Printer-friendly Weekly Menu Plan | Recipes | Grocery List | April 17-21, 2006

Cook taco seasoning and cooked beef according to package directions. Serve meat with remaining ingredients at the table so everyone can make their own tacos.

Spanish Rice

1 chopped onion, sauteed (from freezer)
black pepper
chili powder
cumin
Adobo seasoning
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
Olive oil
1 can (15 oz.) chicken broth
1 cup water

Saute onion in olive oil in a Dutch oven until tender; remove from pan. Add 2 T. olive oil to pan and brown the uncooked rice. Do not burn! Add chicken broth and water (this will sizzle loudly when the liquid meets the hot oil), add seasonings to taste, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes; do not open. When cooked, add onions and any other warmed items you may have on hand that would be good in rice (corn, salsa, Rotel, etc.). Stir gently and serve.

Vegetable Sticks with Dip

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

Today we are going to boil a chicken and use the broth and part of the meat for tonight's dinner and save 2 cups of chicken for Thursday. If there is any extra, it can be bagged and frozen. If you do not work, I suggest putting the chicken and about 4-6 cups of water in the slow cooker the night before and letting it cook overnight, turning it off in the morning. You can pick it when it has cooled, reserving the strained broth for the evening meal. If you work, try cooking this in the slow cooker the day before while you are at work and picking the chicken after dinner so you won't have to do it in the morning. Be sure to strain the broth and save it for the Chicken and Noodles!
After straining the broth, you can use just the bones and cook them again for several hours in 4-6 cups of water to make another batch of broth to freeze or refrigerate if you would like to. It may be weaker than the first one, but I have found that cooking just the bones for several hours produces a flavorful broth.

Chicken and Noodles

2 cups shredded chicken
4 cups broth from chicken (or broth plus water to equal 4 cups)
8 oz. egg noodles
Garlic salt or Adobo
1 can Cream of Chicken soup

Heat the broth to boiling. Add the noodles and cook until almost done. Add soup, chicken, and seasonings to taste. Cook until the chicken is heated through and the soup is well blended. You may sprinkle with parsley for some color if you would like.

Celery Stuffed with Pimiento Cheese

Fried Okra

1 bag frozen breaded okra (or two if your family likes it as much as ours)
oil for pan frying

Heat oil in a deep (2-3") fry pan. Fry okra (do not crowd in pan) until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, salt and serve.

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday: none

Lemon Pepper Grilled Tilapia

2 lbs. tilapia (or bass, crappie, croaker, whiting, or flounder)
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 30 minutes. Grill over medium heat until flesh is white and flaky.

Salad

Creamed Peas

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
2 cups frozen peas (use a 10 oz box, or measure 2-cups from a bag of loose frozen peas)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir with a whisk for 1 minute. Do not brown the flour and butter mixture. Continue stirring constantly and add the milk gradually. Add salt, pepper, and sugar. Heat to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add peas and heat to a simmer. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until peas are tender-crisp. Do not overcook.

Yellow Rice

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

Use some chicken from Tuesday.

Cheddar Chicken Spaghetti

1 package (8 oz) spaghetti, broken in half
2 cups cubed cooked chicken (from Monday)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
1 T diced pimientos (optional)
1 can green chiles (optional)
1 Tbsp. tarragon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the chicken, 1 cup cheese, soup, milk, pimientos, green chiles, tarragon, salt and pepper. Drain spaghetti, add to the chicken mixture and toss to coat.

Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Green Beans

1 lb. fresh green beans
1 tsp. butter
1/2 packet Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix

Wash green beans and snap ends off. Steam or boil until tender-crisp. Drain. Melt butter in large fry pan. Add green beans. Sprinkle with the 1/2 package of seasoning mix and stir well while sauteing.

Quick Stovetop Vegetables

1 can cut corn
2 cans diced tomatoes and green chiles (you may want to just use diced tomatoes for kids)
1 can black beans
1 10 oz. pkg. frozen okra (not breaded)
Adobo or garlic salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients except cheese and heat in a saucepan until bubbly. Serve topped with shredded cheese.

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

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.
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 in marinades that require large quantities of soy sauce.
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.
Edamame are soy beans salted and boiled in the pod. They are a popular Japanese snack that is sold frozen. If your local grocer, health food store, or oriental food store sells them, definitely give them a try. They are very popular with children since they are a finger food and kids like popping the beans from the pod into their mouths. If you can't find them, serve Snow Peas with dip.

Pork Fried Rice

Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
frozen peas and carrots, thawed
corn if you like it
1/2 lb. sliced raw pork (from chops or country style ribs, whatever is the cheapest cut of white pork)
soy sauce or tamari
salt
pepper

Cook calrose rice according to directions. Heat some oil in wok or deep fry pan (I use about a tablespoon) and cook pork until done. Remove pork from pan and scramble one egg in any remaining oil. Remove egg and add some more oil (I add about 3 tbsp) to the pan, heating. Add chopped onion, some thawed peas & carrots (and corn if you like), and anything else you like in your rice. When the onions are tender, add the rice and add soy sauce to taste and stir with a big flat wooden spoon or large cooking chopsticks, if you have them (mine are about 18" long). Add the cooked egg and pork near the end of the cooking time and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the rice is heated through and a bit crispy, it is ready to serve.

Edamame

Boil 1 bag of frozen edamame in salted water until they float. Drain in a colander, rinse with cold water, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Serve at room temperature by holding the pod to your mouth and squeezing until the beans pop into your mouth. Discard the pod.

Peach Halves

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