Menu Planning Monday: My menu for the week of 9/5

HAPPY MONDAY! I truly love that I’m sitting here in my PJs relaxing right now rather than rushing and worrying about making it to work on time – if only all weeks could be 4 day work weeks! 🙂

For those of you who may be doing Weight Watchers, I have included the points per serving calculations for most 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.

SUNDAY:

Breakfast ~ Waffles and sausage (my hubby cooked!)

Lunch ~ Leftovers

Dinner ~ Chicken enchilada casserole – This is a recipe that my sister came up with. She uses canned chicken when she makes it. I came up with a little bit of a variation.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (shredded) – or 1 can chicken
1 large can red enchilada sauce
corn tortillas
shredded cheese – I use reduced fat

Directions: (this is what I do) – I put my chicken and the enchilada sauce in the crockpot the night before and then shred it when I get up in the morning. If you are using canned chicken, you can just shred it as you are making the casserole. I spread some of the chicken/sauce mixture along the bottom of the casserole dish so it doesn’t stick. Break corn tortillas into four pieces and layer across the bottom of the casserole dish. Spread a layer of the chicken/sauce mixture and cheese. Add another layer of corn tortillas. Continue until you are out of the chicken/sauce mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

WW points = 8 points per serving (for 4 servings) – serve w/ green salad and grapes

MONDAY:

Breakfast ~ Kolaches (we got a coupon in the mail for these the other days and it’s been a long time since we’ve had them, so I promised my daughter we could have them for breakfast…if you’re not from Texas and are wondering what in the world these are, you can check them out here)

Lunch ~ Chicken BLT taco salad – I got this in an e-mail from Betty Crocker recently and it sounded so yummy that I added it to my “must try” list

Dressing (I’m just going to use Ranch)
1/2 cup Old El Paso® Thick ‘n Chunky Salsa
1/2 cup French dressing

Salad
8 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
6 cups torn romaine or iceberg lettuce
1 medium yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 medium avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into thin wedges
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby-Monterey-Jack cheese blend
1/4 cup sour cream, if desired
1 cup small triangular tortilla chips

1. In medium bowl, mix dressing ingredients until well blended.
2. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towel; reserve 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Add chicken to skillet; cook and stir over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes or until browned and no longer pink in center. Cool slightly. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until chilled.
3. In deep 3-quart salad bowl, layer lettuce, chicken, bacon, bell pepper and tomatoes. Top with dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 24 hours.
4. Just before serving, top with cheese, avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips.

WW points per serving = 7

Dinner ~ out!

TUESDAY:

Breakfast ~ Waffles

Dinner ~ ?? (today’s my birthday, so I’m hoping for a night off from cooking, but since my parents took us out Monday for my birthday dinner, I might just improvise and whip something up)

WEDNESDAY:

Breakfast ~ Cold cereal

Dinner ~ French dip sandwiches (slow cooker) – This is a family favorite and I love it because it is SOOO easy to make!

Ingredients:
beef roast
2 cans beef broth
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
4-6 hoagie buns
(we also add some swiss or provolone cheese)

Place roast in a greased slow cooker. Pour broth over the top of the roast. Add spices. Cover and cook on low heat 8-10 hours (or high heat 5-7 hours). Remove roast and save extra juice. With a fork, break the meat apart and serve on hoagies. Use excess juice for dipping sandwiches.

WW points = 6 points per serving (this does not include the cheese or the buns)

We’re serving it with fruit salad and dessert will be banana chocolate snack cake (which you must try if you haven’t yet!)

THURSDAY:

Breakfast ~ Toaster strudel

Dinner ~ Easy enchirito – I saw this recipe, I think on orgjunkie.com last week and it sounded YUMMY so I decided to try it this week! (the recipe was originally posted on Blessed with Grace)

Ingredients:
* 1 package burrito-sized flour tortillas
* 1 package burrito OR taco seasoning (OR your best homemade version)
* 1 lb lean hamburger meat
* 1 can re-fried beans (I used fat-free.)
* 1 15 oz can Enchilada sauce (I only used 3/4 of this can.)
* 2 cups shredded cheddar (I used Mexican blend)
* 4-5 green onions, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven 350. Prepare 9×13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.

1. Brown hamburger meat and season, per package instructions, with the burrito seasoning packet.
2. Make one burrito by spreading re-fried beans on one tortilla. Then layer with the seasoned hamburger meat and a small portion of cheddar cheese. Wrap the burrito and place in casserole dish.
3. Repeat step 2 until the casserole dish is full.
4. Pour enough enchilada sauce to completely cover the burritos.
5. Add a layer of cheddar cheese.
6. Finally, top with chopped green onion.
7. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

FRIDAY:

Breakfast ~ Scrambled eggs and bacon

Dinner ~ Cowboy casserole – We have left over roast beef from our french dip sandwiches last week, so I’m going to use that in place of the ground beef. I’m also going to substitute Ranch style beans for baked beans.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef (we use 93/7)
1 can (16 oz) baked beans (I use Ranch Style beans instead)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
2/3 c. milk
2 c. Bisquick
1 T butter or margarine, softened
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Heat over to 425. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally until thoroughly cooked. Drain beef. Stir baked beans and BBQ sauce into beef. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Pour into ungreased 2 quart casserole.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, and butter until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 12 spoonfuls onto beef mixture. Bake uncovered 18-22 minutes (or until topping is golden brown). Sprinkle with cheese. Bake about 3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

WW points = 10 points/serving (we’ll serve with a green salad and green beans)

SATURDAY:

Breakfast ~ Lemon blueberry pancakes – This is a Taste of Home recipe and I have yet to have a bad experience with a Taste of Home recipe

Ingredients
* 1 egg
* 1 cup lemon yogurt, divided
* 1/2 cup fat-free milk
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* Sugar substitute equivalent to 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1-1/4 cups blueberries, divided

Directions
* In a small bowl, whisk egg, 1/2 cup yogurt, milk, oil and lemon juice until blended. Combine the flour, sugar substitute, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center. Pour yogurt mixture into the well; stir just until moistened. Gently fold in 1 cup blueberries.
* Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancake; cook until second side is golden brown. Serve with remaining yogurt and blueberries. Yield: 8 pancakes,4 servings, 2 per serving.

WW points = 5 for 2 pancakesLunch ~ Crockpot nachos – I first saw this recipe on Delicious Dishes and I was intrigued. We’ve got a busy morning with lots of running around, so I figured this would be easy to dump into the crockpot when we leave in the morning and it will basically be ready to go by the time we get home for lunch

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can refried beans
1 can red kidney beans, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder
tortilla chips
jar of Mexican salsa con queso
Topping of your choice (I used finely sour cream, tomatoes, olives, green onions, and lettuce)

Brown the ground beef, and drain the grease. Put into the crock pot, and add in the refried beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, taco seasoning, water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours. Warm up the queso. Then plate up your nachos!

Dinner ~ My hubby and I will be at a church function, so we’re getting pizza for the kids