Weekly Menu 8/27+

Saturday		beef & bacon stroganoff noodles green beans
Sunday		roasted sticky chicken baked potatoes broccoli
Monday		pick your favorite salad
Tuesday		salisbury steak potatoes peas
Wednesday		cajun macque choux rice
Thursday		spaghetti garlic bread salad
Friday		cowboy pie refried beans w/ cream cheese

Saturday

Beef and Bacon Stroganoff  (Mom)

·         1 lb ground beef (I used a roast, cut up into smaller pieces)

·         5 thick-sliced bacon strips, chopped

·         1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

·         1 medium onion, chopped

·         2 garlic cloves, minced

·         2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

·         1 can (14 ½ oz) beef broth (I used French Onion soup + ½ can water)

·         1 can condensed cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup, undiluted

·         2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

·         1 teaspoon pepper

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         ¼ teaspoon paprika

·         1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

·         2 teaspoons prepared horseradish

In a large skillet, over medium heat, cook the beef, bacon, mushrooms, onion and garlic until beef is no longer pink. Stir in flour until blended.  Mix broth, soup, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt and paprika.  Pour over meat mixture.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  (Since I used a roast, I decided that I should simmer longer and I simmered covered for 45 minutes).  Stir horseradish into sour cream, then stir into the meat mixture.  Heat through but do not boil.

Egg Noodles

Green Beans

Sunday

Roasted Sticky Chicken

1.       Saturday night get your chicken ready. If you are just getting to the store on today, get it marinating as soon in the day as possible.

2.       Use 3-4 lbs of pieces of chicken if you'd rather not mess with a whole bird.

Roasted Sticky Chicken  (Menus4Moms)

·         1 large chicken -- (roasting)

·         1 cup onion -- chopped

·         1/2 teaspoon black pepper

·         1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

·         1 teaspoon white pepper

·         1 teaspoon thyme

·         1 teaspoon onion powder

·         1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         2 teaspoons paprika

·         4 teaspoons salt

This should have been done last night: In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a re-sealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

OR you can cook chicken in an oven roasting bag for five hours at 250 degrees. Of course all the food safety experts are probably freaking out about this low cooking temperature, but five hours of cooking has to weigh in somewhere. Use your best judgment.

Baked Potatoes

I like to wash and prick the potatoes, sprinkle some salt on them and then cook them on HI in the microwave for about 5 minutes, just to get them warmed up and started cooking.  Finish them in the oven in about 30 minutes and you’ll avoid the gummy texture of a nuked potato. 

Broccoli

Monday

Pick your Favorite Salad, or one that you haven’t had a chance to make yet this summer.  I might do the Frito salad again with the Catalina dressing….

Tuesday

1.        This isn’t necessarily the most gourmet version of Salisbury steak, but the idea is to get something onto the table for dinner tonight and not take forever in making it happen. 

Salisbury Steak

·         1lb ground meat

·         salt & pepper

·         1 sliced onion

·         8 oz mushrooms

·         1 packet brown gravy mix

Mix salt and pepper into ground meat; shape into patties.  Brown patties on both sides and remove to a plate; drain all but 2T fat.  Sautee mushrooms and onions in remaining fat or add a little butter if ya need to; cook for ~ 5min. Add gravy mix and water (listed on packet) stir well to get out the lumps.  Return meat to skillet stir well.  Reduce heat , cover and simmer about 10 minutes until gravy is thickened and meat is cooked through. 

Potatoes

Peas

Wednesday

1.       This recipe came from a cookbook on J’s shelf while I was visiting them this summer.  After making this I’ve adjusted the original recipe to make it more practical.  For example, the original recipe called for fresh corn and then ‘milking’ the cobs to get the corn starch from them.  The crazy thing is that the recipe never had you add the ‘corn milk’. 

2.       I think this was tantamount to chopping off the ends of the roast before you put it in the pan, cuz Grandma did it that way.  Well duh, her pan was too short and I don’t know what she did with corn milk except give it to the chickens.  I used frozen corn and the chickens ate bugs instead. 

Cajun Macque Choux (Mom’s Best One-Dish Suppers)

·         4 c corn (5-6 ears, if you want to scrape it off yourself)

·         2 strips bacon chopped, reserve the fat (I used real bacon bits and butter)

·         1 diced onion

·         1 each green & red pepper, diced

·         1 chili diced & seeded

·         4 roma tomatoes, diced

·         1 c fresh okra, chopped (this is optional, but I had it on hand and it was a great addition)

·         ½ c cream

·         2T fresh basil

·         1 tsp thyme

·         ¼ tsp black pepper + ¼ tsp white pepper

·         Salt

·         1 lb peeled shrimp (or 2 c diced chicken)

·         2 scallions, chopped (white and green parts)

·         2T parsley, chopped

Cook veggies in butter or bacon fat.  Add corn and tomatoes; stir in cream and reduce.  Add basil, thyme, pepper, salt.  Cover, reduce heat to medium, simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in shrimp, cover simmer 5 minutes.  Stir in scallions and parsley. 

Rice

Thursday

Spaghetti

Garlic Bread

Salad

Friday

Cowboy Pie

·         1 lb bulk pork sausage, cooked

·         2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

·         2 eggs

·         2/3 c milk

·         1 tsp sugar

·         ½ c grated cheddar cheese

·         2T butter, cut in small pieces

Cook the sausage in a cast iron skillet; drain.  While sausage cooks, mix up corn bread batter including sugar.  Allow to sit for about five minutes before pouring over meat.  Sprinkle cheese over the cooked meat.  While the skillet is still hot, pour the corn bread mixture over the meat and cheese.  Push the batter around the meat and then push in the little pieces of butter into the batter.  It creates these delightful little pockets of goodness when the pie is all baked.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through; slice and then serve in wedges. 

Refried Beans with cream cheese

                Combine one can of refried beans with 2-4 oz of soft cream cheese with chives.