Week Eight Recipes and Shopping List

An experimental week is upon us. In our house, this means that you never really know what the food is going to be like. It's usually recipes that I have ripped from magazines, or printed from the Internet, and stuck into the "gotta try it" file. This week's recipes are some of those. I felt like I was getting into a casserole rut so it's time to throw something new out there. Please feel free to comment if you make changes when you make it because that's what I usually do. Up until this point the recipes have all been tried and true. This week I have no idea. As long as it isn't as bad as the meal early in my marriage that is still known as "dogfood chicken" it's all good and can probably be improved upon. :)


Day One:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Lemon Chardonnay Butter Sauce

Ingredients:
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 tsp salt
2 large boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into strips and pounded thin

2-3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Olive oil

Lemon Chardonnay Butter Sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp chardonnay wine
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
dash salt
2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Make Brine for chicken by dissolving 1 tsp salt with chicken broth in a large ziploc bag. Add pounded chicken to the brine and allow to marinate for 3-24 hours in the refrigerator.

When chicken has marinated, remove the fillets from the brine and dab with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Beat eggs in a medium bowl and pour flour onto a plate. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in another medium bowl. To bread the chicken, first coat the chicken with flour, then egg, and then the parmesan mixture. Let the breaded chicken rest for a bit on a plate in your fridge while you prepare the Chardonnay butter sauce.

Make Chardonnay butter sauce by melting butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add wine and simmer for 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice, sugar and salt, and then add cream. Simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes, until thicker.

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a large saute pan, and heat over medium-low heat until hot. You can check the heat of the oil by dropping a breadcrumb into it. if it starts to sizzle, your oil is ready. Saute each breaded chicken piece in the oil for 3-5 minutes per side until brown. Remove pieces to a paper-towel covered plate until ready to serve. Serve with butter sauce spooned over top.


Day Two:

Easy Crockpot Beef Burgundy

Ingredients:
1 pound stew beef, large gristle removed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup red wine
1 small onion, chopped
1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 tbsp minced garlic

Cooked egg noodles, rice or mashed potatoes, if desired

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or add 1 cup water and cook on high 3-4 hours until beef is tender. Serve over cooked egg noodles, rice or mashed potatoes if desired.


Day Three:

Chicken Spinach Manicotti with Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
6 manicotti tubes

Filling:
1 4 oz can sliced mushrooms, cut into small pieces
Olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
2 cups cooked chicken meat
1/2 cup cooked spinach, well drained
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
Freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream or Carnation Evaporated Milk
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
1 tbsp dried parsley

Directions:
Chop the chicken and spinach into small pieces and place into a medium bowl. Add mushrooms, minced garlic, Parmesan cheese, egg and pepper. Stir to combine.

Cook 6 manicotti tubes according to the package instructions. Fill the manicotti with the filling and place in a lightly oiled shallow baking dish.

In a saucepan, melt butter over med-low heat. Add cream & simmer for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley. Spoon alfredo sauce over manicotti. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until heated through.


Day Four:

Cheeseburger Pie

Ingredients:
1 can crescent rolls
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/3 cup chopped dill pickle slices
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons dill pickle juice
2 Tablespoons milk
2 cups velveeta cheese, cut into small pieces and divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.

Unroll crescent rolls and press into the bottom and up the sides of an 8 inch pie pan.

Cook ground beef in a skillet until browned. Drain well. Stir in onion powder, chopped pickle, ketchup and mustard. Sprinkle with flour and add pickle juice and milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Remove from heat and add 1 cup of velveeta cheese.

Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 15 minutes, or until edges of crust are golden brown.

Remove from oven and top with remaining cup of cheese. Let stand until cheese melts.

Garnish with extra ketchup, mustard and pickle slices.


Day Five:

Balsamic Chicken with Fettuccine

Ingredients:
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms - NOT drained
2-3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
Freshly ground pepper
1 tbs flour
2 tsp olive oil
3 clove minced garlic
3 small chopped Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbs cold water
One 10oz pk fresh fettuccine

Directions:
Sprinkle chicken strips with pepper; dust with flour.

Heat oil in a wide nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook, turning, until well browned on both sides. Remove chicken from pan, set aside.

Add garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms (with liquid) to pan, stir for 1 minute. Add broth, wine, and 3 Tablespoons of the balsamic vinegar. Boil for 3 minutes; remove from heat.

Cook and drain fettuccine. Keep warm.

Blend cornstarch and water; stir into sauce in pan. Return chicken to pan, spooning sauce over it. Return to medium-low heat, cover and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Stir remaining 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar into sauce. Pour fettuccine onto a warm serving platter; top with chicken and sauce.


Shopping List for Week Eight

1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cans (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup beef broth
1/3 cup chopped dill pickle slices

salt
flour
1 cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
ground black pepper
Olive oil
lemon juice
granulated sugar
onion powder
ketchup
mustard
dill pickle juice
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp cornstarch

6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 pound stew beef
1 pound ground beef

4 eggs
2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
butter
1 2/3 cup heavy cream
milk
2 cups velveeta cheese
1 can crescent rolls

2 tbsp chardonnay wine
1 1/2 cups red wine

1 small onion
3 small Roma tomatoes
garlic

Egg noodles
6 manicotti tubes
One 10oz pk fresh fettuccine

1/2 cup cooked spinach

What a week!

So you know what they say about good intentions.... I had intended on posting a week's worth of recipes today but it seems that my travelling between countries and then working night shift all week has resulted in me getting a bit of a cold and just feeling blah... so I am going to use one of the previous weeks for this week and plan on posting a new week one next week. Sorry for the delay while I get my life in order. See you next week! :)