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• For the busiest weeknights, prepare meals (1), (2), (3) or (4). See “NOTES” under those specific meals for tips on making the meal (or parts of) ahead of time.
RECIPE 1: TACO CASSEROLE
(A recipe from my mom)
NOTES:
• You can brown and season the hamburger ahead of time and store in fridge. When ready to prepare, remove from fridge, reheat, and then add sour cream.
Ingredients
• 1 pkg refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 small carton sour cream
• 1 lb ground beef
• Crushed tortilla, taco or Frito chips (as much as desired to top casserole)
• 1-2 cups cheddar cheese (as much as desired)
• Chopped lettuce, tomato, green onion, and/or avocado for topping
• 1 pkg taco seasoning
Directions
1. Brown hamburger then add about ¾ c. water and taco seasoning. Simmer until most of water has evaporated.
2. Mix sour cream into meat and stir. Remove from heat.
3. Place flat rolls in casserole and press seams together. Pour meat mixture over rolls and sprinkle with cheese and chips.
4. Bake for 25 min at 375 degrees.
5. Serve with lettuce, tomato, etc.
RECIPE 2: ROAST COD WITH CRISP POTATOES
(from Real Simple)
NOTES:
• I roasted the potatoes ahead of time and then when it was time to cook the fish, took the potatoes out of the fridge and put them back into the roasting pan with the fish to reheat. This way, you can put together this meal in about 15 minutes.
Ingredients
• 3 pounds Yukon gold or new potatoes (peeled, if desired), halved if small or cut into 1 ½ inch chunks
• 3 tbsp plus 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• Cod fillets (about one per person if roughly 6 oz each), skin removed
• Lemon juice (optional)
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped chives (optional)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place potatoes in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet with edges. Drizzle potatoes with 3 tbsp oil and toss to coat then sprinkle with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Roast for 20 min, stir and roast 10 min more.
2. Rinse the cod fillets and pat them dry with paper towels. Place the fillets in the center of the pan and drizzle with remaining oil and sprinkle with remaining slat and pepper. Redistribute potatoes around fish and roast until fillets are the same color throughout and flake easily about 10-13 minutes.
3. Top with lemon juice and chives.
4. Serve potato chunks with Ranch dressing or ketchup (for kids) and serve fish with malt vinegar if desired.
RECIPE 3: SPANISH TORTILLA (POTATO/EGG OMELET)
(what we ate a lot in Spain)
NOTES:
• You can dice and boil the potatoes the night before. Be sure to drain and cool them then pat dry before putting in a container in fridge to store.
Ingredients
• Several large russet potatoes, peeled and diced into small squares
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• Eggs (about 2 per person), lightly beaten
• Flour tortillas
• Oil to brown potatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
Directions
1. Peel, dice and boil potato squares for about 10 min or until softened. Do not over boil them (when they start to fall apart it’s been too long). 10-15 min usually softens them but they still hold together. Drain, cool slightly and pat dry.
2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add 1 batch boiled potatoes in an even layer (you need to do each omelet one at a time or in a different skillet or do one large family omelet if you have a large skillet). Let cook 5 minutes or so until the bottoms have started to brown then stir, and cook about 5 minutes more.
3. Add 1 batch chopped onion to potatoes and cook on a lower heat until onion has softened.
4. Beat eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Pour eggs (1 batch) over onions and potatoes and let cook at medium heat until egg has started to set. Lift up the sides of the omelet and tilt pan to let any uncooked egg run underneath.
5. Once omelet is almost set, slide onto a plate then flip the plate over so that the side that hasn’t cooked yet is in the bottom of the pan. Cook a few minutes longer and slide off onto plate. Serve with a warm tortilla (either tearing chunks of the tortilla of and eating with egg or cutting off pieces of the omelet and wrapping it in a tortilla). Or, if desired, cool egg/potato mixture and serve on fresh, French bread as a sandwich (this was common in Spain).
RECIPE 4: TORTILLA SOUP
NOTES:
• I usually make this in the Crockpot but you could also make this on the stovetop. It could be made ahead then stored in fridge.
Ingredients
• Cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 14 ½ oz cans chicken broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves (more if desired)
• 1 c. salsa (spiciness level to taste)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (with green chilies if desired)
• 1 large can or 2 smaller cans chopped green chilies
• ½ c. fresh minced cilantro
• 1 c. or so of frozen or canned corn
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-3 tbsp cumin (to taste)
• Sour cream (to top soup)
• Monterey jack or cheddar cheese (to top soup)
• Tortilla chips (to top soup)
• Avocado chunks (to top soup, if desired)
Directions
1. Heat a small amount oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add chopped onion and cook until softened. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 sec.
