Basic Weekly Menu Plan

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

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Start your roast in the morning.
   
   
2. Save 3 cups of meat from tonight's roast for Wednesday's burritos.
   
   
3. This potato salad recipe has been a family favorite for years. Plan ahead because it needs to chill.
   
   
   

French Dip Sandwiches

• 3-4 lb. roast
• 2 tbsp. yellow mustard
• 1 package onion soup mix
• French rolls

Place meat in slow cooker, cover with mustard and sprinkle with onion soup mix. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours (depending on how hot your slow cooker cooks). When fully cooked, carve into thick slices or shred. Strain broth and skim fat if desired. Serve meat on French rolls with juice in small bowls or saucers for dipping.

 

 Creamed Spinach

• 5 Tbsp butter or margarine, divided
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 dash ground nutmeg
• 1 cup half and half
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 sm. onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Over medium-low heat, melt 3 Tbsp butter in a saucepan; stir in flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; slowly whisk in half and half. When mixed well, stir in cream cheese. Increase heat to medium; whisk mixture constantly until thick and smooth; remove from heat and set aside. Saute onions and garlic in remaining 2 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until transparent; stir in spinach and water pan. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes. Stir spinach mixture from skillet into creamy mixture; return to medium heat, stirring often, until warmed through. Remove from heat; fold in Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

 

 GeGe's Potato Salad

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp butter/margarine
• 3/4 tsp celery seed
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup mayo* or salad dressing
• 7 med potatoes, cooked peeled and diced
• 3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
• paprika

In sauce pan, combine sugar and corn starch. Add next 7 ingredients. Cook and stir over low heat until bubbly. Remove from heat. Add onion and mayo and cool. In a medium bowl, combine potatoes and hard cooked eggs. Gently fold in dressing. Chill. Just before serving sprinkle with paprika.

 

 

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. For quicker prep time in the afternoon, Swiss Chicken can be prepared in the morning and refrigerated until time to bake.
   
   
2. We are restocking our freezer with black beans this week. Soak your black beans overnight for tomorrow's Beef and Bean Burritos.
   
   

Swiss Chicken

• 6 boneless chicken breasts (raw)
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (substitutions)
• 1/4 cup white cooking wine (substitutes)
• 1 cup stuffing mix
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Place chicken breasts in a baking dish. Cover each with cheese. Mix soup and wine; pour over chicken. Cover with stuffing. Drizzle 1/4 cup butter over stuffing. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350°F.

 Lima Beans

• 4 cups frozen lima beans
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• water
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt                                                        

Cook Lima Beans according to package directions, adding salt, pepper and sugar to water during
cooking time. Drain and serve.

 Corn Casserole

• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten

Melt butter in a sauce pan, add flour, and stir until thick. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x9 casserole dish. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until firm and slightly brown.

 

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. Use 3 cups of the leftover meat from Monday's French Dip roast for tonight's burritos. If you haven't already done so, shred the meat by hand or in a food processor. On the stovetop, cook the shredded meat with taco seasoning according to the package directions.
   
   
2. If you are making a pot of black beans, drain and rinse them (they should have been soaking overnight) and cook them all day on low. Reserve 3 cups for tonight's burritos and freeze the rest with the juice in 2 cup servings.
   
   
3. Depending on your family size, you may wish to use half of the fillings to make 6 burritos tonight and the other 6 to make a pan of enchiladas to freeze. To make enchiladas, spread the tortillas with the beans and beef as directed below, then sprinkle with cheese. Roll up tortillas and pour red or green enchilada sauce over enchiladas in pan. Cover with heavy duty foil and freeze. To bake, cook at 400°F for 45-60 minutes or until heated through, uncovering for the last 10 minutes. You may sprinkle extra cheese on top for the last 10 minutes if you wish.
   
   
   

 Black Bean and Beef Burritos

• 3 cups seasoned shredded beef (see notes above)
• 3 cups seasoned black beans (see below)
• shredded cheddar cheese
• 12 large flour tortillas (preferably whole wheat for health)
• enchilada sauce
• shredded lettuce
• chopped tomatoes
• sour cream

Heat beef and bean fillings in the microwave until evenly hot. Steam or microwave tortillas until warm so they won't crack when filling and rolling. Spread 1/4 cup each of the seasoned black beans and beef on each tortilla. Add shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes. Roll each tortilla up and serve.

Seasoned Black Beans

• 3 cups black beans, thawed and mashed
• Adobo seasoning to taste
• Cumin to taste

Mix all together until well blended.

 Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Cook fresh or frozen broccoli as you prefer (boiled or steamed). Top with cheese sauce.

  
Cheese Sauce

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• 4 oz. Velveeta cheese

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. After milk is blended, cook several minutes until slightly thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Serve on top of vegetables.

 

Salad

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. While adults will enjoy the Chicken Caesar Salad, children will likely prefer their salad and chicken separate.
   
   
2. I would recommend preparing the jello parfait early enough in the day to allow time to chill.
   

 

 Chicken Caesar Salad

• 1 lb. cooked, cubed chicken (from freezer)
• 1 head Romaine lettuce
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• Croutons
• Caesar Salad Dressing

Reheat cooked chicken if desired by placing in the microwave for about 1 minute. Add more time if needed. Chop up lettuce into bite-size pieces and mix all ingredients. Serve.

Crusty Bread

 Jell-O Parfait

• 1 sm. Jell-O (strawberry-banana)
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• fresh strawberries or other available berries
• 2 bananas, sliced

Mix the Jell-O packet with the sour cream. Add vanilla and mix well. Fold in Cool Whip. Layer fruit and Jell-O mixture in parfait glasses. Serve cold.

 

 

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. Start marinating your salmon several hours before you plan to cook dinner.
   
   
2. If you don't want to grill outside, try baking your salmon at 350°F for about 20 minutes or until flaky.
   
   
   

Grilled Salmon

• 4-6 fresh salmon steaks or fillets
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• Juice of 2 lemons (or 6 Tbsp. lemon juice)
• 1 tsp. dill weed

Mix oil, lemon juice and dill in a marinating container and add fillets or steaks. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours, turning every hour. Grill or broil at medium heat, turning. Cook until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with melted butter.

 

 Sauteed Asparagus

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 pkg. frozen asparagus
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp dried rosemary

Heat oil and balsamic vinegar in large skillet over medium heat. Add frozen asparagus and herbs; saute for about 15 minutes, turning asparagus over frequently.

 

Rice Pilaf

• 3 T. olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped (from freezer)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 green pepper chopped, seeded
• 1/2 red pepper chopped, seeded
• 1 cup of frozen peas, thawed
• 1 c. long grain rice (or brown rice* for healthier version)
• 2 c. chicken broth (if you are using brown rice add extra water)
• herbs of your choice (basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.)

Thaw onion. Saute garlic and peppers in oil until tender. 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).

 

* 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 22-26, 2010 - PDF

Grocery List for February 22-26 , 2010 - 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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