It is definitely smelling like the holidays with this week’s meal plan. The use of cinnamon spice, ginger aromatics, and herbs such as thyme gave these simple dishes a sense of the holiday spirit. Cinnamon enhances baked goods and fruit, but it also adds warmth to savory dishes. Ginger is a health booster in the kitchen and adds warm and woody flavors whether you use them in sauteed dishes or even add them to baked goods. Thyme is also one of the best herbs to pair with fall dishes and has a fragrant scent that just fills up the room. The tastes and smells of these flavors play such an important part for this time of year.
Menu Breakdown
Breakfast Recipe One: Sweet Potato Egg Frittata
Eggs normally go well with potato hash, but this twist uses sweet potatoes which adds sweetness to the frittata. It’s a great breakfast option that provides a good source of vitamins and fiber, and also adds a great orange fall color to the dish. The great thing about frittatas is that you can literally use any ingredient. You can easily add more vegetables such as spinach and bell peppers. If you are a meat-eater, you can easily add breakfast sausage to this dish.
Breakfast Recipe Two: Persimmon Almond Muffins
These persimmon and almond muffins are a great healthy seasonal treat, perfect for breakfast or snack. Persimmon is a winter fruit that is available in supermarkets and can easily be found in Asian specialty stores. The key is making sure you get a ripe persimmon that is soft to the touch. They look similar to tomatoes but are very orange in color like papaya when cut open. We added sliced almonds for extra texture and seasoned it with cinnamon for that holiday flavor.
Lunch Recipe One: Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops With Persimmons and Salad Mix
The sauce of these pork chops is a blend of balsamic vinegar and spices such as cinnamon and paprika to bring out robust flavors. We often cook pork chops with apples or pears, but to keep it seasonal, we opted for persimmons. We also cooked it with thyme for that extra fragrant layer of flavor. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Lunch Recipe Two: Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers
These bell peppers are filled with bubbly enchilada sauce and tender chicken topped with fresh cilantro and sliced avocado. This is a great recipe when you have leftover rotisserie chicken. All you have to do is to mix together the chicken and enchiladas and stuff it in bell peppers and pop it in the oven. You can easily serve this with a side of beans or cilantro rice and top it off with your favorite toppings.
Dinner Recipe One: Beef and Tomatillo Stew
One-pot meals are a must for weekly meal prep. For this recipe, we used tomatillo salsa to flavor our broth. It definitely brought delicious Mexican flavors creating a warm weeknight dinner. We added fresh bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and topped it off with fresh jalapeno for some heat. You can easily use ground turkey for your protein, or even use beans for a vegetarian option.
Dinner Recipe Two: Moroccan Chicken and Couscous
If you love exotic flavors, then this Moroccan Chicken and Couscous is super flavorful but extremely simple to make using pantry friendly spices such as cinnamon, paprika, and ginger. You get juicy tender chicken, with plump raisins, and fluffy couscous. If you want to keep this low carb, you can also swap out the couscous for cauliflower rice.
Tips for Leftovers
- The beef and tomatillo stew is a recipe that you are probably going to want to have again during the cold weather. So feel free to make a large batch and keep them in your freezer.
