Week 8 Meal Plan

If I may be so bold, I'd like to say a few words about this week's meal plan.

First, hooray for eggs! Eggs are cheap and healthy (if eaten in moderation), so I like to incorporate them into my meal plans. If you are concerned about cholesterol, then try replacing some of the eggs with egg whites. For example, when I make my own Egg McMuffins, I like to fry egg whites instead of the whole eggs. Now if only I could convince my husband to skip the yolk...

Second, give the salmon burgers a try. I know, I know, they sounds strange. I, myself, thought my mom was crazy a couple months ago when she started regularly serving salmon patties to the family. But then I tried them! And my life will never be the same! The recipe can easily be tweaked to use whatever you have on hand. So go ahead, be brave, and buy a couple cans of salmon.

Lastly, don't be discouraged if your grocery bills aren't as low as mine. The key to shopping smart is stocking up on the things you love when they go on sale. Eventually, you will have an awesome food storage to cook from, with only a few fresh items to pick up each week.

Now without further ado, the meal plan:


Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner
Egg McMuffins, Hashbrowns, Fruit

Thursday
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta (from Creative Stirrings!), Broccoli, Cauliflower

Friday- Trying something new!
Lemon Herb Pork Chops, Asparagus, Steamed Carrots

Saturday
Go out or eat leftovers.

Sunday
Salmon Burgers, Green Salad, Seasoned Fries

Monday
Ramen Veggie Stirfry with Chicken, Salad

Tuesday
Easy Lasagna, Peas, Green Beans

Week 8 Tips

All Week
In resealable bags or tupperware, save out a few of your veggies every day (a few broccoli and cauliflower florets, diced small; 1/3 bunch asparagus, trimmed; 2/3 onion, sliced into rings or diced; etc). Then when it comes to making Monday's stirfry, you will have a great variety and it will be easy to add a few frozen veggies to round it all out.

Friday
Don't forget to start marinating the pork chops sometime on Friday (or even Thursday night).

Sunday
Prepare one big salad, but save half in the fridge for tomorrow.

Tuesday
If you have any extra rolls left from Sunday's salmon burgers, toast them with butter, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder for an easy garlic bread.

Week 8 Grocery List-- With Prices!

Ingredients for Week 8 Dinners
I will be purchasing
fruit (orange $.53)
asparagus ($1.58)
baby carrots (1 lb for $1.29)
2 potatoes ($.57)
fresh basil (I skipped it)
lettuce (1 bag of salad on sale for $2.00 with a $1/1 sticker = $1.00)
onion ($.94)
cucumber ($.79)
broccoli ($.70)
cauliflower ($.66)
1/2 lb Italian sausage ($.53)
2 (5 oz) cans salmon ($3.18)
1 doz eggs (I decided to pick up 18 for $2.23)
1 pkg deli ham (Buddig deli cuts on sale for $2.29 with a $1/1 coupon = $1.29
Simply Potatoes refrigerated Southwestern hashbrowns ($1.67)
1 (16 oz) carton cottage cheese ($1.49)
9 lasagna noodles (Pasta Luigi $.99)
1 (8 oz) bag shredded mozzarella ($1.50 each with a Budget Buster coupon if you buy two)
lemon juice ($1.89)
4-8 buns (I got 6 for $1.50)

In total I spent $24.33 on this week's dinners.
Here is the approximate breakdown:

Egg McMuffins, Hashbrowns, Fruit $4.89
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, Broccoli, Cauliflower $1.89
Lemon Herb Pork Chops, Asparagus, Steamed Carrots $3.58
Salmon Burgers, Green Salad, Seasoned Fries $7.69
Ramen Veggie Stirfry with Chicken, Salad $1.77
Easy Lasagna, Peas, Green Beans $3.89

I will be using from my pantry
4 (4 oz) boneless pork chops
2 chicken breasts
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 (8 oz ) pkg cream cheese
8 slices cheese
butter
12 oz rotini pasta
4 saltine crackers (or Italian breadcrumbs)
English muffins
1 pkg Ramen, chicken flavored
1 (26 oz) can or bottle spaghetti sauce
frozen peas
1 can green beans
1 (10 oz) jar Roasted red peppers
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
pickles
mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)
ketchup
mustard
soy sauce
dried basil
garlic powder
salt
season all salt
cayenne pepper
black pepper
dried oregano
paprika
chili powder
onion powder
minced onion
Italian seasoning
oil
olive oil


Other Items I Stocked Up On
8 crackers (8 boxes @ $1 per box = $8.00)
6 boxes Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta ($.88 each with two .75/1 coupons and two $1/2 coupons= $.30 each or $1.78 total. Print each online coupon twice.)
14 TJ Farms frozen veggies (14 @ $.61 each = $8.57)

Egg McMuffins, Hashbrowns, Fruit

8 English muffins
8 eggs
8 slices cheese
8 slices ham
mayo, ketchup, mustard (optional)

hashbrowns

fruit of your choice


Lightly toast English muffins. Fry eggs according to your preference, topping each egg with a slice of cheese just as it finishes cooking. Make sandwiches starting with half an English muffin, and adding a slice of ham, then one egg with cheese. Spread condiments, if desired, on the second half of the English muffin and place on top of sandwich.

Prepare hashbrowns according to package directions.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, Broccoli, Cauliflower

This Roasted Red Pepper pasta recipe was created by Creative Stirrings. It has become one of our family favorites! While you're checking out this lovely blog, may I suggest the Easter Table Setting Post? It is absolutely fantastic!


Here is the original recipe post. I have scaled the recipe down to 4 servings.

