Printer-friendly Weekly Menu Plan | Recipes | Grocery List | June 19-23, 2006

Start your roast in the morning. If it is hot where you live, consider putting your slow cooker outside to avoid heating up the house.
Save 3 cups of meat from tonight's roast for Wednesday's burritos.

French Dip Sandwiches

3-4 lb. roast
2 tbsp. yellow mustard
1 package onion soup mix
French rolls

Place meat in slow cooker, cover with mustard and sprinkle with onion soup mix. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours (depending on how hot your slow cooker cooks). When fully cooked, carve into thick slices or shred. Strain broth and skim fat if desired. Serve meat on French rolls with juice in small bowls or saucers for dipping.

Creamed Spinach

Recipe is here.

Corn on the Cob

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

We are going to save 2-3 pieces of chicken from tonight's meal for Thursday's pita pockets. I recommend chilling the breasts whole then slicing them when cold for the pitas as they slice easier that way.
Make a large salad tonight and save half for tomorrow. Add croutons, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, and any other "crunchies" - as well as the salad dressing - just before serving each night.
If you don't have any black beans in the freezer, rinse and sort a bag of beans tonight and set them to soak so they will be ready to cook tomorrow morning.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

3 lb. boneless chicken breasts
1 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper
Salt to taste
1 clove garlic or 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup melted butter

Combine bread crumbs, cheese, oregano, pepper, and salt; set aside. Lightly saute garlic in 2 T. butter then stir in remaining butter. Dip chicken in garlic butter then roll each piece in bread crumb mixture. Place chicken in 9x13 pan and sprinkle with remaining bread crumb mixture. Pour on remaining butter. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes.

Italian Green Beans

1 lb. fresh green beans
1 Tbsp. 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.

Salad

Rolls

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

Use 3 cups of the leftover meat from Monday's French Dip roast for tonight's burritos. If you haven't already done so, shred the meat by hand or in a food processor. On the stovetop, cook the shredded meat with taco seasoning according to the package directions.
If you are making a pot of black beans, drain and rinse them (they should have been soaking overnight) and cook them all day on low. Reserve 3 cups for tonight's burritos and freeze the rest with the juice in 2 cup servings.
Depending on your family size, you may wish to use half of the fillings to make 6 burritos tonight and the other 6 to make a pan of enchiladas to freeze. To make enchiladas, spread the tortillas with the beans and beef as directed below, then sprinkle with cheese. Roll up tortillas and pour red or green enchilada sauce (not on grocery list) over enchiladas in pan. Cover with heavy duty foil and freeze. To bake, cook at 400° for 45-60 minutes or until heated through, uncovering for the last 10 minutes. You may sprinkle extra cheese on top for the last 10 minutes if you wish.

Black Bean and Beef Burritos

3 cups seasoned shredded beef (see notes above)
3 cups seasoned black beans (see below)
shredded cheddar cheese
12 large flour tortillas (preferably whole wheat for health)
Shredded lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Sour cream

Heat beef and bean fillings in the microwave until evenly hot. Steam or microwave tortillas until warm so they won't crack when filling and rolling. Spread 1/4 cup each of the seasoned black beans and beef on each tortilla. Add shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes. Roll each tortilla up and serve.

Seasoned Black Beans

3 cups black beans, thawed and mashed
Adobo seasoning to taste
Cumin to taste

Mix all together until well blended.

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Cook fresh or frozen broccoli as you prefer (boiled or steamed). Top with cheese sauce.

Cheese Sauce

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
4 oz. Velveeta cheese

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. After milk is blended, cook several minutes until slightly thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Serve on top of vegetables.

Salad

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

Tonight we are using leftover chicken from Tuesday's chicken Parmesan. If you didn't make this, you can use either chicken from the freezer (thawed) or buy some precooked chicken strips from the refrigerated meat section of the grocer.
We will being slicing some fresh vegetables for tonight's pitas so we are going to go ahead and chop extra for tomorrow night's pizza toppings.

Chicken Pita Pockets

Pita bread (preferably whole wheat for health)
sliced chicken from Tuesday (approx. 1 lb. or 2-3 pieces)
sliced red or green bell pepper
sliced red onions
sliced mushrooms
shredded lettuce
chopped tomatoes
sandwich peppers or relish
mayonnaise or other condiments as preferred

If your pitas are not ready to stuff, prepare them by cutting a sliver off of the widest side. I find that they stuff without cracking if I steam them or heat them in the microwave briefly to soften them. Prepare each pita as preferred using any combination of the above fillings.

Cole Slaw

1 bag prepared cabbage slaw, or homemade shreds
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. sugar or sugar substitute

Combine last 3 ingredients and refrigerate covered until ready to use. Mix with shredded slaw vegetables just before serving.

Apples and Grapes

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

Use the chopped vegetables from last night to top your pizza, adding any others that you like. I recommend reserving a few of the vegetables to throw into your salad.
I recommend periodically 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.

Vegetarian Pizza

Your favorite pizza dough recipe (see notes above)
28 oz. can spaghetti sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
chopped vegetables of your choice

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.

Salad

Fruit of Your Choice

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