Here's how this works: post your Best Meal of the Week in the comment section below so others can share in the scrumptiousness of your culinary genius. Remember, "best" is highly subjective: healthy, super quick, inexpensive, fabulously delicious - or a combination of all that and more. We're archiving all of the "Best Meal opens in a new tab" posts so you can cruise through them whenever you are looking for some awesome ideas. Here are a few that struck a chord from last time around.
From Joyce, a reader:
“It was one of those evenings where it's 7pm and no idea what's for dinner. My 17 year old son and I created a fantastic, tasty, inexpensive, beautiful dinner in 20 minutes! Here it is: store bought cheese tortellini with swiss chard (the red chard made it beautiful). We boiled the tortellini for less time than the instructions say, about 4 to 5 minutes. At the same time, we made a chiffonade of the swiss chard and sautéed it in olive oil with garlic, thinly sliced onion, salt and pepper. Added the drained tortellini along with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, tossed and sautéed another minute or so. Served with freshly baked french bread (store bought refrigerated dough, which we popped in the oven first). He wasn't even hungry and he had 2 helpings, there were no leftovers! We'll be making this often.”
For a recipe along these lines, try our Grilled Vegetables with Cheese Tortellini opens in a new tab.
From Pete, a reader:
“I pulled this one out of thin air: Cilantro and lime grilled chicken with a blond jalapeno sweet relish, served with summer squash medley. The chicken (I used half breasts w/ bone) marinated for about 15min in lime, cilantro, salt, pepper, coriander, a couple of drops of Tabasco. Then it was grilled. I roasted the blond pepper on the grill until it sweated, then I seeded and cleaned it, chopped it into a bowl with lime juice, cilantro, about a tsp of vinegar, and a tsp of sugar. The relish gave the chicken some very nice kick (sweet, sour, spice). The squash was a mixture of yellow, grey, and zucchini sautéed in a little olive oil with copped onions, garlic, lime and cilantro. I served it up with a South-West style salad (mixed greens, cucumber, red bell peppers, corn, and toasted tortilla chips). My wife was raving about it.”
From Christine, a team member:
“My best: Farmer's Market Soup. Really…soup on a sunny day? That's right. My best meal of the week was a magical recipe that my husband named "farmer's market soup." I followed my usual Saturday morning ritual of going hiking with the dog and then strolling through the open-air farmers' market. On this particular expedition, the kale was bountiful, the carrots exquisitely bright and the fragrant smell of the onion jumped out at me as if to say, "buy me and I will make you very happy, never mind the tears." Armed with fresh, organic produce, I arrived at home and pondered my endless culinary possibilities. I decided to take a risk and conjure up a one-pot hodgepodge recipe to incorporate all of my finds. Well, actually, I just made soup. But darn, it was delicious! I began with a chicken broth base (vegetable broth will do). Then, I sautéed my farmers' market masterpieces in some olive oil including kale, carrot, onion and corn. In the pot they went. On the side, I cubed and cooked a Yukon gold potato, a couple farm-fresh chicken sausages and even chucked in some turkey bacon. These got added to the pot along with fresh parsley from my garden. Yum - farmers' market soup! Next time, who knows what will turn up in my soup…okra in the summer or turnips in the winter? But one thing is for sure - local, in-season vegetables from the farmers' market always make the best meal and get the creative juices flowing!”
Like this idea? Check out our recipe for Hearty Greens Soup opens in a new tab for something similar. So what was your “best meal” this week?
