Menu Plan Monday - September 15th

Do you ever get that feeling that your life is just passing you by? Sometimes I stop and think how in the world did I get here and I can't believe its fall of '08 already. It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant but now I've got a crazy maniac of a 14 month old son. I get these feelings when the weather starts to change, you know that smell, or when you look outside and the sunshine seems familiar. It's the thing that brings back memories. I've definitely got that feeling so in honor of my trip down memory lane this week will be full of yummy comfort foods. Some tried and true, others a new take on but I promise they will all have you reminiscing, whether its an old memory or just the last bite I can't promise.

Monday
Dinner: Ultimate Mac 'N Cheese with Bacon & Peas

There's nothing better than a huge spoonful of ooey gooey mac and cheese on a cool fall day. We're adding salty smoky bacon and crisp peas to make this a meal in itself. Heck we might even add some tomatoes and breadcrumbs on top too!

Recipe and photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.

Tuesday
Dinner:Chicken Enchiladas

You can't go wrong with traditional chicken enchiladas when you want something spicy to warm up your insides. We're sticking with our theme and bringing Tyler Florence's ultimate recipe home this week with this TexMex staple.

Recipe and photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.



Wednesday
Dinner: Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

An adaptation from the queen of home cooking herself, Paula Deen. I'll be using store bought biscuit dough and of course, changing it to cook in the crockpot. I'm using the leftover chicken from our "Already Married Chicken".

Recipe and photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.

Thursday
Dinner: Beef Shepherd's Pie

Hearty and heart warming version of an Irish family staple. Potatoes, peas and beef, you just can't go wrong.


Recipe and photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.


Friday
Dinner: Hamburgers, Green Bean & Potato Salad

Easy peasy weekend classic American staple. I think I might make this yummy potato salad to go with them too.

Photo courtesy of CookingLight



Saturday
Breakfast: Early morning at a balloon festival, we'll be eating breakfast out for my dad's birthday!
Lunch: Prolly eating out again!
Dinner: NCAA Football Night Nachos

Tradition started back in the 90's when the Cowboys had the Trio (Akman, Irving, Smith) and I was in middle school. We'd always fix nachos. Nothing fancy, just taco meat, refried beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Simple but tastes great when you're cheering on your team! Gig'em Aggies! and begrudgingly, Hook'em Horns (for my hubby)

Sunday
Breakfast: Oatmeal, toast and jelly
Lunch:Leftovers
Dinner: TBD, that just seems so far away right now to me.

No shopping list this week, since I have everything I need on hand as its mostly leftovers. But just in case you don't I'd suggest picking up a few cans of enchilada sauce, canned chipotle in adobe, frozen peas, WHITE cheddar but regular cheddar will work just fine too, and a can of biscuits. Oh and ground beef and chicken if you don't have any left.

Kid Friendly - Sloppy Joe's

I originally tried this recipe out from Cooking Light, and it was so yummy. But I thought it was a bit time consuming. Instead of making this sauce from scratch it would be much simpler, although not as healthy, I could just use store-bought sauce. So that's what I end up doing the majority of the time. Again since it's all about reheating for the hubby, I'll be making the meat mixture Tuesday night.

Menu: Sloppy Joe's, oven fries and cottage cheese

Kid Friendly Sloppy Joe's

Ingredients:
1 can of sloppy joe sauce
1 can of corn
1 small white onion
1 green bell pepper
1 to 2 lbs of ground beef (or venison)
4 hamburger buns

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; sauté 3 minutes.
   
2. Add meat to pan; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in sloppy joe sauce.
   
3. Reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in corn; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
4. Spoon about 1 cup meat mixture on bottom half of each hamburger bun; cover with top half of each bun.

Oven Fries: I'd suggest preparing these first and then letting them cook while you get the sloppy joe's ready. Pre-heat your oven to around 425 to 450. Take 4 large baking potatoes and cut into medium thick wedges. Place wedges on a baking sheet and drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with some chili powder and salt. Cook for about 20 minutes or until they are nice and crispy. Remember you want them all to sit flat on the sheet, don't overload the sheet or they're steam and not crisp. Once they're done, remove from oven and sprinkle with salt.

Now your fries and sandwiches are done so plate them up, add a dollop of cottage cheese sprinkled with salt & pepper and you've got a scrumptious sloppy supper!

Picture from CookingLight.com

Mexican Lasagna

Pastor Ryan's Mexican Lasagna

This recipe is amazing and again, you just can't go wrong with mexican food in our house. My hubby jokes that if its got tortillas, meat, cheese and (usually cream of mushroom soup) its a WIN. Well this recipe doesn't have cream of mushroom soup but it scored big points. Since this recipe came courtesy of the Pioneer Woman's Pastor Ryan, I'm going to redirect you to the blog posting with great step-by-step directions with pictures. Now remember I have already cut our quantities in half so try not to get confused.


