Weekly Meal Plan and a great rice dish

Well, this week's meal plan should be easy since Thursday we celebrate with the Kellys and Friday we will spend with the Pearsons eating our weight in good food.

Due to lots of cooking and baking for our Thanksgiving meals, plus an unbelievable amount or prep time for our upcoming meal parties, dinners this week will be EASY!

Monday: PF Changs frozen beef and broccoli meal (Nick picked it up at Kroger last night- we'll see if it is any good)

Tuesday: Breakfast: sausage, biscuits, and scrambled eggs.

Wednesday: Merlot Chicken and Rice (this was on the menu for last week, but never made it to our table- still in the freezer, which means no effort involved)

The following recipes is one of my favorite rice dishes. Perfect with a roast! Nick is not a huge fan but I don't understand why. I think it is wonderful with very minimal work.

Rice Casserole

2 cans beef consume

2 cans beef broth/bullion

2 cups rice

2 sticks butter

Melt butter in oven, pour 2 soups in and spread rice around.

Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes

Meal Plan- The beauty of Freezer Cooking and an easy Fall Recipe!!

This week's menu is going to be the food from our October meal party meals. What does that mean? Homemade dinner on the table every night this week with very minimal effort. Due to trying out so many new recipes for our upcoming parties, I haven't made a dent in the meals from last months menu. Here's what we are having...

Sunday: Potato Soup and pigs in a blanket **

Monday: Baked Jambalaya and rolls

Tuesady: Merlot Chicken over Rice and green beens

Wednesday: Fall Cranberry Chicken and mac and cheese

Thursday: leftovers

**Kroger sells a brand of soup called "Bear Creek". While not all of the soups are good, the Potato soup is great. We eat it often. It's a great Sunday Lunch food. Simply add water, and top with cheese and bacon. Yummy!

Fall Cranberry Chicken

1 pkg dry onion soup mix

1 can cranberry sauce

1 cup Kraft french dressing

Place 4 chicken breasts in a pyrex dish. Mix soup mix, cranberry sauce, and dressing in a bowl. Pour over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered.

Weekly Meal Plan and a simple Pot Pie recipe

Although I have not slacked in my weeknight cooking, I have not been diligent about meal planning ahead of time. I am going to attempt to set a weekly menu each weekend for the following week. This prevents middle of the week grocery runs.

Weekend: Chili and Cornbread

Monday: Spaghetti and Baked apples

Tuesady: Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday: Fusia Honey Orange Chicken over rice (one of the reasons I LOVE Aldi)

Thursday: leftovers

I typically appreciate a recipe where everything is completely from scratch, but chicken pot pie is not one of them. I've yet to be too overwhelmed with a chicken pot pie that takes hours to make. My oppinion...it's not necessary.

Here is a very simple, no-fail yummy and cozy meal.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 refrigerated pie crust (I prefer kroger over pillsbury for pot pies)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of potato soup

1/8 cup sour cream

1 can del monte mixed vegetables, drained

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 cups of cooked and shredded chicken

Allow pie crust to come to room temperature and line pie plate with 1 crust.

Mix remainder of ingredients, and pour in pie crust. Top with 2nd crust. Pinch edges, and make a few slits in the top of the crust. Bake at 350 for about an hour, or until crust is nice and golden brown. Enjoy!

Cookies

Few things make me happier than a good craft or project. Recently, I've discovered how much I enjoy decorating cookies. Nothing fancy, just whimsical, yummy sugar cookies. Here is a picture of our Easter cookies. And while I'm on the subject of cookies, I think I'll share my favorite cookie recipe.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Courtesy of: The Barefoot Contessa

½ pound of butter

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs at room temperature

2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 bag of white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F’

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

A few more dinner recipes...

Salisbury Steak

I found this recipe in the Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. It wasn't the prettiest presentation because the meat tended to fall apart, but it still tasted very good. I probably could have packed the meat a bit tighter when making the patties. I omitted the mushroom steps because I didn't have them on hand (and Nick won't eat them). We actually froze half of the patties and soup mixture for a later dinner.

1 can golden mushroom soup, undiluted and divided

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/2 cup finely chopped onions (I used dried)

1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (i omitted)

1/3 cup beef broth

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp pepper

• Combine 1/4 cup soup, beef, and the next 3 ingredients; stir well. Shape mixture into 6 (1/2 inch) patties
• Brown patties in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove patties, discarding half of pan drippings. Cook mushrooms in remaining drippings in skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until tender. Combine remaining soup, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper; add to mushroom mixture
• Return patties to skillet; bring to a boil.
• Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

Yields 6 servings

Easy Chicken Casserole

This recipe is one of our favorite go-to recipes for a busy night. Not a gourmet meal, but one that we like to eat at least 2 times a month. We usually have all of the ingredients on hand, and I even tend to cook and shred chicken in batches for the freezer ahead of time. This makes putting together casseroles and soups a breeze when you already have the chicken cooked and shredded.

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 8 oz sour cream

1 stick of melted butter

2 rolls of crushed ritz crackers

• Cook and shred chicken. Combine soups and sour cream in a saucepan, mix well and heat to combine.
• In a separate bowl, melt butter and add crushed ritz crackers
• In 9x13 casserole dish, layer 1/2 of the cracker mixture, chicken, soup mixture, and top with other 1/2 of the crackers
• Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes, or until hot and lightly browned.

We usually serve with green beans.

Weekly Meal Plan, recipes, and Product rave

Nick recently gave me a new cast iron grill pan for my birthday. I love to grill indoors, but my old pan was a tremendous pain to clean! This pan is wonderful! If you haven't discovered the ease and yumminess of indoor grilling, go out and get yourself one of these 10" Emeril Grill pans from B, B, and Beyond for $25. You will fire up the outdoor grill a little less often.

Monterey Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts (pounded thin- this is pretty important anytime you use a grill pan)

BBQ Sauce- I always use Corky's when using a bottled sauce.

shredded cheddar cheese

crumbled bacon- I purchase the pre-cooked crumbled bacon found in little bags near the salad toppings at Kroger. Kroger brand works just fine, too. Feel free to cook your own bacon, but to me it's just a waste of time for a recipe like this.

A couple of hours before gilling, allow pounded chicken breasts to marinate in the fridge in BBQ Sauce. Just make sure both sides are coated well.

When ready to cook, preheat grill pan to med-high heat. Spray with a non-stick spray for easier clean up, and place your chicken on the grill. Wait until the edges turn white before attempting to flip or your chicken will stick. You will grill chicken until it is no longer pink in the center. Transfer grilled chicken to an oven-safe dish and top each piece of chicken with 1-2 TBSP of BBQ Sauce, shredded cheese, and bacon crumbles. Broil in the oven until cheese is slightly brown.

You can garnish with chopped tomatoes and lettuce if you would like. This would also make for a delicious sandwich on a toasted bun.

Green Beans and Sliced New Potatoes-

effortless side dish that is really quite good. **not a low sodium recipe :)

1 can of cut green beans

1 can of sliced new potatoes, rinsed and drained

enough water to cover beans and potatoes

1 1/2 TBP olive oil

4 beef bullion cubes

generous amounts of cracked pepper

Combine the above ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes.

Weekly Meal Plan

My cooking is definitely winding down to to the ever growing belly. However here is what's on the menu this week.

Monday: Germantown Commissary BBQ and potato salad

Tuesday: Ladies Night Out with friends @ American Cafe (BBQ leftovers for Nick)

Wednesday: Chicken Casserole and Green Beans

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan over Angel Hair Pasta