Weekly Menu 11/10+

Saturday		baked ranch chicken baked potatoes green beans
Sunday		baked ziti salad bread orange poke cake
Monday		italian roast carrots rice
Tuesday		chicken broccoli stroganoff noodles
Wednesday		potato kielbasa skillet yogurt & apples
Thursday		eggs cinnamon roll pancakes oranges
Friday		stuffed pepper soup crusty bread

Saturday

          Make extra chicken tonight for Tuesday’s dinner

Baked 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.

Baked Potatoes

Green Beans

Sunday

Baked Ziti  (came from somewhere, but I didn’t write it down, so now I have no idea; sorry)

16 oz cottage cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 c  grated Parmesan cheese

  Table salt

16oz ziti or other short, tubular pasta

2T  extra virgin olive oil

5medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)

28 oz can tomato sauce

14.5oz can diced tomatoes

1tsp dried oregano

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1teaspoon sugar 

Ground black pepper

3/4teaspoon cornstarch

1cup heavy cream (see note)

8ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander (do not wash Dutch oven).

Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in ½ cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.

Stir cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl; transfer mixture to now-empty Dutch oven set over medium heat. Bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce, and ¾ cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.

Transfer pasta mixture to 13- by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Sprinkle remaining ¾ cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan over top. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and serve.

Salad

Bread

Orange Cream Poke Cake (Betty Crocker)

Cake

1 Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup water

½ cup canola oil

1 cup boiling water

1 box (4-serving size) orange-flavored gelatin

1 cup cold water

Frosting

1 box (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

1 box (4-serving size) orange-flavored gelatin

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Garnish, if desired

Additional whipped topping

Grated orange peel

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour. In large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, 1 cup water and the oil with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into pan.  Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 1 hour. Poke cake all over with fork or wooden skewer. In medium bowl, pour boiling water on 1 box orange gelatin; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir in cold water. Pour gelatin over cake. Run knife around edges of pan to loosen cake. Refrigerate 2 hours. In large bowl, stir together pudding mix, 1 box orange gelatin, the milk and orange juice until blended. Fold in 1 container whipped topping. Spread over cake. Cut into squares. Garnish with additional whipped topping and orange peel. Store covered in refrigerator.

Monday

Italian Roast

2-3lb roast

1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix

1 bottle of beer

½ onion chopped

1 c carrots

Place carrots and onions in bottom of crock pot, add roast, then beer, top with dry seasoning mix.  Cook on low all day. 

Carrots

Rice

Tuesday

Chicken Broccoli Stroganoff (Betty Crocker)

1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers® Select® frozen broccoli florets

1 can (18 oz) Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ creamy Parmesan basil cooking sauce

2 cups cubed deli rotisserie chicken

1 jar (4.5 oz) Green Giant® sliced mushrooms, drained

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

2/3 cup sour cream

4 cups hot cooked noodles

Garnish, If Desired

Chopped fresh parsley or chives

Cook broccoli in microwave as directed on bag. Drain; set aside.  In 2-quart saucepan, heat cooking sauce, chicken, mushrooms, onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to boiling. Stir in broccoli. Reduce heat to low; stir in sour cream. Heat until hot.  Serve over noodles; sprinkle with parsley.

Wednesday

Potato Kielbasa Skillet Recipe (Taste of Home)

1 pound red potatoes, cubed

3 tablespoons water

3/4 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 cups fresh baby spinach

5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Place potatoes and water in a microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until tender; drain. In a large skillet, saute kielbasa and onion in oil until onion is tender. Add potatoes; saute 3-5 minutes longer or until kielbasa and potatoes are lightly browned. Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, thyme and pepper; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add spinach and bacon; cook and stir until spinach is wilted. Yield: 4 servings.

Yogurt & Apple Chunks

Thursday

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (StuffurFace) [comments are from StuffUrFace]

1 1/2 c. flour

1T. sugar (my regular recipe has 3T but we are adding so much sugar already)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

3T. melted butter

Mix first 4 ingredients. Then mix milk, eggs, and vanilla together. Then mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix about 10 strokes. Then add butter and mix briefly just to combine. (over mixing the pancake batter will result in flat tough pancakes).

Filling

Allow the pancake batter to sit while you make the filling and the frosting.

1 stick of melted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Then put the filling in a bottle (my preference, because it gives more control) or a plastic bag. You can cut the tip off the bag and squeeze onto the pancake.

Then heat up a pan or a pancake griddle…I use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to pour the batter onto my griddle. I allow the batter to set just a little, then add the filling in a spiral starting from the middle of the batter to the outside. Perfect

Frosting (Andrea’s comment:ya know it’s gotta be good if pancakes get frosting!)

4 oz softened cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

1c. powdered sugar

3T. milk

Mix the cream cheese and sugar until crumbly.

Eggs

Orange Slices

Friday

 Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe (Taste of Home)

•2 pounds ground beef

•2 quarts water

•1 can (28 ounces) tomato sauce

•1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

•2 cups cooked long grain rice

•2 cups chopped green peppers

•1/4 cup packed brown sugar

•2 teaspoons salt

•2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules

•1 teaspoon pepper

In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are tender. Yield: 10 servings (2-1/2 quarts).