Weekly Menu 10/8+

Technical difficulties last night... sorry for the delay

Saturday		hamburgers tater tots
Sunday		chicken with basil cream sauce angel hair pasta carrot salad
Monday		tortellini soup crusty bread
Tuesday		el rancho grande easy waldorf
Wednesday		potato sausage skillet broccoli
Thursday		baked chicken corn green beans
Friday		tortilla wraps with honey mustard

Saturday

Hamburgers

I was reading my new cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen and learned that you can make a juicier burger by spreading out the uncooked beef on a cookie sheet in ‘crumbles’, then pour a few melted tablespoons of butter over the meat before you create your patties.  They referred to them as ‘pub burgers’.  Sounds really good; not particularly healthy, but you could also sauté some garlic in the butter first. 

Tater Tots

Sunday

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

Carrot Salad

·         3 c shredded carrots

·         ½ c mayo

·         ¼ c raisins

Mix it all up and let it chill for an hour if you have time. 

Monday

Tortellini Soup (Laura)

-1 lb bulk Italian sausage

-2 cups water

-2 cups chopped cabbage

-1 can Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped

-1 can beef broth

-1 can condensed French onion soup

-1 pkg (9oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini

-1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the water, cabbage, tomatoes, broth and soup.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes.  Stir in tortellini and cook 7-9 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.  Sprinkle with cheese. 

Laura's Note: I added a little extra beef broth and some more water to make it a tad more soupy.  Great with fresh bread! 

Crusty Bread

Tuesday

El Rancho Grande

·         2 c cooked ground beef

·         6 tsp (1 packet) taco seasoning mix

·         1 small bell pepper, chopped

·         1 small onion, chopped

·         ½ c chopped celery

·         16 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained

·         2 c water

·         1 c egg noodles (6 oz)

Sautee the veggies, then add in remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes.  Top with American cheese if desired (and oh, I desire that). 

Easy Waldorf Salad

Mix chopped apples, grapes, chopped pecans and vanilla yogurt.

Wednesday

Potato Sausage Skillet

·         1 link sausage

·         2-3 par-boiled cubed potatoes

·         1 sliced onion

Cut sausage into half-moon slices or another shape that would give a good amount of surface area.  Par-boiling your potatoes just means boiling them for 10 minutes or so to get them started cooking so you aren’t trying to cook big thick cubes in the frying pan.  Crunchy in the middle potatoes are not tasty.  Salt and pepper the potatoes.  Combine all ingredients in a skillet with some canola oil over high heat.  Don’t stir for at least 4 minutes to allow a nice browning to happen to all items.  Then flip over and allow to brown again on the next group/side. 

Broccoli

Thursday

1.       Bake extra chicken for Sunday night’s enchiladas.  You’ll need about four cups to make a double batch. 

Baked Chicken

Corn

Green Beans

Friday

Tortilla Wraps with Honey Mustard

Mix equal parts honey and mustard and viola’ you have the sauce for your wraps.  You can buy the burrito sized tortillas to make the wraps in.  Spread honey mustard on warmed tortilla, top with deli meat, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, etc.  Wrap folding in the sides as you roll.  Cut at an angle to make you think that this came from a fancy sandwich shop.