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Premium Subscriptions
Monday
- Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce
- Salad
- Garlic Cheese Bread
Tuesday
- Grilled Fish
- Steamed Broccoli
- Fruit of Your Choice
Wednesday
- Bacon-Feta Stuffed Chicken
- Asparagus
- Salad
Thursday
- Fried Rice
- Egg Drop Soup
- Asian Slaw
Friday
- Vegetable (Beef) Soup
- Crusty Bread
- Apple Grape and Walnut Salad
Grocery List
This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:
Grocery List for October 22-26, 2007 - PDF
Grocery List for October 22-26, 2007 - TXT (for PDAs or text editing)
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Monday Recipes
Notes for Monday:
- Today we are making a big batch of Bolognese meat sauce for the freezer. This recipe makes a lot of sauce and is absolutely delicious. If you have never made spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage, I encourage you to give this recipe a try before substituting your own recipe. You won't be sorry!
- There is a lot of chopping and simmering to do for this recipe, so I recommend making the sauce in the morning. This is an excellent dish to make ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator for a day or two, as the flavors intensify the longer it sits. It also freezes very well.
- Since we will be chopping so many vegetables today, we are going to go ahead and chop and saute some extra bell peppers and onions for the freezer. If you want fresh vegetables in your soup on Friday, go ahead and add extra to your grocery list and chop for Friday.
- To make this week easier, make a big salad tonight with lettuce, bell peppers (I like red for color), carrots, green onions, sunflower seeds, etc. and save half for Wednesday night. Do not add croutons or dressing until it is served each night.
- If you do not have cooked ground beef in your freezer, be sure to add 2 pounds to your shopping list.
Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce
- 2 lbs. Hot Italian Sausage
- 2 lbs. ground beef (from freezer)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lg. yellow onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cans crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 T. dried oregano
- 2 T. dried basil
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cans tomato paste (6 oz. each)
- 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Remove sausage from casing (the rubbery-looking skin on the link). Place in pan with 1/4 cup water and crumble with spoon while browning. When cooked, drain in colander and rinse with very hot water (this washes the extra grease off); set aside.
Thaw and reheat ground beef from freezer, drain, rinse as above, and set aside.
Heat olive oil in dutch oven. Saute celery, onion, and pepper until tender. Add sausage, beef, tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer covered for an hour. Add wine, tomato paste, and cinnamon. Simmer covered for 15 minutes. Cool and refrigerate until dinner time. Warm sauce before dinner and serve over whole wheat spaghetti. After dinner, separate the extra sauce into dated freezer bags and freeze for later use. You may want to leave at least one bag in the refrigerator because it is so good you are going to want to have some as leftovers for lunch or a weekend dinner this week!
Salad
Garlic Cheese Bread
- 1 loaf of French bread
- Pam™ olive oil spray
- Italian blend cheese, shredded
- garlic salt or Adobo
Slice bread and lay flat on a cookie sheet. Spray each slice with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with garlic salt or Adobo. Sprinkle with shredded cheese blend. Bake at 350°F until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
Tuesday Recipes
Notes for Tuesday:
- Make sure you have gas or charcoal for your grill, or bake in the oven at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes, checking occasionally to see if it's done.
Grilled Fish
- 2 lbs. bass, crappie, croaker, whiting (sea mullet), or flounder (or other flaky white fish)
- 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 20 minutes. Grill over medium heat until flesh is white and flaky.
Steamed Broccoli
Fruit of Your Choice
Wednesday Recipes
Notes for Wednesday:
- There are no exact measurements in tonight's chicken dish, so use amounts based on what your family likes. If you do not care for feta cheese, substitute Swiss or cheddar.
- Tonight we will make the Asian Slaw for tomorrow to allow time to chill.
