Weekly Menu 1/29+

 

Saturday		Grilled Steak Mac & Cheese Peas
Sunday		Butter Chicken Rice Green Beans Blueberry Whole Wheat Brownies
Monday		Baked Potato Soup Blueberries & Yogurt
Tuesday		Tacos Mexicorn Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado
Wednesday		King Ranch Chicken
Thursday		Cream Cheese Pancakes Eggs Sausage Patties Grapefruit
Friday		Homemade Pizza Salad

Saturday

1. Several stores have had steak on sale over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully you've purchased some extra for the freezer or you are splurging with a steak from HEB or NewFlower
2. I heard that if you are cottage cheese averse or you just don’t have any, you can also use cream cheese in the mac & cheese and it is fabulous.

Grilled Steak

Mac & Cheese

• 2 c cooked macaroni, elbow or small shells
• ¼ c butter
• ¼ c flour
• ½ tsp salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 c milk
• ½ c cottage cheese or cream cheese
• 6-8 slices American cheese

Melt butter in large saucepan and add flour, salt and pepper just until light brown. Add milk and stir till well blended. As it comes to a boil it will thicken, add cheeses until well melted and mixed in. Add noodles. Bake in a 350 degree oven, if desired. If you bake it also add a layer of grated or thinly sliced cheddar; heat until bubbly.

Peas

Get the Butter Chicken into its marinade for tomorrow night.

Sunday

1. The chicken needs to marinate, so allow some extra time for that the night before.
2. Don’t let the name fool you, there isn't much butter in the Butter Chicken.
3. While you have the oven on for the brownies, bake your potatoes for tomorrow night too.
4. I tried reducing the amount of butter in the brownies by ¼ c and it made for a more cake like consistency, still good, but less chewy/gooey.

Butter Chicken (Pioneer Woman)

1. 4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
2. 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
3. 1 teaspoon Salt
4. ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
5. ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
6. ¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
7. ¼ teaspoons Cumin
8. ¼ teaspoons Cardamom
9. 1 whole Lime, Juiced

• 1 whole Onion, Diced
• ¼ cup Butter
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 1 pint Whipping Cream
• 1 bunch Chopped Cilantro, to taste
• 2 cups Basmati Rice (or However Much You Want)

Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream (I have used light cream or half-and-half also) and cilantro just before serving over Basmati rice.
Note: this is a little spicy, but you can cut back on the cayenne if you want.

Green Beans

Blueberry Whole Wheat Brownies (Tasty Kitchen)

• 1 cup Blueberries, Fresh Or Frozen
• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
• 1-½ cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• ¾ cups Cocoa Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1-½ cup Whole Wheat Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 9 baking dish with canola oil.

Cook berries in a saucepan over medium heat for about ten minutes to break down and reduce berries to a slightly thicker (not syrupy) juice. Set aside and cool.

Either on the stove top or in the microwave, slowly heat butter and sugar until most of the sugar is dissolved. Let cool for several minutes.

Add blueberry mush to butter/sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Add cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract and stir well. Add eggs one at a time and stir well to completely incorporate (Either a stand mixer or hand power can be used for this). Add whole wheat flour and mix until just combined, but very few lumps (if any) remain. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is puffed and split.

Monday

1. If you didn’t have a chance to bake your potatoes the night before, after washing them put them into the microwave for 5-6 minutes on high. This will start the cooking process, but won't make them gummy the way a fully 'baked' potato will come out of the microwave. Finish the baking process when your oven comes up to temperature, about 30 minutes.

Baked Potato Soup

• 3lb potatoes, baked
• 2-3T butter
• 1 c finely chopped onions
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 c chicken broth
• 3 c milk
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• Toppings: bacon, shredded cheese, chives, sour cream

Bake potatoes and peel when cool enough to handle. Melt butter in a 4 qt pot over medium-low heat. Stir in onions and garlic, cover and cook 10 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add 2/3 of potatoes and mash with potato masher. Add broth, milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cut remaining potatoes in a small cubes. Add to soup and stir gently to reheat. Sprinkle each serving with toppings.

Blueberries & Yogurt

Tuesday

1. As we get closer and closer to Super Bowl Sunday avocados will be more plentiful. It is the second most popular day of the year to eat an avocado. The first? Cinco de Mayo.

Tacos

• 2 c cooked ground beef
• 2tsp chili powder
• 1 ½ tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp garlic salt
• 1 dash red pepper
• ¾ c water

Mix all ingredients together in medium saucepan until well blended and simmer for 5-10 minutes until majority of liquid is gone.

Tortillas

Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado

MexiCorn

Wednesday

1. Green onions don’t last too long in the fridge, however you can chop them up and put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They'll keep for several months and you can just pour out the ones you need next time you need them.
2. You can cook the King Ranch in a crockpot all day or in the oven once you get home.

King Ranch Chicken

• 2 c cooked chicken or turkey
• 1 can Rotel
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1 can mushrooms
• 8 corn tortillas, cut in 6 triangles
• 2 c grated cheddar cheese
• ¼ c chopped green onion

Combine first four ingredients and place in crock pot to cook all day. When you get home add corn tortillas, cheese and green onion. Stir to combine and serve.

Alternately, you can combine first four ingredients and put half in a 9x13 pan. Add a layer of tortillas and half of cheese, top with remaining chicken mixture and other half of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.

Thursday

Cream Cheese Pancakes

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• ¾ c cool whip
• 1 c flour
• ½ c graham cracker crumbs
• 1 T sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 ¼ c buttermilk
• ¼ c butter, melted
• 1 c blueberries

Topping: In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and whipped topping until smooth. Set aside or chill till ready to serve. Last time I made these, I forgot about the cream cheese until I was half way done eating. Set it aside, just don’t forget to bring it back out.

Pancakes: In large bowl combine flour, cracker crumbs, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt. In a separate bowl combine eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add to dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter by ¼ c onto a greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top and edges start to cook. Flip and cook until second side is also brown. Spread topping over pancakes. Top with warm syrup; sprinkle with additional blueberries if desired.

Eggs

Sausage

Grapefruit

Friday

1. The crust can be homemade yeast dough, bisquick dough, something from Pillsbury, or just a loaf of french bread sliced long-wise. Do what you can based on the time and energy you have available.

Homemade Pizza

• 1 ½ tsp yeast (½ packet)
• 1 ½ c hot water (120 degrees)
• 4 c flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/3 c olive oil

Mix yeast and water and let sit for five minutes. Add remaining ingredients and combine with mixer using the dough hook(s) until well combined. Add additional olive oil to large bowl, turning dough to coat. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Punch down. Split dough in half. Mix in

• ½ tsp each basil & oregano
• ¼ c parmesan cheese
• ½ c chopped olives

Spread out on baking sheets, rolling to desired thickness. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise ~ 1 hour. Carefully remove wrap. Sprinkle with kosher salt & drizzle with some olive oil. Par-bake 10 min at 400 degrees. Set aside one crust for the freezer or save for breakfast pizza.

• Spaghetti sauce
• 2 c mozzarella cheese, grated
• veggie toppings: mushrooms, spinach, peppers, onions, olives
• meat toppings: ground beef, italian sausage, left over breakfast sausage from Thursday, pepperoni, canadian bacon

With other crust spread with jarred spaghetti sauce, grated mozzarella. Then toppings.

Bake in a hot 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Breakfast Pizza

• 1 par-baked crust
• 1 can or packet sausage gravy
• 4-6 soft set scrambled eggs (they will cook more once in the oven)
• cheese
• breakfast meats

Layer up in order above. Bake in hot 400 degree oven for 10 minutes until eggs are set and cheese is melted.