Well, I was thinking last week that it was time for soups and stews! Wrong, it's hot weather again, so we will have to wait for the ham and beans, beef stew, and chicken soups! Raleys has some good deals on their ads this week. I logged in and printed a coupon for $10 off when you spend $50. I know that I will spend $10 on Coke because it's a little bit cheeper than Costco this week so coming up with a $40 grocery list will be easy.
This week I will fix Venison backstrap (yes my son got a deer as well as a bear!) with baked potatoes and salad, Beef Stoganoff (rib steak on sale for $1.97/lb at Raleys - recipe to follow), tacos (ground beef on sale at Raleys this week), and grilled boneless pork loin chops marinated in italian dressing with some potatoes and a veggie.
For the stroganoff, pick a day that you will get home with little time for meal prep. The night before, cut up the rib steaks into strips and measure all ingredients out. That morning, put it in the crock pot and when you get home all you have to do is boil some noodles and steam a veggie!! Here's how to make some great stroganoff: Put a small amount of flour in your crock pot with a couple shakes of pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Put the cut up meat (about 2 lbs) in with the flour and stir it around until the meat is coated. Mix a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, half a cup of water, and an enveloope of Lipton Onion Soup. Pour it over the meat and stir it up. Put your crock pot on low for 6 or 7 hours. If you are home during the day it's great to stir it every couple of hours. If you are not home, don't worry. The top may look dry, but just stir it when you get home and it will be fine. The last step is to add a half cup of sour cream and a few sliced mushrooms (fresh ones!) stir it up, put on high for the time that it takes to make the noodles and veggie - dinner is ready!
For the potatoes I am making with the pork loin, I will take a pieceof aluminum foil - the heavy duty kind- and spray it with Pam or another non stick spray. If you don't have heavy duty foil just use 2 pieces so it is thicker. Cut up potatoes (skin off or on) like you would for mashed potato making. Put a half cube of butter and a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix on top of the potatoes. Close the foil tightly and put on the bbq for about 30 minutes.I turn mine twice in that time.
I hope my ideas are helping someone out there! I have had lots of comments around town and it keeps my going:) Thanks!!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Raley's Coupons
Become a member of Raleys.com today! I did and I got a coupon for 4 free AMAZING cupcakes when you spend $20. They really came in handy with my son having 2 friends over to help with the bear he got this week:) Also avocados for .67 starts tomorrow. Watch the dates, the coupons are only good for a couple of days at a time. Be strong and don't buy a bunch of other stuff that you wouldn't normaly buy or the coupon won't really save you anything!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Easy , but delicious
So what's on the menu for this week? Chicken creamy pesto pasta, more tri tip, baked chicken and carnitas!
To make the cramy pesto, just mix pesto sauce with a little alfredo.
This week's baked chicken is an easy way to get the bbq taste without a bbq! I use thighs and legs, but you can use any cut of the chicken - bones or no bones. Just mix 1 cup of bbq sauce, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of honey. Use a wire wisk and get it all mixed up good. Place the chicken in a baking dish and put an orange or lemon slice in between each piece. The lemon or orange should be touching 2 pieces at once, so put them close. Pour the sauce over the top and bake covered for about 1 hour for bone in and about 40 minutes for boneless. I will serve this with rice and broccoli. An easy and different rice recipe: Use chicken broth instead of water and throw some crushed garlic and green onion or chives in with the rice. Do everything else according to package directions - I'm not talking Minute Rice here! Regular rice is just as easy, it just takes a little longer and tastes WAY BETTER!
For the carnitas I use a pork shoulder - which is on sale at Raley's this week (until Tuesday) for 97 cents a pound. I put the meat in my Pampered Chef stone bowl with lid. I just put a heavy dose of garlic powder and black pepper all over the pork and put it in the oven at 250 degrees all day. When you get home from work, sprinkle some hot sauce over the top and bake for another hour or so. Take the meat out of the oven and take off all of the fat. Then separate the meat with 2 forks to make a stringy type of look. You can add a bit of the juice from the bowl if you think it is too dry. I serve this meat on corn tortillas from Raleys that look homemade. They are in the tortilla section - some even come flavored. I put chopped tomatoes, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, cilantro, lime, lettuce, chopped onions, quacamole, and canned corn out as additions to the meat and tortilla. Yummy!
