Printer-friendly menu for February 19-23, 2007

Thaw beef and onion in the microwave. Place in a Dutch oven or large fry pan with sliced mushrooms and melted butter and cook until mushrooms are tender and beef and onions are hot. Stir in flour and next 2 ingredients; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sour cream, and heat thoroughly. Serve over noodles. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

Creamed Spinach

Recipe is here.

Orange Slices

Bread of Your Choice

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

King Cakes are a fun way to celebrate Mardi Gras, which ends the celebration that lasts from Twelfth Night until the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Start your cake early in the day or prepare it on Monday so it can cool and you can frost it. As is mentioned in the recipe comments, a prize is hidden inside the cake. Although the comments say that person brings the cake the next week for ongoing celebrations, I prefer the tradition which gives certain honors to the person who gets the piece with the prize - perhaps they get to choose a game to play or a show to watch, or just avoid chores for the rest of the evening. Find out more about King Cake traditions

Breaded Pork Chops

6 pork chops, trimmed of fat
bread crumbs
2 eggs
oil for browning

Tenderize pork chops with a metal pounder. Beat eggs in a bowl. Put bread crumbs in a container large enough to fit one pork chop in it at a time. Dip each pork chop in the bread crumbs, then the egg, then back into the bread crumbs. Line a 9x13 pan with heavy duty foil and preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a fry pan. Brown the breaded pork chops lightly on each side. Place chops in the foil lined pan and bake covered at 350° for 1 hour, turning halfway through.

Rice

Green Beans

Cooked Apples

5 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup water
1-2 tsp. vanilla
1-2 tsp. sugar

Wash, peel, core, and slice apples. Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer, stirring occasionally until apples are tender. You may need to add more water if it cooks down. You may either serve these hot as slices or mash them up and serve them as hot or cold applesauce.

Mardi Gras King Cake

Recipe provided by:
Allrecipes.com
Submitted by Jo

Photo by Allrecipes.com

"The King Cake is a New Orleans tradition that involves a pastry, a small plastic baby, and a party. The King Cake is baked with a small plastic baby hidden inside, the person who gets the slice with baby in it has to host the next party. Make sure to buy a new small plastic baby so you can get the full effect from this cake! Sprinkle with purple, green and gold sugar, or decorate with whole pecans and candied cherries. Note: Be sure to tell everyone to inspect their piece of cake before they begin eating it. To be extra careful, use a plastic toy baby that is too large to swallow, or hide an orange wedge or 3-4 pecan halves inside the cake (avoid items that may hurt someone's teeth) and then simply place the honorable toy baby outside on the top of the cake for all to see and adore!"

PASTRY:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup melted butter

FROSTING:

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon water

MISC:

Green, gold, and purple sprinkles (The Mardi Gras colors are purple, green and gold. Purple is symbolic of justice, green of faith, and gold of power.)

Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.

Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

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Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

You may add 1 lb. of sliced and browned Kielbasa to the pasta dish if you prefer.

Primavera Pasta Pie

8 ounces spaghetti, cooked
3 eggs, beaten, separated
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese plus 3 Tbsp., separated
3 Tbsp. butter, separated
2 cups broccoli florets
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
Italian seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
1/2 cup half and half

Combine warm cooked spaghetti, 1 beaten egg, 1 Tbsp. butter, and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Mix well and place as a crust into a greased casserole dish (slightly smaller than 9x12 but larger than 9x9). In a large fry pan, melt 2 Tbsp. butter. When melted, add broccoli, onion, and red bell pepper. Season with Italian seasoning and salt. Cook until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Turn vegetable mixture into pan with spaghetti crust. Sprinkle with remaining 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese. Mix remaining 2 beaten eggs and 1/2 cup half and half; pour over casserole. Cook at 350° for 25 minutes or until light brown and bubbly.

Salad

Pineapple over Cottage Cheese

Dinner Rolls

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

Although I don't usually list commercially prepared dishes on the menus, I loved Rice-A-Roni when I was growing up and so did my husband. I made some with this chicken dish and he was so happy that I thought I would put it on the menu.

Chicken Divan

4 cups chicken, cut up (from freezer)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 16 oz. pkg. frozen chopped broccoli, cooked
1 small bag Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

Heat soup and cheese until melted. Remove from heat. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, and curry. Mix well. In a 9x12 casserole dish layer all of broccoli, then all of chicken, then all of soup and cheese mixture. Cover with stuffing mix. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Rice-A-Roni

Italian Salad

Variety lettuce mix
Small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Croutons
Pepperocini peppers
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil

Combine all ingredients except oil and vinegar. Cover salad with a liberal amount balsamic vinegar and 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil. Add more of either to taste.

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

Margherita Pizza was first created for Queen Margherita of Italy in 1889 by Raffaele Esposito and is made so that it reflects the colors of the Italian flag.
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.

Margherita Pizza

Prepared pizza crust
28 oz. spaghetti sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2-3 small tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup pesto or chopped fresh basil*
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

Thinly slice 2-3 small tomatoes and layer them on a baked pizza crust that has been spread with pizza/spaghetti sauce and sprinkled with both cheeses. Drizzle with 1/4 cup pesto (or sprinkle with fresh chopped basil leaves) and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

Raw Vegetables and Dip

Piña Colada-flavored Smoothies

32 oz. vanilla yogurt
1 small can cream of coconut (not coconut milk)
15 oz. pineapple chunks, drained
1-2 cups ice
Maraschino cherries, for garnish

Combine all ingredients except cherries and blend until smooth. Serve topped with a cherry. Makes 6 smoothies.

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

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