1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 (12 oz) jars Fire Roasted Red Peppers, chopped and reserve juice
1 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes, reserve juice
1 T dried basil
1 1/2 t garlic minced
1/2 t salt
dash cayenne pepper and black pepper
3/4 c fresh basil leaves, chopped (I may skip this depending on the price)
1/2 pkg cream cheese (4 oz), softened and cubed
12 oz rotini pasta, cooked

In a large frying pan, cook and crumble Italian sausage. Stir in red peppers (including juice), tomatoes (including juice), dried basil, garlic, salt, pepper. Add basil leaves and cream cheese; stir until cream cheese is melted. Serve over hot pasta.

Steam broccoli and cauliflower (broccoli on top) until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

*I usually buy Italian sausage that has been packaged by the store's meat department. I've found it's always very affordable at Macey's. This week, however, there was a great sale on commercially-packaged sausage; the only problem was that the particular brand did not come in Italian flavor. I did not try it, but I realized that you could easily substitute regular sausage and add Italian seasoning to taste if regular sausage is what you have on hand.

Lemon Herb Pork Chops, Asparagus, Steamed Carrots

Lemon Herb pork chop recipe is adapted from AllRecipes.

1/4 c lemon juice
2 T oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t salt
1/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t pepper
4 (4 oz) boneless pork loin chops

2/3 bunch asparagus

1/3 lb baby carrots


In a bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt, oregano, and pepper. Place half the marinade in a large resealable bag with the pork chops. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Save the remaining marinade in the fridge as a sauce.

Preheat oven's broiler (or an outdoor grill to high heat). Remove chops from bag and discard marinade. Place pork chops on a greased baking sheet. Broil 5-7 minutes per side, basting 3 times with reserved sauce, or until done.

Steam asparagus. Season with salt and pepper.

Steam baby carrots. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of sugar.

*This dinner was a hit for our family. We loved these pork chops; they are incredibly flavorful. Even my 1-year-old (who is not a very good meat eater) loved eating these tasty pork chops. We broiled 7 minutes per side, and the meat turned out slightly overdone. Next time we'll probably try 5 minutes per side then check for doneness.

Salmon Burgers, Green Salad, Seasoned Fries

The salmon burger recipe is from my mother, who is the queen of salmon patties (though I never knew until she whipped them up recently). Seasoned fry recipe is from AllRecipes.

You can actually serve these salmon patties as a main dish themselves; they are quite tasty. Of course the burgers are delicious, too! I bet these patties would make lovely appetizers in miniature.

Just a hint, my mom says the cans of salmon at Costco are much nicer than the ones in normal grocery stores.


2 large potatoes
2 T olive oil
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1 t chili powder
1 t onion powder

2 eggs
2 (5 to 7 oz) cans boneless, skinless salmon, drained
1 c Simply Potatoes refrigerated Southwestern hashbrowns (This is actually a very critical ingredient.)
2 t mustard
2 t minced onion
4 Saltine crackers, crushed (or Italian breadcrumbs, etc)
1/2 t seasoned salt
1/4 t pepper
2 t oil
2 t butter

If making burgers:
4 buns
4 lettuce leaves
1/3 onion, sliced into thin rings
1 cucumber, sliced thin
pickles
tartar sauce
mustard

green salad


Preheat oven to 425. Cut potatoes into thin fry shapes. Mix olive oil, paprika, and garlic, chili, and onion powders in a large resealable plastic bag. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Place potatoes on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, turning fries halfway through.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Mix in salmon, hashbrowns, mustard, minced onion, cracker crumbs, seasoned salt, and pepper. Form into 4-6 patties. Heat oil and butter in a pan on medium heat. Brown patties about 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown on the first side. Then flip and cook 3-4 minutes more, until second side is golden brown.

Serve salmon patties on their own, passing mustard and tartar sauce at the table. Or, go for the burgers. You'll be surprised by how yummy they are!

Ramen Veggie Stirfry with Chicken, Salad

This stirfry recipe is modified from a recipe I found in a magazine in college, most likely Square magazine (though I don't know for sure).

2 chicken breasts
1 to 2 T soy sauce
1 T oil
3 c mixed veggies, diced (onion, carrots, broccoli, snow peas, peas, corn, peppers, asparagus, zucchini, etc.)
1 pkg Ramen, chicken flavor
1/2 c water

green salad


Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Coat a pan with cooking spray and saute chicken on medium-high heat until done. When chicken is cooked through, sprinkle with soy sauce and cook 1 minute more. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add veggies and cook until tender. Add the noodles, seasoning packet, and water. Cook until noodles are done, stirring frequently to cover the noodles with water. Add the chicken to the stirfry and serve with additional soy sauce at the table.

Prepare green salad.

Easy Lasagna, Peas, Green Beans

I got this lasagna recipe from my mom, but she got it from someone in her family years ago (maybe an aunt?).

Easy Lasagna
1/2 lb ground beef
1 bottle spaghetti sauce
1 (16 oz) carton cottage cheese
3/4 c water
dried basil
Italian seasoning
garlic powder
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 (8 oz) bag shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)

Brown ground beef and drain. In a large bowl, mix together meat, sauce, cottage cheese and water. Add basil, Italian seasoning, and garlic to taste (I probably use about 1/2 tsp each). In a greased 9x13, pour 1 cup sauce to cover the pan. Then, start the layers: arrange 3 noodles, then about 1 1/2 c sauce, and top with about 1/2 c cheese. Repeat two more times, using all the remaining cheese on the top. Bake, covered with foil, at 375 for one hour. Remove from oven and let sit for 15-25 minutes before serving.


Sides
frozen peas
1 can green beans

Microwave frozen peas. Microwave green beans. Season both with salt and pepper to taste.