Week of 1/16-1/22/2011

Sorry this didn't get up yesterday. I enjoyed a day with the family in Zion National Park and then spent some time with my man on our 6th anniversary. So for this week I took a picture of our bounty. Just so you know I get all this for $15. If you go to the store and try and figure out how much this would really cost you it is probably around $30. I love Bountiful Basket cause it saves me money and we eat healthy!
On to the real reason anybody reads this post, Menu!

Sunday- I apologize tonight's dinner should have been on here earlier. But just in case you wanted to know what we had we used this crock pot Chickpea Butternut Squash Soup recipe. I made fresh bread today said we had it in mini-bread loaves and some salad on the side.
The verdict on the recipe is that it needed salt and even then it wasn't my favorite. I don't think we will be repeating this one again.

Monday- We are going to make pasta with a Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. This recipe I altered a bit. I replaced the sage with rosemary and only put in 3 cloves of garlic which is plenty even for this garlic lover. I also didn't put in half in half, I just used the same measurement of milk and added 1 Tbsp of butter or margarine. After I made this I learned it needed a little salt and for substance my husband tried a little shredded chicken and said it was perfect. So, I am going to add shredded chicken about 1 1/2 c. worth. We'll probably have this with salad and if I am feeling extra good I will get out my frozen bread stick dough and make bread sticks too.

Tuesday- We are going to have stuffed peppers. The website I got this recipe from is awesome. I always look to see what she is planning for the week to see if I can get ideas. Anyways, the peppers I got this week our small so I am leaving out the couscous and just doing mostly ground beef. My boys will love that because they are little carnivores, me not so much! Since the peppers themselves are kind of small we will also be having Stuffed Butternut Squash, I'll be halving the recipe. For this recipe I'll be baking them in the oven covered to soften them instead of a crock pot, mostly cause I don't have a trivet and I can't think of anything else to use. I'll also be switching corn syrup to honey and walnuts to pecans because that is what we have. By the way we haven't had this recipe but I salivate every time I read it.

Wednesday- This day will be interesting. First off you have to understand that no one in my house likes the texture of pears. Yet we got an entire bag of them on Saturday, grrr. Because I don't want to waste so much food I went on a hunt for another possible recipe to use these pears in a way that my house will eat them. So here is the recipe, and I'll be tripling it too, French Toast with Spiced Pears. It looks pretty good and has the possibility for success. We will see! Since french toast isn't enough I'll probably make what my boys call a "special drink". It is really just a smoothie but it seems better when called "special" and then they don't know mom has hidden spinach or something in it. I'll probably take some frozen peaches, frozen banana, and milk and about 6-8 leaves of spinach (much more leaves and my cover is blown!). I have a vita-mix blender that will make this stuff silky smooth. The best part is the kids love it! If your wondering why my Wednesdays seem easy and never have much it because my husband works with boy scouts this night and comes home long enough to eat so I don't get much help with him watching the kids.

Thursday- By request my husband wanted Chicken Tortilla Soup. This one is located in my Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, which is full of crock pot recipes. Love It! Anyways, the recipe:
4 chicken breast halves (since I already have shredded canned chicken I put in about 2 c.of that)
2 15 oz cans black beans, undrained
2 15 oz cans Mexican stewed tomatoes or Rotel Tomatoes ( I also have quart jars of canned tomatoes that I use for this, and if you do too use only 1 quart jar)
1 c. salsa (mild, medium, or hot, whichever you prefer)
4 oz can chopped green chilies ( I happen to have some fresh so chop a 1/2 c.)
14 1/2 oz can tomato sauce (I only buy 8 oz cans so just use 2 8oz cans instead)
tortilla chips
2 cups grated cheese

1. Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in large slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8 hours.
3. Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice into bite-sized pieces. Stir into soup. (If you already put in shredded chicken you can skip this step)
4. To Serve, put a handful of chips in each individual soup bowl, Ladle soup over chips. Top with cheese.
Very Delicious! Usually there's not much leftovers!

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- We will be having grilled pork chops and grilled asparagus. With the asparagus I just roll them in olive oil first then put seasoning on them, your choice, and grill them. Some websites will show you how to put them on skewers so they are easier to flip but I found it to much work to soak the skewers in water so they won't catch on fire and then put the asparagus on. We just roll them safely on the grill and its fine. The grilled asparagus is one of our families favorites, the first time we had them the kids each ate 8 and left only a few for mom and dad. Now we know to do alot!

So this is our week. In our basket we also got a bunch of spinach. If anyone is wondering what to do with it I added some of mine to our salad, which I make at the beginning of the week and then pull it out of the fridge whenever I want it. Also, just add a little to any smoothie. If you aren't quit sure how much, add a little at a time. I learned the hard way that too much spinach in a smoothie is disgusting.
Good Luck all and bon appetit!