The Meal Plan and Grocery List 5/23- 5/29 PLUS Some Ideas For Your Weekend Cookout

It's been awhile since I posted a meal plan. Travel, yard work, and all of our spring activities have kept our little family hopping! We've been living off the reserves in our freezer in between my irregular shopping trips. For instance, tonight I pulled a Chicken Divan casserole out of the freezer for a no-fuss dinner. There's definitely some yummy food on the menu for this week and then for the long holiday weekend I am planning for some of our cookout favorites. Check out these past posts for ideas for your weekend festivities:
Grilling Favorites
My Favorite Pasta Salad and Jimmy Carter Cake
Macaroni Salad and Banana Cream Pie
More Cookout Favorites (including Black Raspberry Cream Freezer Pie!)

Here's the meal plan for this week:

Monday May 23rd

Chicken Divan

Tuesday May 24th

Rustic Beef and Onion Tart with Crispy Morel Mushrooms

Wednesday May 25th

Mexican Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing


Thursday May 26th

Spicy Pork with Asparagus and Chile

Friday May 27th

Tomato Basil Pizza

Saturday and Sunday May 28th & 29th

Cookout food (see links provided above)



Grocery List

Produce

red onion
1 lb. morel mushrooms or 8 oz. button mushrooms
avocado
lemon
garlic
2 heads romaine lettuce

3-4 large tomatoes
green onions
12 oz. asparagus spears
red jalapeno chile (or green if you can't find red)
ginger
basil
Meat

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. pork loin or 1 lb. coarsely ground pork

Dairy

butter
shredded cheddar
2 tubs Philly Cooking Creme- Italian flavor
2 tubes refrigerated pizza dough (I like Pillsbury Thin Crust)
shredded Mexican blend cheese
shredded mozzarella

Canned Goods

cream of chicken soup
mayonnaise
lemon juice
hot sauce
olive oil
black beans
soy sauce
rice vinegar
sesame oil
oyster sauce
honey

Dry Goods

bread crumbs
corn chips (like Fritos)
cornstarch

Freezer

16 oz. package broccoli florets

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful week! Happy cooking!

Cornbread Salad

We've all heard the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well...along those lines, I say, when life gives you mediocre cornbread, make cornbread salad! Last week I executed a failed attempt at a traditional Southern dinner. I made a jalapeno cornbread that we all found "just okay". Needless to say, I had quite I bit leftover. I remembered hearing about cornbread salad somewhere, so I decided to search Google. This turned up quite a few results. It seems that it's a popular salad. Where have I been? I decided to pick and choose from the numerous recipes and create one that worked for me and the ingredients that I had in my house. As it turned out, it was pretty darn good. The cornbread salad was WAY better than the cornbread that inspired it. I'd describe it as a cross between 7 Layer Salad and Taco Salad. I know that the salad was intended to be a side dish, but we ate it for dinner the first night and then served it at our cookout the next.

I got my prep work out of the way before assembling the salad. First, I mixed together a cup of light mayo, a cup of light sour cream, and a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix.



Then I chopped a couple of big tomatoes, a few green onions (it came out to a little over 1/2 cup) and half of a green pepper (another half of a cup).



I also fried and crumbled 10 slices of bacon.



Then I reached for the leftover cornbread.



I crumbled about 3 of the pieces into the bottom of a 9 X 13 casserole dish. You could use a big salad bowl for this too.



Then I topped it with half of a 30 oz. can of rinsed and drained pinto beans.



I spread half of the chopped veggies over the pinto beans.



Then topped it with a can of drained whole kernel corn.



Next, I sprinkled on half of the bacon and a cup (or more) of shredded cheese.



And finally, half of the ranch dressing mixture.



I repeated the layers, ending with cheese.



Here's the finished product.



And a closer look.



Pop it into the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.



Enjoy!

Cornbread Salad

•1 recipe of cornbread
•1 envelope ranch dressing mix
•1 cup (8 oz)light sour cream
•1 cup light mayonnaise
•2 cans (16 oz each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
•2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
•10 slices bacon, fried very crispy, and crumbled
•1 can whole kernel corn, drained
•1/2 cup each of green bell pepper and green onion, diced and 2 chopped tomatoes
Preparation:
Make up the cornbread, cool. Stir together salad dressing mix, sour cream and mayonnaise until blended; set aside. Combine tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Toss gently. Crumble 1/2 of the cornbread into a casserole dish or large bowl. Top with half each of beans, tomato mixture, cheese, bacon, corn and dressing mixture. Repeat layers. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.

Note: The next time that I make this, I may add salsa, Rotel, or hot sauce to give it a little extra kick!

Cookout Food and the Meal Plan 7/5-7/11

We had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July! Our daughters were in a parade yesterday morning and then we hosted a cookout last night. Great food, friends, fireworks...lots of fun! Here are some pictures of the good eats we filled up on last night.

For starters, there was the bruschetta.



And the hot wings.



Then some sides...

A delicious cornbread salad.



