Menu Plan Monday

I did really well on following my menu last week. I only made a few changes:

I switched days on one dinner

I changed the Chicken Wraps/Pasta Salad to Southwestern Corn Chowder because it was cold and we needed a hot dinner.

They did not have any plain frozen broccoli at the grocery store so I switched a Broccoli Casserole into Broccoli with Cheese....they had that frozen at the store.

All dinner recipes will be posted as the week goes on. Breakfast and lunch recipes are from The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook.

Monday-
Marinated Steak
Rice Pilaf
Veggie from fridge

Tuesday-
B
Maple Pecan Oatmeal
L
Tuna Parmesan Sandwiches
Green Salad
D
Chicken and Rice Soup
Green Salad
Sourdough Bread

Wednesday-
B
Huevos Rancheros
Fruit
L
Thyme Chicken Noodle Soup
D
Biscuits and Gravy
Scrambled Eggs
Fruit

Thursday-
B
Buttermilk Waffles
Fruit
L
Minestrone Pasta Salad
D
Vegetable Soup
Cornbread

Friday-
B
Potato, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Tacos
Fruit
L
Grilled Cheese
Tomato Soup
D
Homemade Pizza
Green Salad

Saturday-
B
Banana Nut Oatmeal
Hard Boiled Eggs
L
Twice Baked Fully Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Fruit
D
Shake n Bake Pork Chops
Fried Potatoes
Vegetable from the Fridge

Sunday-
B
Dutch Baby with Blueberry Sauce
L
Cincinnati Style Chili
D
Hamburger Patties
Homemade Potato Wedges
Vegetable from the Fridge

For more wonderful menus join Laura at OrgJunkie for Menu Plan Monday

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods:
It's a bright beautiful morning. 43 degrees right now, high of 65 today.

Things that make me happy:
My daughter

Book I'm reading:
Learn Crochet

What's on my TV today:
America: The Story of us


On the menu for dinner:
Marinated Steak
Rice Pilaf
Collard Greens

On my To Do List:
Work

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
I think the best recipe I made this week was Beef Scaloppini

In the craft basket:

Blue and White Scarf

Looking forward to this week:
Watching my dance tonight

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

 

On my mind:
Getting a lot of homeschooling done this week

Join Sandra at Happy Homemaker Monday
Homeschooling
Laundry

Ham Steaks, Baked Potatoes, and Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Tonight's dinner was so simple there are basically no recipes....just wanted to get it on the table and go to bed.

Ham Steaks
I just heated these up in a skillet in a little bit of butter.

Baked Potatoes
I make my potatoes by baking them at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
from the freezer

Southwestern Corn Chowder

This was one of the easiest dinners I have made in a long time. I think it took all of 10 minutes from start to finish. It helped having cooked frozen chicken in the freezer I could just pull out to defrost and use.

Southwestern Corn Chowder

2 (10 oz) cans cheddar cheese soup

Milk as needed

1 ½ C diced cooked chicken

1 (15 oz) can corn

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies

¼ C salsa

Prepare soup in a pot according to directions using milk. Add chicken, chilies and salsa. Heat and serve.

French Onion Soup and Grilled Cheese

This was a quick and easy dinner. We homeschooled rather late; until 4 and then we went to the 99 cent store to pick up some pantry items. By the time we got home we were all tired and starving. I wanted to stop for take out so bad on the way home...I tried not to look out the car window at all the restaurants we were passing and I kept telling myself I am just not going to give in and eat out.

This soup is loosely based on "real" French Onion Soup. I should really call it I have a lot of onions I need to use before they go bad soup but that just does not sound as good.

French Onion Soup
1 (32 oz) box beef broth
4 lg yellow onions, sliced thin
1/4 C butter
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 C cold water
Parmesan Cheese for garnish

In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat and cook onions until golden and soft. Transfer to a soup pot, add beef broth. Heat over medium heat until broth begins to boil. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and add to boiling soup. Stir constantly until soup thickens to your preference. Serve.

Grilled Cheese

Just like mashed potatoes and BBQ, my husband is in charge of the grilled cheese in our house. He makes them perfect and it gives me a bit of a rest to have him help. I have no idea how he makes them but I love his grilled cheese.

For more wonderful recipes check out GCC Recipe Swap

Continental Chicken, Buttered Parsely Egg Noodles and Carrots

This chicken recipe is one I have wanted to try for some time. I've seen it in a number of old cookbooks and I have it on a few handwritten recipe cards. I was never quite sure about it because of the combination of meats just how it would turn out. I did get a little scared when I pulled it out of the oven because even though it smelled really good it looked a little weird. I hoped that I wouldn't have to order a pizza already because I didn't have any good backup dinners planned. I realized last night I need a plan in case things go wrong in the kitchen. When I served this I was holding my breath because as much as I want to save money and cook dinner every night I am not mean enough to make my family eat something just awful. They loved it and said the sauce was outstanding. I am glad I was worried for nothing but now I know I need to have a back up plan because my old plan used to be ordering a pizza when things went wrong. I am trying to change that and I don't want to fall back into old habits. What do you do in the kitchen when things go wrong? What do you serve your family when you burn something or forget to take out the meat?

