Menu Planning Monday for the week of 5/3/09

Yesterday I completed another freezer swap and I ended up with a total of 15 meals! You may have noticed that my posting has slowed down quite a bit recently. It’s the end of the school year, which is always hectic anyway, but on top of that we had a day of for flooding, some of the schools in my area have closed due to swine flu, and I’m covering medical leaves for other people plus my kids and I have been sick. This week, I’m grateful for these freezer meals and that’s where most of our menu for the week will be coming from!

Here’s my menu for the week:

Sunday: In addition to all of the great things we’re learning about managing our finances, I have enjoyed not having to cook on Sundays since we get to eat at our Dave Ramsey class 🙂

Monday: Chicken Fajitas

(HEB, which is one of our local grocery stores has “Combo Loco” deals each week where you get several free items when you purchase one or two specific items. The fajita deal is one of my favorite deals! When you buy seasoned chicken fajitas and a bag of shredded cheese, you get free bratwurst, guacamole, salsa, flour tortillas, sour cream, and a soft drink)

Tuesday: Spicy Sausage Skillet (freezer swap meal) – the recipe for this is actually attached to the meal, so I will add it when I get a chance

Wednesday: Ravioli lasagne (freezer meal)

Ingredients:
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg (25 oz) frozen cheese ravioli
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions: Spread ¼ cup of spaghetti sauce in 9X13 pan. Layer with half of the ravioli, 1 ¼ cups of sauce, 1 cup of cottage cheese, and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layer. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

If freezing, place in a disposable aluminum pan. Cover with foil and freeze.

To bake: Thaw in refrigerator. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Thursday: Shredded Beef Tacos (slow cooker) – I recently discovered a new recipe blog – Favorite Family Recipes – and I have been wanting to try this recipe every since it was posted! (and it says you can freeze the extras which works out great in my book!)

Ingredients:
3-4 Lbs. lean roast beef
1 pkg. onion soup mix
2-3 c. water
1 onion, diced
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
2 c. Pace picante sauce (I’m going to use the Pace salsa verde which is SOO good if you haven’t tried it yet!)

Lightly sear the roast on all sides. Add to crock pot and sprinkle with onion soup mix and add 2 c. water. Cook in crock pot on low for 8-9 hours, keep an eye on it and add more water as necessary. Make sure there is always about 1-2 cups of liquid in there. Do not let the water cook out! After meat is cooked, drain juices into a large jar. Place jar in the fridge so the fat will rise to the top and be easily removed. Shred the meat and toss our any excess fat. Saute onion in butter. When onions are clear, add flour and stir until smooth. Add 1-2 c. of the meat drippings, stirring or whisking constantly until it is a gravy-like consistency. Return shredded meat to crock pot and add gravy mixture and picante sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and simmer. Meat should be moist and juicy.

Friday: Pork tenderloin polynesian (freezer recipe) – We have a blog where we post our monthly recipes from our freezer swap, but since we just did the swap yesterday, the recipes haven’t been posted yet. I found this recipe on Freezer Chicks, which I’m guessing is similar to the one used for our meal:

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 eggs- lightly beaten
1/4 cup flour, whole wheat
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup chicken bouillon
1 cup pineapple chunks with juice
1 ea green pepper- chopped
1/2 cup carrot- chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ginger, ground
1 tsp garlic powder

Roll meat cubes in eggs and then flour.
Place in freezer bags
Add remaining ingred to another bag. Freeze.

Thaw both bags.
Brown the pork in a large skillet sprayed with oil until the juices run clear. 5-7 min. Remove and drain. Add the “sauce” bag to skillet, cook over med. heat until mixture begins to thicken.

Serve over hot rice.

Saturday: Chicken enchiladas (my husband has been asking for these and we should have plenty of tortillas left over from Monday’s meal to cover it!)

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% FF kind)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use the 98% FF kind)
2 cans green enchilada sauce
1 8 oz-16 oz. tub of sour cream (depends how spicy you want the enchiladas)
2-3 chicken breasts, shredded (if I’m in a hurry, I use canned chicken)
1 lb. cheese, shredded
1 dozen flour tortillas (you could use corn also)

Add cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, and enchilada sauce to a pan. Cook on medium low heat, stirring occasionally. When sauce is will mixed and starts to thin, add sour cream. Continue stirring occasionally until the sauce is well mixed and thinned out. Place a layer of the sauce along the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with the shredded chicken, sauce, and cheese. Roll and place in the baking dish. When you have filled all of the tortillas (this should make 1 dozen), pour the remain sauce over the top of the enchiladas and then cover with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is well melted.