Basic Weekly Menu Plan

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Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Tonight brown enough ground beef (5 lbs.) and onions (1 bag) to replenish your freezer supply. If you still have plenty in your freezer you can remove these items from your grocery list. Use the amount called for in tonight's recipe then freeze the rest.
   
2. If you like spicy foods, add the optional green chiles to the Cheeseburger Pie. If the kids prefer milder tasting food, sprinkle them only on half of the casserole.
3. Make a large salad for tonight and save half for Thursday. Add cheese and any other crunchies just before serving each night.
   
   

Easy Cheeseburger Pie

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 1 can diced green chiles (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup Bisquick® mix
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Cook beef and onion until beef is brown; drain. Spread in pie plate; sprinkle with salt, chiles, and cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate. Bake about 25 minutes or until bubbly.

 

 Cottage Cheese and Pineapple Chunks

 

Salad

 

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. This chicken recipe is adapted from my grandmother's and it is my favorite! You will need to toast the almonds yourself. I use my toaster oven and toast them on the broiler pan. Watch carefully so they don't burn.
   
   
   
   

 Chicken Tetrazzini

• 8 oz. linguine, cooked
• 2 cups chicken (from freezer)
• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 6 Tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. celery seed (optional)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream (may be labeled whipping cream or table cream)
• 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup skinned almonds, toasted (I usually add more)
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 Tbsp. Sherry (substitute broth if necessary)

In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until blended then stir constantly over heat for one minute. Add cream gradually, stirring constantly. When smooth, add broth and water. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes until slightly thick. Add mushrooms, almonds, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, celery seed, parsley, and sherry. Alternate layers of cooked noodles, chicken, and sauce. Cook at 375°F until it bubbles. Does not freeze well.

 

 Brussels Sprouts

• 2 pints fresh Brussels Sprouts* or 1 package frozen Brussels Sprouts
• 1/2 cup chopped onions, sauteed (from freezer)
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup sour cream

Steam sprouts until tender, or cook according to package directions. Combine thawed onions with juices, flour, brown sugar, and mustard in a saucepan, mixing well. Gradually add milk while heating, stirring constantly. Bring mixture to a boil; simmer for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and add sour cream; heat thoroughly. Pour Brussels Sprouts into a serving dish and cover with cream sauce.

Adapted from a recipe on a bag of Pictsweet Brussels Sprouts

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. The Macaroni and Cheese can be prepared 1-2 days in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.
2. If you have leftover ham in your freezer and want to use that instead of baking another ham, feel free to thaw your cooked, cubed ham and add it to your Macaroni and Cheese. You can even add the peas directly to your casserole dish and bake as a one-dish meal.

 Baked Ham

• 5 lb. ham, preferably smoked butt or shoulder

Place ham in slow cooker and cook 8-10 hours on low. Slice tonight's portion before serving. Shred or chop leftovers and freeze in 1-2 cup portions.

 

 Sweet Peas

 Macaroni and Cheese

• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (optional)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2-1/2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups (8 oz) shredded American or Cheddar cheese, divided
• 8 oz Mueller's Elbows (about 2 cups), cooked 5 minutes and drained

In medium saucepan combine corn starch, salt, dry mustard and pepper; stir in milk. Add margarine. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in 1-3/4 cups (425 ml) cheese until melted. Add elbows. Pour into greased 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake uncovered in 375°F oven 25 minutes or until lightly browned. This can be prepared ahead of time and kept refrigerated until you are ready to bake. Add 5-7 minutes to the cooking time if cold.

 

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Tonight 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!
   
2. There is a lot of chopping and simmering to do for this recipe, so I recommend making the sauce in the morning then putting together the spaghetti pie in the afternoon.
3. Freeze your leftovers in labeled freezer bags. We will be using some of this sauce next week in our Lasagna, so plan accordingly.
   

 

Bolognese Sauce

• 2 lbs. Hot Italian Sausage
• 2 lbs. ground beef (from freezer)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lg. yellow onion, diced (from freezer)
• 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.

If you didn't restock your ground beef on Monday, brown ground beef, 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. You will use 2-3 cups of the sauce for the Spaghetti Pie and freeze the rest in dated gallon freezer bags. You may want to leave at least one bag in the refrigerator because after you taste it you are going to want to have some as leftovers for lunch or a weekend dinner this week!

 

Spaghetti Pie

• 6 oz. spaghetti, cooked and still warm
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 well beaten egg
• 1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 c. cottage cheese
• 1 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2-3 cups Bolognese sauce

Combine hot cooked spaghetti with butter until butter is melted. Add egg and Parmesan cheese. Place in pie dish and form a "crust" with a well in the center. Spread cottage cheese over spaghetti in pie dish. Cover with Bolognese sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350°F or until bubbly. Cut into slices and serve.

 

Garlic Cheese Toast

• 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.

 

Salad

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday: None

Beef Vegetable 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 pasta, barley, or other starch)
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• other spices, as desired

Combine all ingredients except rice in a slow cooker and simmer for 4-6 hours. Add rice for the last hour of cooking.

 

Sourdough Bread

 

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

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for Jan. 5-9 , 2009 - PDF

Grocery List for Jan. 5-9 , 2009 - TXT (for PDAs or text editing)

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Eating healthy? Find out how to get the meal makeovers, nutrition data and point values for the menus.

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