Basic Weekly Menu Plan

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Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. We are going to be restocking our freezer with black beans tomorrow. We will be using two cups for tomorrow's Black Beans and Rice, two cups for Thursday's Black Bean Salad and freezing the rest. If you already have black beans in your freezer, you can delete the dried beans from your grocery list and skip the preparation steps. See Tuesday's notes if you would like to prepare your beans today for easier prep tomorrow.

 

 Grilled Sausage and Onions on Buns

• 2 lbs. Kielbasa or other sausage
• 2 sweet onions, sliced
• 6 hoagie rolls or sub rolls
• 6 provolone cheese slices (optional)
• 1 jar roasted sweet red peppers
• condiments as you prefer

Grill sausages and onions until sausage is hot and onions are tender and translucent. Split rolls and toast or grill until light brown. Slice sausage into bun-length sections. Make sandwiches by spreading each roll with mayonnaise or mustard if desired. Place a length of sausage, a piece of cheese, onions, and roasted red bell peppers on each roll. Serve warm.

 

  Fried Okra

• 1 bag frozen breaded okra (or two if your family likes it as much as ours)
• oil for pan frying

Heat oil in a deep (2-3") fry pan. Fry okra (do not crowd in pan) until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, salt and serve.

 

 Fruit Salad

Your favorite combination of canned or fresh fruit. I suggest grapes, banana, apple, and pineapple (these are on your grocery list). You can also try it with sweetened yogurt mixed with softened cream cheese.

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. If you did not prepare your black beans yesterday, cook your beans early this morning to make sure you have enough ready for tonight's meal.
   
   
2. We regularly cook a bag of dried beans and freeze the beans in their own juice to use in place of canned beans. Dried beans are easy to cook and can be done in a slow cooker. They are far less expensive than canned beans. If you do not have any beans in your freezer and would like to stock up, use this recipe and feel free to double it if you have enough room in your slow cooker:
   • 1 bag dried beans (black, pinto, kidney, etc.)
   • water

   Rinse beans in a colander and check to be sure there are no stones or other debris. Place beans in a Dutch oven and cover with water so that the water is twice as deep as the beans. Overnight soak: Leave beans in water overnight. Quick soak: Heat to boiling and boil for 2 minutes. Turn heat off and cover, let sit for 1 hour.

   Drain beans in colander and rinse pot. Place beans in slow cooker and cover with water, making sure the water is twice as deep as the beans. Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8-10 hours.

   Drain beans, reserving liquid (place colander on a large pan or bowl then pour beans in). Separate beans into 2 cup servings in freezer bags. Cover beans in each bag with some of reserved liquid.

3. This would be a good night to replenish your freezer stock of green peppers and sauteed onions. I have included a bag of onions and extra green peppers to the grocery list. If you already have plenty in your freezer, just delete these items from the list.
   
   
   

  Black Beans and Rice

• 1 onion, sauteed (from freezer)
• 1 green bell pepper, sauteed (from freezer)
• 2 cups black beans* (from freezer) or 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup salsa
• salt and pepper
• white* or brown rice (enough for your family)

Combine all ingredients except rice in a skillet. Cover and let simmer while preparing rice. Add water if necessary. Serve beans over rice when rice is ready.

Steamed Broccoli

 

 

Fresh Peach Halves

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. You can double the quiche recipe and freeze a batch in a dated freezer bag if you wish.
   
   
2. We will make a double recipe of biscuits and individually freeze half for later use.
   
   

  Crustless quiche

• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 stick melted butter
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients and pour into a well-greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350°F and cook for 30-40 more minutes.

 

 Sausage Patties or Links

I like the Brown and Serve kind because I know they are cooked all the way through so I don't have to cremate them to be sure they are done.

 

 Buttermilk Biscuits

 

• 4 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cups buttermilk

Combine flour and butter, cutting with a fork. Stir in buttermilk. Add more flour if too wet, more buttermilk if too dry. When dough is rolling consistency, knead a few times and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter or upside down glass. Bake half of the biscuits on cookie sheet at 475°F until brown. Place the other half of the biscuits on a cookie sheet or other flat pan and put in the freezer until frozen. Before going to bed or early the next morning, bag the biscuits in a dated freezer bag for later use. Follow the same cooking instructions. If cooking thawed biscuits, follow normal cooking instructions. To cook frozen biscuits, extend cooking time. Serve hot biscuits with butter and jelly.

 

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Make the black bean salad ahead of time so it can chill.
   
   
2. Make a large enough salad to save half for Friday night, adding your "crunchie" items each night just before serving to avoid having a soggy leftover salad.

 

 Chicken Cheese Quesadillas

• 1-1/2 cups cooked chicken (from freezer)
• 8 whole wheat tortillas
• 2 cups Mexican blend cheese
• 1 can chopped green chiles (opt.)
• olive oil spray
• salsa
• sour cream

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray one side of 4 tortillas with olive oil spray. Lay the tortillas oiled side down on a cookie sheet (you may need to use two sheets or do two batches). Spread chicken and cheese evenly over tortillas. For extra flavor and heat, add a can of chopped green chiles for those who like spicy food. Top with the remaining 4 tortillas and spray the tops with olive oil spray.

Bake until tortillas are crisp and cheese is melted. Remove from oven and slice into triangles with a pizza cutter. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

 

 

Black Bean Salad

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 cups black beans (from freezer*, thawed & rinsed, or from last night if you prepared beans for the freezer as mentioned in last night's notes, or 1 can, rinsed)
• 1 cup cut corn, drained
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 2 Tbsp. dried parsley

Combine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and sugar. Mix well and combine with remaining ingredients. Toss before serving.

Salad

 

 

Oranges or Clementines

 

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. The crockpot lasagna cooks in about 4-5 hours. If you work during the day, that may be inconvenient since you cannot put it on before leaving for work. In that case, you may wish to prepare the lasagna in a 9x13 pan and refrigerate it until you get home or until someone can start baking it in the oven (about 45-55 min. at 350°F) in the afternoon.
   
   
   
   

Crockpot Lasagna

• 1 28-oz. jar of spaghetti sauce
• 1 package frozen cheese ravioli (about 24-oz.)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Spread 1 cup sauce on the bottom and layer with half of the ravioli. Sprinkle with half of the cheese and another cup of sauce. Layer the remaining ravioli and top with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake on low for 3-5 hours, depending on how hot your crockpot cooks.

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.

 

Leftover Salad

 

 

* 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 February 9-13, 2009 - PDF

Grocery List for February 9-13 , 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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