Menu for May 30 - June 3, 2005

 

Monday - Recipes

Grilled Marinated Chicken
Sugar Snap Peas
Cooked Apples

 

Tuesday - Recipes

Swedish Meatballs over Noodles
Green Bean Casserole
Corn on the Cob

 

Wednesday - Recipes

Chicken and Noodles
Peas and Carrots
Salad

 

Thursday - Recipes

Spaghetti Pie
Garlic Cheese Toast
Salad

 

Friday - Recipes

Crustless Quiche
Grits
Buttermilk Biscuits
Cranberry Apple Crisp

 

 

Grocery List

This week's Grocery List can be downloaded here:

Grocery list for May 30 - June 3 ( PDF)

Shopping List Software Format (for more information on Shopping List Software see the Menus 4 Moms plan basics)

 

 

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

1. Tonight we are going to grill extra chicken for the freezer when we make dinner. Save out 2 cups, preferably hand shredded rather than chopped, for Wednesday's Chicken and Noodles.
   
2. Start your chicken marinating early Monday morning or even Sunday night for the best flavor.

Grilled Marinated Chicken

Marinade:

• 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

6 lbs. chicken parts of your choice (boneless breasts are easiest for chopping and freezing the extra chicken meat)

Combine all marinade ingredients and marinate chicken, turning occasionally, for 10-24 hours. The longer you marinate, the better the flavor.

Grill chicken until done and serve, reserving 4-5 lbs. for freezing. Chop and freeze remaining chicken in dated freezer bags.

Sugar Snap Peas

• 1-2 lbs. fresh or frozen sugar snap peas
• butter
• sugar

Wash peas. Steam or blanch briefly. Drain until dry and saute in butter on stove top. Sprinkle with a dash of sugar, stir well and serve.

 

Cooked Apples

• 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 T. water

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until apples are tender. Serve hot or cold.

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

1. Tonight we are using the meatballs that we froze the first week. If you didn't freeze the meatballs, make some using this recipe. Be sure to add ground beef to your grocery list if you need to make the meatballs. Feel free to make extras to freeze.

Swedish Meatballs over Noodles

• bag of egg noodles
• raw meatballs from above
• vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 c. beef broth
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Dash cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 c. (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.

Green Bean Casserole

• 2 cans French cut green beans
• 1 can of French onions
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper (or to your liking)
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Mix green beans, milk, pepper, soup and 3/4 can of onions. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes stirring frequently. Add the remainder of onions and bake 5 minutes.

Corn on the Cob

 

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

1. Tonight we are using the shredded chicken from Monday for Chicken and Dumplings. This is an easy dish if you use broken lasagna noodles as the dumplings, but for a real treat we are going to make homemade dumplings.

Chicken and Noodles

• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 3 cans chicken broth* or 6 cups water with chicken soup base added
• Garlic salt or Adobo
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup

Noodles:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 rounded tsp of baking powder
• 2 eggs

Mix ingredients for noodles. You want workable dough so if they are too dry add a few drops of water, too wet a bit more flour. Roll and cut; a pizza cutter is the best way. If you get too much baking powder they will have a salty 1/2 cooked taste. Cook noodles in broth. Your cooking time will depend on how thick the noodles are; you will just have to taste it. ;-)

Add soup and seasonings to taste. Add chicken in when the noodles are almost cooked. You may sprinkle with parsley for some color if you would like.

Thanks to Monica from TheHomeSchoolMom in the Kitchen Yahoo Group for the recipe for Homemade Noodles.

Peas and Carrots

Salad

 

 

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday:

1. Tonight we are making a big batch of Bolognese meat sauce for the freezer. This recipe makes a lot of sauce and is absolutely delicious. If you have never made spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage, I encourage you to give this recipe a try before substituting your own recipe. You won't be sorry!
   
2. There is a lot of chopping and simmering to do for this recipe, so I recommend making the sauce in the morning then putting together the spaghetti pie in the afternoon.

Bolognese Sauce

• 2 lbs. Hot Italian Sausage
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lg. yellow onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cans crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 T. dried oregano
• 2 T. dried basil
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 2 cans tomato paste (6 oz. each)
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Remove sausage from casing (the rubbery-looking skin on the link). Place in pan with 1/4 cup water and crumble with spoon while browning. When cooked, drain in collander and rinse with very hot water (this washes the extra grease off); set aside.

Brown ground beef, drain, rinse as above, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in dutch oven. Saute celery, onion, and pepper until tender. Add sausage, beef, tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer covered for an hour. Add wine, tomato paste and cinnamon. Simmer covered for 15 minutes. Cool and refrigerate until dinner time. You will use 2-3 cups of the sauce for the Spaghetti Pie and freeze the rest in dated gallon freezer bags. You may want to leave at least one bag in the refrigerator because after you taste it you are going to want to have some as leftovers for lunch or a weekend dinner this week!

Spaghetti Pie

• 6 oz. spaghetti, cooked and still warm
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 well beaten egg
• 1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 c. cottage cheese
• 1 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2-3 cups Bolognese sauce

Combine hot cooked spaghetti with butter until butter is melted. Add egg and Parmesan cheese. Place in pie dish and form a "crust" with a well in the center. Spread cottage cheese over spaghetti in pie dish. Cover with Bolognese sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350° or until bubbly. Cut into slices and serve.

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° until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Salad

 

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

1. Tonight we are having a breakfast night. I love having breakfast for dinner!
   
2. If you haven't ever tried grits, do try them. The easiest kind to make are Quick Grits. Do not get instant grits - it is like comparing instant coffee to Starbucks!
   
3. The Cranberry Apple Crisp is a bit of work and not very healthy, but it is delicious and you will enjoy nibbling on the leftovers over the weekend (if there are any!). If you prefer something more healthy, adjust your grocery list and serve sliced fresh fruit instead.
   
4. The biscuit recipe is a very easy one to make. If you have never made biscuits, try this one before buying canned biscuits. Do not substitute regular milk for buttermilk; buttermilk is what gives the biscuits their wonderful flavor.

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° for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350° and cook for 30-40 more minutes.

Grits

Prepare grits according to package directions, but soak the grits in the cooking water for 30 minutes to an hour before cooking. Serve with lots of butter, salt, and pepper.

Buttermilk Biscuits

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup 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 on cookie sheet at 475° until brown. Serve with butter and jelly.

Cranberry Apple Crisp

• 5 cups apple slices
• 1 cup cranberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup pecans - chopped

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine apples, cranberries, sugar flour, and cinnamon. Toss to coat and spoon into greased 9x13 baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine rolled oats, brown sugar, and flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle topping over fruit.

Bake until topping is golden brown and apples are tender (30 to 40 minutes).