Menu for the Week of March 16

Monday Night

Easy Chicken Alfredo Night

4 chicken breasts, sliced thinly and cooked

1 jar of Alfredo sauce

Fettucini noodles, cooked

After the chicken is brown, add the jar of alfredo sauce and heat until warm throughout. Serve with pasta. I like to add onions and mushrooms but the kids like it without of course. Serve with a side of steamed broccoli.

Tuesday Night is St. Patrick's Day, we're going to have something green of course



1 whole chicken (or just chicken breast)
2 onions (1 halved, 1 chopped)
1 red pepper, finely chopped (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 bunch cilantro (about 3/4 cup chopped)
2 cans green chilies
salt and pepper
1 quart water (about)
1 cup canned or jarred tomatillo salsa



Directions

1In a fairly shallow soup pot, place chicken, water, 1 onion, halved, 2 cloves garlic, halved, and salt and pepper.
2Bring to a boil and simmer 1-2 hours until chicken is very tender and falling off bones.
3Remove chicken, and allow to cool enough to handle.
4Strain stock, and discard veggies, reserving the stock in the same pot.
5When chicken is cool enough to handle, shred chicken, by pulling it apart, discarding skin and bones.
6Add meat to soup pot.
7Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, 1 hour, or until desired thickness of sauce is achieved.
8Serve in burritos with rice, beans, cheese, sour cream and guacamole.








Lucky Lime Drinks


Put one, or two small scoops of lime sherbet in a clear glass ice cream cup, or beer mug. Pour 7-Up over the sherbet. Add a dollop of whipped cream, green sugar sprinkles and a green maraschino cherry!





How to make green beer: (from http://www.myrecipes.com/)





Instructions:Place 2 drops of green liquid food coloring in the bottom of a beer mug or glass. Add the beer. No stirring needed. Voila. Green beer. Two drops seemed to be the right amount to get a nice olive-green sort of color. Three drops resulted in more of a kelly green shade.





Dark Beer vs. Light Beer


We experimented with a light lager and a dark brown lager and got good results with each. Obviously, the darker beer was a slightly darker green, but it was still a nice olive green color. We used the same amount of food coloring (2 drops) for each, and got good results.





Tips:Use liquid food coloring instead of the gel because the liquid will disperse into the beer instantly. Be careful with the food coloring. When you're adding it to the beer, it's easy to get some of it on your hands. It's water-soluble, but the green does linger on your fingers a while. It will probably stain tablecloths and clothing as well. We did so a bit of sampling to see if we could (1) taste the food coloring or (2) if it turned our lips green. No on both counts. We did not, however, test what the results might be after a whole evening of green beer drinking. Here's to the drinking of the green!








**To make the night a lot of fun, add just one or two drops of green food coloring to the kid's bathwater. Don't put more than this, you don't want your tub green or even worse your kids going to school looking like we little leprechauns.

Wednesday-Crockpot Roast Beef, a classic

1 shoulder roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion, sliced
1 can of carrots
1 can of sliced or whole potatoes

Put the shoulder roast in the crock pot. Salt and pepper both sides. Pour the cream of mushroom over the roast. Fill up the empty can with water then pour over the roast. Add the vegetables and cover. Let cook all day for about 8 hours and you'll have the perfect roast. Serve with mashed potatoes! * Save the leftovers, you'll need them for tomorrow night's meal.

Thursday-Chimichangas

Using the leftover roast beef from last night


3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked beef
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
2 (8-count) cans crescent rolls
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped green onions
Serves 4

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic powder. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add beef. Cook until heated through. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup Cheddar.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Unroll crescent roll dough. Separate into 8 rectangles. Pinch perforations to seal. Spread 1 tablespoon salsa over each rectangle to within 1/2 inch of edges.
Step 3
Grease a baking sheet. Spoon 1/3 cup beef mixture over each rectangle. Roll up dough from short end; press edges together to seal. Place chimichangas seam side down on baking sheet.
Step 4
Bake chimichangas until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese. Bake until cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and green onions.



Friday-Have a night in with this great meal!

Alana's Stuffed and Wrapped Hot Dogs with Blue Cheese Chips

1 pkg of your favorite hot dogs-Nathan's All Beef works really good
(I now use turkey dogs)
8oz block or shredded sharp cheddar cheese
8 slices bacon
(I use turkey bacon with turkey dogs)
8 buns (I prefer the top slit for this recipe but the others will do)
1 onion, sliced and sauteed in 2T olive oil until caramalized

Take the hot dog and slice it down the middle longways (don't go all the way through. Stuff the slit with cheese and then wrap with a piece of bacon. Place on broiler pan or grill. Broil for 5-10 minutes until the bacon is brown and crispy. Serve with caramalized onions and the toppings of your choice.

1 bag of plain Kettle Chips (must be Kettle)
1 bottle of chunky blue cheese dressing (Must be Chunky)

Put the bag of chips in a deep pan and pour the dressing on top. Bake at 400 until the dressing is melted and the chips start to brown.