Month 2 of menus

Month 2


1.ham veggie sandwich
2.leftover mashed potato soup, fresh bread
3.meatloaf, baked potatoes, veg
4.shepherd's pie
5.ham sammy
6.shake n bake chk, stovetop stuffing
7.cranberry chk, rice, veg
8.chk braid
9.quesadillas
10.goulash (Kraft mac n cheese, ground beef, and either condensed tomato soup OR tomato sauce) - a kid favorite!
11.spanish rice -simmer for closer to an hour than 30 minutes
12.quinoa black bean bowls
13.spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
14.zucchini gratin, pot roast, biscuits
15.pizza
16.smoked sausage, hash browns, grape tomatoes
17.spinach walnut penne
18.hotdogs
19.apple bacon grilled cheese
20.dirty rice
21.cheese, crackers
22.french toast
23.grilled chk, buttered noodles, arugula salad
24.red beans and rice
25.lemon chk orzo soup, fresh bread, salad, fruit, cookies
26.calzones
27.ravioli bake
28.ham, cream cheese, and raspberry jam sandwiches
29.frozen pizza
30.meatloaf, mashed potatoes, matchstick carrots
31.slow cooker london broil, egg noodle, sliced radish

Month 1 of menus

Month 1

Chk = Chicken
Veg = Vegetable

1.wafflewiches, veg
Wafflewiches are sandwiches with waffles instead of bread. We were out of bread and I didn't have time to bake any. :P I think I used cranberry jelly instead of the strawberry preserves though.
2.carnitas, crash hot potatoes, veg
3.slow-cooked corn chowder
4.carnitas pizza
5.spaghetti
6.beef stroganoff, veg
7.honey chk, lemon zucchini muffins
8.goulash
9.cornflake chk, smoothies (then popcorn and Netflix)
10.ravioli casserole
11.breaded chk, honey, biscuits, veg
12.pancakes, sausage, eggs
13.steak, sweet potatoes
14.black bean soup w/rice
15.cheesy veg chowder, fresh bread
16.pan-fried pork chops, nuked potatoes, salad
17.beef au jus
18.tomato soup, grilled cheese
19.ham and cheese sliders, cucumber
20.hotdogs
21.chk rice soup, fresh bread
22.chk fajitas
23.spaghetti
24.frito pie
25.pizza
26.kielbasa, rolls, celery
27.cheese, crackers, pickles, olives, cookies
28.ravioli
29.crispy chk costoletta, mashed potatoes, asparagus
30.havarti mac n cheese, frozen veg
31.grilled cheeseburger wrap

Chicken Divan

1/3 c sliced or slivered almonds
1 qt chicken broth
lemon zest
4 T butter, divided
1/2 c. plus 2 T flour
1 1/2 c. rice
1 lb chicken
salt
pepper
poultry seasoning
2 T olive oil
asparagus
lemon juice
1/3 c milk or heavy cream
2 T tarragon

Toast almonds in a fry pan until golden, then reserve.
Boil 2 3/4 c. chicken broth, lemon zest, and 1 T butter. Add rice and return to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 18 minutes.

Microwave asparagus in 1/3 c. water and some lemon juice.

Dredge chicken in flour, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Heat 1 T butter and the olive oil in the fry pan, then add chicken. Cook chicken 3-4 minutes on each side. Melt remaining butter around the chicken. Add 2T flour and stir one minute. Slowly pour in remaining chicken broth and milk. After sauce bubbles, add tarragon and allow to thicken another 2-3 minutes.

Serve chicken and asparagus on a bed of rice, then cover in tarragon sauce and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Reuben sandwiches

8 slices bread
butter
3T mustard
4T dill relish
8 slices swiss cheese
2/3lb ham
1/3lb corned beef
saurerkraut

Mix together mustard and relish. Spread on one side of sandwich, then layer cheese, meat, and cheese. Top with sauerkraut and other slice of bread. Grill sandwiches in butter on medium heat for 5 minutes per side.

I know the relish sounds odd, but it makes the sandwich.

After Thanksgiving (which I am suddenly hosting this year - eeks!), this blog will take a turn. I have posted all of my unique recipes, and would now like to share my favorite recipes that others have created. My plan is to post a year of meal plans, with links to recipes where possible. Eventually, we should have 365 dinners, as well as quite a few lunches. Then I'll have a master yearly meal plan that I can tweak for my schedule, adding in new recipes where I had unfortunately planned flops.

I won't post regularly until after the holiday, but until then, here's a preview of what's to come:

*recipe is new to me, so try at your own risk

11/14 D half a recipe of split pea soup, canned tomato soup for the kids, fresh bread (baked from frozen bread dough I made earlier this month)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Split-Pea-Sausage-Soup/Detail.aspx

11/15 L ham, pb banana choc chip muffins (I'll double the recipe and freeze half for breakfast over the holiday), fruit
http://dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/peanut-butter-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/
11/15 D spaghetti

11/16 L mongolian beef, broccoli, rice
http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/09/mongolian-beef-broccoli.html
11/16 D *sausage and biscuit skillet
http://allears.net/din/recipes/rec_sbs.htm

11/17 L chicken salad wrap
11/17 D beef tips, sweet potatoes, salad
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/steak-tips-with-mushroom-sauce/detail.aspx

11/18 L pancakes, leftover smoked sausage, eggs
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whole-grain-pancakes/detail.aspx
11/18 D bbq chicken pizza, salad

Happy meal planning!

