Weekly Menu 3/2+

Saturday		frito pie strawberries, blueberries & whipped cream
Sunday		chicken pot pie brownies
Monday		pork roast baked potatoes spinach salad
Tuesday		crockpot stuffing & chicken green beans
Wednesday		bacon beef stroganoff rice broccoli
Thursday		chicken tacos strawberries
Friday		black beans cornbread

This week is a continuation of the “Go-To List” from my MOPS visit two Friday’s ago and is quite crock pot heavy because when you need a go to meal, the best place to start and take the pressure off is with the crock pot. 

Saturday (Texas Independence Day)

Frito Pie

Layer the following in a bowl: Fritos, chili, cheese, onion, tomatoes, sour cream, more cheese, avocado etc

Strawberries, Blueberries and Whipped Cream

Sunday (American’s Test Kitchen)

Chicken Pot Pie—with crumble topping vs. crust

This recipe relies on two unusual ingredients: soy sauce and tomato paste. Do not omit them. They don’t convey their distinctive tastes but greatly deepen the savory flavor of the filling. When making the topping, do not substitute milk or half-and-half for the heavy cream.

Filling

1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs (or use 3c cooked chicken)

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 T vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 cup)

2 small celery ribs, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)

Table salt and ground black pepper

10 ounces cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed, caps wiped clean and sliced thin

1 teaspoon soy sauce (see note)

1 teaspoon tomato paste (see note)

4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

2 tsp juice from 1 lemon

3 T minced fresh parsley leaves

¾ cup frozen baby peas

Crumble Topping

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp table salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

6 T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled

1oz Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 1/2 cup)

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream (see note)

FOR THE CHICKEN: Bring chicken and broth to simmer in covered Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook until chicken is just done, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer cooked chicken to large bowl. Pour broth through fine-mesh strainer into liquid measuring cup and reserve. Do not wash Dutch oven. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.

FOR THE TOPPING: Combine flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in large bowl. Sprinkle butter pieces over top of flour. Using fingers, rub butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Stir in Parmesan. Add cream and stir until just combined. Crumble mixture into irregularly shaped pieces ranging from 1/2 to ¾ inch each onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until fragrant and starting to brown, 10 to 13 minutes. Set aside.

FOR THE FILLING: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, celery, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. While vegetables are cooking, shred chicken into small bite-size pieces. Transfer cooked vegetables to bowl with chicken; set aside.

Heat remaining tablespoon oil in empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their juices, about 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir in soy sauce and tomato paste. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has evaporated, mushrooms are well browned, and dark fond begins to form on surface of pan, about 5 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to bowl with chicken and vegetables. Set aside.

Heat butter in empty Dutch oven over medium heat. When foaming subsides, stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly whisk in reserved chicken broth and milk. Bring to simmer, scraping pan bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, then continue to simmer until sauce fully thickens, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and 2 tablespoons parsley.

Stir chicken-vegetable mixture and peas into sauce. Pour mixture into 13 by 9-inch baking dish or casserole dish of similar size. Scatter crumble topping evenly over filling. Bake on rimmed baking sheet until filling is bubbling and topping is well browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon parsley and serve.

Brownies

Monday

Pork Roast

Baked Potatoes

Spinach Salad

Tuesday

Crock Pot Chicken with Stuffing

Boneless chicken breasts

Sliced swiss cheese

Cream of mushroom soup

Box of Stove Top

1 c water

½ c melted butter

Grease the inside of a crock pot, be sure to get up the sides (as if you would have greased the outside).  Place chicken in the bottom, top with cream of mushroom soup.  Layer on swiss cheese until all of the chicken is covered.  I even doubled up in a few places and used 4 slices out of a 10 slice pack.  Mix the stuffing with 1c of water and place over the cheese.  Pour butter over the top of the stuffing.  Cover and cook 8-10 hours.  I wasn’t sure whether or not to add water to the stuffing but this seemed to work out pretty well.  Mine ended up cooking for 14 hours, but that’s another story. 

Green Beans

Wednesday

--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

3-4 slices bacon

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 or rice.

Rice

Broccoli

Thursday

Chicken Tacos

Combine boneless chicken with 1 can of Rotel or 1 ½ c picante sauce in crock pot and cook all day.  Shred the meat and make tacos. 

Strawberries

Friday

Black beans

Corn bread