Last Monday in February Menu Plan

Last week the family really enjoyed the recipes I prepared from Trim, Healthy Mama, so with confidence I roll into another week of THM recipes for our evening meals. Last week I had forgotten we weren't eating at home on Friday, so Friday's plan got bumped to Saturday, and Saturday's plan got bumped to Monday. So anyone who notices a repeat meal, that's why. It got bumped.

Here's the plan:

SATURDAY (2/22)

Cheddar Broccoli Soup (S-p335) [rolls]

SUNDAY (2/23)

Corned beef and Cabbage (p312), leftover broccoli [potatoes\

MONDAY (2/24)

Chicken stir fry (S-p342), veggies medly [rice], cauliflower "rice"

TUESDAY (2/25)

Easy (fantastic) meatloaf (p317) [mashed potatoes], mashed cauliflower, long green beans

WEDNESDAY (2/26)

Spinach bacon quiche (p319) [rolls], salad

THURSDAY (2/27)

Spinach lover’s italiano chicken (314) [spaghetti], spaghetti squash

FRIDAY (2/28)

Creamy mushroom pasta, salad [Texas toast egg noodles]

SATURDAY (2/29)

Baked chicken thighs (p322), broccoli [rice]

  The bracketed food are for my family but are not THM foods for that meal.

My breakfasts are alternating between oatmeal with frozen blueberries and bacon and eggs, with "Big Boy Smoothie" ever on my mind but not getting made much.

My lunches are alternating between cottage cheese/apple salad, deli lettuce wraps, and dinner leftovers, with Whey smoothies on my mind but... not getting made much.

I don't snack much, but I really enjoyed the THM smoothie I made last week with Almond milk, cocoa powder, blueberries, strawberries, whey, and ice. Yum!

Beef Vegetable Soup Recipe

Beef and Vegetable Soup
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound lean beef stew meat
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper, seeded and de-ribbed
1/2 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ onion chopped
1 carrot sliced
1 cup water
Pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 can beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes, un-drained
1 (8-oz.) can no salt added tomato sauce

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; brown the beef, then pepper to taste. Add the water to the skillet and scrape up all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add
remaining ingredients to pan. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 2hours, until veggies are tender.

SERVING SUGGESTION: A salad and rolls.

Serves 4

Menu Monday

Posting this week's recipes:

Monday:
Black Beans and Rice, kale

Tuesday:
Chicken Pot Pie, Crescent Rolls

Wednesday:
Sloppy Joes, cooked carrots

Thursday:
 Macaroni & Cheese, broccoli (Macaroni & No-cheese)

Friday:
Spaghetti, salad, Texas Toast

Saturday:
BLTs, milkshakes

Sunday:
Beef Stew, salad, rolls

What's Cookin'?

Today Mama’s cookin Bison Chili.  Okay, okay, you can make this with your meat of choice, but Mama’s makin it with ground bison.  Mama’s makin this to go in the freezer for two meals sometime in the future, but Daddy’s gettin home late tonight, and it looks like Mama might just serve the first dinner from this chili tonight, since Mama doesn’t much like to cook dinner twice in the same evening.

Here’s the recipe.  This is a CORE recipe on the Weight Watcher’s plan:

2 pounds ground bison
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 15- ounce can tomato sauce
non-CORE optional ingredient: brown sugar

Brown meat with onion and green pepper in large Dutch oven; add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer over low heat for 2 hours, or in a crockpot for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.  Serve hot with fat-free sour cream, and for non-core eaters, shredded cheddar cheese.

Serve with salad.  For 2 Weight Watcher points, cook up some hot muffins (in paper baking cups) and crumble into your bowl of chili.

Also a great meal in the following ways:

• Stuffed Baked Potatoes:  Bake potatoes and serve covered with steamed broccoli, Mama’s chili, fat free shredded cheddar cheese,  and fat free cheddar cheese.
• Chili Dogs:  (not CORE) Cook up some Hebrew National all-beef hot dogs and serve in hot dog roll, smothered with Mama’s chili and more chopped onions and cheddar cheese, with baked beans and saurkraut on the side.

So, as a way to do this, you can

1. Eat chili for dinner, and place the left overs in a heavy-duty freezer zip-lock-bag, mark it either "Stuffed Baked Potatoes" or "Chili Dogs", and plan to serve it for dinner two weeks later (so the family doesn’t feel like they are eating "leftovers".
2. Using a Once-a-Month-Cooking mentality, make up the whole thing and freeze 6-cups-worth in a gallon-size freezer bag marked "Mama’s Chili", and the rest of it bag in a 1-quart freezer bag and mark it either for dogs or stuffed potatoes.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my madness today. I love to serve this with a Hot Muffin recipe I will have to post later.  While I was posting this Papa called, and he plans to swing by a Vie de France store and pick up some salad and French bread to go with tonight! He spoils me so!

D