As for the tri tip, this is the easiest thing to make. I use Montreal seasoning or Pappys rub on both sides of the meat. I prepare my bbq for indirect heat and cook the meat for about 40 minutes, turning it every 10 minutes. After you take it off the bbq, let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the juices don't run all over when you cut it. I buy several tri tips at a time when they are on sale, so I always have one in the freezer. I vacuum pack them always. My friend Sally puts the Pappy's rub on the meat before freezing - I'm going to try that the next time I buy some! This week I will serve tri tip with baked potatoes with sour cream and chives (from my herb garden outside my kitchen door) and a salad with tomatoes from my garden.
Speaking of garden, we are ready to plant out broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. I can hardly wait for that first bunch of broccoli!
To make the cramy pesto, just mix pesto sauce with a little alfredo.
This week's baked chicken is an easy way to get the bbq taste without a bbq! I use thighs and legs, but you can use any cut of the chicken - bones or no bones. Just mix 1 cup of bbq sauce, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of honey. Use a wire wisk and get it all mixed up good. Place the chicken in a baking dish and put an orange or lemon slice in between each piece. The lemon or orange should be touching 2 pieces at once, so put them close. Pour the sauce over the top and bake covered for about 1 hour for bone in and about 40 minutes for boneless. I will serve this with rice and broccoli. An easy and different rice recipe: Use chicken broth instead of water and throw some crushed garlic and green onion or chives in with the rice. Do everything else according to package directions - I'm not talking Minute Rice here! Regular rice is just as easy, it just takes a little longer and tastes WAY BETTER!
For the carnitas I use a pork shoulder - which is on sale at Raley's this week (until Tuesday) for 97 cents a pound. I put the meat in my Pampered Chef stone bowl with lid. I just put a heavy dose of garlic powder and black pepper all over the pork and put it in the oven at 250 degrees all day. When you get home from work, sprinkle some hot sauce over the top and bake for another hour or so. Take the meat out of the oven and take off all of the fat. Then separate the meat with 2 forks to make a stringy type of look. You can add a bit of the juice from the bowl if you think it is too dry. I serve this meat on corn tortillas from Raleys that look homemade. They are in the tortilla section - some even come flavored. I put chopped tomatoes, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, cilantro, lime, lettuce, chopped onions, quacamole, and canned corn out as additions to the meat and tortilla. Yummy!
As for the tri tip, this is the easiest thing to make. I use Montreal seasoning or Pappys rub on both sides of the meat. I prepare my bbq for indirect heat and cook the meat for about 40 minutes, turning it every 10 minutes. After you take it off the bbq, let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the juices don't run all over when you cut it. I buy several tri tips at a time when they are on sale, so I always have one in the freezer. I vacuum pack them always. My friend Sally puts the Pappy's rub on the meat before freezing - I'm going to try that the next time I buy some! This week I will serve tri tip with baked potatoes with sour cream and chives (from my herb garden outside my kitchen door) and a salad with tomatoes from my garden.
Speaking of garden, we are ready to plant out broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. I can hardly wait for that first bunch of broccoli!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Dinner ideas for the week
Last week I ended up with extra tri tip, so I didn't make the chicken cordon bleu. We had tri tip sandwiches instead. So this week I will make the chicken, whiskey pork chops, hamburgers, and babyback ribs.
Whiskey pork chops are easy! Hopefully you have a pan with a lid that you can use on the stove and also in the oven. If you don't, just be sure to scrape everything out of the pan when you transfer the meat into an oven dish. Put salt and pepper on the chops cook them in a pan on high heat in oil to sear them. Take them out of the pan and put them on a plate. Add more oil and saute some mushrooms and onions and for a while. Add 1/4 cup of whiskey and cook for 3 minutes. Mix together 1 cup of sour cream, 1 tablespon of flour, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon of sage. Add this to the mushrooms and then put the pork back in the pan and cover with the mushroom sauce. Put the pan in the oven, lid on and bake at 350 for one hour. This is good served with mashed potatoes. The sauce works well as a gravy.
