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The Gold House Chronicles: Five Hills, A Gold House, Our Lives Together

Archive for September 28th, 2008

Menu Plan Monday

I thought I would try out something new…A blog I read called “I’m an Organizing Junkie” has a weekly event called “Menu Plan Monday.”  Hundreds of bloggers post a menu on their own blogs, and then post a link to their menu back at the “org junkie” site.  It’s fun to look through some of the posts and get inspiration for future menus.  I don’t know if I’ll do this every week, but I thought I would give it a shot.

This week’s menu is greatly influence by what was on sale last week at Cub foods (lots of great specials in their 40th anniversary sale) and the random things I had around that I need to use up.  Here it goes…

Monday: Pork Roast in the crock pot ($1/lb last week at Cub!), mashed potatoes, lettuce salad

Tuesday: Salmon Patties on buns, veggie du jour ( = whatever I feel like from the frozen veggies in the freezer), and probably another side dish w/rice or pasta

Wednesday: Pizza (w/ chicken, pepperoni, and other misc. toppings) and a veggie du jour.  I make my own crust and I am still searching for the perfect recipe that is thick and chewy but not too “bready.”  This is the one I tried last time — it was okay but it make a ton of dough, and I didn’t divide it enough ways so my crust was way too thick.

Thursday: Enchiladas (a small pan each of beef and seafood…to use what I have around!) and homemade salsa-sort of stuff I make with tomatoes, avocado, onion, etc.

Friday: Chili using Tony’s awesome recipe (see below) and Cornbread. We have a few small peppers to harvest from our garden that we’ll be using for the spicy portion of the chili!

Saturday: Tomato and Spinach Pasta Toss (but mine will be with ground pork I got on sale at Cub, instead of with sausage)

Sunday: We have plans with family, so we’re not cooking dinner at home

Tony’s Chili

5 small cans tomato paste (6oz)
1 lb. ground beef, browned and seasoned with Chili Powder
4 cups water
2 cans Chili Beans (16oz)
¾ to 1 Jalapeño Pepper, chopped (add to taste)
½ a Green Pepper, chopped
1 can Diced Tomato Chunks (16oz)
½ an Onion, Chopped
Chili Powder and Cayanne Pepper to taste (needs LOTS of chili powder)

Mix all ingredients together and cook all day or at least five hours in a large crock pot (6qt). Continue to check seasoning throughout the day and add more if needed.