect considering it's Saturday. It was great knowing what was for dinner every night, and having all the ingredients on hand. It definitely made mealtime more enjoyable, and also ensured we didn't eat out at all. Let's hope next week goes as well!

Sweet Corn and Barley Risotto
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup pot barley
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 coarsely chopped fresh chervil (we used parsley)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste

In saucepan bring vegetable broth and 2 1/2 cups eater to simmer; keep warm. Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onion and garlic until softened, about 3 minutes. Add barley; cook, stirring to coat for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium; stir in corn and green onions. Add hot broth mixture, cook, stirring occasionally until creamy and barley is tender but still slightly firm, about 45 minutes. Stir in Parmesan, parsley, sour cream, lemon juice, pepper and salt.