Weekly Menu for August 1-5, 2005

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Welcome to the menu for August 1-5! In order to make the best use of Menus 4 Moms, before beginning the Menu please read the Menus 4 Moms plan basics and the Busy Cooks Pyramid as Menus 4 Moms will be based on these items each week. If you have questions, please check the FAQ page.

I must apologize for the frozen potato fiasco last week. Use your frozen potatoes to make mashed potatoes this week if you haven't used them yet. The menu for this week features an easy stir-fry, a slow cooker beef roast, Beef Stroganoff, breakfast for dinner, and a kid's favorite: grilled cheese.

Enjoy the weekly menu!

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Menu for August 1-5, 2005

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Monday - Recipes

Chicken Stir-fry
Rice
Egg drop soup

 

Tuesday - Recipes

Roast beef with vegetables
Mashed potatoes
Salad

 

Wednesday - Recipes

Homemade waffles
Cheese grits
Strawberries or blueberries
Bacon

 

Thursday - Recipes

Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles
Broccoli with lemon juice
Cauliflower smashed potatoes

 

Friday - Recipes

Grilled cheese sandwiches
Celery stuffed with pimiento cheese
Chips

 

 

Grocery List

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for August 1-5, 2005 - PDF

Shopping List Software format (download shopping list free Windows software)

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Make sure your roast for tomorrow is thawed.

 

  Chicken Stir-fry

• 14 oz. bag stir-fry frozen vegetables
• 1 lb. raw boneless chicken*, shrimp, or beef
• 1 bottle Kikkoman Stir-fry sauce
• olive oil

Slice or chop meat if using chicken or beef. If using shrimp, peel it and take the tail off. You can use frozen tail-off shrimp if you want to make it easier.

In a wok or large fry pan, sauté meat or shrimp in oil until done. If using shrimp, remove shrimp from pan to prevent overcooking. Add frozen vegetables and cook until hot and water from frozen veggies cooks out. Add shrimp back to veggies. Pour 1/2 - 3/4 bottle of the stir fry sauce over everything and simmer until bubbly. Serve over rice (for children it may be better to serve rice with soy sauce and stir-fry separately).

  Rice (preferably Calrose), cooked according to directions

  Egg Drop Soup

3 cups chicken broth
• 1 green onion with top
• 1 sp. salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 eggs slightly beaten

Heat chicken broth, salt and pepper to boiling in saucepan. Stir green onions into eggs. Pour egg mixture slowly into boiling broth, stirring constantly with fork to form shreds of egg.

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. Tonight's meal is for your slow cooker. If it is in the 100's at your house like it is at mine, try putting your slow cooker on your deck/patio/porch or in your garage to keep your house cooler.
   
2. Save about 1 lb. of tonight's roast for Beef Stroganoff on Thursday.
   
3. If you have never made homemade gravy you will be pleased to find out how easy it is.
   
4. We will use the frozen baked potatoes from last week for tonight's mashed potatoes. If you don't have them, buy 6 large potatoes, peel, and boil them.
   

Beef Roast with vegetables

• 3-4 lb. beef roast of your choice
• 1 can beef broth
• carrots, chopped
• onions, sliced
• celery, chopped
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Trim roast of fat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If your slow cooker has a removable pot that is stove-top safe, use that pot to brown your roast on all sides in the olive oil before placing the pot in the slow cooker. If your slow cooker pot is not stove-top safe, brown your roast in a Dutch oven and transfer the contents (including as much of the drippings as possible) to your slow cooker. Add veggies and broth and cook on low for several hours until meat is fork tender.

Beef Gravy:

• strained broth from roast
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• water

Scoop out the meat and vegetables and place on a platter. Strain the broth into a saucepan. In a glass jar with a lid, mix the flour with 1/4 cup hot water by shaking vigorously. Using a strainer, pour the flour and water mixture into the strained broth and heat to a simmer, stirring constantly. Continue simmering until broth thickens.

Mashed Potatoes

• 6 Potatoes from freezer (this will be from our failed baked potato night last week)
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 oz. cream cheese
• milk

Thaw potatoes and remove skins (if you can't, just leave them in - they have lots of nutrients). Heat potatoes in microwave until hot. Mix all ingredients except milk and mash with a potato masher or large fork. Add enough milk to make potatoes creamy. If you like very creamy mashed potatoes you can use a mixer to get a good whipped consistency. If you like lumpy potatoes, I recommend using a fork or potato masher to maintain a more solid consistency. Serve with gravy.

Salad

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. Breakfast for dinner, yum! We are going to serve fresh fruit with tonight's dinner. You can either serve your waffles with fruit and whipped cream or serve them with syrup (a homemade fruit syrup with the blueberries or strawberries is good; using pure maple is much healthier than syrups based on corn syrup) and serve the fruit as a side dish. I have given you both a healthy blender batter version that uses whole grains and a not so healthy version that uses regular flour. I use the not so healthy version but use freshly ground whole wheat flour instead of white flour.
   
