Saturday, September 20, 2008

Weekly Menu September 22-27

Here's a treat: Breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Monday: Grilled hot dogs (choose Nathans!)
Tuesday: Breakfast: Pancakes Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches, chips and carrots Dinner: Fresh Mex
Wednesday: Breakfast: Egg and Ham in English Muffins Lunch: Sloppy Joes Dinner: Lasagna
Thursday: Breakfast: Toaster streudels and bagels with cream cheese Lunch: BBQ Beef Sandwiches Dinner: Beef and Bean Burritos
Friday: Breakfast: Muffins Lunch: Ham and Cheese Wraps Dinner: Ham and Ham Casserole
Saturday: Breakfast: Sausage and Pancakes Lunch: Steak Tacos Dinner: Hawaiian Haystacks

These are the menus we had for our week at the lake. It worked out great to have each family in charge of all the food on one day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks. It definitely made less work for all of us, and most of this stuff we were able to prepare ahead of time and freeze it. It was simple to warm things up and throw it all together.

Weekly Menu September 14-20

Sunday: Pork chops with gravy, baked potatoes, zucchini
Monday: Baked fish, pita crisps, fruit
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Sweet & Sour Meatballs with rice
Thursday: Jemma's choice
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: Leftovers - clean out the fridge

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Weekly Menu August 31-September 6

We had some things come up last week and ended up skipping some of our original dinner plans - that's why there's a little overlap between last week and this week.

Michelle sent me a new cookbook for my birthday. I'm loving it, and will include some ideas from it here - although I can't really publish the recipes since they're copyrighted. If I end up making any adaptations, I'll post them that way. Thanks Michelle!

Sunday: Roast Beef + Yorkshire Pudding, potatoes, brussel sprouts
Monday: Sweet Chicken and Rice
Tuesday: Chicken with angel hair pasta, alfredo sauce and vegetables
Wednesday: BBQ Ribs
Thursday: Roast Beef Pitas
Friday: Steak Sandwiches
Saturday: Fried Chicken

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Baked Chimichangas

This is so easy to double or triple and make for a crowd!

*2-3 cups Shredded Chicken
1/2 jar Salsa
1 can Refried Beans
2 cups Shredded Cheese
**Tortillas

Combine chicken, salsa, beans and cheese in a pan over medium-low heat until well combined. Fill tortillas and bake 20 minutes.

*To make this even faster and easier, use a cooked rotisserie chicken.

**I like to use the uncooked tortillas (from Costco) - cook them before filling, although they work well with any type of flour tortilla.

You could also make these "enchilada style" by topping with enchilada sauce and more cheese before baking.

Sweet Chicken

I've seen variations of this recipe from a few different sources. You can make it in into a more Asian-type of dinner by adding stir-fry vegetables or pineapple chunks.

4 Chicken Breasts, cubed
1/2 bottle Russian or Catalina Salad Dressing
1/2 jar apricot or apricot/pineapple jam
Salt & Pepper

Sautee chicken in a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix dressing and jam together and stir into pan, heating until the sauce breaks down and becomes a little lighter. Serve over rice and with your choice of steamed or sauteed vegetables.

Saucy Baked Chicken

This is what you do when, despite all you best intentions, you only have five minutes to prepare. It makes a decent enough Sunday dinner and it's one of those time-tested recipes (most of you have probably done this exact thing, or variations of it).

Chicken breasts (I used four, and they were frozen)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Sour Cream
Salt & Pepper

Combine soup, sour cream and salt & pepper. Place chicken in oven-safe dish, cover with sauce and tightly cover dish with foil or a lid. Bake until chicken is done. The sauce is great over baked potatoes or other vegetables.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Homemade Bread

**My name is Jessica, and I’m Laurie’s sister-in-law (I'm married to her brother Dave). She has kindly invited me to contribute to her blog, so I’ll be posting recipes and tips from time to time.**

I love weekends! Saturdays are great, especially when I get to spend some time in the kitchen. Yes, you read that right. I was actually quite happy to spend most of today in the kitchen. I love to cook, but weeknights tend to get a little hectic sometimes. So…I do most of my planning and prep work during the weekend. For me, the hour or two I spend in the kitchen on Saturday is time well-spent when Monday rolls around -- and dinner goes more smoothly throughout the week.

One of the things I made today was homemade bread. I have searched high and low for a good homemade bread recipe, and this one has consistently been the best, by far. It’s a definite favorite at our house.

Because the recipe makes three loaves, I usually make two loaves of bread (baking one and freezing the other) and then make a batch of cinnamon rolls or breadsticks to freeze for another day.

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com and you can find the specific recipe here. My notes are in red. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 cups warm water (approximately 110 degrees)
3 tablespoons active dry yeast
3 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
8 cups bread flour (You can use bread flour or all-purpose, I've used both.)
2 tablespoons dough enhancer (optional)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, salt, oil, sugar, and 4 cups flour. Mix thoroughly, and let sponge rise until doubled in size. (Make sure you mix the dough well so that it has a smooth consistency. Then let it rise for at least 20 minutes. )

2. Gradually add about 4 cups flour, kneading until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn several times to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.

3. Punch down the dough; let it rest a few minutes. Divide dough into three equal parts. Shape into loaves, and place in three 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch greased bread pans. Let rise until almost doubled.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. The loaves may need to be covered for the last few minutes with foil to prevent excess browning. (This bread does brown very quickly, so I would recommend covering it with foil for about the last 10 minutes of baking.)