Ahhh we survived our crazy week! I feel like we are now in the downhill slope to the holidays. Hooray! So we are back with our Meal Plan Monday! But first, an update on Jackson's adventures in solid food...
The verdict on rice cereal is a definite no, but bananas pureed with some milk were not rejected quite as quickly! We're making progress!
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Not impressed.... |
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Exhausted from all that eating effort. |
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Food is out but TOES are in!! |
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Not even remotely related to eating but how cute are my boys? |
On to this week's menu...
Monday- chicken pot pie from the freezer (recipe below)
Tuesday-
Chicken Tortellini Soup with Zucchini and Tomatoes
Wednesday- We are having the Aggie Orientation Leader Execs over for a potluck dinner. I am making
Apple Dumplings for dessert. Thanks for the recipe
R-Bert!
Thursday- we subbed something last week for the
baked grouper so we are putting it on the menu again this week.
Friday- we are doing a powercook evening and knocking out dinner for Friday and Saturday night as well as putting a few dishes in the freezer for later. We will be making homemade lasagna (recipe below) and
shepherd's pie. With both of these recipes, the base is ground beef, garlic and onions and so we will just saute about 5 pounds of it and have enough for a big lasagna for company on Saturday night, one smaller lasagna for the freezer, one Shepherd's Pie for Friday night and one for the freezer.
Chicken Pot Pie
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz frozen or canned mixed vegetables
2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken (we cook ~3 chicken breasts in the crock pot with some garlic, onions, celery, and seasonall)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
2- 9" refrigerated pie crusts (it makes 2 so you can eat one right away and freeze the other for later!)
Combine first 6 ingredients (we just dump it all in the crock pot with the cooked, shredded chicken so there's only one dirty pot to clean). Spoon mixture into prepared pie crusts. Cover each with the top crusts. Crimp edges with fork to seal. Slit top crust before baking. If baking immediately, bake uncovered at 375 for 40 minutes. If freezing, cover first with saran wrap and then tightly with 2 layers of foil. When baking the frozen one, remove from freezer and place in refrigerator 12-24 hours in advance so it can thaw some. Bake on 375-400 for 1 hr+ depending on how long it thawed. Done when the crust is golden brown and internal temp reached ~140 degrees.
Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. basil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 reg can diced tomatoes
2 6-oz. cans tomato paste
1 can mushrooms
1 box lasagna noodles
2 eggs
3 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 lb Mozzarella cheese
Brown meat slowly; drain extra fat. Add next 6 ingredients and 1 cup water. Simmer covered for 15 minutes; stir often. Cook noodles in boiling, salted water until tender; drain and rinse. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and add remaining ingredients, except mozzarella.
Spray a 13x9 (or 2 smaller dishes) baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Layer 1/2 the noodles in the pan. Spread with half the cottage cheese filling; add half the mozzarella cheese and half the meat sauces. Repeat. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes (or assemble early and refrigerate; bake 45 minutes). Let stand 10 minutes for ease in serving.