Weekly Menu 12/3+

Saturday		okra gumbo rice sliced bananas in orange juice
Sunday		shrimp scampi angel hair pasta spinach
Monday		el rancho grande corn banana pudding
Tuesday		pork roast rice green beans
Wednesday		chicken alfredo noodles broccoli
Thursday		ham eggs pancakes
Friday		sausage wraps tortillas chocolate chip cookies

 Saturday

Turkey and Sausage Gumbo (365 Ways to Cook Chicken)

§  2 tsp black pepper

§  ½ -1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)

§  1 ½ paprika

§  1 tsp dry mustard

§  1 tsp garlic powder

§  1 tsp salt

§  ¼ c (1/2 stick) + ½ c (1 stick) butter

§   ½ c flour

§  ¾ c chopped onion

§  ¾ c chopped celery

§  ¾ c chopped bell pepper

§  2 cloves garlic finely chopped

§  1 ½ quarts chicken/turkey stock

§  2 c sliced sausage (andouille or kielbasa)

§  1 bay leaf

§  2-3 c cooked chicken or turkey

§  2 c frozen or fresh okra

Combine all spice ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.  Melt ¼ c butter in a large dutch oven add chopped veggies and cook until tender.  Remove to medium sized bowl.  Melt the ½ c butter and add flour.  Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture turns nut brown; up to 30 minutes.  Whisk in 1c of stock to the roux; until smooth.  Add remaining broth, stirring with a whisk until well blended.  Add veggies and seasonings, chicken, bay leaf, sausage; cook 40 minutes.  Add okra and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until thickened.   Serve over rice. 

1. This is a super easy recipe and you can thaw the shrimp in a bowl of cold water in less than 15 minutes.   

Sunday

Shrimp Scampi

• 1 pkg (16 oz) frozen raw shrimp (31-35 per lb), thawed, peeled, and patted dry
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Melt butter and mix with pressed garlic; set aside. Heat oil in a large fry pan (cast iron is best). Toss shrimp with flour and salt until coated, then add to heated oil. Cook shrimp on first side until pink color creeps about 1/3 of the way up the side, then turn over. Cook until thoroughly cooked through. Add butter and garlic mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes, stirring gently. Serve immediately over pasta.

Angel Hair Pasta

Spinach Salad

• 2-3 c washed spinach leaves
• 2 boiled eggs, sliced
• fresh sliced mushrooms

§  2-3T bacon bits

Monday

1.       This is so much fun to say, especially if you really roll your R’s.  Reminds me of Sra. Chapman’s Spanish class…Erre con erre cigarro…. Sorry I got side tracked. 

2.       If you want to get crazy indulgent with the pudding you can substitute ½ cup of cream for the ½ cup of the milk.  You can finish using the rest of the cream on Wednesday. 

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

Corn

Banana Pudding

Layer vanilla or banana flavored pudding with slices of fresh bananas and ‘nilla wafers. 

Tuesday

Pork Roast

§  3-4 lb pork roast

§  1 can green chile enchilada sauce

§  Salt & pepper

§  Onion, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook all day.

Rice

Green Beans

Wednesday

1.       This cooks up very quickly and is SO good. 

2.       If you used some of the cream for you banana pudding, you’ll use up the rest of the pint tonight, plus that means you won’t need to get a measuring cup dirty tonight; one less dish to wash!

Creamy Chicken Alfredo

·         ¼ c flour

·         6 boneless chicken

·         1t salt

·         2T olive oil

·         3 cloves garlic

·         1T minced onion

·         1 ½ c whipping cream

·         1/3 c parmesan cheese

·         ½ t pepper

·         1T chopped parsley

Sprinkle chicken with salt and dredge chicken through flour in shallow dish.  Heat 2T oil in large skillet.  Add chicken and cook, turning once until golden; about 2-4 minutes per side.  Chicken does not need to be fully cooked.  Place chicken in a 9x13 pan.  Heat remaining oil in skillet add garlic and onion; cook until garlic is fragrant and onion is tender about 1-2 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-high; add whipping cream, parmesan and pepper.  Cook until sauce is bubbly and slightly thickened; about 2-3 minutes.  Spoon sauce over chicken in dish.  Bake about 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees or until chicken reaches 180 degrees. 

Pasta

Broccoli

Thursday

Ham (perhaps leftover from Thanksgiving?)

Eggs

Pancakes

Grapes or Oranges

Friday

Sausage Wraps

Heat your favorite sausage link and wrap in a tortilla with mustard or ketchup

Carrot Sticks

Chocolate Chip Cookies

§  1 c butter, softened

§  ¾ c brown sugar

§  ¾ c sugar

§  1 tsp vanilla

§  2 eggs

§  1 tsp baking soda

§  1 tsp salt

§  2 ½ c flour

§  1 c chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars together, add vanilla and eggs.  Mix until very creamy almost fluffy if you can get it to that stage.  The softer your butter the easier it is to get there.  Add in soda and salt, then slowly add the flour.  Finally chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Save some for later: place a piece of wax paper on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Scoop dough onto paper and place in freezer until frozen.  Move to a Ziploc bag or other storage container.  Next time someone wants a freshly baked cookie you are ready to go with just extending the baking time a few minutes.