Basic Weekly Menu Plan

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Get the meal makeovers, nutrition data, dietary exchanges and point values for the menus.

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Tonight's recipe comes from the Menus4Moms E-Book, Bulk Cooking for the Freezer: Ground Beef. If you are interested in stocking your freezer with premade meals made from ground beef and not just having cooked beef on hand, you may find this E-Book valuable. We will be making the menu tonight to have an extra on hand in your freezer for your own future use on a night when you may not have time to follow the Menus4Moms planned meal. If you don't have enough meat in the freezer, you can cut the amount in half and the dish is still quite filling. If you need additional meat, make sure to add the extra to your grocery list. We will be restocking ground beef next week.
   
   
2. The banana pudding is a good way to use overripe bananas, but ripe ones are delicious too. You can make the dish early and refrigerate until ready to serve. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to make.
   
   

Cheesy Spirals

• 16 oz. package pasta spirals
• 5 cups cooked ground beef (from freezer)
• 28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce, any flavor
• 1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp. Italian seasoning
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta spirals according to package instructions. Drain and rinse; return to pan. Add 5 cups cooked beef, spaghetti sauce, cheddar cheese soup, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Stir over low heat until well mixed and mixture is of uniform consistency. Remove from heat and stir in shredded mozzarella cheese. Spray 1- 9”x12” pan and 1- 8”x8” pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour mixture into pans. Bake the larger pan at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.
Wrap the smaller pan for the freezer and label as "Cheese Spirals: Thaw. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes or until heated through."

 

Peas and Carrots

 

 

Banana Pudding

• 4 bananas
• Vanilla wafers
• 1 oz. box instant banana pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg whites (carefully separate to make sure no yolk gets in them)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Prepare banana pudding with 2 cups of milk according to instructions. Refrigerate. Spray a pie plate or 8"x 8" casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides with vanilla wafers. Slice bananas over the vanilla wafers. Remove pudding from refrigerator and spoon over bananas.

Beat egg whites, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed until stiff peaks form. Spoon on top of pudding, swirling to make peaks. Brown pie at 300°F until meringue is light brown. Cool and refrigerate.

 

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. These chicken enchiladas are a family favorite.
   
   
2. We are separating the recipe into 2 smaller pans for planned leftovers. If you have a larger family you may want to cook all the enchiladas in one 9x13 pan and not have any leftover to freeze.
   
   
3. We regularly cook a bag of dried beans and freeze the extra in juice for use in place of canned beans. If you have not done this, you can cook some dried beans using these directions or you can buy a couple of cans of black beans. I've added a bag of dried beans to the grocery list. So make sure you delete them if you already have freezer beans.
   
   
   
   
   

 Chicken Enchiladas

• 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from freezer)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (substitute)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 onions, sauteed (from freezer)
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped & sauteed
• cilantro
• cumin
• Adobo or garlic salt
• 6 whole wheat flour tortillas (if you can't find them, get regular ones)
• 2 cups Mexican blend cheese

Combine soup, 3/4 can chicken broth, and sour cream. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture. To the remaining mixture, add chicken, onion, pepper, and spices to taste. Add 1 cup of the cheese.

Place 2-3 T. of mixture onto each tortilla, roll up, and place the tortillas in 2- 9x9 pans. Add the remaining chicken broth to the reserved soup mixture and pour over enchiladas in each pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese over enchiladas. Cover foil pan tightly with foil or plastic wrap and freeze, making sure to label with ingredients and baking instructions. Cook other pan of enchiladas at 350°F until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

  Refried Beans

• 4 cups black beans with juice (from freezer)
• cumin
• Adobo or garlic salt
• olive oil
• 1 can red enchilada sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mash 4 cups of beans, adding enough juice to make beans mushy and soft. Heat 2 T. olive oil in a fry pan and add mashed beans and spices to taste. Stir until hot and bubbly. Heat enchilada sauce in a sauce pan and serve beans topped with enchilada sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.

  Spanish Rice

• 3 T. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, chopped and seeded
• 1 c. long grain rice (or brown rice* for healthier version)
• 2 c. chicken broth (if you are using brown rice add extra water)
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1/2 t. cumin

Saute onion, garlic, and green pepper in oil until transparent. Add rice and brown until lightly browned. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to pan. Cover and cook 20-25 minutes (longer, closer to 45 minutes, for brown rice).

 

 

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. You may adjust the amount of cheese in this soup. If your family prefers it less cheesy, use 8 or 12 oz. of Velveeta. You may also add cooked chicken if you would like.
   
   
2. Make a large salad and save half to go with your pork on Thursday. Add any crunchie items and salad dressing to the salad right before serving each night.
   

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (from freezer)
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 lb. Velveeta prepared cheese product, chopped into 1-1/2" cubes for easier melting
• 1 pkg. (10-16* oz., depending on how much broccoli you want in the soup) frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. marjoram
• 1/4 tsp. Adobo

Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan (6 qt. is good) on stovetop. Add onion and saute until tender. Add flour, stirring constantly for 1 minute over medium heat.

Add milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 1 minute. Add all remaining ingredients and cook until cheese is melted and soup is heated through.

 

Salad

 

Crusty Bread

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. We will be restocking our freezer with pork tonight. Buy a tenderloin large enough to feed your family for 2 meals at least, preferably more. We will be cubing the leftovers for a meal next week so after your meal tonight, cube any remaining meat and freezer for future use.
   
   
2. This is a new recipe, but it is even easier than the pork tenderloin I normally use for restocking. My family rated this one much higher than the one that uses marjoram.

 

 Onion Pork Tenderloin

• 3-4 lb. pork tenderloin         

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 pkg. onion soup mix

Spray inside of large crockpot or roaster pan with cooking spray. Place tenderloin in pot and sprinkle with onion soup mix. Pour water over top, cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low in crockpot or about 3 hours at 325°F in the oven. Check for doneness. Pork is done at an internal temperature of about 160°F. Slice and serve what you need for tonight and cube and freeze the rest in 1 lb. portions.

 

 

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.

 

 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 5 lbs. potatoes, peeled & quartered
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp. butter plus extra for garnish
• Garlic Salt or Adobo* to taste

Boil potatoes until they are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain and place in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed while adding milk, butter, and garlic. Do not overbeat as you want them mashed but still a little lumpy. Serve with butter.

 

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday: none

Pie A La Italian

• 1 can Crescent Dinner Rolls
• 8 oz package Monterey Jack cheese, cut into ½ inch cubes
• 12 oz package smoked sausages, cut into ¼ inch slices
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten

Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 8 triangles. Place 5 triangles in ungreased 9 inch pie pan pressing pieces together to form a crust. Reserve 3 triangles for top crust. Combine remaining ingredients in large mixing bowl. Pour into crust. Roll out each remaining triangle so longest side is 9 inches. Cut into ½ inch strips. Crisscross strips over filling to form a lattice top. Flute edge. Bake at 325°F for 60 to 70 minutes or until knife inserted 2 inches from edge comes out clean. Do not overbake. Cool 10 minutes before cutting in wedges.

 

 

Steamed Broccoli

 Fruit Salad

Your favorite combination of canned or fresh fruit. I suggest grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, strawberries and pineapple (these are on your grocery list). Serve with vanilla yogurt.

 

* 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 October 5-9, 2009 - PDF

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

Shopping List Software format (download shopping list free Windows software)

Find sale prices on the grocery list items with our new Grocery Deals feature (brought to you in partnership with MyGroceryDeals)

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