Tomato Basil Chicken (Meal Plan)

So while I’m sure you all are waiting with bated breath for Lynda’s weekly meal plan, I’m almost sorry to say I’m taking it over this week! At first I thought it would be fun, give me an excuse to try new things, but after I committed to doing so, its meaning took a bit of a turn.

I am currently 30 weeks pregnant and discovered last week that I have developed Gestational Diabetes.

What this means, along with pricking my own finger four times a day to check blood sugar, is a pretty strict diet. I will likely post more entries discussing it further, but for now we will just stick to what I ate this week as most was planned out before knowing I had extreme guidelines I need to follow.

I live in the middle of the Mojave Desert, forty miles from the closest town. We have one grocery store (the Commissary) available with slim pickins’ for produce and meat. I recently discovered an organic food co-op in the nearest town from us that is a collection of different farms in the area. You can get produce, meat, dairy, and other goodies for less than what we would pay in store and much better quality! The decision to make the switch was obvious!

This past week we received our first big haul!  This is what we got:

Lettuce
Onion (1 lb Red sping, 1 lb white spring)
Oregano
Basil (Italian - 1 bunch)
4 Pickling Cucumbers
Mediterranean Cucumbers (1 lb)
Red Potatoes
Seasonal Fruit (red plums/nectarines)
Summer Squash (over 3lb variety mix, zucchini, yellow)
5 Ears of Sweet Corn
3 large Tomatoes
Watermelon (2 little stripy ones)
Leeks (1 bunch)
Nopales- cactus leaf (1 lb - 8 paddles)
Jalapeños (1 lb)

Hot Dogs (6 Organic Beef/Pork. no casing)
Ground Beef (2 lb 85% Lean & 15% Fat-100% grass fed and finished-frozen)
Chicken Breast (2 boneless, skinless)

Raw Whole Milk (1 gallon)
Cream Cheese (7 oz Made from organic pasteurized, cultured milk & cream,sea salt. No gums, fillers,or stabilizers)

We have not used all of this, or probably even half, but the wonderful thing that we haven’t been used to with store-bought  produce is that it's still good!  Typically, our commissary produces starts to go bad even before we've gotten it home, making it very hard to choose to eat fresh foods over processed - the co-op produce is so much fresher!

We pick up our co-op groceries on Tuesdays, so I'm going Wednesday to Wednesday on planning. Here is how my first week looked:

Wednesday -
Chicken Salad - chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinaigrette.
Watermelon slides
(We did not use the farm fresh chicken as we already had store-bought thawed. It was great, easy, and summery!

Thursday -  

Pasta with Parmesan, Chicken and Zucchini
This was an amazing dish prepared by good friends (and fellow RCH writers!) Jessica and Matthew at one of our game nights. (Recipe will be added soon!)

Friday -
Hamburgers
(farm fresh grass-fed beef!, lettuce, tomato, red onion)
Corn on the Cob

Saturday -
Chicken Burritos
(shredded chicken, taco seasoning, tomato, onion, black olives, sour cream, tortilla)
Refried Beans

Delicious blueberry pie for dessert made by my good friend, Taylor!

Sunday -  
Pan-seared Tilapia (with lemon and pepper)
Sautéed zucchini and Nopales  
Peanut butter cookies for dessert because my husband is an evil tempting man (my next morning sugar levels weren't too great, thanks to those…)

The Nopales cactus leaves (prickly pear) were odd. We only used two, so still many more to use. They had a sour taste I didn't care for too much.

Monday -
Cheat day (flat crispy crust pizza, veggie only)

Tuesday -
Tomato Basil Chicken
Egg Noodles
Broiled summer squash (patty pan, green, yellow, onion with olive oil and parmesan cheese)

For this we used the farm fresh chicken and it was an entirely different experience than store bought!  Here's the recipe for this one:

Tomato Basil Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed)

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 large Tomato diced (about 2 cups)

1 handful (about ½ cup) chopped fresh basil

2 cloves minced fresh garlic

4 tbsp butter

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.

Heat the olive oil in a pan (while waiting, I prepped all other sides like heating the water for noodles or chopping vegetables)

Once heated, add chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes on either side.

When almost done with second side, add tomato. After about 30 seconds, add fresh basil, butter, garlic and more salt and pepper.

Stir sauce to mix around and turn down heat once chicken is thoroughly cooked.

If you plan on slicing chicken as opposed to serving whole, remove from pan and let sit for a minute to not lose all the juice. This also gives sauce a chance to thicken a bit.

This is amazing served over egg noodles with the sauce poured over top! Enjoy!

We also served ours with a medley of summer squashes (patty pan, green, yellow) and red onion, roasted in the oven, drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Is there any vegetable that doesn't taste great when roasted??

If you have any ideas on how to use some of the produce I mentioned, I’d appreciate the suggestions!  This is a very new way of food preparation and eating for me, and I am happy for any advice I can get.

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