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Monday - Recipes
- Spaghetti with Meatballs
- Cucumber and Tomato Salad
- Italian Bread
Tuesday - Recipes
- Poppy Seed Chicken
- Lemon Parmesan Broccoli
- Apple, Grape and Walnut Salad
Wednesday - Recipes
- Enchiladas
- Spanish Rice
- Fried Ice Cream
Thursday - Recipes
- Baked Ziti
- Buttered Corn
- Apple Slices
Friday - Recipes
- Baked Potato Bar
- Salad
- Smoothies
Grocery List
This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:
Grocery List for August 27 - 31, 2007 - PDF
Shopping List Software format (download shopping list free Windows software)
Before using Menus4Moms for the first time, please browse the Menu Plan Basics (links are to the left).
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Monday Recipes
Notes for Monday:
- Today's Cucumber and Tomato Salad can be made fresh in the morning.
- We are going to use the leftover sauce from tonight's spaghetti on Thursday with our Baked Ziti.
- The spaghetti sauce can be made early and simmered on the stove or in the slow cooker for 2-3 hours.
Spaghetti
- 2 (28-oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
- 2-3 Tbsp. Italian seasoning, to taste
- Garlic salt, to taste
- 1/4 cup red cooking wine, optional
- 1 lb. ground beef, cooked (from freezer)
- 2 4-oz. cans mushrooms, drained, or 1 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms, sauteed in butter*
- Spaghetti, cooked according to directions
- Parmesan cheese
Combine all ingredients except pasta and simmer for 2-3 hours. Serve over pasta with Parmesan cheese. Save leftover sauce for Baked Ziti on Thursday.
Cucumber and Tomato Salad
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 ripe tomatoes, minced
- 1-2 cucumbers, minced
- 1 lg. red pepper, minced
- 1 lg. red onion , minced
- basil, oregano, tarragon, and parsley (fresh if available, dried if necessary) to taste
- Lots of fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 squeeze lemon
Stir in olive oil - enough to "coat" everything. Serve chilled.
Italian Bread
Tuesday Recipes
Notes for Tuesday:
- Save some broccoli aside when cooking tonight for the Baked Potato Bar on Friday.
Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole
- 2 cups cooked chicken (from freezer)
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 sleeve round buttery crackers
- 1 Tbsp. poppy seed
- 1 sleeve round buttery crackers
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
- poppy seed for garnish
Combine chicken, soups, sour cream, 1 sleeve crackers, and 1 Tbsp. poppy seed in a large bowl. Mix well and transfer to a greased casserole dish. Mix together remaining crackers and melted butter and sprinkle on top. Garnish with poppy seed. Bake at 325° for 25 minutes.
Lemon Parmesan Broccoli
- Family pack (32 oz.) frozen broccoli
- lemon juice
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Steam or boil broccoli according to instructions. Drain. Set aside a small amount for the Baked Potato bar on Friday. Place the broccoli you will eat tonight in a serving bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (or more to taste). Toss to distribute evenly and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve warm.
Apple, Grape, and Walnut Salad
- 3 sliced and cored Granny Smith apples
- 1 bunch red grapes, pulled from the stems
- chopped walnuts
- 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).
Wednesday Recipes
Notes for Wednesday:
- Instead of sauteing one onion for these enchiladas, 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.
Chicken Enchiladas
- 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from freezer)
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can chicken broth
- 8 oz. sour cream
- 1 onion, chopped & sauteed
- 1 bell pepper, chopped & sauteed
- cilantro
- cumin
- Adobo or garlic salt
- 6 whole wheat flour tortillas (if you can't find them, get regular ones)
- 2 cups Mexican blend cheese
Combine soup, 3/4 can chicken broth, and sour cream. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture. To the remaining mixture, add chicken, onion, pepper, and spices to taste. Add 1 cup of the cheese.
Place 2-3 T. of mixture onto each tortilla, roll up, and place the tortillas in a 9x12 pan. Add the remaining chicken broth to the reserved soup mixture and pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over enchiladas. Cook at 350° until bubbly.
