Sunday Meal Planning!!!

It's been a busy weekend here! Hilary and I spent 3 days in Lancaster County, PA sightseeing and attending the Creating Keepsakes Convention.  Hopefully, Hilary and I will be able to put together a blog post on our cropping and shopping adventures really soon! 

We had a great time but for me it's back to reality! LOL Since I had some time last week before heading out for the weekend I pre-planned and shopped as much as I could for this week.  That's the point of "meal planning", right?

So, for this week this is what I have planned:

Sunday - Enchilada Lasagna with Crockpot Refried Beans and Saffron Rice
Monday - Baked Mac and Cheese with Tomato Soup
Tuesday - Italian Crockpot Chicken over Rotini Pasta
Wednesday - Cheesy Rigatoni Bake with Ground Beef
Thursday - leftover night!

Friday - Zesty Crockpot Chicken with Ciabata Rolls and Mayoless Slaw

Saturday - dinner out! :-)

I've made the Enchilada Lasagna a bunch of times but was never happy with how the layers came together.  This time I think I finally perfected how to layer it so it comes out of the pan and doesn't run all over the plate.  The original recipe is from Taste of Home.  Here is my modified recipe! 

Enchilada Lasgana (adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14 ½ oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce
1 teaspoon (to 2 teaspoons) ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ cups (12 oz.) 4% cottage cheese
4 cups (16 oz.) shredded Mexican cheese blend, reserve 1 cup for topping
9 flour tortillas (8 inches), cut in half

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the tomatoes, enchilada sauce, cumin and cilantro.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine egg and cottage cheese; set aside.  Grease a 13x9 baking dish. Layer 6 tortilla halves on the bottom of the baking dish. Spread a third of the meat sauce over tortillas. Add 1 ½ cups of the cheese blend over the meat sauce. Layer with 6 more tortilla halves, the cottage cheese mixture, another 1/3 of the meat sauce and 1 ½ cups cheese blend.  Finish layering with the last 6 tortilla halves and remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese blend.

Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly.  Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.  Yields 12 servings.

My family really enjoyed this dish.  The key to preventing it from running out all over your plate is really to let it sit for 15 minutes before cutting so don't skip that step!

Hope you have a great week! 

 

Deborah 

Meal Plan Sunday 6/24

After all the traveling by my husband and the family over the past couple weeks, I'm looking forward to a "normal" week!  This morning I checked pinterest, my coupons, and my recipe collection to decide what we will be dining on for the week.  

Today, my hubby, an excellent cook in his own right (I know, I'm lucky!) said that he wold make his chicken parm over pasta.  For tomorrow, I decided to try a new recipe I found on pinterest called Salsa Chicken and serve it over rice.  It is a slow cooker recipe, which is perfect for a hot summer day because I won't be heating up the house with the oven or the cooktop!

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts 
1 can cream of chicken soup 
1 cup salsa 
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream 
shredded cheddar, black beans and scallion, for serving (optional)

Directions: 

Put chicken, soup, and salsa in slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. If shredding the chicken, pull the breasts out and shred; return back to slow cooker. Stir in sour cream and heat just until everything is combined.

As I said, I haven't made this recipe before but it gets good reviews so I'm hopeful!!  I'll let you know how it comes out in the comments of this post.  On Tuesday, the hubby will be out at a dinner meeting so it will be breakfast for dinner for me and the kids.  Wednesday will be slow cooker beef and broccoli, Thursday will be pizza night, and Friday will be burgers on the grill with corn and a caprese salad.

Happy eating everyone!  Let us know what's in your meal plan for the week!

Hilary

Meal Plan Sunday

Normally, Sunday is my day to meal plan for the upcoming week and to go shopping for all the necessary ingredients.  Sunday is a good day to do your meal plan, because you can make your plan around the coupons you find in the Sunday paper!  This, however, is not a normal Sunday or a normal upcoming week.  The hubby is traveling for work through Wednesday and then on Thursday I leave for the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Las Vegas!!  (Look forward to live reports from there later this week!)  So the only real cooking I will be doing this week is on Wednesday.  

Until Wednesday, the kids and I will be mostly dining from my freezer stash (the importance of a freezer stash to be discussed in an upcoming post!)  To welcome my hubby home on Wednesday, I will make his current favorite meal - Mango Peach Shredded Beef Tacos!  This is an amazingly easy, slow cooker recipe that I came up with through trial and error.

Slow Cooker Mango Peach Shredded Beef (for tacos)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2-3 lb. tri tip roast (trimmed of most fat)

1 pkg. low sodium taco seasoning

2 (14 oz.) containers Mango Peach Salsa

Directions:

Place trimmed roast in the slow cooker.  Season with package of taco seasoning.  Pour containers of salsa over the roast.  Cook on high for 6.5 hrs or on low for 10.5 hrs.  After cooking, shred the beef with two forks and pour sauce from the crock pot over the meat to serve.

I serve this beef with all the regular taco accompaniments - hard or soft taco shells, cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, guacamole, and sour cream.  I use Santa Barbara brand mango peach salsa but if that is not available in your area, Target sells a mango peach salsa in their Market Pantry brand.  It can be found in the produce department refrigerator section.

I hope your family enjoys this recipe as mine does! 

Hilary