Chicken Stuffed with Bacon and Feta
- 6 boneless chicken breasts
- 4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (basil flavored is good in this recipe)
- 1 package bacon, cooked and crumbled, or real bacon bits*
- 14.5 oz can of tomatoes (I like using Del Monte diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic)
- olive oil
Cut a slit (as if to butterfly but do not cut all the way through the ends so it makes a pocket) in each chicken breast. Stuff with crumbled feta cheese and crumbled bacon (the more the better, I think). Use a toothpick to secure the pocket closed. Brown stuffed chicken in olive oil in a fry pan until golden brown, then add a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes and cover, cooking until chicken is thoroughly done, about 15 minutes. Before serving, remove toothpicks.
Asparagus
Salad
Asian Slaw (for tomorrow)
- 2 (3 oz.) packages Ramen noodles, oriental* or beef flavored
- 2 (8.5 oz.) packages cole slaw mix*, or homemade cabbage shreds
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup sunflower kernels
- 1 cup green onions, chopped, optional
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup vinegar (I use white)
Toast almonds by placing sliced almonds and 1 tablespoon butter in a microwave-proof plate. Microwave on high, stirring every minute until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes.
While still in packets, crush Ramen noodles. Open noodle packets and remove flavor packs and reserve for use in the dressing. Place crushed noodles in bottom of a large bowl. Top with cole slaw mix and then sprinkle with toasted almonds, sunflower seeds, and onions.
Mix together contents from flavor packs, sugar, oil, and vinegar. Pour over slaw, but do not stir. Cover and chill 24 hours. Toss well before serving.
Thursday Recipes
Notes for Thursday:
- This is an authentic Japanese fried rice recipe and is delicious. Mary Ann took cooking lessons when she lived in Japan and this is one of the recipes she learned. Calrose rice is not the same as white rice. Look for it with the white rice, or in the ethnic section 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.
- You can eat this vegetarian like the recipe is tonight, or you can add cooked chopped chicken, pork or beef from your freezer if you have it.
- If you did not make the Asian Slaw last night, make it early enough in the day today to allow some time to chill.
Fried Rice
- Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)
- vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 onion, chopped
- frozen peas and carrots, thawed
- corn if you like it
- 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. Scramble one egg in 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 any thawed, cooked meat you may chose to add 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.
Egg Drop Soup
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 green onion with part of green top, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- dash of pepper
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
- frozen wanton sheets (optional)
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.
If you want to add fried wantons to your soup, you can buy frozen wanton sheets (wrappers - not on the grocery list), thaw them and slice them into strips. Deep fry the strips and serve on top of soup. Asian Slaw
- 2 (3 oz.) packages Ramen noodles, oriental* or beef flavored
- 2 (8.5 oz.) packages cole slaw mix*, or homemade cabbage shreds
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup sunflower kernels
- 1 cup green onions, chopped, optional
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup vinegar (I use white)
Toast almonds by placing sliced almonds and 1 tablespoon butter in a microwave-proof plate. Microwave on high, stirring every minute until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes.
While still in packets, crush Ramen noodles. Open noodle packets and remove flavor packs and reserve for use in the dressing. Place crushed noodles in bottom of a large bowl. Top with cole slaw mix and then sprinkle with toasted almonds, sunflower seeds, and onions.
Mix together contents from flavor packs, sugar, oil, and vinegar. Pour over slaw, but do not stir. Cover and chill 24 hours. Toss well before serving.
Friday Recipes
Notes for Friday:
- Today we are going to start some soup in the early afternoon in the slow cooker.
- Although they are not in the ingredients, if you have access to them chopped kohlrabi and turnips would make nice additions to this soup.
- Some of you have been requesting more "meatless" dishes. This soup would be a good recipe to omit the meat and add extra vegetables. You can even change the beef broth listed in the grocery list to a vegetable base to make it completely vegetarian.
Vegetable Beef Soup
- 1 lb. cooked ground or shredded beef (from freezer)
- 1 onion (from freezer)
- 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1 bag mixed* or stew vegetables, or chopped fresh vegetables
- 2 cans vegetable or beef broth*
- 1 cup brown rice* or some kind of pasta
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- other spices, as desired
Combine all ingredients except rice, or pasta in a slow cooker and simmer for 4-6 hours. Add rice or pasta for the last hour of cooking.
Crusty Bread
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).
* Indicates that of the options listed, this item is the one on the grocery list.
