Weekly Menu 1/26+

Saturday		turkey burgers sweet potato fries fruit
Sunday		pork roast rice spinach cantaloupe
Monday		beef & barley soup peanut butter mug cake
Tuesday		ranch chicken baked potatoes broccoli
Wednesday		beanie weenies potato chips carrots
Thursday		meatballs potatoes peas
Friday		chicken fried rice egg rolls oranges

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

Pork Roast

Season a roast, fat side up, with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, brown sugar.  Add water half way up sides of roast, cover and bake 4 hours at 325. It will fall apart when it is finished. 

Rice

Spinach

Cantaloupe

Marla Monday’s

--Over the next few weeks I will be featuring the recipes of one of my co-workers who is in the process of writing and publishing her own cookbook. 

--This soup produced a LOT and was closer to stew based on feedback by my tester.   Thanks Mom.

Beef & Vegetable Barley Soup

2 c cooked ground beef
1 Onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
5 cups Beef Broth
1 14-oz can Diced Tomatoes
¾ cup Quick Cooking Barley
2 stalks celery, sliced (~ 1 cup)
2 medium carrots, sliced (~ 1 cup)
½ tsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
1 9-oz package Frozen Mixed Vegetables

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven add ground beef, onion and garlic. Cook until onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except frozen vegetables. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes (Mom cooked it more like 30 min perhaps we don’t have Quick barley down here?  Or the water absorbs slower in the south?  I feel a Mona Lisa Vito quote behind this somewhere), stirring occasionally.

Add frozen vegetables, cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add additional broth or water if soup becomes too thick upon standing. It will also thicken when it cools. 

Peanut Butter Mug Cake (LaCreativedelafille via Pintrest)

4 T flour

4 T sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 egg

3 T peanut butter

3 T milk

3 T vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients in an oversized coffee mug. Whisk well with a small whisk until smooth. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes and then take it out to check to see if it is done. If not, continue to microwave in thirty second intervals. Mine was done at 2 minutes. You don’t want to overcook it or it will become rubbery. You can also make this into two smaller-sized mugs. You can mix the batter all in one mug and then pour half into another mug. Make sure you cook each one individually.

Tuesday

--Cook extra chicken tonight for Friday’s Fried Rice

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

Beanie Weenies

In case you aren’t familiar with the recipe: cans of pork n beans + sliced hot dogs.  Very complicated.  J

Potato Chips

Carrots

Thursday

--You can mix up extra of these meatballs and get them ready for the freezer too. 

BBQ Meatballs (Pioneer Woman)

FOR MEATBALLS

1-½ pound Ground Beef

¾ cups Oats

1 cup Milk

3 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion

1-½ teaspoon Salt

Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste

_____

FOR COOKING MEATBALLS

1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating For Frozen Meatballs)

Canola Oil

_____

FOR SAUCE

1 cup Ketchup

2 Tablespoons Sugar

3 Tablespoons Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire

4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion

1 dash Tabasco

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes.

After 5 minutes, remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.

Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish.

Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Fried Potatoes

Peas

Friday

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