Weekly Menu 8/13+

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Saturday		grilled pork chops corn on the cob watermelon
Sunday		chicken marsala linguine zucchini
Monday		shrimp avocado salad dinner rolls
Tuesday		meatloaf sweet potato fries green beans
Wednesday		biscuits & gravy eggs cantaloupe
Thursday		sausage, pasta, broccoli banana pudding
Friday		margherrita-pizza-dilla

Saturday

1.        Put your pork chops in a Ziploc with a bottled marinade in the morning, just before you pour your bowl of Post-Toasties (do they even make those anymore?).  They’ll be ready to go this evening when you go out and fire up the grill.    

Grilled Pork Chops

Corn on the Cob

Watermelon

Sunday

Chicken Marsala (Tasty Kitchen)

·         4 whole Chicken Breasts

·         1 cup Flour

·         1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

·         8 ounces, weight Mushrooms, Sliced

·         ¾ cups Marsala Wine

·         ¾ cups Chicken Broth

·         1 teaspoon Salt

·         1 teaspoon Pepper

·         ¼ cups Parsley, Chopped

Pound the chicken breasts down to 1/4 inch thickness and season with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow bowl and coat the chicken evenly, shaking off excess flour.  Heat olive oil in a large pan and add chicken. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm.  Add more oil to the pan and saute the mushrooms until golden brown. Stir in marsala wine and chicken broth. Cook the liquid until it has reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Season with salt, pepper and parsley. Pour the sauce/mushrooms over the chicken and enjoy!

Linguine

Zucchini

Monday

Shrimp Avocado Salad

·         1 lb cooked peeled boiled shrimp

·         1 can black beans, rinsed

·         1 avocado

·         1 carrot

·         1 red bell pepper

·         1 c jicama (optional)

·         1 c cucumber

·         ½ c scallions

·         1 tsp minced chiles

Combine all ingredients for salad topping over butter lettuce (or other lettuce).  Top with vinaigrette.   

Cilantro-lime vinaigrette

·         3T lime juice

·         1T white wine vinegar

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         ½ c chopped cilantro

·         2T olive oil

Dinner Rolls or tortilla chips

Tuesday

Meatloaf

·         2lb ground beef

·         Stove top stuffing

·         1 c water

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         ½ c bbq sauce

Heat oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients except ¼ bbq sauce.  Shape meat into an oval loaf in 9x13 pan; top with remaining bbq sauce.  Bake 1 hour. 

Sweet Potato Fries

Green Beans

Pears with mayo and cheddar

Wednesday

1.        Use canned biscuits, bisquick drop or rolled biscuits or get crazy and try these heavy cream biscuits.  You should try them at least once in your life with the cream.  They just melt right into your thighs; so good.  Ok, so I’ve made them more than once; I’ve had the recipe since 1994.

Biscuits & Gravy

Touch of Grace Biscuits (Family Circle 2/22/94)

·         ¾ c flour (not self-rising)

·         ¾ c cake flour (Swan’s Down in the box)

·         1 T sugar

·         1 ½ tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp salt

·         1/8 tsp baking soda

·         3T shortening or butter

·         1 c heavy cream (or ¾ c buttermilk if you want  to go lighter)

Heat oven to 475.  Grease an 8 or 9” round cake pan.  In medium bowl mix all dry ingredients, cut in shortening until lumps are no larger than small peas (think pie crust).  Stir in cream/buttermilk.  Dough will be very wet.  Put 1c additional flour into a shallow dish or plate.  Flour hands well.  Scoop up 2T dough (a cookie scoop works really well) and drop into flour.  Sprinkle more flour over dough.  Gently pick up clump of dough and shape into a soft round ball by passing it from hand to hand, shaking off excess flour.  Place in middle of prepared pan; dough will spread out.  Shape 9 more biscuits the same way.  Brush tops with melted butter.  Bake 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Cook before serving.

Eggs

Cantaloupe

Thursday

1.        I copied this recipe down from a Rachel Ray cookbook while visiting with J&C.  J said she hadn’t made anything from that cookbook yet.  I thought this tasted pretty good, but L said he didn’t want to eat it, but he’s not a big fan of pasta either.  So there is your grain of salt.  Oh after actually cooking this, I’m giving you my modified version because it will be easier. 

Sausage, pasta, broccoli (Rachel Ray)

·         12 oz short pasta (mini-bowtie), cooked

·         ½ c pasta water, reserved

·         1 c cottage cheese

·         1 tsp lemon zest + juice of lemon

·         1 lb Italian sausage cooked (casing removed)

·         2-3 c broccoli florets

·         1T EVOO (olive oil)

·         1 medium onion chopped

·         4 garlic cloves

·         ¼ tsp red pepper

·         1 ½ c chicken stock

·         ½ c flat leaf parsley

·         ½ c parmesan cheese

Start pasta boiling, reserve ½ c water.  Add parsley to cooked pasta.  In small bowl combine cottage cheese, lemon zest, plus salt and pepper; set aside. 

Cook meat if you haven’t already, remove to plate to drain.  Spread olive oil and veggies (broccoli, onion, garlic, red pepper) in large skillet; season with salt & pepper.  Let it brown a little before you stir the veggies the first time.  Return sausage to veggies, add chicken stock, pasta water and lemon juice.  Cook until broccoli is tender and cooked.  Add parsley to cooked pasta if you haven’t already, then grated cheese.  To serve: place a dollop of cottage cheese on plate, then top with pasta and finally meat/broccoli mixture.

Banana Pudding

·         1 package vanilla pudding

·         2 c milk

·         2 ripe bananas

·         15-20 nilla wafers

Mix up pudding and milk.  Slice bananas and stir in gently with spoon.  Push wafers into pudding and be sure to top with a happy face of nilla wafers. 

Friday

Margherita Pizza-dillas

·         Flour tortillas

·         1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

·         1/2 medium onion, minced

·         1 sprig parsley, chopped

·         1 large clove garlic, minced

·         1/4 teaspoon dry oregano

·         1 ½ c whole canned tomatoes (not crushed), drained

·         1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves, torn

·         3 ounces fresh mozzarella (in liquid), thinly sliced  (or regular mozzarella)

·         2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         Freshly ground black pepper and salt

In a 10-inch skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high. Sauté onion and parsley to golden, then stir in garlic and oregano for a few seconds. Add tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan (do not substitute crushed tomatoes). Boil, stirring, 5 minutes or until thick.  Place tortilla in hot cast iron skillet.  Spread thin layer of sauce over tortilla, sprinkle with basil, mozzarella, and finally the oil. Finish with generous black pepper and a little salt.  Top with another tortilla.  Flip, and cut into wedges.