Printer-friendly Weekly Menu Plan | Recipes | Grocery List | June 12-16, 2006

Mix oil, lemon juice and dill in a marinating container and add fillets or steaks. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours, turning every hour. Grill or broil at medium heat, turning. Cook until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with melted butter.

Herbed Rice

3 T. olive oil
1 medium onion chopped (from freezer)
1 clove garlic minced
1 green pepper chopped, seeded
1 c. long grain rice (or brown rice* for healthier version)
2 c. chicken broth (if you are using brown rice add extra water)
herbs of your choice (basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.)

Thaw onion. Saute garlic and green pepper in oil until transparent. Add rice and brown until lightly browned. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to pan. Cover and cook 20-25 minutes (longer - closer to 45 minutes - for brown rice).

Green Beans

The secret to good green beans is cook even pre-cooked canned green beans for several hours. I like to put a couple of large cans of beans* in my slow cooker with about a half stick of butter and cook them for several hours on low, salting as needed. For a healthier version, steam fresh green beans that have been washed and snapped until they are tender-crisp, then saute them in a tsp. of butter with or without spices.

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

You should have pre-formed meatballs in your freezer to use tonight. If you don't, you may use a bag of meatballs from your grocer or use the recipe here.

Swedish Meatballs

bag of egg noodles
raw meatballs (from freezer)
vegetable oil for frying
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. beef broth
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. (1/2 pt.) dairy sour cream, room temperature

Start noodles cooking. Fry meatballs in oil until done and drain on paper towels. Combine remaining ingredients for sour cream sauce. Fold meatballs into sour cream sauce. Drain noodles when cooked and serve meatballs on cooked noodles.

Egg Noodles

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups 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 or upside down glass. Bake half of the biscuits on cookie sheet at 475° until brown. Place the other half of the biscuits on a cookie sheet or other flat pan and put in the freezer until frozen. Before going to bed or early the next morning, bag the biscuits in a dated freezer bag for later use. If cooking thawed biscuits, follow normal cooking instructions. To cook frozen biscuits, extend cooking time. Serve hot biscuits with butter and jelly.

Peas and Carrots

Cook a bag of frozen peas and carrots with a pat of butter and a tsp. of sugar until heated through.

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

Make a large salad tonight and save half for Friday. Add croutons, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, and any other "crunchies" - as well as the salad dressing - just before serving each night.
Tonight's chicken dish is served over puff pastry shells. If you can't find them (they are located near the frozen pie crust at the grocer), serve over another bread of your choice. English Muffins or biscuits would be fine, but truly the puff pastry shells are what make this dish so wonderful.

Cheddary Chicken and Broccoli

1 package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells, baked (we will use 6)
2 jars chicken gravy
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups cooked chicken (from freezer)
2 cups frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a saucepan, combine gravy, lemon juice, broccoli, and chicken. Heat, stirring frequently. Serve in pastry shells with cheese sprinkled on top.

Salad

Sliced Bananas and Strawberries

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday: none

Easy Beef and Pasta Supper

1 lb. ground beef, browned (from freezer)
1 onion, chopped and sauteed (from freezer)
1 28 oz. jar pasta sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
16 oz. Mueller's Ready Cut pasta (large elbows), cooked and drained
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese

Combine first five ingredients over medium heat and heat until simmering. Add pasta and stir. Sprinkle with cheese before serving.

Pan-fried Asparagus

Recipe is here. I recommend doubling the asparagus as 1/2 lb. is not very much asparagus. You probably do not need to double the other ingredients.

Garlic Bread

Grapes

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

Use grilled chicken from the freezer for tonight's yummy Alfredo pizza. If you don't have any grilled chicken, you can grill some with this recipe or buy some "short cuts" grilled chicken in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
I recommend making a double (or triple) pizza dough recipe in your bread machine or large mixer and freezing the extra dough for an easy lunch or dinner another day. The Urban Homemaker has a double pizza dough recipe that is very good. It has variations for garlic, herbed, or seeded dough.
If you are using a bread machine to make dough, time it so that it is ready just before you want to cook the pizza. If you are using a frozen pizza dough, be sure to allow enough time for it to thaw. I like to thaw it for several hours in the refrigerator.

Alfredo Pizza

Your favorite pizza dough recipe (see notes above)
1 jar (1 lb.) of alfredo sauce
1 cup grilled chicken (from freezer), chopped or shredded
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mushrooms

Make pizza dough according to recipe and roll out on a pizza stone or pan. Layer remaining ingredients in order given. Cook at 400° until brown and bubbly.

Leftover Salad

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