Menu Planning Monday: My menu for the week of 10/17

Most of my recipes are new this week and I haven’t had a chance yet to calculate points per serving. For those of you who may be doing Weight Watchers, I have included the points per serving calculations for some 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’re new to menu planning, check out my post about how I do my menu planning.

On weekdays, my posts don’t include lunches. My son eats lunch at daycare, most days I take lunch or eat a Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones/Healthy Choice meal, I pack a lunch for my daughter, and my husband fends for himself!

SUNDAY: To die for pot roast (slow cooker) – I got this recipe years ago on a Babycenter message board and it’s been awhile since we’ve tried it, but roast sounded good for our family dinner and it was a hit!

Ingredients:
1 beef roast (2-3 pounds)
1 packet Italian dressing seasoning mix
1 packet Ranch dressing seasoning mix
1 packet brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water

Directions: Place roast in bottom of slow cooker. Mix seasoning packets together and pour over roast. Add 1/2 cup water. I also place carrots and potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker before adding the roast. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you want to make gravy, add some cornstarch and water after you remove the roast (and vegetables), whisk, and cook on high for 2-3 minutes.

MONDAY: Creamy chicken, bacon, and mushroom – I got this e-mail from a Spark People recipe.

Ingredients:
8 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (2 lbs) – we’re only going to use 4
1 pkg turkey bacon
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
8 oz. sour cream (light)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (fat free)

Directions:
Wrap bacon around chicken breasts. Place in well greased 9 x13 pan. Put mushrooms over chicken. Mix sour cream and cream of mushroom soup together and put over chicken breasts and mushrooms. Put in preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 60 minutes or until chicken is tender. Can place in crock pot and cook for 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high. (I’m using the crock pot, of course!)

TUESDAY: Beef tips (slow cooker) – I found this recipe in Taste of Home Magazine. We have eaten it a several times now and my whole family (even my picky eater kids) loves it!

Ingredients:
1 beef top sirloin steak (1 pound), cut into 1-inch cubes
2 to 3 medium carrots, chopped
1 to 1-1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed golden mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 to 1 cup white wine or beef broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Hot cooked egg noodles

Directions:
In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine the beef, carrots, celery, onion, soup and wine or broth. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until meat is tender.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into cooking juices. Cover and cook on high for 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve with noodles. Yield: 4 servings.

WW points = 6 per serving (add 2 points for 1/2 cup pasta/rice or 4 points for 1 cup pasta/rice)

WEDNESDAY: Red Chicken Chili with Cornbread Muffies – when I make this, I put all of the ingredients in my crockpot on low for the day

Ingredients:
1 bag sliced white mushrooms
1 can (15.5 oz) light red kidney beans, rinse and drain
1 16 oz jar chipotle salsa
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
3 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sour cream
6 oz American ale beer (I’m going to omit this)
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons minced garlic (not dried)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour

Boil chicken breasts in water for 40 minutes, shred with fork.

Combine all ingredients except flour. Mix flour with just enough hot water to make a paste. Add to ingredients. Bring to a simmer and continue for 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes. Top with extra cheese and sour cream.

Notes: Since I made mine in the crockpot, I didn’t do the “paste” part. I just dumped everything in the crockpot (including the chicken breasts, which were frozen) and let it cook on low for the day. I shredded the chicken, mixed it all together, and let it cook on low for about 15 minutes before serving.

WW points = 5 per serving (makes 4-6 servings)

THURSDAY: Steak stroganoff (slow cooker) – This is a family favorite!

Ingredients:
2T flour
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 3/4 lb. boneless round steak
2 cans 10 3/4 oz cream of mushroom soup (I use 98% FF)
2 c. water (or 1 can 100% FF beef broth for more flavor)
1 envelope beef stew mix
4 oz can mushrooms, sliced and drained
1/2 c. sour cream
1 T minced parsley

Combine flour, garlic powder, pepper, and paprika in slow cooker. Cut meat into 1 1/2 inch strips. Place in flour mixture and toss until meat is well coated. Add soup, water, and stew mix. Stir until well blended. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours. Stir in mushrooms, sour cream, and parsley and then cook on high 10-15 minutes until heated through. Serve over egg noodles. (Depending on the consistency of the sauce, you may need to add cornstarch to thicken or add more water/broth to thin)

To freeze: Pour into gallon freezer bags (I used Ziploc containers for this one). Allow to cool before freezing.

To reheat: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Warm on stove and serve over rice or egg noodles. (Add sour cream when warming if you left it out of the initial recipe)

WW points = 7 points/serving, 6-8 servings (add 2 points for 1/2 c. cooked pasta or 4 points for 1 cup)

FRIDAY: Stacked green enchiladas – This is a modified version of a recipe my dad makes

Ingredients:
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use 98% FF)
1 can Rotel (drained)
3-4 chicken breasts
corn tortillas (one dozen)
monterrey jack cheese

I place the chicken breasts, enchilada sauce, cream of chicken soup, and Rotel in the crockpot on low all day. When I get home, I shred the chicken and add it back to the mixture. Then, you can either do stacked enchiladas (pour some of the mixture on a corn tortilla/add cheese and repeat for as many layers as you would like) or do rolled enchiladas (place some of the mixture in the corn tortilla, roll, and place in a pan….repeat 9 times…then, pour the remaining sauce mixture over the top and top with cheese and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes).

WW points = 8 per serving (makes 4 servings)

SATURDAY: Creamy Corn Chowder – This recipe comes from Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. water
2 1/2 c. milk (I used skim milk and it worked just fine)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base
1/2 lb. bacon (optional, I’m going to use crumbled bacon pieces)
1 onion, minced
2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula)

Fry bacon until crisp (if you’re using the bacon pieces, you can obviously skip this step!). In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a little ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but don’t boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add crumbled bacon and corn and heat through. Add a few drops of hot sauce and then salt to taste.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you want.

WW points – On the Our Best Bites site, it lists this as being 3 points per serving, but when I put all of the ingredients into the Recipe Builder on WW.com, it came out to 8 points per serving (for 4 servings). The bulk of that was from the bacon pieces, so you could cut down the points by cutting that. You would need to add additional points if you add cheese.