Weekly Menu 6/30+

Saturday		turkey burgers baked beans cantaloupe
Sunday		lasagna garlic bread salad
Monday		tacos avocados fruit cocktail
Tuesday		chicken alfredo broccoli angel hair pasta banana split cake
Wednesday		brisket hot dogs macaroni salad watermelon
Thursday		blueberry chocolate chip bacon bit  pancakes cantaloupe
Friday		make your own pizza salad grapes

Saturday

This recipe is great to double and put extras in the freezer.  Form extra patties on the end of a 4-5” strip of waxed paper.  Fold over the paper and then stack all the extras in a freezer bag. 

Turkey Burgers(Taste of Home)

3/4 cup chopped sweet onion

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 medium carrot, grated

1/4 cup dry red wine or Progresso ® Chicken Broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 pound lean ground turkey (or beef)

1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided

In a large nonstick skillet, saute onion in butter for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and carrot; cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add the wine, salt and pepper; simmer for 2-3 minutes or until liquid is evaporated.

Transfer to a large bowl; cool slightly. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix well. Shape into four patties. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  (if you are in a rush, you can skip this step)  Grill patties, uncovered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 8-10 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 165° and juices run clear, brushing occasionally with 1/4 cup barbecue sauce.

Sunday

This is for double the recipe.  It’s really good so I always double it, plus doubling the recipe doesn’t add any significant amount to the prep time. 

Lasagna (from Better Homes & Gardens)

2lb ground meat (beef/pork/italian sausage)

1 c chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

2-16oz whole tomatoes crushed or 28oz can crushed + 14 oz can diced

2-8oz tomato sauce

2-6oz tomato paste

4t basil

1t salt

no boil lasagna noodles

4 eggs

5c cottage cheese (24oz + 16 oz container)

1 ½ c parmesan cheese

4T parsley

2lb sliced provolone

Cook meat, onion and garlic till meat is browned (or use frozen meat); drain.  Stir in the tomatoes, basil and salt.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, beat eggs; add cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and parsley.  In a 9x13 pan put ~1/2 c sauce down on bottom of pan since we are using no boil noodles.  They need a little moisture to get them started.  Then layer, noodles, cottage cheese mixture, provolone slices, red sauce.  Repeat.  End with red sauce on top; add a little extra parmesan on top if you’d like.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

If you double the recipe, for your freezer pan use glass or corningware if you have it.  The acid in the tomato sauce will slowly eat through the pan and you can be left with a metallic taste also, be sure to top with plastic wrap first and then foil for the same reason. 

You can assemble the night before and bake the next day, just increase baking time to 55 minutes.  If you have teenage boys in your house, you might want to put a note on there that it is not baked; trust me I speak from experience.  J

Garlic Bread

Spread softened butter and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Top with any leftover provolone cheese, or a sprinkle of parmesan and finally a little parsley on top.  Put in oven as you take out the lasagna and bake for 5-10 minutes.  Time will depend on the thickness of your bread so just keep an eye on it. 

Monday

Tacos

Avocados

Fruit Cocktail

Tuesday

This is the easiest and yummiest alfredo; try it sometime soon!

Chicken Alfredo

¼ c flour

6-8 boneless chicken pieces

½ tsp salt

2T olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T minced onion

1 ½ c whipping cream

1/3 c grated parmesan cheese

½ tsp black pepper

1T chopped parsley

Salt chicken and then dredge through flour.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, in multiple batches if needed.  Cook, turning once until golden; about 2-4 minutes per side.  Remove chicken and place in a 9x13 pan.  Heat 1tsp oil and cook garlic and onion; 1-2 minutes.  Add cream, parmesan and pepper.  Cook until sauce is bubbly and slightly thickened; 2-3 minutes.  Spoon sauce over chicken in dish.  Bake 8-12 minutes at 375.    Sprinkle with parsley.   

Broccoli

Angel Hair Pasta (with Pesto if you like)

Banana Split Cake

1 ½ c graham cracker crumbs

¼ c sugar

1/3 c butter, melted

2 pkg 8 oz cream cheese, softened

¾ c sugar

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

6 medium bananas

¼ c chocolate syrup

2 c cold milk

2 pkgs (4 serving size) vanilla pudding

2 c thawed Cool Whip

12 maraschino cherries

1c chopped pecans (optional)

Mix crumbs, ¼ c sugar and melted butter in a 13x9 pan; press firmly and freeze 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese with remaining sugar until well blended.  Spread carefully over crust; top with pineapple.  Drizzle chocolate syrup over pineapple.  Slice four of the bananas over the pineapple/chocolate.  Pour milk into bowl and mix in pudding.  Beat until well blended.  Gently stir in 1 c of the cool whip; spread over banana layer.  Top with remaining cool whip.  Place 12 cherries on top so that when cut each piece will get one. 

Independence Day(YAY America!)

If you don’t want to eat macaroni salad until the cows come home, feel free to divide and conquer that way. 

Brisket

Hot Dogs

Macaroni Salad (Pioneer Woman)

4 cups Elbow Macaroni

3 whole Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped (more To Taste, Can Also Use Pimentos)

1/2 cup Black Olives, Chopped Fine

6 whole Sweet/spicy Pickle Slices, Diced (about 1/2 Cup Diced)

3 whole Green Onions, Sliced (white And Dark Green Parts)

1/2 cup Mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Or Distilled Vinegar

3 teaspoons Sugar, More Or Less To Taste

1/4 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste

Plenty Of Black Pepper

1/4 cup Milk (more If Needed)

Splash Of Pickle Juice (spicy Sweet Pickles)

Extra Pickle Juice To Taste

Cook the macaroni in lightly salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Set aside.

Mix together mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Splash in enough milk to make it pourable. Splash in pickle juice for extra flavor. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.

Place cooled macaroni in a large bowl and pour 3/4 of the dressing. Toss and add more dressing if you'd like. (Dressing will seem a little thin, but it will thicken up as salad chills.)

Stir in olives, roasted red peppers (or pimentos), pickles, and green onions. Add more of any ingredient if you'd like more stuff going on! At the end, splash in a little more pickle juice and stir.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Sprinkle with sliced green onion to serve!

Watermelon

Thursday

For those of you who don’t like sweet or fruited meat, this might not be for you, but for everyone else.  These are the bomb!  I made extras until we ran out of blueberries. 

Bacon-Blueberry-Chocolate Chip Pancakes

After you pour a bit of batter onto the hot griddle, sprinkle some bacon bits, chocolate chips and blueberries on your batter.  Flip and enjoy.  We didn’t even need syrup.  Well, most of us didn’t. J

Cantaloupe

Friday

Make your own pizza

Pita bread, canned biscuits, dough, dough from Sam’s (in the snack bar area)

Spaghetti sauce

Cheese

Leftover veggies

Bits of meat

If you use raw dough, it is probably better to par-bake the crust for a few 5-10 minutes before you load it up with sauce and other toppings.