Weekly Menu || Number Ten {Summer}

My weekly menu, number ten ~ Summer edition. 

Summer time is all about simple delicious dishes that don't heat up the kitchen! This week we had Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce two ways, I love this stuff.

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>> Weekly Menu >>

Weekly Menu || Number Ten {Summer Edition} 

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>> Monday >>

Chipotle Chicken Salad with Avocado, Bacon,
and Sweet Bell Peppers served as a rollup & chip dip

Spicy Chipotle Chicken Salad with Avocado, Bacon, and Sweet Bell Peppers

Side: Grapes 

{30 minute meals, warm weather eats, leftover rotisserie chicken}

We eat a lot of chicken salad over the summer, there are so many different options and flavor combinations you can make! Also, I love that it's so easy. For the chicken I like to use leftover Rotisserie Chicken or leftover grilled chicken. This Chipole Chicken Salad is so flavorful and a little spicy, yum! I made it two ways as a tortilla roll-up and to be scooped with Fritos. Of course I sprinkled the top with my sesame salt sprinkle for a little added flavor.

Other options I like for serving: As a lettuce wrap (so tasty with spicy chicken salads), on crackers, this chicken salad has mini sweet bell peppers - I like to up the flavor minus the diced sweet peppers then slice the mini peppers in half and serve the chicken salad in it like a boat! Cute right!

{My recipe} 

Spicy Chicken Salad with Chipotle and Avocado

Ingredients

• 4 strips bacon (I prefer crispy, chopped coarse)
• 1 avocado ripe, halved and pitted
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon minced chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (add more if you'd like it spicier)
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 3 mini sweet peppers cored and chopped (I like coarse)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 head iceburg lettuce optional, only if you want lettuce wraps
• 1 bag Frito Scoops or crackers optional, if you like for scooping

Directions

Cook bacon until crispy, crumble into pieces, set aside. Mash half of avocado into paste and dice other half into small pieces. Mix mashed avocado, mayonnaise, chipotle, lime juice, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Stir in chicken, sweet pepper, and bacon until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When it tastes how you like add the diced avocado. Let sit 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Wash lettuce in very cold water so it is super crisp (you also can let it rest in an ice bath). Break the lettuce into pieces for your wraps, serve.

*Original recipe America's Test Kitchen, I modified for our taste buds. 

Budget and Time Saver - Rotisserie Chicken
On our Costco trip once a month I usually get a Rotisserie Chicken, I have it for dinner that night. Then I pull all the chicken off the bone and shred it, divide into two quart ziplock freezer bags. Now I have two already shredded portioned dinner servings for a future dinner. When I need the chicken, I put it in the fridge the night before and it's all ready for dinner the following night! Bonus the chicken is already cooked! So for our family of two for $4.99 I get three nights of chicken! One of my labels on the side bar and under that night is "leftover rotisserie chicken" so you can see all the many uses for this great delicious deal!  

Time Saver Tip - Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce 
So tasty, I have a few recipes that call for this, two are featured this week.
Here's what I do when I open a new can:

I'll dice up the whole can, it's a lot. Use whatever I need
for the current nights meal. 

I measure out a heaping Tablespoon and place on a
parchment lined small cookie sheet.
Place in the freezer over night.

Place the frozen Tablespoon portioned pieces
in a tightly sealed jar and label. Store in the
freezer. 

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>> Tuesday >>

BLT

Side: Pasta salad and sliced apples

{30 minute meal, hot weather eats}

BLT always a good idea.
The Chiptole Chicken Salad has bacon in it, so I cooked the whole pound and used some for the chicken salad and keep the rest for BLTs tonight. To reheat just roll up in a paper towel and heat in the microwave for a few seconds, watch it! It's really fast, about 20 seconds in our microwave.

Loves:
Bacon - Farmland
Pasta Salad - Suddenly Salad, Original 

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>> Wednesday >>

Date Night! 

It was our Nine Year Anniversary so we did date night early. 

It was a perfect 60 degree rainy day, which was lovely for the garden and freshly planted grass in the front yard. We went to the Milwaukee Public Market and had homemade soup, then rented a RedBox and had Cinnabon for dessert!

Danced to our wedding songs and looked at wedding pictures, it was the perfect day!

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>> Thursday >>

Leftovers 

{30 minute meal, hot weather eats}

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>> Friday >>

Pork Chops with a Spicy Honey Chipotle Sauce 

Pork Chops with a Spicy Honey Chipotle Sauce

Side: Corn, sliced tomatoes, warmed tortillas 

{30 minute meal}

This turned out so delicious! The sauce is a glaze recipe that I use in the winter for a pork loin, but I thought why not try it as a sauce for pork chops! Booyah! I also served it with warmed tortillas, awesome.

Spicy Honey Glaze 

Source: American's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, page 370. I cut the recipe by thirds to serve with pork chops, altered recipe below. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 limes
• 2 Tablespoons chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, minced
• 1/2 teaspoons cumin

Directions

Pan fry pork chops once you've removed the pork chops, add the above ingredients to the pan to deglaze and scrap up any dark bits from the pork chops. Bring to a bubble, stir constantly for a couple minutes until thick. Pour over pork chops.

OR

Mix the glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan over med - med-high heat until simmering (a few minutes) stir until slightly thicker, pour over pork chops. 

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>> Sweet >>

It's Summer Time!

McD's 49 cent vanilla cones! 

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Do you have any summer favorite foods? Post in the comments below! 

xoxojolleen

{you are beautiful and wonderfully made}

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