Monday, March 1, 2010

Menu for the week of February 27-March 5

Kiera and Laura, I hope you don't mind that I am copying you. I have really enjoyed it when you blog about your meals, and now you've both motivated me to share mine, too. I've been using the site http://www.plantoeat.com to help organize my recipes and get my meal plans down for the week. Most of my recipes come from allrecipes.com and they are really easy to input into the plantoeat site.

Saturday, February 27:
We had Grilled Marinated Shrimp and Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus. I will post the recipe for the yummy shrimp at the end.

Sunday, February 28:
Sunday nights are our big screen movie nights. I don't cook a meal, but we do have popcorn, soda, deli meats, cheese, and fruit. Lots of fun! I've been starting a new thing for lunch, though. Growing up, we always had a huge meal on Sundays after church. I don't feel like doing a lot of work when we get home after church, but I've been making a simple lunch in the crockpot. Last week, we had French Dip with toasted rolls--so good! Yesterday, we had Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork (I bought a package of two inexpensive roasts and used one for the pulled pork. Froze the other one and will thaw it out on Tuesday to use for that night's meal.) topped with barbecue sauce and served on whole wheat buns. I have never cooked pork in root beer, but it turned out delicious!

Monday, March 1:
Tonight, we had my favorite chicken recipe that I discovered not too long ago. It was Mushroom Chicken Piccata (recipe at the end) served with Herbed Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes. Strange thing about my kids is that none of them, except for Grace, likes mashed potatoes. So, only Grace and I get to enjoy them. :)

Tuesday, March 2:
We will be having Ginger Pork with Steamed Rice and Stir-Fried Snow Peas and Mushrooms.

Wednesday, March 3:
This is always our busiest day of the week, so I like to do a crockpot meal to save some time. This week will be the standard Pot Roast with Vegetables.

Thursday, March 4:
I guess I burned out on my menu this week as I have nothing planned for this night! Can I blame pregnancy brain on this one?? I have chicken breasts in the freezer, so I will probably make something with them. :)

Friday, March 5:
I do my grocery shopping on Saturday mornings, so by Friday we are running out of food and we have what the kids like to call "Anything Night!!" Aaron and I usually eat leftovers, and the kids get to choose what they would like, as long as it's relatively healthy. Emily almost always has a bowl of cereal or oatmeal, Grace loves grilled cheese (which is my pick sometimes), and the boys usually pick cereal or ramen (uhh,not so healthy!). Anyway, it works and everyone is happy, especially mom.

Recipes:

Grilled Marinated Shrimp

  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 pounds Large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
  • skewers
In a mixing bowl, mix together olive oil, parsley, lemon juice, hot sauce, garlic, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Reserve a small amount for basting later. Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag with shrimp. Seal, and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat grill for medium-low heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade.

Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp for 5 minutes per side, or until opaque, basting frequently with reserved marinade.

(I made the mistake of getting unpeeled shrimp, so we had to peel and eat ours. It was a little work, but the shrimp was so good that it was worth it.)


Mushroom Chicken Piccata

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together flour, salt and paprika. In a separate dish or bowl mix together egg and milk. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture, then in seasoned flour.

In a large skillet, heat butter or margarine over medium high heat. Saute chicken pieces until golden brown. Add mushrooms and onion and saute for 3 to 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl combine the broth, wine, lemon juice and cornstarch. Mix together and pour mixture over chicken and mushrooms. Reduce heat to medium low and let chicken mixture simmer for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Sprinkle with parsley and serve


3 comments:

cyndie said...

i don't like mashed potatoes either! :) i LOVE potatoes and have several great recipes, but still don't like them mashed. :)

Allie said...

I love the idea of an "anything night". One less meal for me to have to think of! Great idea :)

Bella @ Lil Daisies said...

I stopped by earlier and read, but didn't have time to leave a comment!
Yay for you to post your menu -- which means you HAVE a plan!

It looks really good and I love all the explanations that went with what you are eating -- now I KNOW what you are doing on that day!

Good Job Joy!

Blessings,
Bella
http://lildaisies.blogspot.com/