Weekly Menu 12/17+

Saturday		meatloaf chocolate delight pie
Sunday		baked chicken baked potatoes green beans
Monday		15 bean soup crusty bread
Tuesday		impossible pie home fries
Wednesday		chicken fried rice eggs rolls citrus salad
Thursday		salisbury steak rice broccoli w/cheese
Friday		pizza

Saturday

1.       P-Dub makes up this meatloaf as sliders, but when I tried it I made it as a meatloaf and it was really good.  When she talks about forming patties, just put it all into a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

Meatloaf (Pioneer Woman)

·         ⅓ cups Mayonnaise

·         2 Tablespoons Ketchup

·         1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (less If You're Sensitive To Spice!)

·         4 Tablespoons Butter

·         ½ whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced

·         8 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Chopped Finely

·         ½ cups White Or Red Wine (optional)

·         4 dashes Worcestershire Sauce

·         Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper

·         2 pounds Ground Beef

·         4 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream

·         4 dashes Worcestershire Sauce

·         1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

·         Freshly Ground Black Pepper

·         4 slices Swiss Cheese, Cut Into Four Squares

·         8 whole Dinner (or Slider) Rolls, Split

Preparation Instructions

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, ketchup, and cayenne. Stir together until totally combined. Set aside. (This is the spicy fry sauce.)

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring frequently. Add mushrooms and toss around, then add wine (if using), Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Cook for several minute over medium heat, or until all liquid has evaporated. Transfer mushroom mixture to a separate bowl, scraping all contents from the skillet.

Mix ground beef, heavy cream, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly mix ingredients. Form 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the meat mixture into patties, making an indentation with your thumb to keep the patties from plumping too much when they cook. In the same skillet as the one used to cook the mushrooms, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium to medium-high heat. Add four patties at a time, indented side face up. Cook for 4 minutes, then flip. Spoon generous portion of mushroom mixture on each patty, then top with one or two squares of Swiss, depending on your preference. Place lid on skillet and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until burgers are cooked through and cheese is melted. Remove to a place and keep warm while you repeat with the rest of the meat mixture.

Toast halved buns under the oven broiler. Spread generously with spicy fry sauce. Place patties between buns and serve immediately with fried onion strings.

Chocolate Delight Pie (Menus4Moms)

·         8 oz. Baker's German sweet chocolate

·         1/2 cup milk

·         8 oz. cream cheese, softened

·         2 Tbsp. sugar

·         8 oz. tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

·         1 chocolate wafer crumb crust

Heat all but 3 squares of the chocolate with 1/4 of the milk. You can do this in the microwave (on high for 1-2 min.) or in a double boiler. Stir until completely melted. Beat in cream cheese, sugar, and remaining milk. Gently stir in whipped topping until smooth. Spoon into crust. Freeze until firm. Remove from freezer and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature until pie can be cut easily.

Sunday

1.       Cook a few extra potatoes tonight and keep them in your fridge unpeeled until Tuesday night. 

2.       If your potatoes are not very large (like <4” long) they will likely be cooked in the 45 minute baking time.  If you opt for larger potatoes get them started in the microwave for a few minutes so they will finish at the same time as your chicken. 

3.       If you have any kids that you can make this cake with, it could be a great object lesson for the season.  Thanks Cindy for sharing the link. 

Baked Ranch Chicken

Sprinkle dry ranch dressing mix on pieces of chicken.  Bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes.

Baked Potatoes

Green Beans

Jesus’ Birthday Cake (Squidoo)

Monday

1.       Put your beans on to soak the night before in your crockpot and then in a small bowl have all your dry spices measured out so you can just pour them in first thing in the morning. 

15 bean soup (aka Minestrone)

      §  2 c dried bean mixture

§  1-2 lbs trimmed stew meat, or ham bone, or skip the meat tonight

§  Up to 1T salt (if you’re using a ham bone you might want to cut this amount in half)

§  ½ tsp pepper

§  16 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

§  1 large onion, chopped

§  1 tsp minced garlic

§  Cayenne pepper (to taste –as in none for me, thanks)

§  2 quarts water

§  ¾ to 1 c small shell macaroni

Wash bean mixture.  Put in crock pot to soak overnight.  Drain beans, add remaining ingredients (except pasta) with water going in last so that crockpot is full.  Cook on low all day.  Either cook pasta on stove top or add to soup and let cook for about 30-45 more minutes until pasta is tender. 

OR simmer on stovetop 1 ½ hours.  Add macaroni and cook 30-45 min longer.  

Crusty Bread

Tuesday

Impossible Bacon Cheeseburger Pie (Betty Crocker)

·         ¼ c real bacon bits

·         1-2 c cooked ground beef

·         ¼ t pepper

·         1c chopped onion

·         ¼ c ketchup

·         1 c shredded cheddar cheese

·         ½ c bisquick

·         1 c milk

·         2-3 eggs

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray. Sautee pepper and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, add in cooked ground beef.  Stir in ketchup. Spread in pie plate; sprinkle with cheese and bacon.   In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients with wire whisk or fork until blended. Pour into pie plate.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve with additional ketchup if desired.

Home fries

Peel and cube leftover baked potatoes from Sunday.  Heat oil in large skillet.  Add potatoes and brown until crisp.  Add onion slices if you’d like. 

Wednesday

Chicken Fried Rice (Menus4Moms)

§  Calrose rice, cooked (about 2-3 cups)

§  1 egg

§  1 onion, chopped

§  frozen peas and carrots, thawed

§  corn if you like it

§  meat (optional, not on grocery list)

§  soy sauce or tamari

Cook calrose rice according to directions or reheat rice if you made extra last week. Heat some oil in wok or deep fry pan (I use about a tablespoon) and scramble one egg in it. Remove egg and add some more oil (I add about 3 tbsp) to the pan, heating. Add chopped onion, some thawed peas & carrots (and corn if you like), and anything else you like in your rice. We sometimes add leftover chicken or canned baby shrimp. When the onions are tender, add the rice and add soy sauce to taste and stir with a big flat wooden spoon or large cooking chopsticks, if you have them (mine are about 18" long). Add the cooked egg near the end of cooking time and stir well. When the rice is heated through and a bit crispy, it is ready to serve.

Egg Rolls (frozen)

Tangerines

Thursday

Salisbury Steak

§  1 lb ground meat (or at least 1 patty per person)

§  8 oz mushrooms

§  ¼ c sliced onions (or more)

§  1 package brown gravy mix

§  2 c water

Form patties and brown both sides in a skillet.  Patties don’t need to be completely cooked through at this point, but remove to a plate and cover.  Drain fat if needed.  In same skillet brown onions and sautee mushrooms until they begin to get tender.  Return patties to skillet.  Add 2 c water and gravy mix.  Simmer until gravy is thickened and patties are cooked to your liking. 

Rice

Broccoli w/Cheese

Friday

Pizza