This Week's Menu & Shopping List

In the hopes of incorporating more vegetables into my family's diet, I have started buying these great frozen vegetable steamer sacks. They are bags of vegetables you get in the frozen foods aisle, and you pop the whole bag, unopened, right from your freezer to your microwave for about 5 minutes and the vegetables steam inside the bag! So, as you will see below, I have some of these on the shopping list as side dishes for the week. If this is not your thing (you don't like microwaves or frozen food) you can just buy the vegetables fresh and clean and steam/boil them yourself. Also, I have just started to get into homemade pizza - it is so easy to do and so deliciously versatile!! I have include a recipe for carmelized onion and sauteed pepper pizza, but you can really do whatever you want. The dough recipe included makes 3 pizzas, so pick up some of your own toppings and go nuts! (A great pizza dessert idea is to bake the crust by itself until golden brown, then spread Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) all over it and sandwich ice cream in-between two slices--this idea is from "RachaelRayMag.com" and I can't wait to try it!). Pizza night is a great opportunity to get the kids in the kitchen too to help pat out the dough and add all of their favorite toppings! And honestly, who won't eat vegetables if they are on a delicious pizza?



MENU

Meal #1 - Grilled chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, steamed mixed veggies
Meal #2 - Marinated pork tenderloin, corn, sweet potato fries
Meal #3 - Simple pasta primavera with grilled chicken
Meal #4 - Pork lo mein with sugar snap peas
Meal #5 - Southwestern chicken wraps and salad
Meal #6 - Pizza night!

SHOPPING LIST

Produce
3-4 medium potatoes, any kind
3 med. sweet potatoes
1 ear of corn per person
9 cloves of garlic
1 med. zucchini
2 Carrots
4 Green (spring) onions
1 avocado
Lime juice (optional)
3 med. sweet onions
2 bell peppers, any color
Bag of pre-washed salad

Meat
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Pork tenderloin (approx. 2 lb.) pre-marinated, or you can marinate it yourself in a mixture of 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup brown sugar

Pantry
Olive Oil
1 lb. pasta (angel hair preferred, but any kind will do)
3/4 lb. dried lo mein noodles or spaghetti
1 box Southwestern or Spanish flavored rice (ex: Rice-a-Roni)
3 Tbls. Asian sesame oil
3 Tbls. soy sauce
2 Tbls. Oyster sauce
1 Tbls. dry sherry (optional)
3/4 cup chicken broth
Salad dressing of choice
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
One 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
4 1/4 cups flour

Spices and Herbs
Salt and Pepper
Garlic powder
Paprika
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Dried thyme
Sesame seeds
Chives

Dairy
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbls. butter
Small tub of sour cream
Parmesan cheese

Frozen Foods
1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables (steam-in-bag kind)
1 bag of frozen broccoli & cauliflower (steam-in-bag kind)
1 bag of frozen sugar snap peas or snowpeas (steam-in-bag kind)

Breads
Whole wheat wraps (1-2 per person)