2. Place onion, garlic, and all ingredients through cumin in Crockpot and cook on low for at least 4 hours up to all day. Top with desired toppings.
RECIPE 5: CHICKIEN POT PIE
(from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook)
Ingredients• Cooked, shredded chicken
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 2 ribs celery, sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1 onion, minced
• Salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ c. all-purpose flour
• ¼ c. sherry or white cooking wine
• 3 c. chicken broth
• ¼ c. heavy cream
• 2 bay leaves
• Pepper
• 1 c. frozen peas
• 2 tbsp fresh minced parsley
• 1 refrigerated pkg biscuits or 1 pkg dry biscuit mix or make your own
Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat and add carrots, celery, onion and ¼ tsp salt and cook until softened, about 7 min.
2. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 15 sec. Stir in the flour. Slowly whisk in the sherry, carping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, cream and bay leaves. Simmer until the mixture is thickened, about 10 min.
3. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Stir the chicken into the sauce and continue to simmer until the chicken is heated through.
4. Discard the bay leaves and stir in the peas and parsley. Pour the mixture into 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
5. Make and cut biscuits into 3-inch rounds (do not cook them) and lay over the filling, spacing them about ¼ inch apart.
6. Bake until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 20 min. Let cool 5-10 min before serving.
Shopping list:
NOTES:
• I have organized the shopping list by category and then within each category by meal. After each item you’ll see a number in parenthesis which corresponds to the meal number. That way you can easily pick which recipes you want to try and then find those items (or cross items out) on the list.
• Under Veggies/Fruit I have italicized anything that is a veggie or fruit but NOT found in the fresh fruits and veggie area of the supermarket.
• Don’t forget to add sides as necessary (suggestions: taco rice for (1), side salad or veggies for (2 & 3)). Sides are not really needed with recipes (4) and (5).
Meat
• 1 lb ground beef (1)
• Cod fillets (1 per person, roughly 6 oz each) (2)
• Shredded chicken (4, 5). Since you need chicken for two recipes this week, I suggest buying a fryer (whole chicken), boiling and shredding it, or buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding it. This will be sufficient for both recipes. See Recipe (2) from last week’s meals for more details on cooking and shredding chicken and making your own chicken broth.
Veggies/Fruit
• Chopped lettuce, tomato and other desired toppings for taco casserole such as chopped green onions and avocado (1)
• Potatoes: 3 lbs Yukon gold or new potatoes (2), Several large russet potatoes (3)
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped chives (optional) (2)
• Fresh lemon juice (optional) (2)
• 3 onions (3, 4, 5)
• Garlic: 2-ish cloves for recipe (4), 2 cloves recipe (5) (You can buy cloves or the pre-jarred kind)
• Salsa – 1 cup (4)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (with green chilies if desired) (4)
• 1 large can or 2 smaller cans chopped green chilies (4)
• Fresh cilantro: ½ c. minced (4)
• Frozen or canned corn – 1 cup-ish (4)
• Avocado (to top soup), if desired (4)
• Carrots – 3 (5)
• Celery – 2 ribs (5)
• 1 c. frozen peas (5)
• Parsley – 2 tbsp (5)
Breads & starches
• 1 pkg refrigerated crescent rolls (1)
• Flour tortillas (3)
• 1 pkg refrigerated biscuits or a dry biscuit mix (enough to make 8 biscuits) (5)
Spices/Sauces/Vinegars
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 packet taco seasoning (1)
• Malt vinegar (to serve with fish, if desired) (2)
• Ground cumin – about 2 tbsp (4)
• 2 bay leaves (5)
Dairy
• Shredded cheddar cheese – about 2 cups (1)
• 1 small carton sour cream (1) + extra for topping soup (4)
• Monterey jack or cheddar cheese to top soup (4)
• Heavy cream – ¼ c. (5)
• Unsalted butter – 4 tbsp (5)
Other
• Tortilla chips, Doritos nacho cheese chips, or Fritos (1) + extra to top soup (4)
• Eggs (about 2 per person) (3)
• 1 can black beans (4)
• Chicken broth – 2 14 ½ oz cans (4), 3 c. (5)
• Dry sherry or white cooking wine – ¼ c. (5)
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