Weekly Menu 10/6+

Saturday		hamburger tater tots brownies
Sunday		roast sticky chicken mashed potatoes creamed peas
Monday		rotini w/italian sausage and veggies garlic bread apples w/cinnamon
Tuesday		ranch chicken creamed corn
Wednesday		meatloaf mashed potatoes green beans
Thursday		chicken salad wraps pears&cheese
Friday		spinach salami pizza

Saturday

Hamburgers

Tater Tots

Brownies

Sunday

 Roast Sticky Chicken (start on Saturday)

1 large chicken -- (roasting)

1 cup onion -- chopped

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons paprika

4 teaspoons salt

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices (do not include the onion). Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a re-sealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.  Or if you will use a roasting bag you could put it in this.  Be sure to place in a pan so it doesn’t get yuck all over your fridge (just in case).

You should have prepared your chicken last night.  When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan.  Roast, uncovered, at 250° F for 5 hours.  After the first hour, baste chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices.  (It may take awhile to have pan juices) The pan juices will start to caramelize on the bottom of pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.  You can also use a roasting bag for the chicken and skip the basting steps. 

NB: Food safety guidelines do not recommend baking chicken at a temperature this low. Please understand that it is safer to bake chicken at 350° and you may wish to use this safer temperature for less time. Also, I use a roasting bag to prepare this chicken. It cuts down the mess and tastes moist and wonderful.

This recipe was originally created by Mimi Hiller of Mimi's Cyber Kitchen, http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ and this version was actually an adaptation written by Lynn Nelson.

Mashed Potatoes (Make extra for Wednesday)

Creamed Peas

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

2 cups frozen peas (use a 10 oz box, or measure 2-cups from a bag of loose frozen peas)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir with a whisk for 1 minute. Do not brown the flour and butter mixture. Continue stirring constantly and add the milk gradually. Add salt, pepper, and sugar. Heat to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add peas and heat to a simmer. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until peas are tender-crisp. Do not overcook.

Monday

Rotini w/ Italian Sausage and Veggies (Family Circle)

½ lb green beans

2-3 c broccoli florets

1 box (13.25 oz) whole wheat rotini pasta

3T olive oil

4 links of Italian sausage, cooked, cut into ¼” coins

4 cloves garlic, chopped

½ c chicken broth

1 c grape tomatoes, halved (or diced tomato)

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

½ c basil, sliced

2T parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add green beans and broccoli; cook 3-4 minutes.  Remove to a bowl with a slitted spoon.  To same pot, add rotini; cook following package directions.  Reserve 1 c of the liquid and drain.  Meanwhile heat 1T oil in skillet; brown sausage.  Remove to a plate.  Add remaining oil, green beans and garlic;  cook 2 minutes.  Stir in sausage, broth, tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper; simmer 2 minutes.  Toss pasta with sausage and veggies, adding reserved water as needed to create a sauce.  Stir in basil and top with Parmesan. 

Garlic Bread

Cinnamon Apple wedges

Tuesday

Ranch chicken

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.

Creamed Corn

12 oz. bag frozen white shoepeg corn or yellow corn

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Thaw corn. Melt butter and in a blender, combine ½ of corn, butter, water, and sugar. Blend until creamy with bits of corn left in the mix. In a frypan over medium heat, mix milk, cornstarch, salt, and pepper, stirring constantly with a whisk to get rid of any lumps. Add corn mixture, plus remaining corn and heat, stirring occasionally, until thick and bubbly.

Wednesday

--Happy Birthday St!

--You could mix up the meat portion of this in the morning, or the night before, and get it ready for shaping into the loaf.  If you have a kitchen aid mixer you could use that with the paddle attachment to mix up all of the ingredients.  When you are done mixing, just put the bowl covered in the fridge until you are ready to shape and bake. 

--Ree at Pioneer Woman has these made up as sliders, but I thought it would be good as a meatloaf, and it is.  I mixed a couple of these loaves up the other day (sans sauce), wrapped them in plastic wrap and then into the freezer.  I’ll pull one out for tonight’s supper and then will still have a spare.  You can top it with spicy fry sauce if you want. 

Meatloaf (Pioneer Woman)

SAUCE:

-1/3 cup Mayonnaise

-2 Tablespoons Ketchup

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

MEAT:

-4 Tablespoons Butter

-1/2 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced

-8 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Chopped Finely

-1/2 cup 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

FOR SLIDERS:

-4 slices Swiss Cheese, Cut Into Four Squares

-8 whole Dinner (or Slider) Rolls, Split

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. 

For the meatloaf: add in the mushroom mixture, and mix well.  Form a loaf and bake in a 9x13 pan at 375 for 45-50 min. 

For the sliders: 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.

Mashed potatoes

Green beans

Rolls

Thursday

Chicken salad wraps

Tortillas, warmed

Leftover BBQ chicken (or sliced deli turkey)

Leftover tomato innards, plus more diced tomatoes

Avocado sliced

4-6T Honey mustard (equal parts honey and mustard)

2t finely chopped jalapeno (optional)

¼ c  grated cheese

2t chopped cilantro

Combine honey mustard, jalapeno, grated cheese and cilantro in a small bowl.  Spread on tortillas top with avocado, tomatoes, add in chicken, roll and eat!

Pears with cheese

Pears sliced long ways; cored

Mayo

Grated cheese

Slice pears long ways and remove core/seeds.  Add a dollop of mayo in the space where you just removed the seeds and then top with grated cheese. They are really good! 

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 4 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. 

Salami, Spinach, Provolone Pizza (Woman’s Day)

1 bunch spinach

¼ lb provolone slices

2-3 oz sliced hard salami

2 pepperoncini peppers, thinly sliced

Spread dough on baking sheet.  Top with remaining ingredients.  Bake 20-25 min at 425.