Continental Chicken

1 (2 1/4 oz) pkg. dried beef
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb bacon
1 (10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 C sour cream
1/4 C flour
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
nonstick cooking spray

Spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and line the bottom with the dried beef.  Cut each piece of chicken into fourths and wrap each piece with a slice of bacon. Place wrapped chicken on top of dried beef. In a bowl combine soups, sour cream, and flour. Mix well and pour over chicken/beef. Top with onion and celery. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours or until cooked through.

I used to buy packaged noodles all the time until I figured out it was just as easy to make my own and less expensive.

Buttered Parsley Egg Noodles

1 (8 oz) bag dried egg noodles

¼ C butter

2 tsp dried parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Drain when cooked and while still hot add butter, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well and serve.

Carrots

I just steamed these because I didn't have anything else to do with them. I am trying to be better at using what I have and when I looked in the fridge last night I had a ton of carrots...so I used them. Imagine that!
Now if only I could figure out something to do with all the leeks I have in there.

For more wonderful recipes check out Cooking Thursday and Frugal Food Thursday

Cantonese Dinner

While I was making this I kept thinking about the1960's  housewife who made this before me thinking it was Chinese food.  I am not knocking her or the recipe at all, it was wonderful. I was thinking about how much has changed in the kitchen and in life as general as far as how much more we know now about other cultures.

 My husband loved the sauce- said it tasted like sweet and sour which he loves. I loved the long cooking time, I had time to watch a movie while this was cooking. I was in some serious need of some down time.

Cantonese Dinner
2 lbs pork, cut into bite sized pieces
2 Tbsp. oil
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced into rings
1 C mushrooms, sliced
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/4 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
cooked rice

Brown pork in a skillet in hot oil. In a large casserole dish combine meat with all remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2- 2 hours or until done. serve over rice.

Beef Scaloppini

On Mondays from now on I am probably going to need to make a crockpot dinner because my daughter has dance for 2 hours and getting dinner on the table was a bit of a challenge last night.

Beef Scaloppini

My husband said this was good, good even if he couldn't pronounce what it was.

6 small steaks or 2 lbs. round steak, cut into serving size pieces

1/2 C flour

1 Tbsp meat tenderizer

pepper to tatse

1/4 C oil

1/2 C beef broth

3 large tomatoes, chopped

4 C mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (12 oz) package egg noodles, cooked and kept warm

Parmesan cheese for garnish

3 Tbsp butter

Pound meat with a meat mallet until about 1/4 inch thick. Combine flour, meat tenderizer, and pepper on a plate. Coat meat with flour and brown in hot oil for about 5 minutes per side until browned. Add beef broth and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat. In another skillet, melt butter and then saute mushrooms, onion, green pepper, and garlic until all vegetables are tender. Add vegetables to meat. Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes more. Serve over cooked egg noodles. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired.

For more recipes check out Ingredient Spotlight

Crunchy Baked Fish, Homemade Potato Wedges and California Style Vegetables

Today was a hard adjustment back to reality---back to homeschooling, dance classes and all the regular

- day to day- life stuff. I want more vacation.

Crunchy Baked Fish

6 fish fillets- I used catfish

2/3 C flour

seasoning salt to taste

1 1/2 C crushed corn flakes

1/4 C Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

1/2 C water

nonstick cooking spray

Combine flour, seasoning salt and cheese on a plate. Beat eggs and water in a shallow bowl. Place corn flakes on a plate. Line all the dishes up on the counter for an easy dipping assembly line. Dip fish in the flour mix then dip in the egg mix and finally coat with corn flakes. Place fish on a baking tray that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until it flakes easily.



Potato Wedges

6 medium potatoes, scrubbed with skins intact

3 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

Parsley to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place oil in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and swirl around to coat the bottom. Cut potatoes into wedges. Place in a resealable plastic bag with the spices and shake to coat. Arrange potatoes skin side down in dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through



Menu Plan Monday

Short and Sweet this week....

All recipes will be posted as the week goes by.

Monday-
Beef Scaloppini
Green Salad

Tuesday-
Cantonese Dinner
Rice
Stir Fry Vegetables

Wednesday-
Chicken Wraps
Pasta Salad

Thursday-
Continental Chicken
Buttered Parsley Egg Noodles
Veggie-one that needs to be used from the fridge

Friday-
French Onion Soup
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Saturday-
Sweet and Tangy Ham Steaks
Twice Baked Double Stuffed Potatoes
Corn Broccoli Bake
Breadsticks

Sunday-
Coffee Stew
Cornbread

For more menu plans join Laura at Org Junkie

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods:
45 degrees and rainy

Things that make me happy:
Routine

Book I'm reading:
none right now

What's on my TV today:
soap operas

On the menu for dinner:
Beef Scaloppini over Egg Noodles and a Vegetable from the fridge

On my To Do List:
homeschool

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:

Cabbage Roll Casserole

In the craft basket:
a scarf

Looking forward to this week:

My daughter's first dance class tonight.

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

On my mind:

For Happy Homemaker Monday join Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom