Weekly Menu 9/17+

Saturday		Regina's pork chops cheesy grits green beans
Sunday		chicken spaghetti garlic bread apple cake with praline frosting
Monday		really easy mexican casserole mexicorn salad
Tuesday		baked chicken rice spinach
Wednesday		A-1 slow cooker swiss steak noodles broccoli
Thursday		zucchinni pizza casserole
Friday		chicken fried rice frozen egg rolls oranges

I’ve got all sorts of different bullets for the ingredient lists below.  I’m trying to figure out which ones will work on the blog.  Sorry if that messes with your OCD tendencies.  Hopefully I’ll figure one out and can make the switch. 

Saturday

1.       This is a very tasty recipe, but it takes a little while to cook, so that makes it a good weekend recipe.

Regina’s Pork Chops

·         2-3 lbs pork chops

·         Olive oil

·         2-3 sliced onions (in rings)

·         1 can golden mushroom soup

·         1 c wine

·         1 pkg dry onion soup mix + 1 ½ cans water

Saute chops in olive oil, until brown, set aside add more oil and onion rings cook down.  Add chops, golden mushroom soup, wine, dry soup mix and water.  Simmer covered 45 minute and uncovered 90 more minutes. 

Cheesy Grits (Pioneer Woman)

-8 slices Regular Bacon, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces

-1 whole Yellow Onion, Chopped

-2 cups Stone Ground Grits; The More Coarse, The Better!

-4 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

-2 cups Water

-2 cups Heavy Cream (sorry)

-1-1/2 cup Grated Cheese (Monterey Jack, Etc.)

-1 dash Cayenne, For Heat

-Salt As Needed

-Black Pepper To Taste

In a heavy pot, cook bacon over medium heat for a couple of minutes to render fat. Add onions and cook with bacon for a few minutes, or until bacon is chewy and onions are golden brown.

Add grits, chicken broth, and water. Stir together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover pot, and cook 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure the liquid level is okay. If grits begin to get dry, add a little more warm broth.

After 30-40 minutes of cooking time, pour in cream. Cover pot and continue to simmer on very low heat for another 30 minutes, or until grits are done. Taste and add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese. Keep warm and serve.

Peas

Sunday

1.        This makes a double batch and gives you an extra to spare. 

2.       This cake is on the cover of Southern Living and while at the orthodontist office, I asked them to make a copy for ‘us’.  Looks divine!

3.       It’s a bit of cooking today, but oh I think you’ll be happy that there will be leftovers for several days on both items. 

Chicken Spaghetti (Carol Brinkmann)

-          1 boiled or otherwise cooked chicken removed from the bones ~3-4 c.

-          1c chopped celery

-          1c chopped onion

-          1 chopped bell pepper

-          16 oz spaghetti, cooked in chicken stock

-          1 stick butter

If you need to boil the chicken today, reserve the liquid for cooking the spaghetti.  Melt butter and saute celery, onion and pepper; combine with chicken in 9x13 pan.  Add in spaghetti. 

-          1 stick butter

-          1 c flour

-          4 c milk

-          1 can cream of mushroom soup

-          1 lb velveeta

Stir these ingredients over a low heat until well blended.  Pour sauce over chicken,veggies and spaghetti mixture in pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Garlic Bread

Apple Cream Cheese Bundt Cake (Southern Living)

Cream Cheese Filling

-          8 oz cream cheese, softened

-          ¼ c butter

-          ½ c sugar

-          1 large egg

-          2T flour

-          1 tsp vanilla extract

Apple Cake Batter

-          1 c finely chopped pecans

-          3 c flour

-          1 c sugar

-          2 tsp cinnamon

-          1 tsp salt

-          1 tsp baking soda

-          1 tsp nutmeg

-          ½ tsp allspice

-          3 eggs

-          ¾ c canola oil

-          ¾ c applesauce

-          1 tsp vanilla

-          3 c peeled and finely chopped gala apples (my favorite)

Praline Frosting

-          ½ c brown sugar

-          ¼ c butter

-           3T milk

-          1 tsp vanilla

-          1 c powdered sugar

Prepare filling by mixing all ingredients together in small bowl with electric mixer. 

Prepare batter: preheat oven to 350.  Bake pecans in shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant (don’t burn ‘em).  Stir together dry ingredients.  Add eggs and next three items.  Stir just until moistened.  Stir in apples and pecans.  Spoon 2/3 of batter into a greased and floured bundt pan.  Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of that, leaving a 1” border around edges of pan.  Swirl filling through batter using a paring knife.  Fill in remaining apple mixture.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.  Prepare frosting: bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil in a 2qt saucepan over medium heat; whisk constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.  Gradually whisk in powdered sugar.  Stir 3-5 more minutes until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly.  Pour immediately over cooled cake. 

Monday

Really Easy Mexican Casserole (Mom)

-          1 pound ground beef  or 2 c cooked

-          Tortilla chips

-          1 can Ranch Style Beans, un-drained

-          1 can cream of mushroom soup

-          Velveeta

-          1 can Rotel

Brown beef and drain.  Layer ingredients in a 1-1/2  to 2 quart casserole dish in this order:  Tortilla chips slightly crushed, beans, soup, cheese and Rotel.  (Slice the Velveeta...not too thick...and lay slices over the top of casserole to cover the whole area.) 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  This recipe can easily be doubled (I cut it in half originally).  If doubling, use a 9x13 pan.

 (Mom says: We love this one and I fix it quite often!)

Mexicorn

Salad

Tuesday

Baked Chicken

Spinach

Rice

Wednesday

A-1 Swiss Steak (Kraft Food & Family)

-2lb beef roast, cut into 1” pieces

-¼ c A1 steak sauce

-1 sliced onion

-14oz diced tomatoes, undrained

Add all ingredients into crockpot stir and cook on low 9-10 hours.  Mix 2T flour and ¼ c water.  Stir into meat mixture and cook, covered 5 min or until sauce is thickened. 

Buttered Noodles

Broccoli

Thursday

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

-          4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini

-          1/2 teaspoon salt

-          2 eggs

-          1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

-          2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

-          1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

-          1 pound ground beef

-          1/2 cup chopped onion

-          1 can (15 ounces) Italian tomato sauce

-          1 medium green pepper, chopped

Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10 minutes.  Squeeze out moisture.  Combine zucchini with the eggs, Parmesan and half of the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.   Press into greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.  Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Add tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture.

Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; add green pepper.  Bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Friday

Chicken Fried Rice

§  14 oz. bag stir-fry frozen vegetables

§  1 lb. raw boneless chicken*, shrimp, or beef

§  1 bottle Kikkoman Stir-fry sauce

§  olive oil

§  Calrose rice, cooked

Slice or chop meat if using chicken or beef. If using shrimp, peel it and take the tail off. You can use frozen tail-off shrimp if you want to make it easier.  In a wok or large fry pan, sauté meat or shrimp in oil until done.  If using shrimp, remove shrimp from pan to prevent overcooking.  Add frozen vegetables and cook until hot and water from frozen veggies cooks out.  Add shrimp back to veggies.  Pour 1/2 - 3/4 bottle of the stir fry sauce over everything and simmer until bubbly.  Serve over rice (for children it may be better to serve rice with soy sauce and stir-fry separately).

Frozen egg rolls

Oranges