Salsa verde smiles: A starter kit to your dinner answers

Minimize your shopping list and time in the kitchen using this flavorful meal plan centered on the many tasty expressions of salsa verde

We are easily overwhelmed by dinner decisions. There are millions and millions of great recipes available. At misenosh, through this blog and the upcoming app, we will join you in your kitchen and show you how to rapidly find a plan for the week that will delivers smiles to your family, minimizing the time in the kitchen, all while matching the budget you need.

In our time with restauranteurs and running a large scale food business we learned the key to overcoming all those decisions:

We do this week by focusing first on Salsa verde, and then add in some chicken and a little flat iron steak to keep things interesting.

Salsa verde meal plan

For under $100 and less than 4.5 hours in the kitchen across the week, for a family of four this plan should produce:

• 12-16 servings of mac & cheese (freeze half for a future week) - good for dinner and some lunches

• 4-6 servings of chicken enchiladas

• 4 servings of beef bowls

• 4 servings of stacked tacos

• 4-6 servings of sour cream pancakes

Shopping List

In addition to the list bellow, there should be room in the $100 budget for staples like milk and eggs:

• 3 lb of tomatillo (about 10-12)

• 2 yellow onions

• 1 white onion

• 3-4 jalapeño

• 3 bunches of cilantro

• 1 garlic bulb

• 3 limes

• 1 green bell pepper

• 1 yellow or red bell pepper

• 2 lbs of macaroni noodles

• At least 10 oz of rice of your choice

• At least 1 stick of butter

• 1 lb of pepper jack cheese

• 1 lb of sharp cheddar cheese

• 8 oz of cotija cheese

• At list 1 stick of butter

• 1 lb bag of flour

• 1 12oz can of condensed milk

• 3 chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)

• 2.5 lb of flank or skirt steak

• At least 8oz of sour cream

• A bag of at least 6 flour tortillas

• A bag of at least 12 4" corn tortillas

• Avocado or olive oil

Cooking Day 1: Salsa verde mac & cheese

On this first day make the salsa verde and the mac & cheese. This will be the longest day in the kitchen taking up anywhere from an 1-2 hours (you can get the shorter end of the time window if you overlap the time cooking the macaroni while making the salsa)

• Salsa verde: https://www.misenosh.com/recipes/recipe/1d14a28c-3a5a-4eb8-8340-72ff0317f2d9

• Mac & Cheese: https://www.misenosh.com/recipes/recipe/79602ff3-7221-489a-ac39-3f38e52d5d43

Make the salsa verde first. When done, pack all but 2 cups in the refrigerator.

Pack half of the mac & cheese into the freezer for a future week. Serve what you need for dinner, and pack the rest in the refrigerator for lunches later in the week.

If you have extras in the kitchen like tuna or canned veggies, you can always use the leftovers to mac a caserole.

Cooking Day 2: Salsa verde chicken enchiladas

After preparing the chicken this meal comes together pretty quickly. Adjust the recipe to use 3 chicken breasts. Use two chicken breasts worth of protein for this dish. Put the remainder in the refrigerator to use later for the stacked taco dish.

You can find the recipe here: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/11767/salsa-verde-chicken-enchiladas/

To add a little more flavorful adjust the recipe to use these ingredients:

• 2 cups salsa verde

• 2 chicken breasts

• 1 cup pepper jack cheese

• 1 cup cheddar cheese

• 2.5 oz sour cream (or sour cream to taste)

• 2-3 cloves of garlic

• 5-6 flour tortillas

• 1 teaspoon olive oil or avocado oil

• cilantro to taste

Cooking Day 3: Salsa verde shredded beef bowl

This is another tasty and simple meal. Again, adjust the recipe to use 2.5 lbs of the steak. Use 2 lbs of the protein for this dish and put the remainder in the refrigerator to use later for the stacked taco dish.

The recipe specifies riced cauliflower, but substitute for whatever rice you bought.

You can find the recipe here: https://thedefineddish.com/salsa-verde-shredded-beef-bowls/

Cooking Day 4: Shredded chicken and beef stacked tacos

Keeping the simple and hassle free theme, we will use the remaining salsa verde, shredded chicken and beef to make this delicious dinner.

As we are using the proteins we have already prepared skip steps 1-3 in this recipe: https://www.howsweeteats.com/2014/08/roasted-chipotle-chicken-taco-stacks/

You will just need to do steps 4 and 5 to make the stacked tacos. Use the shredded tacos on some tacos and shredded beef on others (or mix all together if that is your wish).

Bonus breakfast day: Sour Cream Pancakes

If you have extra sour cream and don't want it to go to waste, use whatever is left over to have a pancake day: https://www.ihearteating.com/sour-cream-pancakes/

Leveling up your dinner answers

If you liked this plan and enjoy salsa verde, you can put together your own meal plans. Here are some ideas for other salsa verde based meals: https://heartbeetkitchen.com/recipes-that-use-salsa-verde/