May 23-27, 2005

Welcome to Menus 4 Moms! In order to make the best use of Menus 4 Moms, before beginning the Menu please read the Menus 4 Moms and the Busy Cooks Pyramid as Menus 4 Moms will be based on these items each week.

This week's menu features a roast, a chicken soup that will help you clean out your refrigerator and freezer of leftover veggies, authentic fried rice, beef stroganoff, and grilled fish. Enjoy!

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Menu for May 23-27, 2005

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Monday - Recipes

(Quick and Easy recipes)

Roast Beef with Carrots and Potatoes
Macaroni and Cheese
Seasoned Green Beans

 

Tuesday - Recipes

(Fast Ingredients & Tools and Techniques)

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Cheese
Frozen Fruit Salad
Garlic Bread

 

Wednesday - Recipes

Fried Rice
Egg Drop Soup
Salad

 

Thursday - Recipes

(Fast Ingredients)

Beef Stroganoff over Noodles
Green Beans
Corn

 

Friday - Recipes

(Quick & Easy Recipes)

Grilled Fish
Jello Fruit Salad
Grilled Asparagus

 

 

Grocery List

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for May 23-27, 2005

Shopping List format

 

About the notes

Each day has notes that explain how to jump into the current menu with alternatives to the planned leftovers from previous weeks. The notes also give alternatives to planned meals for health or convenience. Occasionally menus will include tips on healthy cooking, such as how to cook with whole grains or ways to sneak nutrients into the meals.

Please read the notes for each day as they will make the difference between successful dinners and last minute crises!

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Today we are using the slow cooker. If you start cooking your roast around 10 a.m., by dinnertime you will have a delicious meal.
   
2. Today we need to prepare the frozen fruit salad so it will be ready for tomorrow. This was accidentally omitted from the grocery list and recipes.

Roast Beef

• 3-4 lb. roast, cut of your choice
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
• pepper
• Adobo seasoning

Trim fat from roast. Sprinkle with Adobo seasoning and pepper. Place meat in slow cooker. If your slow cooker has the ability to cook on the stovetop in the slow cooker pan, you can sear the meat on each side before putting it in the slow cooker. Put slow cooker on low (or auto if you can cook it on high for 2 hours and have it switch to low after 2 hours) and add vegetables. Cook 8 hours.

 

Macaroni and Cheese

• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (optional)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2-1/2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups (8 oz) shredded American or Cheddar cheese, divided
• 8 oz Mueller's Elbows (about 2 cups), cooked 5 minutes and drained

 

In medium saucepan combine corn starch, salt, dry mustard and pepper; stir in milk. Add margarine. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in 1-3/4 cups (425 ml) cheese until melted. Add elbows. Pour into greased 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake uncovered in 375 degree oven 25 minutes or until lightly browned. This can be prepared ahead of time and kept refrigerated until you are ready to bake. Add 5-7 minutes to the cooking time if cold.

Source: Mueller's elbow macaroni box

Seasoned Green Beans

• 1 bag frozen green beans, thawed and drained
• 2 T. butter
• 1/2 package Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix

Melt butter in large fry pan. Add green beans. Sprinkle with the 1/2 package of seasoning mix and stir well while sauteing.

Frozen Fruit Salad (for tomorrow)
IMPT: The items for this recipe were omitted from the grocery list so please add them manually!!

• 2 T. sugar
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 T. milk
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• 1/2 cup pecans (optional)
• 1 cup maraschino cherries, quartered
• 1 can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup whipping cream, whipped
• lettuce leaves

Mix cream cheese and milk. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, dash salt, pineapple, pecans, cherries, and sugar. Fold in whipped cream (do not stir). Freeze. Serve on lettuce leaf.

 

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. Today we are cleaning out the refrigerator! We are making Chicken Vegetable Soup with Cheese so any leftover vegetables that you have in your refrigerator or freezer (you know those freezer bags of frozen vegetables that only 1/2 cup or so left - use them tonight!) should go into tonight's soup.
   
