Weekly Menu 8/20+

Saturday		pinto beans sweet cornbread banana split dessert
Sunday		skillet pork chops  homemade rice a roni  applesauce  broccoli
Monday		tuna pico de gallo
Tuesday		grilled chicken  red potatoes  green beans
Wednesday		tacos  fruit w/ yogurt
Thursday		chicken squash casserole  salad
Friday		BLTs on Texas toast cantaloupe/watermelon

Saturday

1.       Put your beans on to soak early in the day or the night before. 

2.        I finally found the long lost dessert recipe that I teased yall with a few weeks back. 

Pinto Beans

·         2 c dried beans

·         Water to cover for soaking and starting to cook

·         1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

·         1 tsp pepper

·         Brown sugar

·         Worcestershire sauce

·         ½ onion, chopped

·         2-3 cloves garlic

·         1 tsp cumin

Bring beans to a boil and then reduce and simmer for 2-3 hours, be sure to check that they are covered with water.  If the liquid starts to boil away, add some more water.  As they get closer to being done, don’t add too much water so that they don’t have too much soup with them. 

Sweet Cornbread

·         Jiffy corn muffin mix + 1 tsp sugar

Banana Split Dessert (adapted from Kraft Food & Family)

·         1 ½ c graham cracker crumbs

·         ¼ c sugar (crust) + 1 c sugar (w/ cream cheese)

·         ½ c (1 stick) butter, melted

·         16 oz cream cheese

·         20oz can crushed pineapple

·         2-3 oz chocolate syrup

·         6 bananas

·         2 c cold milk

·         2-4 serving packages vanilla pudding

·         2 c thawed cool whip

·         1 c chopped pecans

·         12 maraschino cherries

Mix crumbs, ¼ c sugar and butter.  Press into bottom of 9x13 pan; bake 10 min at 375 then cool.  Beat cream cheese and 1 c sugar in bowl with electric mixer.  Carefully spread cream cheese mixture over crust; top with chocolate syrup in thin drizzles and then top with pineapple.  Slice 4 of the bananas; arrange over pineapple.  Mix up pudding with milk until well blended;  Stir in 1 c whipped topping; spread over banana layer.  Top with remaining whipped topping; sprinkle with pecans and cherries.  Refrigerate 5 hours.  Just before serving slice remaining 2 bananas over dessert. 

Sunday

1.        I’ve made these chops twice now and really like the tenderness they get from the extra simmer they get in the covered skillet. 

Skillet Pork Chops

·         4-5 pork chops

·         Flour

·         Salt & pepper

·         2-3 T Oil

Salt and pepper chops and dredge through flour.  Heat oil in skillet and brown chops about 4-5 minutes per side.  Remove any excess oil from pan and then cover and simmer on very low heat for ~20 minutes. 

Rice-a-roni

·         1 c rice

·         ¼ c vermicelli, crushed

·         ¼ c butter

·         2 ½ c chicken or beef stock

·         2T parsley

Sauté rice and vermicelli in butter until vermicelli starts to brown.  Add stock, stir and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes until rice is tender.  Add parsley and fluff with a fork. 

Broccoli

Applesauce

Monday

Tuna Pico de Gallo

·         2 cans tuna, drained

·         2-3 roma tomatoes

·         ½ c chopped onion

·         1 small seeded jalapeno, or don’t seed it if you like the heat

·         ¼ c chopped cilantro

·         Salt and pepper

·          

Tuesday

Grilled Chicken

I used a bottled marinade the other day and I must admit that was some of the best tasting chicken I’d had in a very long time.  So that’s my recommendation for today.  Be sure to pour the marinade on early enough in the day so the flavor can really sink in. 

Red Potatoes

Green Beans

Wednesday

Tacos

Fruit with vanilla yogurt

Combine grapes, apples, pecans and vanilla yogurt

Thursday

Squash Casserole (Texas Co-op)

·         1T butter

·         1lb bulk Italian sausage, browned

·         1 lb yellow squash

·         ½ c mayo

·         ½ c chopped onion

·          ¼ c chopped bell pepper

·         ½ c pecan pieces

·         ½ c shredded cheddar

·         1 large egg

·         Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and sides of a 1 ½ qt casserole dish with butter.  Slice squash and brown sausage.  Mix together mayo, onion, pepper, pecans, cheese and egg.  Add squash and sausage. Put mixture in casserole.  Top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake 40-50 minutes. 

Salad

Friday

1.        Be sure you grill the bread in a skillet so that one side is buttery and slightly toasted and the other side is soft and gooey. 

BLT on Texas Toast

Cantaloupe/Watermelon