   
2. Any extra waffles you have can be frozen for easy and healthy breakfasts. If you are feeling industrious, make an extra batch just for the freezer. Putting the waffles on a cookie cooling rack to cool instead of stacking will keep them from getting soggy.

Healthy Waffles*

1. Preheat waffle iron or pancake griddle to highest temperature.
   
   
2. Place in blender and blend at high speed for 4-5 minutes or until smooth:
   
• 1 1/2 Cups buttermilk (or fruit juice or non-dairy alternative
• 1 egg
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 TB honey
• 1/3 Cup raw brown rice
• 1/2 Cup wheat berries
• 1/2 Cup rolled oats

The secret to getting light and tender waffles is the thinness of the batter. The batter should always swirl about a vortex in the blender. If not, add a little liquid until the hole reappears. This is very important.

3. Blend in briefly just before baking:
   
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder (non-aluminum is healthiest)
  
  
4. Pour thin batter from blender onto seasoned, hot waffle iron or pancake griddle sprayed with olive oil non-stick spray. Bake about 4 minutes for waffles or until the light goes off. Don't Peek! For pancakes, bake on first side until bubbles on unbaked side begin to break; turn once and bake on second side.

For many more grain variations for pancakes and waffles see BREAKFASTS...with Blender Batter Baking and Allergy Alternatives by Sue Gregg.

Recipe from Marilyn Moll of www.urbanhomemaker.com

Not so healthy waffles

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup pecan meal (option but delicious)

Mix dry ingredients well. In a separate container mix wet ingredients. Combine and mix until just smooth. Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray and cook according to the instructions for your waffle iron.

 

Cheese Grits

If you like spicy food, you can add 1-2 chopped jalapeno peppers to these grits before soaking for a wonderful flavor. This recipe makes 4 servings. Make sure you get Quick Grits, not instant.

• 3 cups milk
• 3/4 cup Quick Grits
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup finely shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Put first 3 ingredients (and jalapenos if using them) in a saucepan and stir. Soak for 15 minutes. Heat to simmering and cover, cooking 8 minutes. Add cheese and cook 2-3 minutes until cheese melts and grits are creamy. Serve with butter, salt, and pepper.

 

Bacon

I like to use the precooked bacon and crisp it up in the microwave. It is much less messy, and bacon loses so much fat that I am not convinced that it is really that much more cost per pound for the precooked.

Strawberries or Blueberries*

Depending on where you are, you may still be able to get either of these berries before the season ends for good. You can either serve them plain or make a simple syrup with them and serve them on your waffles.

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Tonight we will use some of the shredded beef leftover from Tuesday's roast.
   
2. Any leftover noodles can be served hot and buttered for lunch.
   
3. I have to give a disclaimer that I have not yet tried the Cauliflower smashed potatoes, but they have been personally recommended by two different people in my neighborhood as being a great way to disguise cauliflower - their children thought they were eating potatoes until they told them otherwise.

 Beef Stroganoff

• 1 lb. shredded cooked beef ( from Tuesday)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (from freezer)
• 2 tablespoons All-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1-2 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp. butter , melted
• 10 3/4 ounces can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 8 ounces sour cream
• hot cooked noodles

Thaw shredded beef and onion in the microwave. Place in a Dutch oven or large fry pan with sliced mushrooms and melted butter and cook until mushrooms are tender and beef and onions are hot. Stir in flour and next 2 ingredients; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sour cream, and heat thoroughly. Serve over noodles. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

 

  Broccoli with lemon juice and Adobo

• 16 oz. frozen broccoli* , steamed, or 2 bunches fresh broccoli, chopped & steamed
• lemon juice
• Adobo seasoning

Cover broccoli with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (more to taste if needed) and sprinkle with Adobo seasoning. You may add grated Parmesan cheese as well.

 

 Cauliflower Smashed Potatoes

Recipe is here. Grocery list uses fresh cauliflower.

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. If you make your own whole grain bread, this is a good meal to have the night you bake your bread. If you have a breadmaker, use it to make a loaf for tonight (add ingredients to your grocery list).

  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

• bread
• American cheese slices
• butter

Put 1-2 slices of cheese between two bread slices and butter the outside on both sides. Grill on a flat griddle until both sides are golden brown and crispy.

  Celery stuffed with pimiento cheese

• 3 celery stalks
• pimiento cheese

Wash celery and cut into 4-5 inch slices. Fill with pimiento cheese.

  Chips

* Indicates that of the options listed, this item is the one on the grocery list.