Sunday Strategist: A Week of Healthy Menus—August 10-14
Every Sunday, we publish a week of Cooking Light dinner plans filled with our favorite recipes—both from current issues and classics. Each meal is designed to be ready and on the table in 45 minutes or less so that you have more time to enjoy the food you’ve prepared and the company of those you’ve prepared it for.
If you like having a healthy meal plan but want something customized to your dietary or caloric needs, check out The Cooking Light Diet. It’s a calorie-driven weekly meal plan—breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner—based on your dieting goals and food preferences.
Struggling to cook healthy? We'll help you prep.
The Game Plan:Monday: Tomato-Asiago Frittata with Baby Potatoes with Arugula PestoTuesday: Steak Salad with Nectarines, Radicchio, and Blue CheeseWednesday: Pineapple Chicken Kebabs with Cilantro-Lime Slaw with Thai Cilantro and Serrano RiceThursday: Linguine Carbonara with Arugula Salad with Caesar VinaigretteFriday: BLT Pizza with White SauceDessert Bonus: Soft-Serve Mango-Banana Sorbet
Monday: Go meatless tonight with a fluffy Tomato-Asiago Frittata. Asiago is sharper than Parmesan, making this simple main feel a little more robust. Pair with a simple salad or Baby Potatoes with Arugula Pesto, a fresh, vibrant spin on your typical roasted spuds.
Tuesday: Sometimes a big salad is all you want, especially when it's layered with so many textures, colors, and big flavors. Steak Salad with Nectarines, Radicchio, and Blue Cheese combines the sweet, juicy stone fruit with pungent cheese, and the sturdy, slightly bitter radicchio with tender butter lettuce. We love slices of medium-rare steak here, but sliced grilled chicken or even a little cooked, crumbled bacon would work.
Wednesday: This is the kind of chicken on a stick that makes us cheer. The chicken thighs in this 25-minute Pineapple Chicken Kebabs with Cilantro-Lime Slaw stay incredibly moist on the grill, and the tangy, spicy-sweet glaze caramelizes nicely. Serve with the crunchy slaw and Thai Cilantro and Serrano Rice.
Thursday: For an Italian spin on breakfast for dinner, try this fast Linguine Carbonara. The egg mixture turns into a silky sauce when tossed with hot pasta, and crispy bits of bacon punctuate every bite. Keep the Italian theme going with Arugula Salad with Caesar Vinaigrette, a quick, no-fuss side.
Arugula Salad with Caesar VinaigretteFriday: If Friday is still pizza night at your house, you can't go wrong with BLT Pizza with White Sauce. Use up the arugula and bacon from the night before, or create a new mashup with whatever you have on hand (like nectarine, chicken, and asiago cheese).
BLT Pizza with White SauceHappy Hour: You don't need an ice cream maker to make this Soft-Serve Mango-Banana Sorbet from scratch, just a food processor and a freezer. A touch of tequila or rum adds an adult twist, but you can leave it out if you like.
Soft-Serve Mango-Banana SorbetReady to start shopping? View this week’s menu, which includes every recipe you see mentioned here. From there, you can add all the ingredients to your shopping list in one click when you sign into your MyRecipes account.
More Weeknight Inspiration: