Weekly Menu Plan – 25.0

Hi MincedReviewers!

Below is my weekly meal plan for this week for you to use next week. Let me know if you try any of these, if you loved them, loathed them or changed them.  **note-there are two templates at the bottom of this blog for you to use as well.  A weekly menu chart that you can print out and stick on your fridge and a grocery store template that you can print and check off what you need.

Sunday-Lemon Herb and Parmesan Crusted Fish

Monday-Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Tuesday-Tuna Pasta Salad with Dill

Wednesday-Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf

Thursday-Zesty Slow Cooker Barbeque

Friday- No cooking for you!

Saturday night-Grill Night!

Sunday –Lemon, Herb & Parmesan Crusted Fish – Delicious recipe from BBC’s goodfood.  Here is a handy conversion site to change the metrics to US standards.  Serving with Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Quinoa Salad.

Monday – 4-Ingredient Crockpot Chicken Tacos:  Excellent recipe that I found on Cooking Light’s website.  I do, however, make a few adjustments to make it a bit more kid friendly (i.e. not scream inducing spicy).  I increase the salsa 1/2 cup and reduce the chili sauce by 1/2 cup.  I also squeeze juice from 1/2 a lime and add 1Tbs of Adobo Seasoning. (click for the recipe that I use to make a big batch of adobo seasoning). Serve with corn/flour tortillas and black beans.  

Tuesday–Tuna Pasta Salad with Dill & Peas.  This wonderful recipe is from Lauren’s Latest.  The thing that I love most about this recipe is that it is just as good hot as it is cold. I must point out that you have to love dill in order to truly appreciate the deliciousness of this recipe. 

Wednesday–Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf.  This AllRecipes recipe is a healthier version of the classic comfort food, meatloaf. A few changes:  I substitute BBQ sauce for the hot sauce for the kiddos.  I used 1/2 the brown sugar (too sweet-yikes).  I like to use a muffin pan vs. a loaf pan. Helps portion it out and prevent crumbling.  Serve with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and steamed fresh green beans.

Thursday–Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue.  This is our favorite Slow Cooker BBQ and perfect for night when we have evening baseball games.  The best scenario is to serve with cole slow on top but tonight we will keep it simple.  Serving on bakery rolls and sweet potatoes fries on the side (frozen Trader Joe’s).

Friday– Take a break, will ya?!

Saturday– Grillin’ and Chillin’ night.  Steaks on the grill.  Corn on the cob.  Grilled sweet peppers.  Summer Shandy.  Most importantly… S’mores for dessert.  P.S. I say chill, because I don’t grill. 🙂 

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

A Happy 4th of July Menu.

Okay, so it’s not the 4th YET but plans are being made, groceries are getting bought and recipes are being searched for.  To help you in your ‘Best 4th Ever’ quest, I’m sharing my menu and a few tips and tricks.

1. Appetizers – I like to keep the appetizers simple.  There’s enough to do, don’t you think?  A simple veggie tray, chips and salsa,  pretzels and pub cheese.  Done and done.
2. Main Dish(es) – We keep it traditional in this house.  Hot dogs, hamburgers (made with a burger press), brats (boiled in beer first).  The usual. This year, however, I’m going to twist it a little with toppings.  For the burgers, I am going to make spicy mayo (mayo w/a little Tabasco),  saute mushrooms, saute onions, make guacamole and fry up some bacon.  For the hot dogs and brats, I am going to saute peppers and serve with fun cheeses and rolls.  Think of it as the sundae bar for a BBQ. 🙂
3. Sides – Corn on the cob.  Check out this You Tube video on how to shuck corn.   Super easy.   A new pasta salad I found, Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes and Basil.  This recipe is by one of my fave cooks, Ree Drummond (a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman).  I also found a recipe by Robert Irvine called, Bacon-and-Egg Potato Salad.  Need I say more.  The title says it all.  I canNOT wait to try this.   Plus it doesn’t look complicated.  Bonus.   We will serve easy stuff too… chips, fruit salad, etc…
4. Desserts –   By request of my five-year old, I will be making Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and it actually turned out just liked it looked.   I am also going to make traditional chocolate chip cookies.  My favorite choco chip cookie recipe ever is on the back of a package of Trader Joe’s chocolate chips.  Trader Joes’ Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  For some reason this only has three stars.  Wrong. wrong. wrong.  These are amazing.  So says me!  I do sprinkle with a little sea salt before cooking.  Delish!

I think that’s it!  So hungry for this stuff now!  Share with everyone what you will be cooking this 4th.

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone.

Happy BBQ’ing!!

Menu Plan 3.0

Week 3:

Sunday – Seafood Enchiladas – This is one of the best seafood enchilada recipes that I have ever tried.  Restaurant quality deliciousness.  I do make a few changes.  I use faux crab meat to save $ and I top with sliced green olives instead of black as pictured.  FABULOUS!!  Tip:  Make extra filling for Tuesdays meal.

Monday–  Sliders.  Slider night is a fun and easy night.  You can make the slider patties the night before to save time.  Serve with fries/sweet potato fries, corn on the cob and call it a night.    The boys love it!

Tuesday– Quesadilla night!!  Cheese quesadillas for the kids.  Seafood for the adults.  I typically spread a little margarine on the tortilla, place face down on the fry pan (similar to grilled cheese), top with cheese, left over filling from Sunday dinner and sprinkle with adobo seasoning for a hispanic flair.  Fold in half after @10 minutes on medium heat and flip the entire quesadilla over. Cook until lightly brown. Serve with black beans and rice.

Wednesday– Rigatoni with Creamy Sausage Sauce.  Love love love this recipe.  AND it’s a Weight Watcher’s recipe!!  Serve with salad and fresh french bread.  YUM!

Thursday–BBQ Pork Chops.  This recipe is actually called ‘My Kid’s Favorite Pork Chops”  Pretty sure my boys wouldn’t eat pork chops slathered with onions and BBQ sauce BUT they do like the actual pork chops when I scrape all that off.  The adults however LOVE this recipe.  Me especially.  It is incredibly easy.  Season and brown pork chops in a fry pan, add a bottle of beer, a bottle of BBQ, top with thinly sliced onion, cover and cook on low for 60-90 minutes.  Perfection.  If the sauce is to thin when you are getting ready to serve, thicken with a little old-fashioned corn starch. Serve with a veggie and little boiled red potatoes.  

Friday– Fun Friday?/Leftover Friday?/I need a break Friday!   

Saturday– Santa Fe Chicken Pilaf – I haven’t made this in a while but just remembered it the other day.  When I first discovered this recipe, we probably had this for dinner once a week for 3 months.  Overkill?  Maybe.  BUT it is quite delicious and this may start the obsession all over.  I will say that I prefer shredding the chicken in this dish vs. chunks. I boil the chicken, throw in the KitchenAid mixer (with the bread kneading attachment) and voila!  3 minutes later and the chicken is perfectly shredded! (Thanks for the tip Mrs. Carlson)

As always, here is a link to a printable menu so that you can print out and write your meals on it and stick on the fridge. Then when you’re ready to cook, just click on the link for the recipe.

Menu Planning Templates

Happy cooking!

Grillin’ and Chillin’.

Aaaah. Is that BBQ I smell? It is the smell of summer officially starting. Grilling out is definitely NOT my area of expertise. I’m not 100% sure that I even know how to turn the grill on. Pretty sad but luckily Eric has got it covered. I am, however, digging all of the new grilling tools and grilling recipes that I have been coming across lately. My fascination started at the Houseware’s Show in March. Tons of grilling accessories everywhere I looked. You can literally cook your entire meal on a grill. Appetizers, main dish, side dish AND dessert. It blows my mind a little but I am very excited to try some of this new stuff. (and by ‘try’ I mean make the food, put it in or on the new grill accessory and hand to Eric to actually grill).

• Nordicware Chicken and Jalapeno Griller– This handy little accessory grills up to 17 chicken legs without having to turn them and also makes them much easier to baste. Or you can use it to make yummy stuffed jalapenos or tortilla rolls. Love it! This is available for @$20 at Walmart but I did find it on sale on Amazon.com for $15.97! Made in the USA!

• Nordicware Meatball Griller- This Griller allows you to get the smokey BBQ taste in your meatballs. Great for an appetizer. Plus it has holes in the bottom so the grease drains out. (hate the word grease for some reason). You can also use this to make cute dinner rolls or stuffed mini tomatoes. Yum. This retails for @$18 at retailers (jcpenney currently carries this). Made in the USA too!

Nordicware Meatball Griller

• Sur La Table Potato Grill Rack– this is great because you puncture the potatoes when putting on the rack which allows the potato to cook from the inside out. Delish! It retails for $12.95.

Sur La Table Potato Grill Rack

• Lodge Grill Press-Everyone should have a grill press! It cooks both sides of the burger (or bacon) at the same time. This helps take your burgers from good to perfection! Lodge is known for its cast iron and is a brand that I am happy to recommend. They make their products in the US as a huge added bonus. $22.95 at Crate and Barrel. $14.95 at Amazon.com and Walmart.

Lodge Grill Press

• Foil– Good ol’ fashioned foil. Foil is such an excellent tool to use in grilling. In this month’s edition of Food Network Magazine, it has tons of ideas. Click on the link below. It is incredible the things that you can cook on the grill in foil!

Food Network Magazine ’50 Things to Grill in Foil’

Foil

Happy Grilling everyone!!! and Happy Memorial Day!!

Oh and the ‘chillin” part? Pop. that’s the sound of an ice-cold bottle of Corona opening. The other sound of summer.