short menu for a short week.. but two for the price of one!

Well for me anyways...haha. I was out of town visiting my mom. My grandma turns 92 today, while her mind is going, her body is in pretty damn good shape. Yes, I spent a wonderful weekend having my opinions and lifestyle choices put down..awww thanks mom love you too. Anyways..here's to a great menu for two weeks. Going to continue cleaning out the freezer and fridge, although I did make a trip to the store to buy $10 of 10lbs of hamburger, a five dollar chicken, a gallon of milk, bananas, 3 loaves of 59cent whole wheat bread, and some lunch meat. We did need those items and the prices were excellent.

Tuesday:
Easy Chili
corn muffins

2 pounds ground round or ground chuck
1 cup chopped onions
2 cans pinto beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste

Brown ground beef with onions; drain off excess fat. Combine beef and onions with remaining ingredients in slow cooker. Stir to blend. Cover and cook on LOW for 9 to 11 hours or high for 4-6. Serve with cornbread or crackers, or a great crusty bread and top with some shredded Cheddar or Jack cheese, if desired.


Wednesday:
Chicken Tetrazini

(you will be making two of these one for tonight and one to freeze for an emergency meal for a night when you need it)

1 purchased roasted chicken
8 oz. dried spaghetti or linguine, broken in half
12 oz. fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 oz. small whole fresh mushrooms
2 medium red and/or yellow sweet peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 14-oz. can chicken broth
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (2 oz.)
1 Tbsp. finely shredded lemon peel
2 slices sourdough bread, cut into cubes (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove meat from chicken; discard bones. Cut chicken pieces in chunks to equal 3 cups. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Add asparagus the last 1 minute of cooking. Drain. Return to pan.
Meanwhile, in large skillet cook mushrooms and sweet peppers in hot butter over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and black pepper until well combined. Add broth and milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add mushroom mixture, chicken pieces, Swiss cheese, and half the lemon peel to pasta mixture. Toss gently to coat. Spoon pasta mixture into a baking dish.In a medium bowl toss together bread cubes, olive oil, and remaining lemon peel. Spread bread cube mixture on pasta mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Thursday:
Cheese and bean quesadillas

1 14 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp. canola oil
4 large (10 inch) flour tortillas
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend

Dump rinsed black beans into a small bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher.
Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.Divide the mashed black beans evenly between the two tortillas. Top with cheese.Lay one of the open-faced tortillas in the skillet (with the cheese-side up). Cook one minute. Fold tortilla in half. Cook another minute. Serve them with salsa and sour cream for dipping, if desired.

Friday:
Oven BBQ Chicken
potato salad
steamed broccoli

Cut up chicken
3/4 c. BBQ sauce
1/4 c. water

Cut up chicken. Salt and flour. Cut pan or flat dish well. Lay chicken flat in pan. Put BBQ sauce in cup and mix a little water it and pour over chicken. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Turn and let cook for another 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve with homemade potato salad and steamed broccoli.


Saturday:
Homemade pizza
celery and carrot sticks

Sunday:
Breaded pork Chops
mashed potatoes and gravy
honey carrots

2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Milk
2-1/4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Flour
3/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Garlic powder
2 tablespoons Dried parsley
4 tablespoons Olive oil
6 Pork chops

Preheat oven to 325. Beat together the eggs and milk. In a separate small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, flour, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and parsley. Heat the olive oil in a large, oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook until lightly browned. Remove garlic, reserving for other uses. Dip each pork chop into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating evenly. Place coated pork chops in the skillet, and brown abut 5 minutes on each side. Place the skillet and pork chops in the preheated oven, and cook 25 minutes. (a cast iron skillet works great)

2 lb. carrots, scraped and thinly sliced
1/2 c. water
3 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter

Combine carrots and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 8 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and return to pan. Add honey and remaining ingredients; cook over low heat, stirring gently until butter and sugar melt.

Monday:
Veggie Stir fry
rice

2 med. carrots
2 c. green beans, bias-sliced into 1-inch lengths
2 c. cut up cauliflower
2 tbsp. cold water
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sugar
Dash of pepper
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 med. onion, cut in thin wedges
1 c. sliced zucchini

Cut carrots into thin sticks. In covered saucepan, cook carrots and green beans in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Add cauliflower. Cover and cook 2 minutes more; drain well. In small bowl, blend water into cornstarch; stir in soy sauce, sugar, and pepper. Set aside.Preheat wok or skillet over high heat; add oil. Stir-fry onion for 1 minute. Add rest of vegetables, stir-fry 2 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Stir soy sauce mixture; stir into vegetables. Cook and stir 3-4 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.

Tuesday:
Meatball subs
sweet potato fries

1 lb. ground chuck
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Garlic powder, salt, pepper
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 lg. can tomato paste
Sub rolls
Parmesan cheese

Mix ground beef, cheese, bread crumbs, adding salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Roll into balls. Meanwhile heat tomato paste in pot with 2 cans of water. Mix well adding garlic, pepper and salt to taste. (Can add some onions). Bring to a boil. Add meatballs to pot of sauce, simmer about 30 minutes. Serve in hot sub rolls, sprinkling extra Parmesan cheese or provolone on top of sub.

Wednesday:
Chicken noodle soup
cheesy garlic bread

4 chicken breasts or 1 whole chicken
1 bag egg noodles
2 c. diced carrots
2 c. diced celery
3 chicken bouillon cubes for flavor

Boil chicken and remove skin and bones. Pour noodles, carrots, celery and cubes into boiling chicken broth. Add meat, season as desired. Cook on high 1 hour on low 2 1/2 hours.

Bread:
1 loaf French bread, sliced
3/4 c. butter, melted
3 cloves pressed garlic
8 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, grated
2 tbsp. minced parsley

Combine butter, garlic and parsley. Spoon over bread. Top with grated cheese. Put under broiler until cheese is melted.

Thursday:
Breakfast for dinner
pancakes
bacon
scrambled eggs

Friday:
very veggie lasagna

2 medium carrots, julienned
1 zucchini, cut into slices
1 yellow summer squash, cut into slices
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sliced sweet red pepper
1/2 cup sliced green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 jar (28 ounce size) spaghetti sauce
14 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, stir-fry the vegetables, garlic and salt in oil until crisp-tender. Spread 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Arrange noodles over sauce, overlapping as needed. Lay?er with half of the vegetables, spaghetti sauce and cheese. Repeat layers. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for about an hour or until bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting, otherwise you will have a runny mess.

Saturday:
Snacking and leftovers