Weekly Menu for June 20-24, 2005

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Welcome to the menu for June 20-24! 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.

The weekly menu for this week includes chicken, ham, and beef dishes plus an opportunity to make homemade pie crusts for the freezer.

Enjoy the weekly menu!

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Menu for June 20-24, 2005

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Monday - Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie
Salad
Cantaloupe slices

 

Tuesday - Recipes

Potato-Beef Pie
Peas and Carrots
Apple Slices

 

Wednesday - Recipes

Carne Guisada
Mashed Potatoes
Corn Casserole
Roasted Red Pepper Salad

 

Thursday - Recipes

Swiss Chicken
Brown Rice
Cabbage and Onions

 

Friday - Recipes

Baked Ham
Asparagus
Baked Beans

 

 

Grocery List

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for June 20-24, 2005 - PDF

Shopping List Format

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. You should have chicken in your freezer to use for tonight's Pot Pie, but if you do not, plan on cooking a large bag of chicken on the grill or by poaching and freeze the extra. Be sure to add this to the grocery list.
   
   
2. We are going to make a bulk pie crust recipe today. We will use 2 crusts for the Chicken Pot Pie tonight and freeze the rest for later use. If you own a grain mill, use fresh whole wheat flour for your crusts. We will use butter instead of shortening and these pie crusts will be easy to make, less expensive, and healthier than store-bought crusts.
   
   
3. Please be sure to thaw the roast for Wednesday's Carne Guisada.

 

Pie Crust Recipe

• 6 cups flour
• 1 lb. butter, softened (4 sticks)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water

Mix flour and salt. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in butter until mixture is uniformly crumbly. Add water a little at a time and mix until mixture forms a ball. Add water as necessary to get correct texture.

Divide dough in half, then divide each half into 3 equal parts. Form balls and flatten to freeze. Set aside two crusts for tonight's dinner and put the rest in individual quart-sized freezer bags. Freeze 4 crusts.

Chicken Pot Pie

• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 lbs. cooked chicken, shredded
• 1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced (optional)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 T. flour
• 2 T. butter
• 1 tsp. Adobo or season salt
• 2 pie crusts
• 1 beaten egg + 2T. water

Make a white sauce by melting butter and adding flour. Stir for 1-2 minutes but don't let it burn. Add milk and stir while it thickens. Add 1/2 can of broth, seasoning, chicken, vegetables, and hard boiled eggs if you are using them.

Roll out 1 pie crust and place in a 9" pie pan. Put chicken mixture in pan. Roll out second pie crust and place on top of pie. Pierce with a fork and brush with beaten egg. Bake at 350° until crust is brown and filling is bubbly.

Salad

 

Sliced Cantaloupe

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. If you have browned ground beef in the freezer, use a pound of that. If you do not, plan on buying several pounds and browning it all at once and freezing the extra. I will not be adding ground beef to the grocery list so if you do not have any, please add it to your grocery list.
   
   
2. We will be peeling and boiling potatoes for tonight's dish and will cook extra for tomorrow's side dish.
   
   

Potato and Beef Pie

• 5 lbs. potatoes, peeled & quartered
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained (from freezer)
• 1 medium onion, sauteed (from freezer)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Adobo or garlic salt
• butter
• bread crumbs

Boil potatoes until they are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain and place in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed while adding milk. Do not overbeat as you want them mashed but still a little lumpy.

Refrigerate half of the potatoes for tomorrow night. Add Adobo seasoning to the remaining potatoes. Divide them in half and put half in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Evenly distribute meat mixture on top of potatoes and sprinkle cheese on top of meat. Spread the rest of the potatoes on top of the cheese. Sprinkle all with bread crumbs to cover and dot with butter pats. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Peas and Carrots, cooked with butter

Apple Slices

 

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. Tonight's dish is a wonderful slow cooker beef dish that provides a meal for tonight and leftover beef for enchiladas next week, so don't eat all of the leftovers! If your family prefers food less spicy than mine, substitute diced tomatoes for the Rotel.
   
   
2. Use the extra potatoes you made last night with tonight's dinner. The roast is quite juicy and you can make the juices as thick as a gravy to serve on the potatoes if you want to.
   
   
3. We are going to get a bag of onions and chop and saute the whole bag for individual freezer bags. If you still have onions in your freezer, delete this from your grocery list and use the ones you have. Otherwise, do this step while chopping the onions for tonight's beef dish.
   
