Weekly Menu 12/1+

Saturday		turkey burgers
Sunday		one dish chicken parm mixed veggies salad
Monday		apple pork chops stuffing green beans cupcakes
Tuesday		beef stroganoff noodles spinach carrots
Wednesday		fish tacos asparagus lemon pudding
Thursday		broccoli cheese soup (chicken) crusty bread
Friday		sloppy joes baked beans broccoli salad tangerines

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. 

--Add extra kosher salt to your fries before baking them. 

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.

Sweet Potato Fries

Sunday

1 Dish Chicken Parmesan

Batter

1 ½ c flour

2 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 envelopes yeast (or 6 tsp)

¾ c very warm (120-130 degrees)

3T olive oil

Toppings

3 c fully cooked, frozen, breaded chicken; chopped

2 c spaghetti sauce

1 c Italian blend cheese (mozzarella/parmesan)

1 tsp Italian herb blends

Mix batter ingredients together in a pre-sprayed 8x8 inch baking dish; yes in the pan.  Let rest 5-10 minutes.  Top with chicken.  Pour sauce over chicken, sprinkle with cheese and herb.  Bake by placing in a cold oven; set temp to 350 degrees.  Bake for 30 minutes, until baked through. 

Sunday

--If you aren’t a fan of fruited meat you can always cook these separately, but the apples are nice and mild with the chops. 

--Use boneless chops if they don't kill your budget.  You can buy a large pork loin and slice your own chops for <$2/lb at Sam’s (vs. $5/lb at HEB for the butterfly chops) and freeze them individually wrapped in wax paper. 

Apple Pork Chops with Stuffing (Adapted from Quick Cooking)

·         4-6 thick pork chops; boneless preferred

·         Salt and pepper

·         3 apples peeled and sliced

·         3T brown sugar

·         3T butter

·         1-2 boxes Stovetop stuffing

Place chops in a baking dish and salt and pepper both sides.  In a skillet add apples, butter and sugar and sauté until the apples are well coated in the buttery/sugary goodness; about 5 minutes.  Pour apples over chops, be sure to scrape out all of the goodness onto the chops.  Mix stuffing with warm water and place over the apples.  Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes at 350.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes to get the top layer of stuffing a little on the crunchy side. 

Ranch Green Beans

·         Green beans

·         Dry ranch dressing mix

·         Butter

Combine it all and sauté in a covered pan until cooked the way your family likes them.  My family is wary of green beans and likes them super cooked.  They don't want them jumping off the plate or anything, so I cook them to death. 

Cupcakes

Tuesday

--Oh the beloved crockpot for tonight.  I recommend using a cut up roast instead of ground beef.  It just really makes this dish taste SO much better.  The beef gets nice and tender after cooking all day. 

--Plus if you find a roast on sale, it is often less expensive than ground meat or stew meat.

Beef Stroganoff (Menus4Moms)

3lb roast cut up into small pieces (or 2 c cooked ground meat from freezer)

1 medium onion, chopped (from freezer)

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1-2 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

8 ounces sour cream

Combine all ingredients, except sour cream, in the crockpot.  Cook all day.  When you get home add sour cream, and heat thoroughly. Serve over cooked noodles.

Noodles

Spinach

Carrots (raw or cooked you decide)

Wednesday

--It is a bit embarrassing, but the boys and I just won't eat fish at home that doesn’t come out of a bright yellow box.  Please feel free to be significantly healthier with your fish tonight when you make your tacos.

--If you have a gluten allergy just substitute a corn tortilla for the flour tortilla one, and go California style.  In fact we all will this week. 

Fish Tacos

4-6 pieces cooked fish

Tortillas (go crazy and go CA style and use corn)

Finely chopped cabbage

Cilantro

Chopped avocado

Tartar sauce or sour cream

Place cooked fish in tortilla and top with cabbage, cilantro and sauce.  If your family isn’t that fancy they could just do the fish in a tortilla with ketchup. 

Asparagus

Lemon Pudding

Thursday

--This uses some of your chicken or turkey stock, but if you don't have any left or didn’t make any to start with, use canned or boxed. 

--You can add ham or chicken to your soup so you are getting some protein beyond the cheese. 

Broccoli Cheese Soup

¼ c butter

¼ c chopped onion

2tsp minced garlic

½ c flour

Salt & pepper

3 c chicken stock

3 c broccoli or 16 oz frozen broccoli

2 c cooked chicken or ham

1 c milk

6-8 slices American cheese

Melt butter in large saucepan and sauté onion and garlic.  Add flour, when it starts to get slightly brown add in the chicken stock working out any lumps.  As it begins to simmer, add broccoli and chicken or ham; cook 10 minutes until the broccoli is just about done.  Add in the milk and let it simmer 5 more min.  Add in cheese and stir until melted. 

Crusty Bread

Friday

--This is my favorite sloppy joe recipe and I always double it.  In fact I have one batch in the freezer that just needs to be simmered; bonus easy night. 

--My sloppy joe meat is actually ground up leftover brisket that is in the freezer.  We had some leftover brisket and we were getting tired of it so I used my kitchen aid mixer and ground it up and put it in the freezer.  This batch will have a great smoky taste. 

--Usually this broccoli salad uses strawberries, but those are tasteless right now.  Instead we’ll use something very tasty, like BACON!

Sloppy Joes (Quick Cooking)

2-3 lb cooked ground beef

1-2T butter

½ c chopped celery

1/3 c chopped onion

2T chopped red pepper

1c ketchup

½ c chili sauce

1T sugar

1T brown sugar

1T cider vinegar

2t dry mustard

¼ t salt

¼ t pepper

buns

In large saucepan cook the celery, onion and pepper in butter until tender.  Stir in the remaining ingredients (except the buns).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.  Serve on buns. 

Baked Beans

Broccoli salad (adapted from Quick Cooking)

3 c broccoli florets (slightly steamed if you’d like)

1 c small cubes of cheddar

¼ c chopped red onions

¼ c raisins

¼ c bacon bits  (4-6 slices cooked and crumbled or real bacon bits)

Dressing:

½ c mayo

1T apple cider vinegar

2T sugar

Mix mayo, vinegar and sugar in small bowl.  Combine all of the other ingredients in larger bowl.  Pour dressing over broccoli mixture and chill if you have time before supper. 

Tangerines