Menu Week 9/19-23

Meal One: Butternut Squash Soup with homemade croutons and side salad

Meal Two: Green Chile Stew

Meal Three: Chinese Chicken Salads

Meal Four: Mushroom burgers, corn on the cob and side salad

Recipes:

Butternut Squash Soup:

2T unsalted butter, 1 diced onion, 3 lb squash in 1/2 inch cubes, 5 c chicken broth, 2 sprigs of thyme, pinch of nutmeg and 1/2 c heavy cream.

Melt butter in large dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, 5 minutes. Stir in squash, broth, thyme, and nutmeg, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until squash is tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Remove thyme sprigs, and puree soup either in batches in the blender or with an immersion blender. Return soup to pot and stir in cream. Bring back to a simmer, then remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the croutons I just dice up old bread, toss it with olive oil, pepper and spike then lay it out on a sheet pan. Bake in oven at 450 until crunchy.

Green Chile Stew:

Heat oven to 325. Cut 3lb of chuck roast into 2 inch cubes...heat 1 t vegetable oil until smoking in a dutch oven over med-high heat...sear beef in 2 batches...remove to a side plate. Add a little more oil to pan and cooke 1 onion, diced, and 2 carrots, diced, cook 5 minutes.

Add 3 garlic cloves, minced, and cook another 30 seconds. Add 1 t each of cumin and oregano, cook another 30 seconds. Add 2 cans of beef broth, seared beef , 1 (15oz) can of diced tomatoes and 1 c cleaned and seeded green chile (cut into about 1/2 inch cubes)..fresh fire roasted green chiles are the best, but the canned will work too.

Bring stew to a boil, cook in oven 2hrs. Add 2 diced idaho potatoes, add 1/2 c water if needed, and cook another hour, or until beef is tender. Serve with tortillas

Chinese Chicken Salads

Top a mix of shredded 2 parts shredded romaine and one part shredded cabbage with shredded carrot, scallions, edemame, mandarin orange slices, toasted almonds, chow mien noodles and shredded chicken. Toss all ingredients with your favorite sesame dressing.

Mushroom Turkey burgers:

1 lb ground turkey burger

1/2-3/4c chopped wild mushrooms

1/2 onion chopped

2 palms full bread crumbs

1 egg

2 t italian seasoning

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

2 garlic cloves

In skillet melt butter and oil over med-high heat, add onion, garlic and mushrooms, saute 5-1 minutes. In large bowl combine all ingredients, including slightly cooled mushroom saute, combine with hands.

Form 4-5 burger patties, grill on george foreman grill 4-5 minutes, or BBQ outside.

These are good with or without a bun, my husband likes some bacon on top, and I just boil the corn for a few minutes and serve.

Shopping List

chuck roast

ground burger

chicken

butternut squash

lettuce

tomato

carrots

onions

scallions

mushrooms

potatoes

thyme

black beans

cabbage

garlic

corn on the cob

edemame

mandarin oranges

chow mein noodles

almonds

tortillas

chicken broth

beef broth