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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Our Weekly Menu w/ recipes

This week again will be a little weird because of the holidays. My mother always hosts Thanksgiving Dinner and our family hosts Christmas. Last year, I decided to get a little crazy and made Rib eye steaks and lobster tails for dinner. Mind you, I'm only feeding 5 for Christmas. My husband and I were so incredibly sick on Christmas, that neither one of us could enjoy or even recall our feast so I decided that we would do it again this year. Of course, budgetted into our annual Christmas account - we are having Prime Rib and Lobster Tails for dinner . Our only splurge of this year (and probably next)

Tuesday: Taco Soup (recipe from my mentor Pam! -- was quick and delicious!!)
Wednesday: Pork Chops, Stuffing and homemade applesauce.
Thursday: Spaghetti Bake (feeds for two days - easy and yummy!)
Friday: Free Buffet at my work on Friday for Christmas
Saturday: Chicken Pasta
Sunday: Pizza (boys on their own)
Monday: Corned Beef and Cabbage
Tuesday: Prime Rib and Lobster Tails

Grocery Budget
Christmas Dinner: $114 - made it (barely)
Regular Groceries: $70 plus $35 from next week's envelope seeing that I won't be able to go shopping until late next week.

***Recipes***

Spaghetti Pie:
You may need to alter the amount of pasta and sauce if you don't have the 11x13 pan. It will bubble over (been there, done that)
I also cut down on the cheeses a touch because my son isn't a huge fan of cheese. Adjust cooking time if you have premade this and put in the fridge.

1 pound Italian Sauasage (I use gr beef and add italian seasonings while browning)
1 large onion chopped
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 lb spaghetti cooked and rinsed
1/2 stick butter or marg.
3 eggs beaten
16 oz shredded motz cheese
8 oz grated parmesan cheese
16 oz sm curd cottage cheese

Brown sausage and onion and drain. Add spaghetti sauce along with some basil, oregano and minced garlic to taste. Simmer up to 2 hours (my mom's recipe - she's retired, I don't have time to wait 2 hours!)

Toss cooked spaghetti with butter - add eggs, parm cheese and half of the motz cheese until well mixed. Spoon mixture into buttered 11 x 13 casserole. Press down. Cover evenly with a layer of cottage cheese. Spoon sauce on top. When smooth, poke holes with a wooden spoon randomly over the entire surface.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake 10-15 min or until golden and bubbly. Cool 10 minutes before serving.


Taco Soup*:
1 lb of gr beef (browned)
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice,
2 small cans of tomato sauce (or 1 large can),
2 cans of pinto beans that have been rinsed and drained, (I used northern beans - all I had)
about a half diced white onion,
3-4 cups of water
2 pkg taco seasoning.

"Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer. The longer you simmer the better it will be. We waited about 30 minutes cause it just smelled so darn good, but it's like pasta, it's even better the next day. We pour a bowl, top with some cheese, and usually will eat it with a flour tortilla. But it's good with crackers, by itself, with chips, just whatever. Takes about 10 minutes to throw together, it's cheap (tomato stuff is always on sale, beans are cheap, taco seasoning is fairly inexpensive), and makes a huge pot. I make this when I have company, everyong loves it."

*This recipe came from my mentor, Pam. She was awesome enough to share a bunch of recipes for gr beef and frozen chicken breasts. You'll see me refer to Pam's recipes often.

Mangia!

2 comments:

Krista said...

I would love the Taco Soup and Spaghetti Bake recipes. Please post!

Wendy said...

Hi Krista! I'll post those recipes in the morning for you. They are both VERY good!

Right now... I'm heading to bed.

See you in the AM.