Menu Plan Monday...

Sunday we went to Mt. Vernon for the basement tour. We haven't seen National Treasure: Book of Secrets (and probably won't until it comes out on dvd), but part of the movie was filmed there so they opened up the basement for public tours for one month only--and only on weekends. It was sooo cold out, so we basically only went to do the tour and then headed home. We stopped at Ikea on the way home. I was looking for a certain rug, but they didn't have it. I'll have to keep checking!

Last week I made green chili stew for the first time.  It really isn't a pretty soup, but it was sooo good!  One thing, the recipe calls for 4 large potatoes.  I think mine were large baking potatoes, so I only used two of them.  

Green Chili Stew (from Fix it and Forget it Diabetic cookbook)

2 T. oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, diced
1 lb. extra lean ground sirloin
⅓ lb. ground pork
3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
2 4-oz. cans diced green chilies
4 large potatoes, diced
10-oz. pkg. frozen corn
1 t. black pepper
1 t. crushed dried oregano
½ t. ground cumin
½ t. salt

1.  Brown garlic, onion, sirloin, and pork in oil in skillet.  Cook until meat is no longer pink; drain.

2.  Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.

3.  Cover.  Cook on low 4-6 hours or until potatoes are soft.

We also tried the round steak sauerbraten.  I cooked it in the crockpot and wasn't home to check on it, so it over cooked slightly.  My crockpot turns to keep warm when the timer goes off.  If I had been home, I'd have checked the meat earlier in the process to see if it was done.  I browned the steak in the skillet and then put it with all other ingredients in the crockpot on low for 5 hours.  Next time I'll check it around 3.5-4 hours.  So, the steak was slightly dry, but the flavor was still nice.  We certainly ate it all up.

We didn't use two meals from last week, so those are carried over to this week.

*=new recipe
Monday--caramel apple pork chops*, brown rice, steamed broccoli

Tuesday--steak fingers*, tater tots, salad

Wednesday--basil pasta with chicken, bacon, and spinach* (I'll post next week if it turns out--the recipe is on the bag of pasta), salad

Thursday--continental beef* (from this cookbook), noodles, green beans

Friday--apricot pecan chicken*, brown rice, steamed veggies

Wow--looks like we will be having lots of new things this week!!

For more menu plan fun, head on over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!!