Chocolate french toast

I recently modified a recipe I found in a library cookbook. It was such a hit with the kids, and I thought it would be fabulous for a holiday brunch, although we'll only make this on occasions that the hubby misses a meal due to work. Chocolate French Toast 3 T butter 3/4 c. milk 2 T sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c. chocolate chips 2 eggs 6 slices bread Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Add milk, sugar, and vanilla. It's okay if the mixture looks chunky, just mix it as best you can. Whisk in eggs. Cut bread into triangles, then push into buttered loaf pan (9x5). Pour chocolate mixture over the bread, making sure to cover all the bread. Feel free to push the bread down to submerge it - just make sure there's no naked bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours (or 30 minutes, if that's all the time you have before the minions demand food). Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until custard is set and edges are golden. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

peanut butter snack

You know when you get to the bottom of a peanut butter jar and you feel guilty for throwing away that last tbsp that you you know you could scrape up but you're too lazy to bother? It makes a quick easy snack for kids. Simply tear up a piece of bread into bite-size pieces, stuffing them into the nearly empty pb jar. Get a spoon and stir it around, then drizzle about 1 tsp dark chocolate syrup into the jar. This ensures the kids dig around for every last bit and only adds about 3 grams of sugar to the snack. As soon as picky E. finished her snack, she asked when we could have it again! Try different varieties, like Sunbutter and oat bread. You could throw in some raisins to make it more like a pb&j. It bet it would be really awesome with banana bread!

Dairy-free Egg-free Jam Bars

For Mother's Day, I was looking for an easy light dessert, and ended up heavily adapting one from a cookbook. The result was still quite delicious, like a cross between a fruit crisp and a jelly doughnut. 1 c. oats 1 c. flour 2/3 c. brown sugar 1/4 t. baking soda 1/4 t. salt 1/4 c. sunflower oil 3 T. apple juice (give the rest of the juice box to the child watching you bake) 10 ounces tart jam (I used a lingonberry jam) Mix together all dry ingredients. Add oil and juice. Set aside 1/2 c. of this mixture. Press remaining mixture into a greased 9x9 pan. Spread jam over the top. Top with sprinkles of the reserved mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

chicken and rice soup

I made a pretty good soup today:

3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
garlic, to taste
onion, to taste
french herb mix, to taste (savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, lavender flowers)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 qt chicken stock (or 4 c. water and 2 chicken bullion cubes), divided
1 cup rice
1 cup milk
4 T butter
4 T flour
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed or shredded (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)

Add celery, carrot, garlic, onion, salt, french herb mix, and 1/4 cup chicken stock to large pot. Saute veggies until soft. Add rice and 2 1/4 cups chicken stock, then cook for 20 minutes, until rice has absorbed liquid.

In a smaller pot, melt butter and add flour. Slowly mix in milk. Add this creamy mixture and the chicken to the rice. At this point, the "soup" will be pretty thick, so I dumped the rest of my container of chicken stock into the pot, and it was like eating soup in a bread bowl. But if you prefer a thinner soup, you can add more water or milk.

I think I probably got the french herb mix at Whole Foods. It brings out the sweetness in the milk.

Egg-free brownies

To make egg-free brownies, mix a dry brownie mix with a can of pumpkin (yes, you're omitting the oil and water as well as the egg). The texture is thicker than normal, but trust me, it will work out. Cook 5 minutes longer than the box directs for standard brownies. Ice with cream cheese frosting. If you can't make/buy icing, a bit of cream cheese to dip the forkfuls into also works well.
Yum! If it turns out V is allergic to eggs (we're still too chicken to test her), this might be her standard "birthday cake." She dug into the brownie with glee. My husband thought it tasted like a Hostess dessert. It reminded me of pumpkin bread with chocolate chips.

Calzones

Somewhere in my recipe browsing, I ran into Sandra's blog and her photos of Pizza Cheese Breadsticks inspired me for lunch today. I love that the dough doesn't require any time to rise, and my husband prefers calzones over pizza, so he can control the amount of marinara (a lot!) on his slice. Rather than buy or make a marinara, I was lazy and served it with a jar of spaghetti sauce. lol Even V enjoyed her tiny pieces, and ate the equivalent of 2 pizza slices!
The only problem with making the dough from scratch is that it wrecks out the kitchen. But I'll clean up a mess if it means both my girls chow down.

Organic Valley marinated chops

Organic Valley sent out a newsletter with this recipe for pork chops, and I thought I'd give pork chops one more try tonight. I haven't been a fan of chops in the past, but I keep hoping to find a recipe that helps me appreciate whatever my husband sees in them.

