Back again and well just as good maybe even better!

So as you may have noticed the menu planning took a backseat in the last few months, but then I caught myself with bad habits again, like just picking up dinner, or get prepared meals, and hey I miss cooking, but without preparing an organized list and plan, grocery shopping is sloppy random and really doesn't produce anything I really wanted to eat.  So here it is -the plan!  Our menu for next week, grocery shopping day is tomorrow and I am stoked to know that my time will be quick and I will leave with a car full of things that I can actually put together!

I am also taking requests for menu makeover items...feel free to shoot me an email or post a comment! 

6/6/2011-6/12/2011

Monday -King Ranch Chicken

This is actually a family friends favorite, and this makeover of this dish sounds yum!( This has been further made over for our family allergy needs!)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
• 1 ½ cups almond milk
• 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• ½ of 4-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 red or green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups diced cooked skinless chicken
• 10 corn tortillas, cut in quarters
• 1/2 cup shredded fat free Cheddar cheese
  

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Whisk milk and flour in a small bowl until smooth. Add to the broth and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in tomatoes, chiles, cilantro (or parsley), chili powder, oregano and cumin. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.
4. Line the bottom of a shallow 3-quart baking dish with half the tortillas. Top with half the chicken and half the onion mixture. Spoon half of the sauce evenly over the top. Repeat layers with remaining tortillas, chicken, onion mixture and sauce. Sprinkle with Cheddar. Bake until bubbly, 25 to 30 minutes. ( I spoon out a portion for my youngest who has a milk allergy before sprinkling with cheese!)
   

Feel free to check out the original makeover at http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/king_ranch_casserole.html



Calories Carbs Protein Fiber Calcium

Total:	1731	204	130	18	146
Per Serving:	289	34	22	3	24

Tuesday- Beer and Burgers...( homemade black bean burgers and root beer floats!)

Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (rinse and then drain for a while, you really don't want wet beans!)
• 1/2 bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces ( you can use red green, or yellow!)
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 egg whites ( or egg substitute) or 3 tsps of Ener G egg replacer mixed with 4 tablespoons of cold water
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Taco sauce
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs ( or plain, or quick cooking oats)

Directions

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.
   I made 2 batches of these since my youngest is allergic to eggs ( and I use an egg substitute). I half the batch they turned out great!

Root Beer Floats

We make these with frozen vanilla yogurt ( I much prefer the flavor to low fat ice-cream(most just taste funny!) and diet Rootbeer
Wednesday Hungry Girl's Corndog Millionaire Muffins
(with I am too lazy for all that measuring twist!)

These are great and super quick! Mine has a tad more calories in it, but takes much less time since I don't have to measure as much, and time in a commodity for this mommy, wife, student, and nurse's assistant!

Ingredients
Jiffy - Corn Muffin Mix (Only Mix), 1 container (1 1/2 cups ea.)
Hebrew National (Kosher) - 97% Fat Free Beef Franks, 1 container (7 frank (49g) ea.)
Corn - Sweet, white, canned, cream style, regular pack, 1 cup
Breakstone's - Sour Cream - Fat Free, 8 tbsp
Eggs - White only, raw, 0.5 cup

Total:	1547	250	75	3	54
Per Serving:	193	31	9	0	7	8 total servings

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl mix together corn bread mix, egg substitute, corn, and sour cream.
Cut 2 hot dogs in half, leaving you with 4 cocktail-sized franks. Cut each of the halves into 6 pieces, leaving you with 24 "coins." Set aside. (You'll use these to top the muffins.)
Chop the remaining hot dogs into very small pieces. Add those to the large bowl, and stir until they are integrated into the batter.
Line 8 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute batter among the 8 cups. Top each muffin with 3 of the hot dog "coins."
Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool and then enjoy!

Thursday- Left over night!

Friday- Fiesta Night TVP and lean beef tacos

Our family loves tacos, so this is a must at least one night a week, we prepare one cup of TVP ( Textured Vegetable Protein) with lean ground beef and use our homemade taco seasoning. We garnish with lettuce, tomato, salsa, and avocado(if I can find a ripe one).

Ingredients for the taco seasoning ( we double this recipe)

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Saturday- Grilled Chicken breast with herbs, baked potato, and asparagus

I love to experiment with different topping for baked potatoes some of my favorite are Salad Toppings from McCromick, the classics like butter and sour cream also can be found on my potato, light sour cream ( prefer it's texture to fat free(which I do use I cooking)) and Parkay butter spray ( the best invention ever!)

Sunday- It's my birthday so who knows!

Grocery List 6/6/2011-6/12/2011
Produce	Dairy	Bread/Cereal	Dry Foods	Sweets & Snacks
cilantro	Almond milk		Chicken broth	Frozen vanilla yogurt
Red pepper*	Fat free cheddar cheese		flour	Diet a&w **also you should pick up topping for your potatoes whatever they may be !
mushrooms	Grated Parmesan cheese		Chili powder
Frozen peas	Pecorino Romano		Canola oil
onion	Fat free sour cream		oregano
garlic	Lean beef		cumin
Asparagus russet potatoes	eggs		Salt
Canned Foods	Meats		pepper
Diced chiles	Chicken breasts		Olive oil
Diced tomatoes	Cooked ham		Italian seasoning
Creamed corn	Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs		Chicken bouillon cubes
Black beans	Chicken		Thin spaghetti
			Jiffy Mix
			Chili powder
			Garlic powder
			oregano
			Taco shells
			TVP
			buns
			Hot sauce
			panko

*All strike through items are needed but are currently in my home!