Menu Week 10/16-23

Meal One: Southwestern Chicken Soup

Meal Two: Taco Salads

Meal Three: Seared Steaks and Peasant Pasta

Meal Four: Cranberry Chicken with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

Recipes:

Southwestern Chicken Soup

• 1 12-ounce jar salsa verde
• 3 cups cooked chicken pieces (1 small deli-counter rotisserie chicken or leftovers)
• 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• tortilla chips (optional)

Directions

1. Empty the salsa into a large saucepan. Cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat, then add the chicken, beans, broth, and cumin (if desired). Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Top each bowl with a sprinkling of onions, a dollop of sour cream, and some tortilla chips (if desired). For a soupier dish, use 4 cups of broth.

Taco Salads

Cook 1 lb taco meat in skillet and season with your favorite taco seasoning. Heat one can of refried or black beans, if you are using black beans you can just mix them into the meat. If you have a taco shell maker, bake your flour tortilla in oven at 300 for about 20 minutes. If you don't have a special pan you can use an oven safe bowl or just crunch chips on top of salad. Layer chopped romaine, diced tomatoes, diced red onion, chopped avocado, then meat, cheese and beans. Then top with sour cream and salsa.

Seared Steaks

Rinse steaks and pat dry with paper towels, then season both sides with salt and pepper and a small amount of olive oil. Preheat oven to 500 and place oven proof skillet inside, then heat burner to high. (remember to use an oven mitt) Remove pan from oven and place on burner, sear each side of the steak for 30 seconds, then immediately place steaks in oven for 2 minutes then flip steaks and roast another 2 minutes.

Peasant Pasta

Cut one head of Cauliflower in bite size pieces place on sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Also slice one head of garlic in half and drizzle with olive oil. Lay out in single layer on sheet pan and roast at 425 for about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile grate 1-2 handfuls of Parmesan cheese and a handful of fresh Italian parsley. Cooke 1/2 - 3/4lb fussili pasta and reserve about a cup of pasta water. Mix together pasta, roasted cauliflower and garlic (just use a paper towel to buffer the heat and squeeze cloves of garlic into pot), Parmesan, parsley and 1-2 handfuls of bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil to bring dish together and add pasta water if more moisture is needed.

Cranberry Chicken

2-3T unsalted butter
1 small-med onion diced
2-4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (really any type of chicken can be used,your choice)
1 bag fresh cranberries (frozen can be used as well)
1/4 c ketchup
1/4c brown sugar
1 cap full of apple cider vinegar
1 t dry mustard


Saute butter and onions over medium heat, about 5-10 minutes, until soft. Place chicken in baking dish, pour sauted onion over chicken and place in 425 oven for 20 minutes. Mix ketchup, sugar, vinegar and mustard together and pour over chicken also top with cranberries. Back another 15-20 minutes, until chicken is 165.


Horseradish Mashed Potatoes:

Cut 4 potatoes of choice and boil until fork tender. Mix in 1T butter, 1-2 T prepared horseradish and 1/4-1/2 c milk or chicken broth and mash to desired consistancy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Shopping List

Chicken

ground burger

steak

potatoes

cauliflower

lettuce

tomato

onions

olives

parsley

green onions

garlic

avocado

cranberries

horseradish

salsa verde

cheese

sour cream

chicken broth

black or refried beans

cannellini beans

pasta

tortillas

chips?

ketchup

brown sugar

dry mustard