Printer-friendly Weekly Menu Plan | Recipes | Grocery List | May 1-5, 2006

Tonight's salad uses leftover flank steak from Friday night. If you do not have any, try using a package of deli-style roast beef (I like the flavor of the Oscar Mayer).
Start marinating the steak or roast beef early in the day.

Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Mixed salad greens
Sliced bell peppers
Cherry tomatoes
Blue Cheese dressing
Leftover flank steak (from Friday), sliced
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup steak sauce

Mix flank steak or roast beef with Italian dressing and steak sauce in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Layer salad greens, bell peppers, and meat on plates; garnish with cherry tomatoes. Serve with Blue Cheese dressing.

Bread of Your Choice

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 (save one green onion for tomorrow)
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.

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

Calrose rice is not the same as white rice. Look for it with the white rice in your grocery store.

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
Calrose rice

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

Egg Drop Soup

3 cups chicken broth (save the extra cup for Friday's casserole)
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.

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

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.

Hoagies/Subs

2 lbs. of your favorite deli meats (chicken, turkey, ham, roast beef, pastrami, pepperoni, or any combination of them)
bacon or turkey bacon slices
1/2 lb. provolone* or cheddar cheese
relish or salad peppers
condiments of your choice (we like horsey sauce)
lettuce leaves
tomato slices
red onion slices
4-6 hoagie rolls

Arrange all ingredients on a platter and let everyone make their own sub, or you can assemble hoagies and toast them in the broiler (watch carefully!). When I do this, I toast both side of the sandwich with the cheese on top of one side and the bacon on top of the other side. Add lettuce, tomato, and onions when they come out of the oven.

Chips

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.

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

The biscuit recipe is a very easy one to make. If you have never made biscuits, try this one before buying canned biscuits. Do not substitute regular milk for buttermilk; buttermilk is what gives the biscuits their wonderful flavor. If your family likes biscuits, try doubling this recipe and freezing half after you cut the biscuits into shapes but before baking (freeze individually on a cookie sheet then bag after frozen).
Start soaking your beans tonight so they will be ready to cook tomorrow.

Crustless Quiche

5 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 stick melted butter
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients and pour into a well-greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350° and cook for 30-40 more minutes.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine flour and butter, cutting with a fork. Stir in buttermilk. Add more flour if too wet, more buttermilk if too dry. When dough is rolling consistency, knead a few times and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter. Bake on cookie sheet at 475° until brown. Serve with butter and honey or jelly.

Grapes

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

Today is Cinco de Mayo. For more information and resources about Cinco de Mayo, visit TheHomeSchoolMom.
Instead of sauteing one onion for the casserole, we are going to buy a whole bag of onions and chop and saute them, putting all of the extras in freezer baggies and freezing them. Next time you need an onion sauteed for a recipe, it is so easy to just thaw a bag instead of chopping and sauteing, dirtying up all those dishes again.
Today we are making refried black beans from dried beans. Start the beans the night before so you have plenty of time to finish them before dinner. They are quite easy. When done, you will have several baggies of beans to freeze. Each baggie of beans is approximately equal to one can of beans in recipes.

Cinco de Mayo Casserole

3 cups chicken, cooked (from freezer)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp. salt
1 bag tortilla chips
1 onion, chopped and sauted (do a whole bag & freeze all but 1 cup)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Combine chicken broth, soups, Rotel, and salt. In a 3 qt. casserole dish, place tortilla chips, chicken, soup mixture, onions, and cheese (in this order). Bake for 45 minutes at 350°.

Refried Beans

1 bag black turtle beans (kidney,pinto, or red beans also work)
cumin
Adobo or garlic salt
olive oil
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Rinse beans in a colander and check to be sure there are no stones or other debris. Place beans in a dutch oven and cover with water so that the water is twice as deep as the beans. Let sit overnight. Drain beans in colander and rinse pot. Place beans in slow cooker and cover with water, making sure the water is twice as deep as the beans. Cook on Hi for 5 hours or Low for 8-10 hours.

Drain beans, reserving liquid (place colander on a lg. pan or bowl then pour beans in). Separate beans into 2 cup servings in freezer bags, reserving 4 cups of beans for tonight's meal. Cover beans in each bag with some of reserved liquid.

Mash 4 cups of beans, adding enough liquid to make beans mushy and soft. Heat 2 T. olive oil in a fry pan and add mashed beans and spices to taste. Stir until hot and bubbly. Heat enchilada sauce in a sauce pan and serve beans topped with enchilada sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.

Peach Burritos

2 lg peaches, thinly sliced
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
2 Tbsp butter
cinnamon (to taste)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
whipped cream for garnish

Steam tortillas or heat for 10-15 seconds in microwave to soften. Place 1/2 sliced peach down the center of each tortilla. Melt butter in a skillet. Fold up tortillas burrito-style (bottom first, then each side) and cook gently for 4-5 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. Remove from pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Add whipped cream for garnish, if desired.

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