Printer-friendly Weekly Menu Plan | Recipes | Grocery List | April 10-14, 2006

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Combine beef and onion. Spread in pie plate; sprinkle with salt, chiles, and cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate. Bake about 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Succotash

Vanilla Yogurt with Pineapple

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

Today's pork tenderloin recipe was adapted from a recipe by Deanna Piercy, editor of Tea with Dee, a periodic newsletter with thoughts, ideas, helpful hints, recipes, and encouragement for women. You can sign up for Tea with Dee through Yahoo groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teawithdee/.
Go ahead and prepare the Sticky Chicken tonight and let it sit in the spices overnight before cooking tomorrow.

Pork Tenderloin with Champagne Beurre Sauce

2 lb. pork tenderloin
2 large leeks, thinly sliced
baby carrots
2 stalks celery thinly sliced
1 can chicken broth
Adobo
basil
Herbs de Provence ( or other herb combination)
brown sugar
butter
flour
1/2 cup champagne or white wine

Layer the bottom of the slow cooker with the leeks, celery, and baby carrots. Put the pork tenderloin over that and season it with Adobo, basil, Herbs de Provence (or any other herb combination that you prefer) and about a tablespoon of brown sugar. Pour the chicken broth over it and turn the slow cooker to low. Cook for the amount of time recommended on the meat packaging, or until the inside registers 160° on a meat thermometer. For the sauce, put about a tablespoon of butter in a skillet to melt, added about an equal amount of flour and made a light roux. Transfer all of the juices from the slow cooker to the skillet, add about 1/2 a cup of champagne, white wine, or chicken broth and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened. Just before serving add a large spoonful of sour cream and mix well. Serve meat and vegetables over rice with gravy on top.

Steamed Broccoli

Rice

Caramelized Apples and Carrots

3 medium apples
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Wash carrots and apples. Core and chop apples. Place apples and carrots in a small saucepan and add water. Cover and heat until water starts to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Drain water and add remaining ingredients. Toss gently until combined and heat over medium heat for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and a glaze forms.

Sticky Chicken Rub

1 large chicken -- (roasting)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons salt

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a re-sealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

Please read the safety notes for today's chicken recipe (under NB at the end of the recipe).
Save 1 1/2 cups chicken for tomorrow's chicken biscuit pot pie.

Roast Sticky Chicken

Chicken with rub from yesterday
1 cup onion -- chopped

When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan. Roast, uncovered, at 250° F for 5 hours. After the first hour, baste chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices. (It may take awhile to have pan juices) The pan juices will start to caramelize on the bottom of pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

Pull the remaining chicken from the bones and bag for the freezer. Keep 1 1/2 cups in the refrigerator for tomorrow. Take the bones, onion stuffing, and skin and boil them in 6 cups water to make a broth. Strain into jars; save 2 cups for for tomorrow's pot pie and freeze the rest or keep in the refrigerator in Mason jars.

NB: Food safety guidelines do not recommend baking chicken at a temperature this low. Please understand that it is safer to bake chicken at 350° and you may wish to use this safer temperature for less time. Also, I use a roasting bag to prepare this chicken. It cuts down the mess and tastes moist and wonderful.

This recipe was originally created by Mimi Hiller of Mimi's Cyber Kitchen, http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ and this version was actually an adaptation written by Lynn Nelson, former guide of Busy Cooks, http://busycooks.about.com

Pasta Carbonara

8 oz. cooked, drained, rinsed linguini (if long, break into pieces before cooking)
1 jar real bacon bits or 8 slices bacon*, cooked
1 bunch sliced green onions & 1/2 tops
4 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
2/3 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
3 eggs, room temperature
2/3 c. cream, room temperature
2 tsp. dry parsley flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

If cooking bacon from scratch, in fry pan brown bacon pieces. Otherwise, heat a little vegetable oil and add onion and mushrooms, saute until soft. In bowl beat eggs, add other ingredients and mix and set aside.

To fry pan with bacon, onions and mushrooms and add rinsed, cooked noodles; heat. Just before serving, remove from heat and add bowl of egg mixture to hot noodle mixture and mix. Serve immediately.

Peas and Carrots

Garlic Bread

French Bread
butter
garlic salt

Slice bread, spread with with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt. Heat until bread is warm and butter is melted.

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

You can prepare the individual parts of the cabbage salad in the morning to help ease dinnertime preparations. Do not combine the three parts (dressing, crunchies, and cabbage) until ready to serve. Reserve half of each part to use tomorrow.

Chicken Biscuit Pot Pie

1 2/3 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken (from Monday)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 cup biscuit mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Combine vegetables, chicken, soup and thyme. Pour into a 9 inch pie pan. Combine biscuit mix, milk and egg. Pour over top. Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes. Prep time for this is short - not more than 10 minutes!

Chinese Cabbage Salad

1 head napa cabbage
1 bunch minced green onions
1/3 cup butter
1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Shred or chop the head of cabbage. Combine the green onions and cabbage in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Melt the butter in a pan. Mix the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds into the pot with the melted butter. Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake the crunchies in a 350° F oven, turning often to make sure they do not burn. When they are browned remove them from the oven. In a small saucepan, heat vinegar, oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, let boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from heat and let cool. (Remember to reserve half of each part of this salad for Wednesday night.) Combine dressing, crunchies, and cabbage immediately before serving. Serve immediately.

Collard Greens

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

You can add diced ham from the freezer to the pea soup, or if your family prefers meat with dinner, fried ham slices go well and are easy to prepare.
The pea soup can be prepared in the slow cooker if you wish, and you can mix the yogurt dip ahead of time for the fruit salad.

Pea Soup

2 cans chicken broth
1 12oz. package frozen peas (or one bag dried peas, cooked according to directions)
1 t. tarragon
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 T. butter
1 T. flour
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 cup milk

Blend broth, peas, and spices in blender. In a large pan, melt butter and stir in flour to make a paste. Add blender contents and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add milk and lemon juice. Stir well and serve.

Adapted from Mom's Best Pea Soup by Jonni McCoy in Miserly Moms.

Apple, Grape, and Walnut Salad

3 Granny Smith apples, washed, sliced and cored
1 bunch red grapes, washed and pulled from the stems
chopped walnuts (use as many as you like, I use about 2/3 cup)
8 oz. vanilla yogurt
3 oz. cream cheese

Combine fruit and nuts and serve with vanilla yogurt mixed with cream cheese (use a mixer for a smooth blend).

Leftover Chinese Cabbage Salad

Crusty Bread

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