Intrigued? I know I was when I saw this on the cover of the new Everyday Food. Having to be on a pretty strict food budget I jumped at the chance to give this a try. They even give you a handy, dandy shopping list right where this section starts in the magazine and I simply just took it with me and crossed items off as I went.

This is going to be different than my other posts since I usually only cover what I like, but since the focus is here is on a short weekly shopping list, I’m going to post my reviews of all the recipes (regardless of how they taste) to really see how this nets out.

The recipe recommendation is as follows – Monday, Grilled Steak with Tomatoes and Scallions; Tuesday, Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula; Wednesday, Tomato-Pepper Soup with Ham and Arugula Wraps; Thursday, Grilled Pork Chops with Cucumber-Dill Salad; Friday; Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken and Cilantro (sorry, can’t find some of these on the Web site and I will post here later).

I tweaked this schedule to work within my week and started with the Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken and Cilantro. On the recipe page they mention the sauce is Vietnamese-style and features fresh ginger, garlic and jalapeno combined with brown sugar and rice vinegar in a saucepan. I have to say the sauce really made this dish, but it was also a great combination of the cool, crisp cucumber, savory chicken and cilantro and noodles. I really liked this dish and how quick it was to get on the table.

Up next, ham and arugula wraps with tomato-pepper soup. Hope it’s good!