Weekly Menu Plan

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Know a Good Price When You See One

Make and carry a price book. Track the best prices on products you purchase regularly. This can be done in on paper or in a spreadsheet. This way you'll know a good price when you see it. Stock up when the price is at its lowest.
Val in Chesapeake

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Monday

Chicken Pasta Salad
Bread of Your Choice
Smoothies

Tuesday

Chicken, Ham and Rice Casserole
Steamed Broccoli
Apple Slices

Wednesday

Meatball Calzones
Salad
Strawberry Lemonade

Thursday

Baked Potato Bar
Blackberry Cobbler

Friday

Beef Kabobs
Yellow Rice
Ambrosia Salad

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for August 4-8 , 2008 - PDF

Grocery List for August 4-8 , 2008 - TXT (for PDAs or text editing)

Shopping List Software format (download shopping list free Windows software)

Printer-friendly version

Would you like the nutrition data, point values, and meal makeovers for the current menu?

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Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

This recipe came from my neighbor, Jennifer Stephens, via her friend, Bethany Lyle. Thanks so much to both of you for sharing this "have again" or in my family's case "have over and over again".
This makes a LOT of salad. The Stephens family of five (kids from 6 years to 10 months) usually eats on it for several days.
Keep the lettuce separate and add it in right before eating. If the lettuce sits in the salad for too long it will get soggy.

Chicken Pasta Salad

5 cups chicken (about 3 breasts), cooked and cubed from freezer
2 cups grape halves
2 cups chopped lettuce
12 oz. spiral pasta, cooked and drained
1/2 cucumber, sliced and quartered
3 green onions, diced (optional)

Toss together in a bowl.

Dressing:

1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar (I sometimes use plain white vinegar if that’s all I have)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried chopped onion
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. parsley

Mix all ingredients in a sealable container and shake well. Pour over the salad and mix in.

Bread of Your Choice

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.

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

If you have cooked chicken in the freezer, use some of that along with leftover ham from the freezer. If you do not, buy some chicken and boil it (add to your grocery list). Or you can buy small packets of cooked diced ham in the prepared meat dept. at the store. In case you haven't noticed, I recommend *always* having cooked chicken, ham and beef in your freezer, so if you need to cook chicken for tonight's meal, do enough extra to freeze several portions.
Cook your brown rice in the morning and it will be ready for your assembly in the afternoon. I recommend cooking 3 times the amount you will need and freezing the other 2 portions for later use in casseroles and soups.
If you have enough chicken and ham, double this recipe and freeze one dish before baking. I did not include amounts on the grocery list for doubling this recipe. Be sure to label your frozen dishes with cooking instructions!
Cook enough extra broccoli to use on your Baked Potato Bar on Thursday.

Chicken, Ham, and Rice Casserole

2 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. cubed ham, cooked (from freezer)
2 c. cubed chicken, cooked (from freezer)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 c. buttered bread crumbs

Combine all ingredients except bread crumbs and cheese. Top with bread crumbs then cheese and bake at 350°F for 30 min.

Steamed Broccoli

Apple Slices

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

You can use either 2 cans of crescent rolls, a can of pizza dough, or a recipe of pizza dough for the calzones. If you have a large family, double the pizza dough recipe to make 12 calzones.
There is a recipe for homemade meatballs under the Freezer Meat notes. I have found that the Kirkland Signature Italian-style Meatballs from Costco are better than what I can make at home and just as inexpensive without the mess. Use whichever is best for you.
The lemonade is good for kids to make while you are preparing dinner, and it tastes delicious. They will be very proud of the results.

Meatball Calzones

Dough of your choice (see notes)
Cooked meatballs, 3 per calzone (see notes)
28 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Roll out dough and cut into 6 rectangles, about 5"x7". Place 1 heaping Tbsp. spaghetti sauce on each rectangle. Top with 1 heaping Tbsp. cheese and 3 meatballs. Carefully fold rectangle so that the long side is folded in half and the short sides are touching each other. Seal all around and bake according to the dough instructions. When done, place on plates and top with more sauce and cheese and serve.

Salad

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade

2 cups sugar
Juice from 6 medium lemons, or 2/3 cup lemon juice*
4 cups water
1 bag frozen strawberries, thawed
2 cups ice cubes

Mix sugar and water over heat until it boils. Reduce heat. Stir constantly while mixture boils for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Puree strawberries and ice in a heavy duty blender. Add lemon juice and cooled water/sugar mixture, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Serve immediately.

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday: 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".

Blackberry Cobbler

2 1/2 cups blackberries (fresh or thawed)
1 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
ice cream or whip cream, optional

Mix together blackberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a small bowl. Let stand. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining sugar, flour and milk until blended. Stir in melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 8 inch square pan. Spoon blackberry mixture over batter. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with ice cream or whip cream if desired.

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

We are making extra meat and vegetables tonight so that we can use the leftovers to make fajitas next week, so don't eat your leftover meat and vegetables.

Beef Kabobs over Yellow Rice

4 lbs. beef kabob meat
6 red or green* bell peppers
8 oz. whole mushrooms
4 onions
1 pkg yellow rice, cooked according to directions

Marinade

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. garlic powder
4 Tbsp. olive oil

Mix marinade ingredients. Pour half into a freezer bag with half of the meat; freeze for next week. Pour the other half in a marinating container with the other pound of beef. Marinate for several hours.

Wash vegetables and chop into 2x2 pieces (leave mushrooms whole). Alternate beef and vegetables on kabob skewers and grill until beef is done. Serve one half of kabobs over yellow rice, reserving the other half for fajitas next week.

Ambrosia Salad

1 (29 oz.) can tropical fruit salad, drained
1 banana, sliced
1 (6 oz.) container vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup coconut, shredded

Mix first four ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and serve.

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

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