Meal Plan Week 22

The meal plan week 22 is one with some quick meals with two more intensive dinners. This is one of our last weeks before school starts and the we will be attempting to fit as much in the late days of summer as possible. This means we need easy meals so we can be out doing things and not have to spend loads of time cooking. We are also using our leftovers to save money and reduce our food waste.

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• Meal Plan Week 22 In-Depth and Top Tips
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Meal Plan Week 22

Meal Plan Week 22 In-Depth and Top Tips

Monday

Chicken Burgers and Garlic Spinach

The burgers will be served on Gluten Free buns. The chicken breasts or boneless thighs marinated in a honey garlic sauce.How we make our marinade - 2 cloves of garlic minced, ⅓ Cup of honey, 2 tbsps of olive oil, and 2 tbsps coconut aminos mixed together to make the marinade. Let the chicken soak for 2-24 hours. Cook the chicken on the BBQ until it has a safe internal temperature. Serve on a bun with Lettuce, tomato, and vegan mayo like Hellmann’s.

For the side dish of garlic spinach we will wash 6 cups of raw spinach, set aside. Sautee 5 cloves of garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add the spinach to the large pan and add ½ -¾ a cup of water. cover the pan with a lid and bring the pan to high heat to get the water to boil and steam the spinach. Once wilted to at least half its size remove the lid and stir the spinach around. Add a bit more olive oil and saute the spinach. Grind a bit of fresh nutmeg, Which is a seed, not a nut to the spinach and stir well. Serve when all the water has cooked off and the spinach is sauteed.

Top Tip:

Make extra chicken for dinner the next night and store it properly in the fridge.

Tuesday

Chicken with Zucchini Noodles

We will slice the chicken and serve it cold next to the zucchini noodles. 

To make the noodles use a spiralizer like the Veggetti and cut the zucchini in long noodle-like strings. Some grocers have already made spiralized zucchini. Talk to the store to see if their allergen controls are suitable for using this shortcut. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and dunk the noodles in the pot for 60 seconds. Drain the pot, add a tablespoon or two of plant based butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Top Tip:

Another great way to serve this is with spaghetti squash instead of zucchini noodles. Just cut in half, coat with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and bake. In the oven at 425F for 30-45 mins on a lined cookie sheet with sides. Use a fork as it cools a bit to pull the squash away from the sides in “spaghetti noodles.'' Serve with vegan butter, salt and pepper or as desired.

Wednesday

Sausages, Sauerkraut, and Corn on the Cob

We will either BBQ or cook on the stove in a pan the sausages for the family. We usually do 1-2 per adult depending on the person. 

The corn will be boiled in a large pot of water. The husks and silk removed and cobs washed we will start with putting a large pot of water over high heat. Once the water is boiling we will add the corn cobs and cook for 10 mins before removing them. We serve with plant based butter and salt and pepper. 

We warm our sauerkraut up on the stove over low-medium heat until heated through. While cooking we add a few fennel seeds to the pot, maybe ⅛-¼ of a tsp.

Top Tip:

Talk to local butchers to see if they make sausages in store with allergen control that are safe for you. Many smaller butchers we have found will do allergen friendly runs where we buy the whole case of sausages and freeze them for when we need them. AppleGate also sell sausages that may be suitable for your allergies.

Thursday

Burger Bun Pizzas and Salad

We use Little Northern Bakehouse Burger Buns or Carbonaut Gluten Free Bagels as the base. Toast them in the oven, smear safe pizza sauce, like Rao’s, on them. Top with the favourite toppings and offer the leftover sausage as an option. Sprinkle on Dairy Free Cheese, like Nurishh, and place under the broiler for 1 minute or until the cheese is slightly melty. 

The salad will be large diced tomatoes from our garden and cucumber. Toss them in a bit of white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Serve on a bed of lettuce leftover from the chicken burgers.

Top Tip:

This is a way to repurpose and use up all our leftovers. We will use any leftover sausage as the meat on the mini pizzas. If you have more buns or bagels they will keep for a day in the fridge and are excellent in school lunches.

