You are here: Home / Weekly Menu / Archive / April 13-17
Monday
- Chili Mac
- Cornbread
- Fruit Cocktail
Tuesday
- Grilled Chicken
- Creamed Spinach
- Pasta Salad
Wednesday
- Fried Rice
- Egg Drop Soup
Thursday
- 15 Bean Soup
- Raw Veggies and Dip
- Ciabatta Bread
Friday
- Alfredo Chicken Pizza
- Spinach Salad
- Vanilla Yogurt with Sliced Pineapple
Empty Stomach
Never make out your shopping list or do your
shopping on an empty stomach. You always end
up with stuff you don't really need because it
looks good.
Russell
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Monday Recipes
Notes for Monday:
- You can use this chili recipe, or if you prefer, use your favorite recipe.
Chili Mac
- 1 lb. browned ground beef (from freezer)
- 1- 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1 onion, chopped and sauteed (from freezer)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped and sauteed
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 can red kidney beans, drained (you may use cooked dry beans to save money)
- 1 packet chili seasoning
- 1 box elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
Combine all ingredients in a stock pot and simmer for 2-3 hours. Serve over cooked elbow macaroni.
Cornbread
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 can corn, drained
Preheat oven to 425°F. Put half of the olive oil in a 9x9x2 cast iron skillet and preheat in oven without burning oil. Mix all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Pour batter into preheated cast iron skillet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.
Fruit Cocktail
Tuesday Recipes
Notes for Tuesday:
- The longer your chicken marinates before grilling, the better it will be. I recommend preparing the marinade at least 24 hours in advance for the best flavor, but if necessary, start marinating the chicken in the morning for grilling at dinnertime. We will make a large batch of chicken so we have plenty of leftover to use in Alfredo Pizza on Friday (save about 1-1/2 cups) and to freeze for later. Using grilled chicken from your freezer in place of boiled or sauteed chicken gives your casseroles and soups a great flavor, so put your freezer bags of chicken in the freezer and use them in any recipe that calls for chopped cooked chicken
- The Ranch Pasta Salad is compliments of Heidi from TheHomeSchoolMom in the Kitchen. Thanks, Heidi!
- If you can't find whole wheat pasta, use white pasta.
- Make the pasta salad in the morning to give it plenty of time to chill.
Grilled Chicken
- 4 lbs. chicken parts of your choice (I use boneless breasts)
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. basil
- 1 tsp. garlic salt or Adobo
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
Place marinade with chicken in a zipper bag and marinate overnight. Grill chicken until it reaches 160° at the thickest part, or until white all the way through and juices run clear. Serve half of the chicken tonight and save the rest for tomorrow. If you prefer not to grill, you can bake or broil the chicken in the oven.
Creamed Spinach
Recipe is here.
Pasta Salad
- 1 lb. whole wheat pasta shells
- 2 handfuls baby carrots, chopped
- 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/2 package frozen baby peas, thawed
- 1 cup real mayonnaise, more if it seems dry
- 1 package ranch dressing mix
Mix all ingredients. Chill for 1 hour or more.
Notes for Wednesday:
- This is an authentic Japanese fried rice recipe and is delicious. Mary Ann took cooking lessons when she lived in Japan and this is one of the recipes she learned. Calrose rice is not the same as white rice. Look for it with the white rice, or in the ethnic section in your grocery store.
- You may not have heard of tamari. It is a premium soy sauce that has the wonderful rich flavor of soy sauce but does not taste as salty. It can be quite expensive at health food stores, but the Food Lion in my area carries it for $.99/bottle. It is definitely worth trying; it is all we use except in marinades that require large quantities of soy sauce.
- Cook your rice at least an hour before you plan to start your fried rice. It works better if it is still slightly warm when you fry it.
- You can eat this vegetarian like the recipe is tonight, or you can add cooked chopped chicken, pork or beef from your freezer if you have it.
- If you are going to use the overnight soak method for your beans for tomorrow's soup, make sure to put your beans in to soak tonight.
Fried Rice
- Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)
- vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 onion, chopped
- frozen peas and carrots, thawed
- corn if you like it
- soy sauce or tamari
- salt
- pepper
Cook calrose rice according to directions. Heat some oil in wok or deep fry pan (I use about a tablespoon) and cook pork until done. Scramble one egg in oil. Remove egg and add some more oil (I add about 3 tbsp) to the pan, heating. Add chopped onion, some thawed peas & carrots (and corn if you like), and anything else you like in your rice. When the onions are tender, add the rice and add soy sauce to taste and stir with a big flat wooden spoon or large cooking chopsticks, if you have them (mine are about 18" long). Add the cooked egg and any thawed, cooked meat you may chose to add near the end of the cooking time and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the rice is heated through and a bit crispy, it is ready to serve.
Egg Drop Soup
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 green onion with part of green top, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- dash of pepper
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
- frozen wanton sheets (optional)
Heat chicken broth, salt and pepper to boiling in saucepan. Stir green onions into eggs. Pour egg mixture slowly into boiling broth, stirring constantly with fork to form shreds of egg.
If you want to add fried wantons to your soup, you can buy frozen wanton sheets (wrappers - not on the grocery list), thaw them and slice them into strips. Deep fry the strips and serve on top of soup.
Thursday Recipes
Notes for Thursday:
- You can soak the beans overnight if you prefer that to the quick soak method. Follow the same directions, but do not heat the beans. Leave them overnight in the water and follow the draining procedure the next day.
15 Bean Soup
- 15 bean soup dried beans package
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- a small onion, sauteed (from freezer)
- chili powder or chili seasoning packet to taste (I used 2 packets)
- ham, if desired (from freezer)
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. 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. Drain tomatoes and add tomatoes and seasoning to beans. If using meat (ham is preferable), add now. Cook on Hi for 5 hours or Low for 8-10 hours.
Raw Veggies and Dip
Ciabatta Bread
Friday Recipes
Notes for Friday:
- Use the extra chicken you grilled on Tuesday for tonight's yummy Alfredo pizza.
- I recommend making a double (or triple) pizza dough recipe and freezing the extra dough for an easy lunch or dinner another day. The Urban Homemaker has a double pizza dough recipe that is very good. It has variations for garlic, herbed, or seeded dough.
Alfredo Chicken Pizza
- Your favorite pizza dough recipe (see notes above)
- 1 jar (1 lb.) of alfredo sauce
- 1 1/2 cups grilled chicken (from Tuesday), shredded
- 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
- 1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mushrooms
Make pizza dough according to recipe and roll out on a pizza stone or pan. Layer remaining ingredients in order given. Cook at 400°F until brown and bubbly.
Spinach 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 April 13-17, 2009 - PDF
Grocery List for April 13-17 , 2009 - TXT (for PDAs or text editing)
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