And this awesome Avocado Basil Bowtie Salad topped with lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. (This is a recipe for a hot pasta dish, that I chill and serve as a salad).



Speaking of cheese, I also made a homestyle mac n' cheese casserole.



I didn't get any pictures of the burgers, but we ate em' deluxe-style with all the fixings!



And then there was dessert...a black raspberry cream freezer pie.



And miniature root beer floats!



It's no surprise that the meal plan starts off with leftovers this week! I'm a notorious over-cooker. Better to have too much food than not enough, right? This week's meal plan includes links to meals that I have made before, leftovers, and grilling out. Instead of posting what I'm making for dinner, I want to focus on posting some of the recipes of the yummy cookout food pictured above. Plus, it's a busy week...I'm gearing up for vacation bible school next week (I'm the kitchen team leader), out-of-town company on Thursday and Friday, AND....we're havin' a heat wave here, so I'd like to log in some time at the pool with my kiddos.

Here's the meal plan:

Monday July 5th

Leftovers

Tuesday July 6th

Big Island Meatloaf (re-heated from my freezer)

Wednesday July 7th

Jamaican Spiced Chicken Thighs

Thursday July 8th

Pasta Cake
Salad
Garlic Bread

Friday July 9th

Savory Focaccia Pie (probably...bumped from last week's meal plan)

Saturday July 10th

More Leftovers

Sunday July 11th

Grilling out (probably cheeseburgers)




Grocery List

Produce

celery
carrot
yellow onion
garlic
mushrooms
red onion
jalapeno pepper
sweet potatoes
cilantro
baby spinach
tomatoes

Meat

2 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (turkey is a good option)
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

Dairy

butter
whipping cream or half and half
2 oz. fresh mozzarella
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
eggs
ricotta cheese

Canned Goods

oil
mayonnaise
mustard
tomato paste
soy sauce
cider vinegar
dark rum
marinara sauce

Dry Goods

cornstarch
bread crumbs
allspice
thyme
black pepper
red pepper
brown sugar
ginger
rigatoni pasta
focaccia round (rosemary or garlic)

I hope that you're all wrapping up a lovely LONG weekend! Have a great week!

Gearing Up For Memorial Day Weekend: My Top 10 Grilling Recipes + What to Take to the Cook Out

From my experience, the Memorial Day gathering is all about the grillin'. I betcha weren't invited to a cook in. Heck no. You're cooking out! This holiday is about remembering and honoring the men and women who sacrifice so much in the service of our country. On Memorial Day, I take the opportunity to reflect on how grateful and proud I am to be an American and how thankful I am for the victories that this collective sacrifice has won.

Also, for me, Memorial Day symbolizes the beginning of summer. We want to be outside, enjoying the gorgeous weather and the freedoms that we've been afforded. We want to go to parades, head to the lake, gather with friends and family, and throw meat on a fire and listen to it sizzle! (Insert Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor man noises here). For this reason, I have decided to re-visit 10 of my favorite grilling recipes. Just click the link and it will take you to the original post. Each post featured here has a printable recipe available!

MY TOP 10 GRILLING FAVORITES:
(In no particular order)

Alton Brown's Grilled Pork Tenderloin



Hoisin Chicken (tied for 1st place as my favorite chicken on the grill recipe)



Totally Edible Turkey Burgers The only turkey burger I've ever loved.



The Giant Grilled Submarine Sandwich



Kentucky Grilled Chicken (The other contender for my favorite grilled chicken recipe)



Supreme Pizza Burgers



Two of the best kabob recipes EVER:

Spicy Peanut Chicken Kabobs




and Beef on a Stick



Dress up your dogs with this tasty chili sauce! Chili Cheese Dogs



And for my 10th selection: Grilled Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches. Topped with a delicious mustard-horseradish sauce, these are so good!



Okay I said 10, but a couple of honorable mentions are in order:

First, these Country Style Barbecued Ribs



And these Inside Out Bacon Cheeseburgers with a Grilled Onion Mayo.



Now for more recipes for the Memorial Weekend Cookout....

A few appetizers:

If you haven't tried SLIDERS yet, you are missing out!



Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers



Grilled Bruschetta




Some salads:

Rotini Salad. This is my go-to pasta salad recipe...SO GOOD! I wish that I had a better picture...



Mexican Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing



Aaron McCargo Jr.'s Potato Salad



Italian Chopped Salad



Taco Salad




And let's not forget dessert:

Jimmy Carter Cake (scroll to the bottom of the linked post for the recipe.)


Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle



Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars



Apricot Pecan Bars



Peachy Chiffon Peaches are difficult to find this early in the season here in Ohio, but you could use strawberries or blueberries instead. If you happen to be lucky enough to have ripe peaches in your neck of the woods, this dessert is especially pretty if you drop a few red raspberries over the top of the peaches too!



Chocolate Banana Cream Pie



Rhubarb Cream Pie



I'm trying some new recipes this weekend. I'll keep you posted on how they turn out. In the meantime....I hope you all have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend!