My Menu This Week

Ok so now since you have seen what I bought for groceries this week, I will give you the recipes I am using to cook all week! I didn't have to buy a whole lot because I have almost everything I needed in my stockpile. I am getting very good at cooking and I only make a meal once per 30 days, so I am always trying new stuff. Being that these recipes are new to me and I haven't tried them before, I cannot vouch for how tasty they are =) I always check the reviews though and they seem really good so I am sure it will all be yummy!

Menu:

Monday

Brown Sugar Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mac&cheese
Find the Brown Sugar Meatloaf here.


Tuesday

Garlic Chicken with Pasta and Breadsticks
Find the Garlic Chicken recipe here.

I am cooking the garlic chicken per the recipe, and serving spaghetti on the side with Pillsbury breadsticks.


Wednesday

Ham Steaks with mashed potatoes and broccoli/cheese.
(No recipe for these, just cooking the ham steaks I found in the freezer)


Thursday

Homemade pizza & cheesy breadsticks


Friday

Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes and a veggie
Find the Salisbury Steak recipe here.


Saturday

Leftovers or something the hubby cooks


Sunday

Homemade enchiladas
(recipe on the back of the Hatch enchilada sauce)

Ham & Potato Soup!

My family absolutely loves this soup! I am making twice as much this time because we didn't even have left overs last time I made it.

Ham & Potato Soup

4 cups of peeled and cut up potatoes
1 cup of diced fully cooked ham
3 1/4 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
5 tablespoons of butter
5 tablespoon of all purpose flour
2 cups of milk
a few crumbs of chicken bouillon

Directions:

1. Combine the potatoes, ham, and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the bouillon, salt, & pepper.

2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork and continue to cook and stir constantly until thick, about a minute or so. Slowly stir in the milk being careful not to let lumps form. Continue stirring over medium heat until thick, anywhere from 4 - 20 minutes.

3. Stir the milk mixture into the large pot and cook soup until heated through.

4. You can add some potato flakes if you would like a thicker soup.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops

This is a super easy recipe for those of you who have a day or two where you don't want to be on your feet cooking dinner for 3 hours. Today is definitely one of those days for me, my feet are swollen and I am already tired.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops

8 Pork Chops
BBQ Sauce

Directions:

Pour a little BBQ sauce on the bottom of the crockpot then put as many pork chops side by side as you can on the bottom of the crockpot. Pour more BBQ sauce over those pork chops so that they are fully covered in BBQ sauce. Keep layering pork chops and BBQ sauce untill you use all of the pork chops. Cook all day on low or 3-4 hours on high.

Notes:

How many pork chops you need depends on your family size. 8 pork chops is way too many for us, I pulled out a bag of pork chops I had frozen in April and it had 5 in it so that's how many I used. I also used 2 bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (the smaller bottles) and I almost have enough BBQ in the crockpot to completely cover the pork chops.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Here is another recipe that my family really likes! I made this last night and it turned out pretty good, although I like stuff really spicy so next time I make it I am going to up the spices. If you like it spicy you might want to do the same.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 cans of chicken broth
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans (rinsed well)
1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic or garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder (I used a lot more than this and think it needed more)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
tortilla chips
1 cup of Mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the chicken in the oil for 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, chili powder, and lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Break up the tortilla chips and sprinkle over individual bowls of soup, also sprinkle cheese on the soup bowls as well

Notes:

I found that simmering over medium-low heat for about an hour made the flavors blend together so much better. I also used a lot of chili powder because I thought it was a bit bland. I posted the original directions though, because I know not everybody is a Texan.... LOL.... Seriously though, I know some people don't like spicy food and if you don't the original version will be perfect. Spicy lovers: You can also add 1 cup of salsa for extra spice!

Today's Menu

I am going to start posting the dinners I cook every night since lately I have been cooking a lot and using a lot of new recipes. We'll see how this goes and if anybody enjoys it, if not it will probably be discontinued. I used to hate cooking with a passion, but every since I started getting food so cheap and being hungry ALL the time from being pregnant, I am actually starting to like it! And suprisingly, almost everything I make turns out really awesome.

My favorite things to cook are deserts and pies and such, but I haven't been making too many of them lately. I haven't found any sales on many pie baking items so I am going to hold off untill I find them on sale, I am SO cheap!

So here is tonight's dinner. Simple yet tasty, and very little work because today is one of those days where I don't want to cook since I am re-organizing my cupboards and closets.

Hearty Beef Stew:

2 cans of sliced carrots
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of new sliced potatoes (or slice about 4 medium potatoes)
1 packet of Mc Cormick Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast Seasoning
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of stew meat

Directions:

Pour vegetables and meat into a large crockpot. Mix the seasoning packet as the directions say on the back and pour into crockpot. Make sure to add enough water to just barely cover everything in the crockpot otherwise the stuff on top won't cook. Mix everything up and put the lid on! Cook on low for 8 or so hours, or you can cook on high for a faster cook time!

Notes: If you don't have the seasoning packet handy, you can use a can of beef broth or a beef bouillon cube and you will get basically the same flavors. Once the meat and everything cooks together it produces a lot of it's own flavors.

Also, I have a fairly big crock pot, not sure on how many quarts but it's big. So when I make this stew we always have enough left overs for 2-3 days and this is with my DH and I both eating numerous bowls per day so this recipe makes a lot of servings. If you don't need that many servings just use 1 can of everything and perhaps a bit less meat and it will turn out great!

Let me know if you try this recipe and like it!

PS: I am also making a loaf of home made white bread to go with this meal. I am using the bread maker so I guess it isn't truly home made, but close enough for my family =)

Estimated cost of this meal - 6$