Weekly Menu Plan

Menu Plan (Week of Jan 6-12)

Sunday- 15 minute Taco in a Pan
*From kraftfoods.com
Ingredients:
1 pound extra lean ground beef
2 cups water
1 (1.25 ounce) package TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Taco Seasoning Mix
2 cups MINUTE White Rice, uncooked
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Shredded Cheese
2 cups shredded lettuce
2 cups chopped tomatoes
Cooking Directions:
Brown meat in large nonstick skillet; drain.
Add water and seasoning mix; stir. Bring to boil.
Stir in rice. Sprinkle with cheese; cover.
Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 min.
Top with lettuce and tomatoes.
Yield: 4 servings
Fun Idea:
Top with coarsely crushed tortilla chips and salsa if desired.

Monday-BBQ Chicken Skillet
*From kraftfoods.com
Ingredients:
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon oil
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup KRAFT or BULL'S-EYE Original Barbecue Sauce
1 1/2 cups MINUTE White Rice, uncooked
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped zucchini
Cooking Directions:
Brown chicken in oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 3 min.
Add water, barbecue sauce and rice. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; sprinkle with pepper and zucchini.
Cover. Simmer 10 min.
Yield: 4 servings
Substitute:
Prepare as directed, using boneless skinless chicken breasts. Substitute red pepper and zucchini with broccoli and carrots.

Tuesday-Lasagna
*my personal recipe- maybe I’ll share it at another time ;)

Wednesday-Beef Stew
*From Wolf Gang Puck
Ingredients:
2 pounds Beef Chuck
1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper
3 tablespoons Oil
2 tablespoons Butter
1 Large onion, cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges
2 Large Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 cup Dry Red Wine
2 cups Homemade Beef Stock or Canned Beef Broth
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Bay Leaf
7 Fresh Large Sage Leaves, washed and dried
1 pound Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound Parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Medium Carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 pound Roma tomatoes, cored, blanched, peeled, seeded, and diced
Cooking Directions:
Cut the beef into 1-inch cubes.
On a piece of waxed paper or in a plastic food storage bag combine flour, salt and pepper.
Toss beef cubes in flour mixture to coat or place beef cubes in food storage bag and shake until beef cubes are coated with flour mixture.
In a wide, heavy saucepan, heat the oil.
Brown beef cubes on all sides, removing from pan as browned.
In the same saucepan, melt the butter.
Saute the onion and garlic until translucent.
Deglaze with red wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of saucepan.
Return the meat to the pan.
Add stock, vinegar and bay leaf.
Cover and let simmer 1 hour.
Cut the sage leaves into a chiffonade (I have no idea what this means!) and stir into sauce with the butternut, squash, parsnips, carrots and tomatoes.
Cover and let simmer 20 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender.
Remove bay leaf and correct seasonings.
Yield: 4 servings
Notes: I will be omitting the onions and the red wine. I am substituting potatoes for parsnips.

Thursday- left overs/sandwhiches/take out

Friday- sandwiches *hubby back to work/just Ryan and I

Saturday-Quick Fettuccine Cacciatore
*From my friend Lea
Ingredients:
300 g fettuccine, uncooked
2 tsp. vegetable Oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped
1 cup each sliced green peppers and sliced mushrooms
1 can (19 oz) Petite Cut Tomatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil, undrained
1 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 cup Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano Shreds
chopped fresh basil leaves
Cooking Directions:
Cook pasta as directed on package
Heat oil in large skillet on med. high
Add chicken; stir until no longer pink
Add peppers and mushrooms, cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally
Stir in tomatoes with their liquid and the dressing
Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through
Toss pasta with chicken mixture.
Sprinkle with cheese and basil
Yield:
Makes four 2 cup servings



****
Update on last week's plan...

I would say it was successful here. We tried three new recipes, one was a hit and the other two just need a little tweaking. We have extra portions of one meal frozen in the freezer for later. Wednesday night however, I was so exhausted after the little guy I babysit left that we decided to just get McDonalds so I could have a little before dinner nap. So we shuffled the menu down a day and had Wednesday on Thursday and Thursday on Friday (hubby eneded up being home unexpectedly).

Then on Saturday (cause hubby was home again unexpectedly) we tackled a major kitchen reshuffle to make room for the new dishes and small appliances from Christmas and finally finished unpacking his mom's china and crystal. It took all day! We didn't even get out of our jammies. Since I like to buy my steak fresh, I had planned on picking it up Saturday while out but since we didn't get out of the house at all, we ordered in from one of our favorite restaurants.

We would have just made something at home but we were out of just about everything and it was very late by the time we finally got everything put away. I like to try to shop just once a week but I usually end up making a second run for milk, bread and other items on Thursday/Friday or Saturday while Brad is at work and I have just Ryan. But Brad's vacation started early and since he was home my own schedule changed and I never got back out to the grocery store.

This Tuesday is 10% Tuesday at our grocery store. So I am going grocery shopping today (because we NEED to) but I am only getting things we need for today, Monday and Tuesday. Then on Tuesday I plan to go back and get groceries for the rest of the week's dinners. I have also made a mock menu plan for the rest of the month ('till the next 10% Tuesday) so that I can buy any freezable, dry goods, lunch items, snacks, ect. My goal is to try to save some $$ that way. We'll see what happens through the month. If nothing else, by shopping on 10% Tuesday we are saving double the sales tax on our groceries. This is not something I could easily accomplish by myself however as I usually have Mason on Tuesdays and Brad is sometimes at work. But even with Mason, if Brad can schedule himself off on the 10% Tuesdays it might be worth while.