We're serving it with grilled potatoes and broccoli (by E's request).

pizza

Since Thursday is our last day before payday, we're going to have another cheap meal: frozen pizza. Publix has Tombstone BOGO this week, so I'll be nabbing a couple of those for the price of a single cheese pizza from a delivery place. I'll dress up the simple meal with a 2-liter of Publix's Lemon Lime carbonated water (tastes like 7up without any sugar or other sweetener).

$5.79 for 2 pizzas
$0.69 for soda water
=
$6.48 for the meal <--not bad, considering how low effort, and my husband will take leftovers to work for lunch for the price he'd pay to eat out!

Cinnamon chicken

For Wednesday, we'll be trying another recipe from IheartPublix's chicken challenge:

Honey Lemon Cinnamon Chicken

1/2 C. Flour
2 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Turmeric
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 Egg
2 Tbsp. Milk
1/3 cup Dried bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. Oil
Chicken cut in strips
Sauce:
1/4 C. melted Butter
1/4 C. Honey
1 Tbsp. fresh Lemon Juice
I personally put the lemon, honey, and butter in a sauce pan. I put it on low low low. So while I work on the chicken, the sauce is going. Heat oil in a separate pan
Next, combine flour with all spices. I then coat all the chicken in the flour coating (I find a ziploc bag easiest.) Then next part is the messy part. Beat egg and milk. Combine breadcrumbs with egg mixture to form a soft moist mixture. Roll floured chicken pieces in moist crumb mixture. I generally put the bread coating on and throw it immediately in the pan. When the pan is full, I flip over the strips until fully cooked. Cook all chicken, plate it, and then make sure the sauce is hot and melted.
It goes AMAZINGLY well with a sweet potatoes.

We'll be trying it out with sweet potatoes and green beans.

Split Pea Soup

For Tuesday, we're making our favorite low-budget meal: split pea soup. This time I'll be substituting a pound of ham for the smoked sausage as it works well with any meat I've tried. Be sure to reduce the cups of water if you prefer a thicker pea soup. I personally prefer 6-7 cups of water for this recipe. You can omit the potatoes, if chopping them sounds like too much work. I might try adding mashed potato flakes this time instead. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Back in the saddle

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. With V. increasingly mobile, I've been so busy chasing her that I'm drained by the end of the day. Like go to bed at 7pm drained.

At any rate, to catch y'all up, here's what we're serving tomorrow:

Monday: Tangy Ranch Chicken, mashed potatoes, canned corn

(from IheartPublix's chicken challenge)
Tangy Ranch Chicken

2/3 C ranch dressing
1/3 C French's yellow mustard
1/4 C brown sugar
4 boneless chicken breasts
Mix dressing, mustard, and sugar (I threw it all into a zippy bag) add chicken, allow to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. Grill or broil chicken for about 15 minutes or until done or bake at 350 for 25 minutes,we grilled ours…..soooo good and moist!

I plan to use a ranch dressing mix and omit the mayonnaise to avoid egg.

Fruit Smoothies

Smoothies

1 c. milk
1/2 c. yogurt (we prefer Stonyfield Farm Plain whole milk yogurt)
1 c. frozen berries of your choice, divided
1/2 - 1 c. Breyers Extra Creamy Vanilla ice cream (depending on how sweet you prefer)
1 banana (optional)

Place milk, yogurt, and half the berries in a blender and puree. Add ice cream, banana (if desired), and the rest of the berries. Mix until blended, then serve with straws.

I usually make 2 batches, and put the banana in the second batch.

Weekend menu

Saturday lunch: avocado burgers, fruit smoothies

Saturday dinner: Sunflower chicken salad (my hubby requested it AGAIN!) with Publix 5-grain Italian bread

Sunday lunch: chicken in mesquite lime marinade (or whatever you have on hand), rice, veggie (Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers are on sale at Publix this week)

Sunday dinner: Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Finally went shopping

I spent $43 at Publix today, for a total savings of 40%. $11.56 of that was 8 boxes of cereal, since we were getting low on breakfast supplies.
From my stockpile, I'll be using this week:
hotdogs
baked beans
canned green beans
box of macaroni and cheese
McCormick steak seasoning
2 lb boneless skinless chicken (frozen)
taco seasoning
jar of spaghetti sauce
spaghetti

That's still only about $3.50/person/day, if you add the cost of those items to today's receipt.

Egg allergy

It occurred to me that since I introduce this blog as an allergenic menu, I should clarify my husband's allergy to egg. When he was a little boy, he couldn't have anything with any egg in it. In fact, smelling it cooking could trigger an allergic reaction. Since then, his allergy has lessened. He still cannot eat large amounts of egg, but he can have small amounts (i.e. <1/16 of an egg) when it is cooked in certain ways. He can eat meatloaf or cookies when they are made with a single egg, but he has to limit the quantity he can eat. Other food combinations seem to always trigger an allergic reaction.
So that is way I sometimes serve dishes with egg in it, despite my husband's allergy.