Spanish Rice
- 3 T. olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 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)
- 2 T. tomato paste
- 1/2 t. cumin
Saute onion, 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).
Fried Ice Cream
- 1 sheet of pie pastry from the refrigerator section
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 qt. ice cream (preferably vanilla)
- oil for deep frying
- 2/3 cup honey
In a large, ungreased baking dish, place the unrolled pie pastry flat on the bottom. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the pastry. Prick whole surface with fork and bake at 400°F for 10 - 12 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned. cool on a wire rack for 5 - 10 minutes.
In a large, resealable plastic bag, place the cooked pastry and coarsely crush. Transfer "crumbs" to a shallow bowl. Using a small ice cream scoop, form about 8 scoops of ice cream and roll each scoop in the pastry "crumbs". cover and freeze for 2 hours or until firm.
In an electric skillet or deep-fryer, heat oil to 375° F. Fry frozen ice cream balls for 8-10 seconds on until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Place immediately into chilled bowls and drizzle with honey. Serve.
Thursday Recipes
Notes for Thursday:
- This Baked Ziti recipe was recently shared on the Menus4Moms Yahoo group compliments of group member, Kelli Cole. Thanks, Kelli! I have copied the recipe as Kelli posted it along with her notes**.
- Please note one change from Kelli's recipe...if you made the spaghetti sauce on Monday, omit the ground beef and Prego from the recipe here and instead use the spaghetti sauce that we made on Monday night.Your grocery list WILL NOT have the ground beef and Prego for this recipe.
Baked Ziti
- 12 oz. uncooked ziti (or small tube pasta)
- 2 lb. cooked ground beef (from freezer)
- 28 oz jar of Prego with meat
- 2 eggs
- 15 oz Ricotta
- 2 1/2 C Mozzarella, divided
- 1/2 c Parmesan
Kelli's notes:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile brown ground beef, drain,
and stir in Prego. (Instead of the Prego and meat, I use my regular homemade
spaghetti sauce). In a bowl, combine eggs, ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and
the parmesan. Drain pasta and add it to the cheese mixture and stir to coat.
Spoon 1/3 of the meat sauce into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan then top with
1/2 of the pasta and cheese mixture. Repeat layers ending with sauce on top.
Cover and bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining
cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until melted. Let stand 5 minutes or so
before serving.
**This recipe makes a ton so you can either make it and eat leftovers the next
day or two or divide into two or three pans and freeze what you don't want to
make that night before baking. (If you plan to freeze some, cook your noodles
just 2 or 3 minutes less than you normally would.) Then when you want to use
it, just thaw and bake as normal.
**Last week, I made a big batch of crockpot spaghetti sauce. We had spaghetti
that night and then I made two pans of this recipe with the rest of the sauce
(which was one recipe divided into 2 pans for my family of 4) and froze it. I
have done it before and it works great.
Buttered Corn
Apple Slices
Friday Recipes
Notes for Friday: none
Baked Potato Bar
- 6 baking potatoes
- shredded cheddar cheese
- steamed broccoli (from Tuesday; reheat in microwave for about 2 minutes)
- sour cream
- bacon bits
- butter
- any additional toppings your family may like
Spray potatoes with olive oil spray. Coat with coarsely ground salt and pepper. Poke several times with a fork and cook in microwave until centers are hot and tender (start with 6 minutes and go from there). Cut open and mash insides (leave insides in potato). Top with preferred toppings from above or serve plain and let each person top their own from your "toppings bar".
Salad
Smoothies
- 1/2 quart vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup frozen strawberries* (or in-season fresh fruit of your choice)
- 1 banana
- 1 cup orange juice
Combine all ingredients in a blender and serve cold. If you prefer a more slushy effect, add crushed ice (if your blender can handle it). If your blender doesn't have a strong motor, thaw the strawberries before blending.
* Indicates that of the options listed, this item is the one on the grocery list.