   
4. If you are feeling industrious, you can roast your own peppers for the Roasted Red Pepper Salad. There are instructions for roasting peppers at Southern Food.
   
   

Carne Guisada

• 3 lbs beef stew meat
• 2 cans diced Rotel tomatoes with green chiles* or plain diced tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 T. flour
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 diced bell pepper

Place stew meat, 1/4 cup water, salt and pepper in slow cooker. Turn heat to high and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Drain juice from the Rotel tomatoes into measuring cup. Add ROTEL, garlic, bell pepper, and onions to crock pot STIR let simmer on high for 30 minutes.Add cumin, oregano, and chili powder to crock pot and stir. Blend the Rotel juice and enough water to equal 1 1/2 cups liquid.Add flour to the liquid & stir into meat/veggie mixture. Let cook on LOW for 3-4 hours until sauce is nice and thick. (If you like runnier gravy three hours is good.) Serve over mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes (from Tuesday)

 

Corn Casserole

• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten

Melt butter in a sauce pan, add flour, and stir until thick. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x9 casserole dish. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until firm and slightly brown.

 

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

• 2 jars roasted red bell peppers
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 T. red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 6 T. olive oil

Cut peppers into 1" strips and put in a bowl. Mince garlic (or press). In a small dish, combine garlic, vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Stir until salt dissolves. Add oil and mix. Pour over peppers, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before serving and season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Tonight we are cooking brown rice as a side dish. I recommend a rice blend such as Lundberg Black Japonica, but since everyone doesn't have access to stores that carry such blends I have put brown rice on the grocery list. If you have access to these rice blends (usually found at upscale supermarkets and health food stores), substitute them instead for added flavor.
   
   
2. The cabbage and onions can be made in a pressure cooker, on a stove top, or in a slow cooker.
   
   
3. For quicker prep time in the afternoon, Swiss Chicken can be prepared in the morning and refrigerated until time to bake. You can also do the preparation for the cabbage and onions in the morning and start cooking later.
   
   

Swiss Chicken

• 4 boneless chicken breasts (raw)
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1/4 cup white cooking wine
• 1 cup stuffing mix
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Place chicken breasts in a baking dish. Cover each with cheese. Mix soup and wine; pour over chicken. Cover with stuffing. Drizzle 1/4 cup butter over stuffing. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350°.

Brown Rice

 

Cabbage and Onions

• 1 head cabbage
• 1-2 onions
• 1 can chicken broth
• butter

Chop cabbage into wedges, then into 1-2" squares. Chop onion. Saute both in melted butter on stovetop until somewhat tender, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken broth and cook gently until desired texture.

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. Be sure that you buy a ham small enough to fit in your slow cooker. If you don't have a slow cooker, I recommend a 6 qt. slow cooker so that you can fit almost anything in it. The new slow cookers have removable pots that can be used in the oven and on the stove top which is convenient for braising meat before slow cooking.
   
   
2. This is a good time for asparagus so let's take advantage of that this week by buying fresh asparagus. If you have never bought asparagus fresh, look for the smallest stalks as they are tender and flavorful. To prepare them, wash them with water and hold the fat end near the end with your left hand and hold the stalk near the middle with your right hand. Make a snapping motion with your hands and the tough ends will snap off exactly where they should.
   
   

Baked Ham

• 5 lb. ham, preferably smoked butt or shoulder
• 2 cups soda (Pepsi or Coke)

Place ham in slow cooker and pour soda over ham. Cook 8-10 hours on low. Slice tonight's portion before serving. Shred leftovers and freeze in 1-2 cup portions.

Asparagus

• 2 lbs. asparagus, small stalks
• heavy duty aluminum foil
• 2 T. butter

Preheat over to 450°. Place asparagus on center of large piece of foil and top with butter. Fold up foil sides, double fold top and ends to seal making a large packet. Do not make the packet tight over asparagus; heat needs to circulate inside. Bake 14-16 min. on a cookie sheet.

Baked Beans

• 2 26 oz. cans baked beans, seasoned
• barbecue sauce
• small amount of mustard
• brown sugar

Heat beans in saucepan, adding barbecue sauce, mustard, and brown sugar to taste. Simmer 10 minutes before serving.

 

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

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