Whiskey pork chops are easy! Hopefully you have a pan with a lid that you can use on the stove and also in the oven. If you don't, just be sure to scrape everything out of the pan when you transfer the meat into an oven dish. Put salt and pepper on the chops cook them in a pan on high heat in oil to sear them. Take them out of the pan and put them on a plate. Add more oil and saute some mushrooms and onions and for a while. Add 1/4 cup of whiskey and cook for 3 minutes. Mix together 1 cup of sour cream, 1 tablespon of flour, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon of sage. Add this to the mushrooms and then put the pork back in the pan and cover with the mushroom sauce. Put the pan in the oven, lid on and bake at 350 for one hour. This is good served with mashed potatoes. The sauce works well as a gravy.
Leftover corn on the cob?
I had a few ears of cooked corn left the other day so I made a great salad. It's really simple and delicious. First cut the corn off of the cob - like you did when you had braces! Then dice a red bell pepper, some celery, and a peeled cucumber. Drain and rinse a can of black beans and put all of it in a bowl. Pour some balsamic vinegrette dressing over the top and stir it in. Chill for a while and yum!!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Gift of Fresh Peaches
What do you do when someone gives you fresh peaches?!! This happened to me this weekend and I was soooooo happy! First I made a peach crisp and then I canned the rest. Peach crisp is super easy: first you have to peel the peaches. Put a few in boiling water for about a minute then put them in ice water for a minute. You should be able to grab the peach and the skin will just come right off (it's the same proceedure with peeling tomatoes). After peeling, cut in half and take off of pit - hopefully you have free stone peaches and not clings. Slice peaches until a baking dish is full and then put cinnamon and sugar on top and stir. Next mix the topping. I always mix at least double sometimes triple the topping - it's super yummy! Topping: 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 1/2 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon apple juice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix it all together and spread on top of peaches. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes with baking dish on top of a cookie sheet or foil because it can get messy. Serve over vanilla ice cream.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Busy Weekend/Busier Week!
So, this weekend we had a huge Labor Day Party and there are lots of leftovers of course. I have incorporated some into my weekly menu so that I don't waste. We had a whole pig on a spit and there was a lot leftover so, Monday night I am making open faced hot pork sandwiches. A slice of white bread, mashed potatoes on top, sliced pork, and turkey or pork gravy on top. With this I will steam the carrots and broccoli left over from a veggie tray. Easy meal and nothing to buy at the store! Raleys has tri tip on sale this week, so Tuesday's dinner is bbq tri tip, mushrooms, green salad and potato salad left from the party. Wednesday night is Back to School Night and we won't be home until late. I will put some leftover pork in the crock pot with some chicken broth and bbq sauce and let it simmer all day. When we get home we can put it on sandwich rolls and break out yet another kind of leftover potato salad from the party. This is a good plan because we will all be home at different times so it will be ready for everyone whenever they are ready. Thursday night will be our first dinner home with our Italian exchange student, Gulia. She will be with us for a little less than two weeks. I am making chicken cordon bleu, rice a roni (she has to try some American favorites!) and broccoli. Don't let the chicken cordon bleu scare you! Just take boneless chicken breasts (Costco's are the best, the frozen ones in the bag) and pound them thin, put a thin piece of ham and any kind of cheese on top and roll it up securing it with a toothpick. After that you can do a couple of things. You can dip it in egg and bread crumbs and bake it for a bout 45 minutes, or you can put it in a pan and cover with a Knorr sauce and bake it for the same time.
So that's another week! Remember to look at the grocery ads and in your freezer and pantry before you plan your week of meals:)
So that's another week! Remember to look at the grocery ads and in your freezer and pantry before you plan your week of meals:)
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