Menu Monday!

Good morning friends! Last week's menu went well with only one change. I had planned a bbq but we changed our minds. It was not a big deal as I was able to use leftovers into a new meal.

Here is a look at last week's meals..

I enjoyed this meal of pork chops, brown rice with gravy and a salad...

I actually used pork steaks and I like them better. Pork chops always seem so dry to me. I baked them in a 350 degree oven until they were cooked through (maybe 45 minutes?). For seasonings I sprinkled on both sides a little salt, pepper, granulated garlic, seasoning salt, and Worcestershire sauce.  I used 2 cups of chicken broth that I had from making chicken stock with the rotisserie chicken I purchased a couple weeks ago.  In a small sauce pan I heated up 4T butter and added 6T flour when the butter had melted. I then added the 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup from the juices in the pan of pork steaks. Brought this to a boil and let it cook to thicken up and cook the flour taste out.  I made brown rice in my Instant Pot and rounded it out with a salad. We ate this meal for 2 nights. 

I had planed on making a taco pie using up some leftover canned crescent rolls. But I think I was lazy that night :D and ended up making tacos instead. I used a pound of hamburger, cooked that up, added taco seasonings along with a little salt and pepper and then added a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans. I mashed up some of the beans for the smoother texture. I served them in soft tortilla shells and had chips & salsa on the side....

Over the weekend we had a late breakfast/lunch (brunch :) and we weren't really feeling all that hungry so ended up having a snack instead of a meal. It was the last of the split pea soup, tortilla chips w/hummus and fruit...

The next day I saw that I still had leftover taco filling and a little more brown rice. I put this in my Instant Pot along with 2 cups (frozen) chicken stock and generous 1 cup of frozen corn, and about 1 cup of water. I cooked this on high pressure for 7 minutes..

And dinner was done! I also used up the can of crescent rolls to serve on the side..

  

 And for the final meal of our week I made a marinade from balsamic vinegar for my chicken and had that with butternut squash all cooked on a sheet pan...

I used 2 chicken breasts (about 1 pound) that I sliced long wise and marinated them in this mixture:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2T honey

1t dijon mustard

2t granulated garlic (garlic powder would work as well)

Mix ingredients well and taste to see if you want more sweetener.  It was a bit on the tangy side, but we like it that way. 

While the chicken was marinading I peeled and cut up my butternut squash. Peeling a squash can be such a pain.  If you missed my instructions on how to do this easily you can find that HERE (scroll towards the end of the post to see it).

I let the squash cook for about 25 minutes at 400 before putting the chicken on because I knew the squash would take longer. Then I put the chicken on the tray with a good amount of the marinade and let that cook around 15 minutes. If you don't use sliced up chicken but rather chicken pieces then you would want to cook them longer.  This turned out really good and I served it with dinner rolls and salad...

 Now this brings us to my plans for this week. I may have more meals then I will use this week due to plans that are up in the air right now. But I wanted to plan enough..

BBQ pork, tater tots, salad - I know this will be enough for more then one meal. Which is good because that's usually my goal when I cook. I'll make the bbq pork in my Instant Pot and the tater tots in my air fryer. 

Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw and potato chips - This will be the second meal from the bbq pork and I'll use some of the Hawaiian dinner rolls that I have in the freezer for the sandwiches.  I'll make the coleslaw using my favorite recipe:

Coleslaw

1 medium head cabbage, chopped very finely
¼ cup shredded carrot
1/3 cup sugar

1t salt
½ t. pepper
¼ cup milk
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup buttermilk
1 T white vinegar
2 T lemon juice

Put chopped cabbage and shredded carrots in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add this to the cabbage and mix until cabbage is well coated with dressing. Cover and refrigerate for minimum of 2 hours before serving 

Salsa chicken over brown rice and a salad - I do this one in the crockpot. I put my desired amount of chicken thighs (usually about a pound) in the crockpot, cover with a cup or so of salsa add some salt and pepper and put in about a 1/2 block of cream cheese (4oz) and let this cook on low all day (6 to 8 hours). When its done, I shred the chicken and serve it over brown rice. 

Potato, hamburger, bacon casserole and a salad - I use either the shredded frozen hash browns or the little cubes. I cook up a pound of hamburger and 1/2 a pound of bacon and add that to the potatoes. I mix up a can of cream of mushroom soup with a little milk to thin it out and then add grated cheese. I pour this over the potato mixture, put it all in a 9x13 pan and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 until everything is hot and bubbly. I don't have an exact recipe for this because it was just one of those things I threw together one day and we loved it. 

This should do it for the week. If I've planned more meals then we need then I'll move the meals to next weeks menu.

Crystal