Weekly Menu 2/5+

Does anyone think I should record the ads here too? or just let those go on the email? 
Yes, I forgot AGAIN to mention the blog on my email post.  Perhaps next week. 
 

Saturday		Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce Angel Hair Pasta Asparagus
Sunday		Little Smokies in BBQ sauce Potato Skins Chex Mix
Monday		Sausage Soup
Tuesday		BBQ Meatballs Homefries Green Beans
Wednesday		Brunswick Stew Pears & Cheese
Thursday		Chicken Fried Rice Frozen Egg Rolls
Friday		Chili Stuffed Baked Potatoes Apple Turnovers

Saturday

1. I realized last week when I was putting my own menu together that I was pointing out the great deals on asparagus, but didn’t include it in the menu; silly me!

Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce (Menus4Moms)

• 1/4 C. milk
• 1/4 C. dry bread crumbs
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 T. butter or margarine
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 C. chicken broth
• 1 C. heavy whipping cream
• 1 4-oz. jar diced pimientos, drained
• 1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 C. minced fresh basil (or 1 t. dried)
• 1/8 t. pepper
• 1 t. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place milk and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with bread crumbs. In skillet over medium heat, brown chicken on both sides in butter and olive oil. Remove and place in preheated oven to keep warm.

Add broth to skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir to loosen browned bits from pan bottom. Stir in whipping cream and pimientos, boil and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat. Stir in Parmesan, basil and pepper and cook until heated through. Mix cornstarch with extra chicken broth and stir into skillet if needed to thicken sauce. Pour over chicken. Serve over angel hair pasta

Angel Hair Pasta

Asparagus

Super Bowl Sunday

1. Tonight is all about cheering for your favorite team and commercial.

Little Smokies in BBQ sauce

Baked Potato Skins

• Baked potatoes
• cheese
• bacon bits (no bacos, please)
• green onions
• sour cream

Bake potatoes, slice open and allow to cool slightly. Scoop out the insides leaving a ¼” ring of potato in the skin. Save the insides for Tuesday night's home fries. Place skins on a baking sheet and bake in a hot oven (400+ degrees) for 5-10 minutes to crisp the potato. Add cheese, bacon and green onions and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese. Serve with sour cream and/or salsa.

Chex Mix

Mix these items together and spread on a large baking sheet:

• 9 c chex cereal (all one, or mix it up)
• 1 c nuts
• 1 c pretzels
• 1 c goldfish

In a separate bowl mix these items together and pour over cereal mixture:

• 6T melted butter
• 2T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ tsp season salt
• ¾ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder

Bake 1 hour at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and add m&m's, raisins and anything else that strikes your fancy. I can't imagine that you will go wrong here. My only advice is that if it can melt or get gooey then add after baking.

Monday

Sausage Squash Soup (My mom's recipe binder)

• 1T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 cans (14.5oz) chicken broth
• 1 can Mexican style diced tomatoes
• ¾ – 1 lb halved and sliced zucchini
• ¾ – 1 lb halved and sliced squash
• 1 can corn, drained
• 4oz canned green chilies
• 1 package breakfast sausage, crumbled, cooked and very well drained (paper towels top and bottom)
• 1lb velveeta
• ¼ c cilantro

Heat oil in 4-6 quart pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 3-4 minutes until tender. Add oregano. Cook and stir 1 minute until fragrant. Add broth and tomatoes. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in squashes, corn, chilies, pepper, sausage. Return to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes until squash is tender. Stir in velveeta and cook, stirring often until cheese melts. Stir in cilantro. Makes 6 generous servings. Soup freezes and reheats well.

Tuesday

1. These are really good and a recipe that is worth doubling so you have some in the freezer for the next time you want them. Set aside what you want for tonight and then leave the remainder in the freezer until completely frozen (~4 hours) and drop into a ziplock bag to store. Then all you have to do is mix up a fresh batch of sauce.
2. It's come to my attention that not everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes from scratch, so this week I'm providing some guidance for those who don’t know.

BBQ Meatballs (Pioneer Woman)

FOR MEATBALLS

• 1-½ pound Ground Beef
• ¾ cups Oats
• 1 cup Milk
• 3 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion
• 1-½ teaspoon Salt
• Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste

FOR COOKING MEATBALLS

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating For Frozen Meatballs)
• Canola Oil

FOR SAUCE

• 1 cup Ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
• 4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion
• 1 dash Tabasco

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes. After 5 minutes, remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour. Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish. Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty French bread.

Home Fries (use innards from Sunday's baked potato skins)

Green Beans

Wednesday

1. This time of year you'll likely need to eat canned pears, but if you stumble across some good ones, by all means enjoy. Camp Texlake gave me the original pear/cheese combination, but Harry and David gave it a little more class. Who knew it was a delicacy to pair pears and cheese. Ok, I liked the pair pear/pair there; good thing I don’t have to pare down my words.
2. If you want to get really crazy you can add a jigger of bourbon at the end and this becomes Kentucky Burgoo.

Brunswick Stew (365 Ways to Cook Chicken)

• 2 c cooked chicken (or cook 3lbs worth of chicken in 2 quarts water)
• 1-1 ½ quarts chicken broth
• 1 ham bone (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 16 oz can Italian tomatoes, drained
• 2 onions chopped
• 10 oz frozen corn
• 10 oz lima beans (not at my house, but y’all go ahead)
• 10 oz frozen okra (after this summer's bumper crop can you believe I don’t have any in the freezer??? me either)
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper

In a dutch oven, combine all ingredients and simmer for 45-60 minutes until flavors are well blended.

Pears & Cheese

Thursday

Chicken Fried Rice (Menus4Moms)

• Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, chopped
• frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• corn if you like it
• meat (optional)
• soy sauce or tamari

Cook calrose rice according to directions. Heat some oil in wok or deep fry pan (I use about a tablespoon) and scramble one egg in it. Remove egg and add some more oil (I add about 3 tbsp) to the pan, heating. Add chopped onion, some thawed peas & carrots (and corn if you like), and anything else you like in your rice. We sometimes add leftover chicken or canned baby shrimp. When the onions are tender, add the rice and add soy sauce to taste and stir with a big flat wooden spoon or large cooking chopsticks, if you have them (mine are about 18" long). Add the cooked egg near the end of cooking time and stir well. When the rice is heated through and a bit crispy, it is ready to serve.

Frozen Egg Rolls

Friday

1. I'm a big believer in cooking things ahead of time if it will still taste good and save time, but these potatoes will be best served if you cook them right before you serve them.
2. Make chili from scratch, use some from your freezer or take it easy tonight and open a can of Wolf brand. :)

Chili Stuffed Baked Potatoes

• Baked potatoes, enough for each person to have one
• Janet's Super Secret Chili Recipe Mix; aka Wick Fowlers 2 alarm chili mix
• Cheese
• Onions/green onions
• Sour Cream

Apple Turnovers

• Frozen puff pastry, thawed or crescent rolls
• 2-3 thinly sliced peeled apples
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ c sugar
• 3-4 oz softened cream cheese
• 2T melted butter

Cut pastry into four equal pieces. Top with slices of apple and pour butter over the top of apples. Combine cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon divide among the pastry squares. Fold pastry over to seal in the apple-y goodness. Crimp edges. Cut slits into top of pastry. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.