Weekly Menu 9/29+

Saturday		chicken spaghetti garlic bread snickerdoodles
Sunday		pork ribs baked beans cucumbers in sour cream
Monday		pastitsio salad garlic bread
Tuesday		ham cheddar & red onion bread pudding fruit salad
Wednesday		really ez mexican casserole salad pudding
Thursday		leftover chicken casserole sliced tomatoes cantaloupe
Friday		cheeseburger pizza

Saturday

--This makes a double batch and gives you an extra to spare. 

--It’s a bit of cooking today, but oh I think you’ll be happy that there will be leftovers for several days on both items. 

--Happy Birthday J! 

Chicken Spaghetti (Carol Brinkmann)

1 boiled or otherwise cooked chicken removed from the bones ~3-4 c.

1c chopped celery

1c chopped onion

1 chopped bell pepper

16 oz spaghetti, cooked in chicken stock

1 stick butter

If you need to boil the chicken today, reserve the liquid for cooking the spaghetti.  Melt butter and sauté celery, onion and pepper; combine with chicken in 9x13 pan.  Add in spaghetti. 

1 stick butter

1 c flour

4 c milk

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 lb velveeta

Stir these ingredients over a low heat until well blended.  Pour sauce over chicken, veggies and spaghetti mixture in pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Garlic Bread

Snickerdoodles (Betty Crocker)

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup butter

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

2 ¾ cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400ºF.Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Sunday

Pork Ribs

Baked Beans

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

2-3 peeled, seeded and thinly sliced cucumbers

½ c sour cream

1tsp sugar

1T apple cider vinegar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp dill weed

dash pepper

Monday

--This would be good to assemble the night before so the first person home can pop it in the oven.  It takes almost an hour to bake. 

Pastitsio (Family Circle)

¼ c olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 c cooked ground meat

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 c dry red wine

14.5oz diced tomatoes

8oz tomato sauce

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ tsp salt

½ c chopped fresh mint (or 2T dried)

1 tsp oregano

1 lb ziti, cooked 2 min less than package directions

3T flour

3c milk

1 c feta cheese

2 eggs, beaten

Sauté onion in oil, add cooked meat and garlic.  Add wine; bring to a simmer and cook 3 minutes, deglazing the pan.  Stir in tomatoes, and seasonings; simmer 6 minutes.  Add drained ziti into meat sauce.  Heat 3T olive oil or butter in a medium saucepan.  Add flour; whisk for 1 min; add in milk; bring to a simmer and cook 5-7 min, until thickened.  Stir in cheese and remaining ¼ tsp salt.  Remove from heat, cool 1 min and slowly whisk in eggs.  To assemble: Transfer meat and pasta mixture to a 9x13 pan.  Press noodles with the back of a spatula to make a flat layer.  Poor cheese-egg mixture on top.  Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes, or until top layer is set. 

Salad

Garlic Bread

Tuesday

Ham Cheddar & Red Onion Bread Pudding(Woman’s Day)

4 large eggs

1 ½ c whole milk

1T Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Salt & pepper

12 oz loaf French or Italian bread, cut into 1” pieces

1 small red onion, cut into ¼” thick wedges

1 crisp red apple, cut into ¼” thick wedges

4 oz ham, diced

1 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Oil a 3 qt baking dish.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mustard, nutmeg and ¼ tsp each salt and pepper.  Add the bread and stir to coat; allow to sit tossing occasionally for 5 minutes.  Fold the onion, apple, ham and cheese into the bread mixture.  Transfer to the baking dish.  Bake until set and a knife insert in the center comes out clean; about 45-50 minutes.  Cover the dish with foil if it browns too quickly. 

Fruit Salad

Wednesday

Really Easy Mexican Casserole (Mom)

1 pound ground beef

Tortilla chips

1 can Ranch Style Beans, un-drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Velveeta

1 can Rotel

Brown beef and drain.  Layer ingredients in a 1-1/2  to 2 quart casserole dish in this order:  Tortilla chips slightly crushed, beans, soup, cheese and Rotel.  (Slice the Velveeta...not too thick...and lay slices over the top of casserole to cover the whole area.) 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  This recipe can easily be doubled (I cut it in half originally).  If doubling, use a 9x13 pan.

 (Mom says: We love this one and I fix it quite often!)

Salad

Chocolate Pudding

Thursday

Leftover Chicken Casserole (Mom)

16 oz frozen mixed veggies

2-3c leftover chicken or canned chicken breast

Cheddar cheese soup

¾ c milk

1 box of stuffing

3T butter

Spread a layer of frozen mixed vegetables in the bottom of a baking dish (about a 1-1/2 or 2 quart size)

Top with chicken.  Mix 1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup and 3/4 cup milk.  Pour over chicken layer.  In microwave, heat together 1-1/2 cups water and 3 tablespoons butter or margarine.  Add to a 6 ounce package of Stove Top stuffing mix.  Allow stuffing to absorb water.  Spread over the entire casserole.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sliced Tomatoes

Cantaloupe

Friday

--You can mix up the dough recipe on Thursday night and have it ready to spread in the pan as soon as you get home. 

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

--Week 3 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. 

Cheeseburger Pizza (Woman’s Day)

1 c cooked ground meat

½ c catsup

¼ c mustard (or use ½ c BBQ sauce instead of catsup/mustard combo)

½ c cheddar cheese

2 c chopped lettuce

½ pint cherry tomatoes, or diced tomatoes

½ small red onion chopped

1 T olive oil

¼ tsp each salt & pepper

Spread dough on baking sheet, top with meat, sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.  Create salad with remaining ingredients while baking.  Top with salad and serve immediately.