Basic Weekly Menu Plan

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Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. You should have pre-formed meatballs in your freezer to use tonight. If you don't, you may use a bag of meatballs from your grocer or use the recipe here.
   
   

Swedish Meatballs

• bag of egg noodles
• raw meatballs (from freezer)
• vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Dash cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup (1/2 pt) dairy sour cream, room temperature

Start noodles cooking. Fry meatballs in oil until done and drain on paper towels. Combine remaining ingredients for sour cream sauce. Fold meatballs into sour cream sauce. Drain noodles when cooked and serve meatballs on cooked noodles.

 

Egg Noodles

 

 Peas and Carrots

Cook a bag of frozen peas and carrots with a pat of butter and a tsp of sugar until heated through.

 

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. Tonight we are using chicken from your freezer. If you don't have any in your freezer, you will need to add it to your grocery list.
   
   
2. My kids don't like spicy foods, so I mixed everything but the green chiles for the casserole and put half the mix into half of the casserole dish. I added the green chiles, mixed, and added the rest of the mix to the other half of the casserole dish. My husband and I had a spicier version of this delicious dish and the kids never even knew I added chiles because theirs was mild.
   
   
3. For my daughter who hates strong cheese flavor, I left off the cheese on top of her portion.
   
   
4. Make a large spinach salad tonight and save half for tomorrow night. Add "crunchies" and salad dressing just before serving each night.
   
   
   
   
   

 Cheddar Chicken Spaghetti

• 1 package (8 oz) spaghetti, broken in half
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (from freezer)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp diced pimientos (optional)
• 1 can green chiles (optional)
• 1 Tbsp tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the chicken, 1 cup cheese, soup, milk, pimientos, green chiles, tarragon, salt and pepper. Drain spaghetti, add to the chicken mixture and toss to coat.

Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

 

  Green Beans

• 1 lb. fresh green beans
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 packet Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix

Wash green beans and snap ends off. Steam or boil until tender-crisp. Drain. Melt butter in large fry pan. Add green beans. Sprinkle with the 1/2 package of seasoning mix and stir well while sauteing.

Spinach Salad

• Bag baby spinach greens
• sliced mushrooms
• sunflower seeds
• raisins
• croutons
• salad dressing

Wash spinach and place in salad bowl. Top with remaining items and serve with salad dressing of your choice.

 

 

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. For those of you that celebrate Ash Wednesday, just omit the bacon from tonight's soup and I believe tonight's menu should be just fine. If you are eating light, or fasting, you can save any extras for the weekend.
   
   
2. Both the soup and the Apple Crumble recipes came from our friends Chris and Lucy Baldwin years ago and have been family favorites ever since. If you don't like your potato soup thick, you can always add extra milk. This would also be a great recipe to double for weekend leftovers.
   

Baked Potato Soup

• 4 large baking potatoes, baked and cooled
• 2/3 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 cups milk
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 green onions, chopped and divided
• 12 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled, and divided
• 1 1/4 cups (5 oz) cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
• 1 (8 oz) carton sour cream

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, scoop out pulp and set aside. Discard skins. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly. (This will take some time.)

Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, 2 tbsp green onions, 1/2 cup bacon, and 1 cup cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Stir in sour cream. Serve with remaining green onions, bacon and cheese as a garnish.

Crusty Bread

 

Leftover Spinach Salad

 

 

Apple Crumble

• 1 cup baking mix (I use Bisquick)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 can pie-sliced apples, drained or 2 cups sliced apple*
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x8 or 6x10 inch baking dish. Blend first three ingredients in a bowl. Cut margarine into bits and add to mix. Spread 1/3 of oat mixture in bottom of pan. Place apple slices over mixture. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture and cinnamon. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350°F. Serve warm with ice cream.

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Plan on making extra buttermilk biscuits to freeze. Prepare as directed, cut out and then freeze in portions large enough for your family.
   

 

 Chipped Beef Gravy over Buttermilk Biscuits

• 1 small jar Armour dried beef
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 4 tbsp. flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 tsp. beef bouillon granules
• dash hot sauce

Open the jar of dried beef with a bottle opener. Soak the beef in a bowl of water to lessen the saltiness. Drain. Tear or cut the beef into bite-sized pieces and set aside. In a large skillet (enough to hold 5-6 cups), melt butter. Stir in flour over medium heat and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly add milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly. A whisk works best for keeping lumps out of the gravy. When all milk is added, add beef bouillon and hot sauce. Simmer over med. low heat, stirring frequently, until adequately thick to pour over biscuits. Add meat and heat through. Serve over buttermilk biscuits.

 

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. If cooking thawed biscuits, follow normal cooking instructions. To cook frozen biscuits, extend cooking time. Serve hot biscuits with butter and jelly.

 

Scrambled Eggs

 

Sliced Oranges or Clementines

 

 

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. Double the Macaroni and Cheese recipe and freeze the extra one for later use.
   
   
   

Basil Balsamic Tilapia

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Few drops hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil (or 1/8 cup dried)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 lbs tilapia

Whisk together the vinegar, oil, and hot pepper sauce. Stir in the basil. Pour over the fish and marinate about 20-30 minutes, turning once. Broil or grill about 4 minutes on each side, depending on thickness of fish until fish is flaky.

 

 

Baked Asparagus

• 1-2 lbs fresh asparagus or frozen* if your fresh asparagus selection is not very good
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp. soy sauce* or tamari
• Salt and pepper to taste

Line a baking pan with foil for easy clean up. Mix oil and soy sauce and pour onto foil-lined pan. Prepare fresh asparagus by washing and snapping the ends. Gently roll the asparagus in the oil and soy mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (easy on the salt since soy is salty). Roast for 10-15 minutes at 350°F.

 

 

 

 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 degree 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.

Source: Mueller's elbow macaroni box

 

* 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 23-27, 2009 - PDF

Grocery List for February 23-27 , 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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