Ingredients:

Paprika, Cumin, and Chili Powder to make up your own “Taco Seasoning”

1 box of chicken broth
1 can of salsa verde
1 can of enchilada sauce
3 tomatoes
1 1/2 white onions
1 head of garlic
1 bag of mexican blend cheese
6 flour tortillas
1 to 2 lbs ground beef (we have an overstock of venison so we used that instead)
2 cups uncooked white rice

Now here are your directions...... MEXICAN LASAGNA

Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf

I have a great meatloaf recipe that I love to make, its so yummy my mouth's drooling just thinking about it but of course since I'm trying to stay out of the kitchen that recipe would not be the best thing to make right now. Instead I decided to experiment, I've never made meatloaf in the crockpot, well and honestly I've never made traditional meatloaf. I always either do meatloaf stuffed peppers or my sun-dried tomato turkey meatloaf. So this was most definitely going to be interesting. Googling meatloaf brought up a million different recipes but non seemed to match exactly what I had in mind so I combined a few and here's what I came up with.

Menu: Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and a tall glass of milk.

Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground beef
1 lb of ground pork
2 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs (make your own or store bought)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 eggs
2 tbsp of worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp of ketchup
2 tbsp of milk
salt & pepper to taste

Line your crockpot with 2 strips of aluminum foil (needs this to get the loaf out) and set the time on low, either 8 or 10 hours depending on your needs.

1. In a medium bowl combine your breadcrumbs and milk, allow to soak for 5 minutes.
2. Combine the beef and pork, making sure to mix well so that you don't have any beef/pork sections.
3. Combine the meat, breadcrumbs and next 5 ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place in crockpot.
   
5. Generously cover with extra ketchup.
6. Cook until done, you may need to drain the juice from the crockpot about half way through the cooking.

Now I like my meatloaf to have a crisp crust and I found that this was not achieved when done in the crockpot so just prior to serving I placed the loaf on a sheet pan, set the oven to 400 degrees and baked it for about 15 minutes.

While the meatloaf was crisping I prepared a package of instant mashed potatoes and heated up a can of green beans. When all was done, just plate and serve.

There's nothing like a home cooked meal of meatloaf, my son kept making yum yum faces and grunting while eating this so according to him it's delicious!

Stroganoff

Down to the bottom of the barrel as far as groceries go this weekend, yet I couldn't get my lazy butt to the store knowing that the minute I step outside I'd melt in the sweltering heat of 100 plus temperatures. Instead I came up with an oven/stove free recipe in which I did little to no work because lets face it, even with the a/c running full blast it was too hot to even think about cooking! And because my husband is such a great provider we had a freezer full of axis and whitetail to use up instead of beef (something of which I rarely have to buy), so instead of your typical beef stroganoff. I made venison stroganoff.

Crockpot Venison Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 to 2 lbs of cubed venison (or beef)
1 small yellow or red onion (doesn't really matter)
1 small can of mushrooms
1 packet of onion soup mix
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup of flour
salt & pepper to taste
3 cups of egg noodles






Set crockpot to low, either 8 to 10 hours depending on your time needs.

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Coat meat in flour mixture and place of bottom of crockpot.
2. Slice onion into medium thick rings or half rings and add to crockpot.
3. Open, drain and add mushrooms to crockpot.
4. Add soup and dry soup packet, gently stir together to cover the meat.
5. Once meat has browned to the bottom of the pot, mix all ingredients together freely scraping up the bits to add flavor, continue cooking and occasionally stirring.
6. 30 minutes prior to serving add the sour cream and continue cooking, while preparing the noodles.
7. Once noodles are done, plate and serve over the noodles. Garnish with parsley if you desire.

This turned out to be a super yummy dinner and while not heating up the house, the aroma of a home cooked meal was intoxicating. I would also go so far as to say this was a very healthy meal. Venison is known for being a much leaner meat than beef thus there was less fat. I always use 98% fat free creamed soups and light sour cream in all recipes and I have made the switch from flour pastas to whole wheat pastas of which the difference is unnoticeable. The sauce tastes great and is very rich, which means a smaller portion is all one can take of this meal. And smaller always means better in terms of overeating. I hope you and your family enjoy this meal as much as mine did.

*Picture is from cookinglight.com, I could never dream of taking such a great picture and if I had attempted to take a picture of this meal it would surely have looked like dog poo or vomit and non so appetizing.