Weekly Menu 9/15+

Saturday		smoked chicken cauliflower mac & cheese green beans
Sunday		mexican black bean lasagna
Monday		jambalaya rice okra
Tuesday		ranch chicken baked potatoes broccoli
Wednesday		chili mac corn cantaloupe
Thursday		chicken fried rice egg rolls mandarin oranges
Friday		bacon, corn & poblano pizza

Saturday

--Cook extra chicken tonight for Thursday night’s fried rice. 

Smoked Chicken

Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

4 c cauliflower florets

2T olive oil

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp salt

3T butter

½ c panko

2 c favorite pasta shape, cooked

4T butter

¼ c flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ tsp dry mustard

2c milk

6-8 slices of deluxe American cheese (so not the kind you have to unwrap individually)

½ c cottage cheese (it cooks in and you’ll never notice it)

1c grated cheddar (or get fancy and try grated gouda)

2c dry macaroni; cooked

Heat oven to 375.  Toss cauliflower, oil and ¼tsp of salt and garlic powder in a large bowl.  Spread onto baking sheet; bake at 375 for 25 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350. 

In a small skillet toast the panko in the butter

Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and seasonings; stir until slightly browned.   Add milk and stir occasionally until thickened.  Add American and cottage cheese until American is melted.  Combine with cooked macaroni in a 9x13 pan.  Top with cheddar, bake till cheese is melted and bubbly at 375 degrees; 15 minutes.

Green Beans

Sunday

Mexican Black Bean Lasagna (Woman’s Day)

1 large onion, chopped

2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, cut into ¼” pieces

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

15 oz can black beans, rinsed

1 c frozen corn, thawed

2 tsp chili powder

2T fresh lime juice

½ c cilantro, chopped

10 oz can red enchilada sauce

9 corn tortillas

6 oz Muenster cheese

Sour cream and hot sauce for serving

Heat oven to 425.  Sauté onion, peppers, garlic in skillet stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir in the beans, corn and chili powder and cook for 2 minutes; add lime juice and cilantro.  Spread ¼ c enchilada sauce on bottom of 1 ½ qrt baking dish.  Top with 3 tortillas, tearing them to fit as necessary.  Spread a third of remaining enchilada sauce.  Top with 1/3 of the bean mixture and ½ c cheese; repeat twice.

Bake until the lasagna is heated through and the top is beginning to brown 12-15 min.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Serve with cilantro, sour cream and hot sauce. 

Monday

Jambalaya

1T olive oil

12-14 oz kielbasa, sliced ¼”

1 thinly sliced onion

1 green pepper, thinly sliced

2-3 stalks celery (to complete the trinity of Cajun veggies)

2 cloves garlic

¼ tsp pepper

14 oz can Rotel

In a large skillet brown the sausage in olive oil; transfer to a plate.  Add veggies and reduce heat to medium cooking down veggies.  When onions and celery are translucent add garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes.  Add tomatoes until heated through. 

Rice

Okra

Tuesday

Ranch Chicken (Menus4Moms)

2 lbs. chicken pieces, your choice

2 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

Empty Ranch dressing envelopes into a bowl and mix well. You may add bread crumbs to the dressing if you would like more of a coating to your chicken. After rinsing and drying chicken, dredge chicken pieces in the dressing mix. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray and place coated chicken in it. Bake 45 minutes at 325°F or until done.

Baked Potatoes

Broccoli

Wednesday

Chili Mac

2 c cooked ground meat

1 c macaroni

16 oz diced tomatoes

Corn

Cantaloupe

Thursday

Chicken Fried Rice (Family Circle)

3 c cooked rice, calrose works best for this dish

4 eggs

2T oil

2 ribs celery, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 c frozen mixed veggies,  thawed

2 c cooked chicken

3T soy sauce

2T ketchup

In skillet cook 4 beaten eggs in the oil, slice eggs and reserve.  Sauté celery, onion and pepper in same skillet; cook 6 minutes.  Stir in rice, mixed veggies and chicken let it brown a bit and add more oil as needed.  Finish with soy sauce and ketchup. 

Egg Rolls

Mandarin Oranges

Friday

--You can mix up the dough recipe on Thursday night and have it ready to spread in the pan tonight. 

--You can double the recipe this week and skip the extra prep steps the next week

--Week 1 of 6 in a pizza series. 

Pizza Dough

1 ½ c hot water

2 tsp yeast

4 c flour

1/3 olive oil

1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients with stand mixer or super hand-mixer (my Kitchen Aid works great with the dough hooks).  Allow to rise for one hour, stop laughing, make it the night before instead… Punch down and let rest while you prepare your pans.  Drizzle olive oil and then spread with your fingers or paper towel to cover and sprinkle with cornmeal.  Push out dough onto baking sheet, and top with your ingredients. 

Bacon, Corn & Poblano Pizza (Woman’s Day)

6 slices bacon (or use bacon bits)

1 c fresh or frozen corn (thawed)

1 large poblano, chopped

1 green pepper, thinly sliced

3 scallions thinly sliced

1 T olive

¼ tsp each salt & pepper

¾ c Monterrey Jack cheese

Chop bacon into 1” pieces, cook and set aside until cooled.  Combine remaining ingredients and spread over the dough.  Top with bacon pieces.  Bake 425 for 20-25 minutes.