Menu Monday

It's that time again...

Monday: I changed my menu around last week once I posted it, so tonight I finally got around to making Chicken Divan, Lightened Up (all of my recipes from last week were soooo good, and we had lots of leftovers, so I was playing catch-up from last week's post). Yum, yum, YUM!!! I have made it before, and you can read some things that I did differently from the actual recipe here.

Tuesday: Panko chicken with a steamed veggie.

Panko chicken is one of my favorite recipes, and it isn't an official recipe -- it is more of "a little of this, a little of that." And, it is not low-fat, although there are things that you can do to make it more or less fat it you would like. You will need chicken tenders (or breasts or whatevs), ranch dressing (I like to use Naturally Fresh Classic Ranch -- it is the best in my opinion), butter, and panko crumbs. So, here is the gist: marinate the chicken in the ranch dressing for as little or as long as you like (see, really scientific here!). Then, dredge the chicken in melted butter, and then in panko crumbs. And bake. Baking time depends on the type of chicken, obviously, but chicken tenders take around 20-ish minutes, and I bake them at 375.

Since I am trying to not be a fatty, I will most likely do away with the butter step. It is just as good without that step (she tells herself). I guess you could also do a low-fat ranch, but I think life is too short for such nonsense as low-fat salad dressing (blech.).

Wednesday: Marinated pork tenderloin and green beans that Margaret keeps talking about. I just have to get the recipe from her. I am marinating the pork in 1 cup each of soy sauce, brown sugar, and bourbon. I like to give the kids a good shot of liquor before they go to bed. It helps them sleep better.

Oh, I kid.

Thursday: Mexican Slow Cooked Pork Carnitas with tortillas and other burrito fixin's.

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: We have a wedding party, so we will be eating out

Sunday: hopefully some more leftovers

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Last week was a pretty awesome week food-wise in our household. There was not one meal that the kids didn't like, and that is really saying something. We give five thumbs up to all of my recipes from last week's Menu Monday (where you can find the links to all of the recipes below)!

For the Southwest Pasta Salad, I made two batches of the dressing, and I marinated some chicken tenders in the second batch. I wanted Brad to grill the chicken, but he was running late getting home from work, so I ended up broiling them, and they were fabulous on top of the pasta. I made the pasta a day ahead, and it soaked up most of the dressing, so I added the dressing that I cooked the chicken in (it was cooked, so it wouldn't give us salmonella or anything...) on top of the pasta and chicken. That was a little too much dressing. So, when I make it again, I will just make the pasta the same day.

I served the Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika once over rice and once with the crusty french bread that the Pioneer Woman suggests. It was delicious both ways, and the kids thought they were getting something new since we changed it up the second time!

The Taco Soup was really, really good as well. I used garbanzo beans rather than kidney beans because I am not a huge fan of kidney beans, but I love a good garbanzo. ;-) It also makes a ton, so make it when you plan on feeding guests or when you want to have a lot of leftovers. We ate it for dinner, and lunch...and dinner...and lunch...and there is still some left! And there are five of us in this house -- granted three of us are children who may or may not eat very much depending on the day or mood, but still...

I will be adding all three of those recipes to my regular rotation! I love finding good new recipes!