2. Start your chicken in the morning. I recommend boiling your chicken, either breast or a whole hen, in canned chicken broth. Remove the chicken and cool. Tear into bite size pieces and strain the stock. This is the base for your soup.
   
3. Don't forget to serve the frozen fruit salad!
   

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Cheese

• 1 large stewing hen* or 2.5 lbs. chicken breasts
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 cup onion -- chopped (you should have this in your freezer)
• Frozen mixed vegetables plus any leftover vegetables you have in your refrigerator that will be good in the soup
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• Adobo seasoning or garlic salt
• Salt and pepper to taste
• tarragon, marjoram, basil, or other herb that your family likes

Boil chicken in 2 cans of broth with water added to cover chicken. Remove chicken from broth & cool in the refrigerator. Strain broth and place in slow cooker.

Add seasonings, onion,frozen, and leftover vegetables to broth and simmer. When chicken is cool, tear into bite-sized pieces and add 1-2 cups to soup. Freeze the rest in dated freezer bags. About 30 minutes before serving, add cheddar cheese to soup.

Frozen Fruit Salad (see yesterday's recipes)

Garlic Bread

• 2 fresh hoagie rolls, sliced loafwise
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt

Melt butter in saucepan. Add garlic and salt to taste. Dip one side of bread slices into garlic butter and place on cookie sheet in loaf form. Warm at 350° until hot.

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. This is an authentic Japanese fried rice recipe and is delicious. I took cooking lessons when I lived in Japan and this is one of the recipes we learned. Calrose rice is not the same as white rice. Look for it with the white rice in your grocery store.
   
2. You may not have heard of tamari. It is a premium soy sauce that has the wonderful rich flavor of soy sauce but does not taste as salty. It can be quite expensive at health food stores, but the Food Lion in my area carries it for $.99/bottle. It is definitely worth trying; it is all we use except for marinades that require large quantities of soy sauce.
   
3. Cook your rice at least an hour before you plan to start your fried rice. It works better if it is still slightly warm when you fry it.

 

Fried Rice

• Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, chopped
• frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• corn if you like it
• meat (optional)
• soy sauce or tamari

3 cups chicken broth
• 1 green onion with top
• 1 t 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.

Salad

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. If you browned ground beef in bulk, use one of the baggies from your freezer.
   
2. If you cooked onions in bulk, use a baggies of sauteed onion from the freezer for Beef Stroganoff.
   

Beef Stroganoff

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

Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until meat is browned, stirring to crumble meat; drain. Stir in flour and next 3 ingredients; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sour cream, and heat thoroughly. Serve over noodles.

Green Beans

Corn

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. Marinate your fish at least 20 minutes before cooking.
   
2. Prepare the Jello Fruit Salad in the morning.
   
3. Take advantage of early spring asparagus with today's vegetable. When you buy asparagus, look for small stalks. Tiny stalks mean tender asparagus, large stalks mean it will be tough.
   

Grilled Fish

• 2 lbs. bass, crappie, croaker, whiting (sea mullet), or flounder (or other flaky white fish)
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• generous sprinkling of lemon pepper seasoning (1 Tbsp)
• generous sprinkling of adobo seasoning or garlic salt (1 Tbsp)

Place fish in a shallow dish for marinating. Combine all other ingredients and pour over fish. Marinate 20 minutes. Grill over medium heat until flesh is white and flaky.

Grilled Asparagus

• 1 lb. fresh asparagus
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• dill

Wash asparagus and snap tough ends off. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little bit of dill. Grill until tender. In order to keep the tips from burning, you should either wrap them in foil or face them to a cool part of the grill.

Jello Fruit Salad

• 1 small package orange gelatin
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• lettuce leaves

Mix gelatin in hot water until dissolved. Add all other ingredients, pour into a mold or 8x8 pan and chill until set. Serve on a lettuce leaf.

 

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