Menu Plan Monday Jan 28 - Feb 3

Happy Monday everyone, this is what's on the menu for this week. As always remember that some days I switch meals around or end up not making them if something comes up, but for the most part I stick to everything on here INCLUDING breakfast and lunch.

If you want to join in with your own menu or take a look at all the other ladies participating, I suggest you grab a cup of coffee....a HUGE one LOL and then head over to Laura's blog "I'm an Organizing Junkie", there's so much yummy stuff being shared I'm sure you'll find inspiration for your next week's menus too.

Monday 28th
Breakfast: French Toast
Lunch: Lunch Burrito
Dinner: Roast Chicken and Potatoes


Tuesday 29th
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Chocolate Milk
Lunch: Soup & Sandwiches
Dinner: Portuguese Pork Chops and Potatoes

Wednesday 30th
Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast
Lunch: Vegetable Egg Rolls, Fruit
Dinner: My Homemade Pizza

Thursday 31st
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Toast
Lunch: Tuna Salad
Dinner: Potato and Onion Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches


Friday 1st
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Juice
Lunch: Sandwich Wraps

Dinner: Cracker Barrel

Saturday 2nd
Breakfast: Cinnamon Fruit Biscuits
Lunch: Out running errands
Dinner: Out running errands, will grab something to eat

Sunday 3rd
Breakfast: Bacon, biscuits and gravy, eggs, toast
Lunch: Roast Beef Sandwiches
Dinner: Parmesan Chicken, Rice with green peas

Tamale Pie!

I won't lie, I LOVE Mexican food, any kind. There's just something about it that screams comfort food to me, much like Portuguese food.

So last night I was in the mood for Tamale Pie and luckily enough, my new cookbook from Sandra Lee had a recipe for it. I've tried other versions before but not this one, so out comes the book and the ingredients and I set to work. I kicked everyone out of the kitchen, just because I am mean like my peace and quiet when I cook LOL

TAMALE PIE
Credit: Sandra Lee's Slow Cooker Cookbook

Recipe:Now let's get cooking:


The recipe calls for Diced tomatoes and chilies, but I used just the plain diced tomatoes because the Salsa Verde had a good kick to it and I wanted my children to eat dinner, not use this as another excuse to get down from the dinner table after one bite. Plus, I think with just the Salsa it makes it spicy enough, but hey if you're all for heat, go for it.


In a skillet, brown the ground beef

Drain, and return to the skillet

Add 1 cup of Salsa Verde

1 can of diced tomatoes and chilies (again, I just used the plain diced tomatoes)

Give it a good stir. I tell you, I'm already craving it LOL

Transfer to a casserole dish *or to your mouth, whichever you wish*.......no really, I'm just kidding, transfer it to the CASSEROLE DISH LOL

In the meantime, in a small bowl, combine 1 can of creamed corn and 1 package of cornbread mix.

I could eat it just like that......I know it's gross, but I could *shrug*

Spread it over the meat mixture in the casserole

Sprinkle the sliced olives over it. The recipe calls for black olives but my kids HATE black olives, so I used the ones I had on hand. It doesn't matter, it's not like Olive Oil is going to bring Popeye to beat me up over it LOL

Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until bubbly.


Top with shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Mashed Potatoes and Carrots!

One of my favorite side dishes from my childhood is mashed potatoes with carrots. I don't know if my stepmom did it so that we would eat our veggies without complaining, but whatever the reason it worked. To this day it's one of my favorite things to make with my Chicken Fried Steaks.

It's so so easy, if you can make mashed potatoes, then you can make this.



Start by boiling your potatoes, add in some sliced carrots and some salt.

When the potatoes and carrots are tender, remove them from the pan and into a serving bowl.

I then add 4 tablespoons of butter. You can add as much as you want, really, I've added a LOT more before, but who's checking right? LOL

Next goes in some salt and pepper. I use a potato masher to mash everything up, but I also like throwing it in my food processor and REALLY mooshing it up LOL

Stir in some milk and continue mooshing (LOL I'm sorry but I like that word) until nice and creamy and fluffy.

Mmmmmmmm.........now I am really in the mood for some chicken fried steak and some mashed potatoes with carrots.

Menu Plan Monday! Jan 21, 2008

Happy Monday everyone, this is what's on the menu for this week. As always remember that some days I switch meals around or end up not making them if something comes up, but for the most part I stick to everything on here INCLUDING breakfast and lunch.

If you want to join in with your own menu or take a look at all the other ladies participating, I suggest you grab a cup of coffee....a HUGE one LOL and then head over to Laura's blog "I'm an Organizing Junkie", there's so much yummy stuff being shared I'm sure you'll find inspiration for your next week's menus too.

The Chicken and Sausage Ragu and the Beef Curry were brought over from last week's menu.

Monday 21st
Breakfast: French Toast
Lunch: Tuna Sandwich
Dinner: Tamale Pie



Tuesday 22nd
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Chocolate Milk
Lunch: Soup & Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken and Sausage Ragu

Wednesday 23rd
Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast
Lunch: Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese
Dinner: Beef Curry

Thursday 24th
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Toast
Lunch: Egg Rolls, Veggies
Dinner: Slow Cooker Szechuan Ribs

Friday 25th
Breakfast: Banana Pancakes, Juice
Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas
Dinner: Homemade Pizza

Saturday 26th
Breakfast: French Toast
Lunch: Toast with Jam, Orange Juice
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie



Sunday 27th
Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, sausage
Lunch: Chili Dogs
Dinner: Mushroom Sirloin Burgers




DESSERTS FOR THIS WEEK:

Koeksisters



Arroz Doce - Portuguese Rice Pudding

Chicken Enchiladas

I made these for dinner the other night. The kids love them and again, it's a quick and easy dinner.

The recipe was from AllRecipes.com

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

INGREDIENTS

* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1/2 cup chopped green onions
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast meat
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
* 6 (12 inch) flour tortillas
* 1/4 cup milk


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes).


Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles

Cream of mushroom soup

and sour cream.

Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside.

To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken


and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.

3. Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.

4. In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk.


Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Sandra's Fettucine Alfredo!

You know when you have one of those crazy days and you're running around and jut don't have the patience and time to be in the kitchen cooking???

Well that's when I make my Fettucine Alfredo, it's fast and I just use whatever I have on hand. If I have the time on my hands, I'll do the whole heavy cream for the sauce etc, but I found a shortcut around it using cream of mushroom soup, for those days that I want to be in and out of the kitchen as fast as I can.

*************************

Sandra's Fettucine Alfredo

Olive oil
Diced Ham (you can also use bacon, chicken or sausage, whatever you have on hand)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Milk
Parmesan Cheese
Cooked Fettucine Noodles (Again, I use whatever I have on hand, any noodle will do)


Cook the noodles according to package.

In a large skillet, add the olive oil, onions, diced ham, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Give it a good stir and let it cook for a few minutes.

Add the can of mushroom soup

Next I add a little bit of milk, not much, just eyeball it, you want to end up with a nice creamy sauce

Oh yeah, that looks perfect. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

In the meantime, drain the noodles.

Add the sauce to the noodles


Stir everything together and then sprinkle some parsley and some more parmesan cheese over the top. Enjoy!