Menu Planning Monday ~ My meal plan for the week of 3/8

I’m starting my menu with Monday this week.  We were out of town for a family event this weekend, so I didn’t cook at home last night (I’m also working on getting the Walgreens match-ups done since I didn’t have a chance to get them up this weekend and hopefully they’ll be up later today.

If you’re new to meal planning or trying to cut your grocery budget, I’ll be sharing a “frugal” or “from the stockpile” recipe several days this month (at least that’s my goal!). To help me with this task, I’ll be having guest posts (if you’re interested in sharing a guest post/frugal recipe, e-mail me!) from some of my favorite frugal bloggers, too!

For those of you who may be doing Weight Watchers, I have included the points per serving calculations for each of my recipes this week. I used the “Recipe Builder” feature on the WeightWatchers.com e-Tools program to input all of the ingredients and calculate the points, so it should be pretty accurate.

You can read more about my $40 weekly budget in this post here.

If you have blogged a menu plan for the week (or even just a favorite recipe), please feel free to comment and share your link. I’m always looking for new ideas and inspiration and will be happy to share a link to your blog if we try your recipe! Check out hundreds of other meal plans at orgjunkie.com!

MONDAY ~ Peppered steak – this is a family recipe that came from my mother in lawIngredients:
3 cups hot cooked rice
1 lb lean beef round steak (cut into 1/2 inch thick strips)
1 T Paprika
2 T butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 cup sliced green onions
2 green peppers, cut in strips
2T cornstarch
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 lg tomatoes (cut in eighths)

Pound steak to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 1/4 inch wide strips. Sprinkle meat with paprika. Let stand. Brown meat in butter. Add garlic and brother. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in onions and green peppers. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Blend cornstarch, water and soy sauce. Stir into meat mixture. Cook, stirring until clear and thickened, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and stir gently. Serve over beds of fluffy rice.

WW points = 7 points/serving  (add an additional 2 points for 1/2 cup rice and 4 points for 1 cup rice), this makes 4 servings.

TUESDAY ~ Spaghetti casserole – I found this recipe on Marci’s blog – spaghetti in the slow cooker and we have all of the ingredients…plus, who can go wrong with spaghetti?  We’re looking forward to trying it!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (Marci’s recipe called for 1 1/2 lbs, but I’m cutting that, I use 93/7%)
1 med onion, chopped
1 (26 oz) jar tomato and basil pasta sauce
1/4 c butter (I’m going to use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)
1/4 c all purpose flour
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk (I used 2%)
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese (I use reduced fat)
1/4 t pepper
8 oz uncooked spaghetti, broken into pieces
2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Marci’s recipe calls for 3, I’m using 2 and using 2%)

Directions:
-Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain and return to skillet.
-Stir pasta sauce into beef mixture.
-Melt butter in a saucepan over med-low heat; whisk in flour/cornstarch until smooth. Cook 1 min, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over med heat, whisking constantly, 8 minutes or until mixture is thickened and bubbly. -Remove from heat, and stir in Parmesan cheese and pepper.
-Spoon 1/3 of meat mixture into a lightly greased slow cooker. Spread 1/2 of broken noodles over meat mixture; pour 1/2 of white sauce over noodles, and sprinkle with 1 c cheddar cheese.
-Repeat layers once (1/3 meat, rest of noodles, rest of white sauce, 1 c cheese). Spread remaining meat mixture over cheese. Top with remaining 1 c cheddar cheese.
-Cover and cook on LOW 4 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

WW points – I’m not exactly sure how many servings this makes since I’ve never made it before but I’m guessing 6, so this is 12 points per serving with the modifications I’ve listed above which is more than I realized, so I’ll have to adjust the rest of the day. 


Sides ~ green salad and green beans


WEDNESDAY ~ Chicken licking good pork chops (slow cooker)

Ingredients:
6-8 lean pork chops, 1-inch thick
1/2 cup flour (omit if you don’t brown chops in skillet)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp oil (omit if you don’t brown chops in skillet)
1 10.5oz can chicken & rice soup

Dredge pork chops in mixture of flour, salt, dry mustard & garlic powder. Brown chops in oil in a large skillet. Place browned pork chops in crockpot. Add can of soup. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3 1/2 hours. If I don’t brown the chops, then I just toss the salt, dry mustard & garlic powder in the crockpot instead of dredging the chops.

*Note: When making this meal, I use a can of family size chicken & rice soup and drain off some of the broth – it keeps the meat tender and there is more of the chicken & rice mixture for everyone! If you don’t have time to brown the chops first in a skillet, I’ve also just dipped it into the flour mixture and put it straight into the slow cooker and it works fine that way, too.

WW points = 6 servings, 7 points per serving

THURSDAY ~ Shepherd’s Pie (slow cooker) This recipe comes from the 101 Things to Do With a Slow Cooker cookbook