You are here: Home / Weekly Menu / Archive / August 11-15, 2008
Monday
- Fajitas
- Corn
- Spanish Rice
Tuesday
- Roast Pork Loin
- Lorita's Corn Squash Saute
- Cottage Cheese and Pineapple
Wednesday
- Grilled Hamburgers
- Potato Salad
- Watermelon
Thursday
- Chicken Packets
- Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Friday
- Quick Pork Lo Mein
- Fortune Cookies
Monday Recipes
Notes for Monday:
- Tonight we are using the leftover meat and vegetables from last Friday's beef kabobs to make fajitas. Reheat the beef and vegetables in a little olive oil on the stovetop or in the microwave. If you did not make extra meat last week, you will need to add beef, bell peppers and onions to your shopping list. You may want to look at last Friday's menu for the marinade instructions.
Fajitas
- leftover meat and vegetables
- whole wheat tortillas (store bought or homemade*)
- sour cream
- shredded lettuce
- cheddar cheese
- salsa
- guacamole (optional)
Serve heated meat and vegetables with tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa. Each person assembles their own fajitas by putting meat/vegetable mixture and topping with their choice of condiments, rolling up the tortilla and eating by hand. Be careful not to overload the tortilla.
Homemade Tortillas
- 4 cups flour
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups water
Mix all ingredients. Form into golf ball size balls. Roll out flat into a circle. Cook on each side in a dry non-stick pan until starting to brown. DO NOT OVERCOOK. The tortillas cook quickly and it is easy to burn them if you turn away.
Corn
Spanish Rice
- 1 chopped onion, sauteed (from freezer)
- black pepper
- chili powder
- cumin
- Adobo seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
- Olive oil
- 1 can (15 oz.) chicken broth
- 1 cup water
Saute onion in olive oil in a Dutch oven until tender; remove from pan. Add 2 T. olive oil to pan and brown the uncooked rice. Do not burn! Add chicken broth and water (this will sizzle loudly when the liquid meets the hot oil), add seasonings to taste, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes; do not open. When cooked, add onions and any other warmed items you may have on hand that would be good in rice (corn, salsa, Rotel, etc.). Stir gently and serve.
Tuesday Recipes
Notes for Tuesday:
- Tonight we are preparing for planned leftovers. We will be having Quick Pork Lo Mein on Friday and another pork dish next week. For my family of five, I'll buy about a 4 lb pork roast and it will be enough for all three meals. You may need to adjust the size you buy based on your needs. Cube and save your leftovers in two portions, one for Friday's Quick Pork Lo Mein and the other,
put in the freezer for next week.
- A big thank you goes out to our Yahoo Group member, Lorita from Iowa, for sharing the recipe for the Corn Zucchini Saute. As I'm sure some of you can relate, I have so much zucchini from my garden so I'm always looking for new ways to use them up! Thanks so much, Lorita for this tasty side dish idea.
Roast Pork Loin
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp marjoram
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 (about 4 lbs.) boneless pork loin roast
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together all seasonings; rub over pork. Place in a shallow roasting pan, preferably sitting up on a roasting rack. (If you do not have a roasting rack that fits in your pan, try rolling up pieces of aluminum foil and laying the rolls across the pan like a rack.) Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160° F. Let stand for about 10 minutes before slicing.
Lorita's Corn Zucchini Saute
- 1/4 cup Fat Free Italian dressing
- 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 2 cups sliced zucchini
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
- 1/4 cup canned chopped pimento (optional)
In a large skillet, heat Italian dressing. Add green pepper, zucchini and onion. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add corn and pimento. Continue cooking until mixture is heated through, about 3 minutes, stirring often.
Cottage Cheese with Pineapple
Wednesday Recipes
Notes for Wednesday:
- You can figure about 4 hamburgers per pound of ground beef so buy enough ground beef to feed your family. I'll put 2 pounds on the grocery list. If this amount is more than you need then freeze the extra patties for later use.
- This potato salad recipe has been a family favorite for years. Plan ahead because it needs to chill.
Hamburgers
I usually use 1 lb. of ground beef, an egg, and Adobo seasoning (easily found in the spice section of most grocery stores; substitute garlic salt if you can't find it) to make patties. We are going to increase this mixture to 2 lbs. of ground beef, 2 eggs, and *lots* of Adobo seasoning. You may add some bread crumbs if you wish. Shape patties for tonight's dinner, then take the extra meat and make more hamburger patty shapes for the freezer. Freeze the hamburger patties with wax paper between each layer in a dated freezer bag.
Grill hamburgers and serve on buns with your favorite condiments.
Hamburger Buns
GeGe's Potato Salad
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp butter/margarine
- 3/4 tsp celery seed
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup mayo* or salad dressing
- 7 med potatoes, cooked peeled and diced
- 3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
- paprika
In sauce pan, combine sugar and corn starch. Add next 6 ingredients and
3/4 tsp salt. Cook and stir over low heat until bubbly. Remove from heat.
Add onion and mayo and cool. Combine potatoes and hard cooked eggs. Gently fold in dressing. Chill. Just before serving sprinkle with paprika.
Watermelon
Thursday Recipes
Notes for Thursday:
- Tonight's Chicken Packets are compliments of Heidi who contributed this recipe along with many more on TheHomeSchoolMom in the Kitchen. Thanks, Heidi!
- Today's cucumber and tomato salad can be made fresh in the morning.
Chicken Packets
- Chicken for each person
- Olive oil
- Vinegar
- spices of your choice - chopped garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, etc. (for an excellent marinade, use this recipe)
- 2 small potatoes for each person, chopped
- 1 zucchini for every 2 people, sliced (optional, since our side dish is zucchini)
- 1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tomato for every 2 people, chopped
- 1 small package mushrooms, chopped
- 1 green chili for each person, chopped
- Aluminum foil
Marinate the chicken in the oil, vinegar, and spices all day. Cook potatoes for about 5 minutes in the microwave to soften them. Make a square of foil for each person. Place onions and potatoes on each square and top with desired vegetables. Add chicken on top of it all and pour some of the marinade over all. Make a little foil envelope out of the square of foil and place on the grill for about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. You can also do these in the oven.
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.
Friday Recipes
Notes for Friday:
- Use leftover pork from Tuesday to make this a super speedy meal.
Quick Pork "Lo Mein"
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb. cooked pork roast, cubed (from Tuesday)
- 2-3 (3 oz.) pkg. pork flavored Ramen Noodles
- 1 1/2 cups water (may need more water if you use 3 pkg. of noodles)
- 1 red* or yellow pepper, cut into strips
- 2 cups broccoli florets* or cauliflower, thawed
- 3 med. green onions, chopped
- 2 tsp parsley
- 1 1/4 tbsp soy sauce
Heat oil in skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add pork and stir fry until reheated, about 2 minutes. Break apart Ramen Noodles and add to skillet with water, seasoning packet and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until noodles are soft.
Fortune Cookies
* Indicates that of the options listed, this item is the one on the grocery list.