Friday

Root Beer Ribs and French Fries with a Side Caesar Salad

We will be making our recipe from father’s day where we boil the ribs and then barbecue them. They will be slathered in our Root Beer BBQ Sauce. 

We make our fries in the air fryer. We peel, cut, and soak in cold salted water starchy potatoes, like russets. Drying the potatoes after soaking for 30 mins, oiling in a bowl and air frying for 24 minutes at 380F. We shake them often and make them in batches for our large family.

The salad will be using vegan salad dressing like Mother Raw or President’s Choice (contains mustard). We may use romaine, which is traditional or whatever lettuce we have on hand.

Top Tip:

Boil the ribs the day before to let them firm up in the fridge overnight. This will help them stay together while being cooked but still be fall off the bone tender,

Saturday

Roast Beef, Green Beans, and Mashed Potatoes

We are hoping to be able to get a bit of a break in the heat to be able to use the oven to make a roast. In a roasting pan we will lay a bed of aromatics to help from a gravy base frm the drippings. It is usually roughly chopped celery, carrots, onions, garlic, sometimes potato skins to add starch to thicken the gravy later. We also add a bit of water, not enough to have the roast sitting in it as it will perch above on the veggies. It should be enough to keep the drippings from burning on the bottom of the pan. 

To prep the beef we take a knife and make small incisions in the roast and insert garlic cloves into the slits in the roast. Then a quick rub with salt and pepper and sear it before placing in the roaster on the veggies.

The green beans will be easy and steamed. They are in season right now and are a cheaper option for us. Frozen green beans could be used instead for cost savings.

The mashed potatoes will be made with a starchy potato that has been boiled until fork tender, drained and mashed. We add plant milk and plant butter, salt, and pepper to our mash. Some of the starchy potato water can be kept for the gravy. To make the gravy check out our Roast Chicken Recipe. It is the same process, but with beef.

Top Tip:

To sear or not to sear, that is the question? An often debated technique is to sear the meat before roasting or not. Some top chefs and cooking programs say never, others say always sear! So what are we to do? We sear. We have done it both ways and prefer the flavour of the seared meat and the way the outside of the roast crisps slightly to not searing.

There are two ways to sear roasts. One is to use a very hot pan, like a cast iron pan that is only used for top 8 free cooking (they can retain allergens), and turn the meat to get all sides over a high heat. The other method is to sear the meat in the oven by preheating to a high heat and then turning down the heat. The theory is this allows the meat to cook properly inside while cooking the outside quickly to oven “sear”it. We find searing the meat gives us the browned bits we can use to make gravy in that same pan after the roast is done cooking.

Sunday 

French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus and Raw Veggies

To use up the roast leftovers we will make French Dip Sandwiches with a Homemade Au Jus. We use Little Northern Bakehouse Gluten Free Buns with a bit of garlic plant butter on it for flavour. The whole sandwich will be dipped in the au jus.

We will be having cut raw veggies as a side for this meal. They will include carrot sticks, celery sticks, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Top Tip:    

In parts of Canada a French dip is called a Beef Dip. It is a popular pub and diner sandwich.

We Love Feedback!

Did you make any of the meals from our meal plan week 22 let us know? What is on your meal plan this week? Drop a comment on this post or tag us on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.

• Meal Plan Week 42
• Allergen Friendly Air Fryer Corn Ribs
• Apple Pie Spring Rolls In an Air Fryer
• Allergy Friendly Sundried Tomato and Bacon Pasta
• Pickle Juice Brined Pork Roast Recipe

We have to remind everyone that we are not medical professionals or dietitians, so these meal plans are not balanced for nutrition, they are for information purposes only. Please discuss any dietary concerns, changes, or proper meal plans with your medical team.

Always check the labels for any products to make sure they are right for you. We also encourage you to contact the manufacturers in addition to checking that the process of manufacturing is also safe for you, and that there aren’t shared lines. One product or ingredients may be safe for one person but not another. Always check the products and ingredients before purchasing.