- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can sweet corn, drained
- 1.5 - 2 cups salsa of choice
- 1 jalapeno, sliced (optional - can also use nacho style jalapenos in a jar)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp worcestershire
- your favorite spicy seasonings, to taste (red tabasco, green tabasco, Cholula, mexican spiced salt, etc.)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 8-oz pkg cream cheese -or- 2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, cheddar/jack, mexican blend, etc.)
- garnish - tortilla chips, sour cream, etc.

Place chicken breast halves in the crock pot. In a large bowl, mix together beans, corn, salsa, jalapeno, garlic, worcestershire, spices, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for six hours. In the last 20 minutes of cooking, add cubed cream cheese or shredded cheese to the crock pot, continue to cook until melted.

Serve with warm flour tortillas, or accompanied with spanish rice or skillet fried potatoes.

I have added a Recipe Index page/tab to the site, which is just an alphabetical list of all recipes. Hope this makes navigation a bit easier for you all!

Thanks, carry on.

Just wanted to let site visitors know that I’ve added photos recently to the following recipes:

Baked Enchiladas
Incredible Crock Pot Meatloaf
Salmon Loaf (recipe also edited for clarity and improvement)

Thanks, and happy eating!

Laura

- 1 lb ground beef (I’ve found that the 85% lean works best)
- 1 1/2 cups salsa of choice
- 1 slice white bread, crumbled
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed (the crushed roasted garlic in a jar works well too, 1 tsp)
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire
- salt and pepper to taste

- Burger buns
- Sliced cheese - american, cheddar, pepper-jack, swiss, etc.
- Condiments - ketchup, mustard, relish, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, jalapenos, etc.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of salsa. In a separate bowl, mix together the white bread and milk (add gradually so it doesn’t get too “soupy”) until it forms a thick paste. Add to the burger meat. Add garlic, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Mix all together very thoroughly (by hand works best!) and form into four equal patties (slightly concave, or a bit thinner in the middle than on the edges, they cook better this way).

Heat skillet over medium-high heat - do NOT add patties until skillet is very hot. Quickly sear both sides of the burger patties, about 60 seconds each side, to brown and seal in the juices. Turn heat down to medium. Add remaining one cup of salsa to the pan (or more if you like them “sloppy”!), turn burger patties to coat. Cook, covered, for 3-5 minutes each side (for medium to medium-well burgers).

Place each patty on burger bun, and top with cheese and condiments as desired. I, of course, add jalapeno slices to mine. Mmmm…

- Three medium yellow summer squash
- Two medium zucchini
- One can diced tomatoes
- Two cloves garlic, minced
- One half sweet onion, chopped
- Two tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- Two tbsp. olive oil
- Italian seasonings
- Salt and pepper to taste

Slice squash and zucchini into 1/4-inch thick slices. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sautee garlic and onion until transparent. Add squash and zucchini and sautee until desired tenderness is achieved. Pour canned tomatoes over vegetables and stir; add italian seasonings, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Reduce, uncovered, over medium heat for approximately five minutes. Serve as a vegetable side dish or main dish served over rice or noodles.

Meat:
- 4 large pork chops (boneless or bone-in) or chicken breasts (boneless)
- 1/2 to 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup flour or bread crumbs, or a combination of both**
- meat tenderizer
- salt and pepper
- chicken or pork shake-on seasoning

Gravy:
- 2 cups chicken or pork broth, or 1 cup water or milk and 1 cup broth (boullion cubes can be used here to make the broth)
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup milk or water
- Drippings, “crunchies” (the browned bits of coating that my family fights over) and pan juices from cooking the meat

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, rinse the pork chops or chicken breasts and pat dry. Sprinkle tenderizer, salt, pepper, and seasonings on meat. Poke with a fork to incorporate spices into the meat. Place each piece of meat into the flour and press down to adhere, turn and repeat on each side twice to thoroughly coat.

Place chops or breasts two at a time in the heated oil (to check to see if oil is hot enough, wet fingers under faucet and carefully drip one or two drops of water into the oil - if it hisses and spatters, the oil is hot enough). Cook without turning for five minutes on one side. Carefully turn over and cook for five minutes on the other side. The coating will now be firmly adhered so if additional browning and cooking is required, it is now safe to turn the meat over as needed (tongs are easiest, I find). Cook until thoroughly browned and juices (when a slit is cut into the thickest part of the meat) run clear.

Set meat aside and cover to keep warm.

To make the gravy - skim out all but four tablespoons of oil from the skillet. Leave all the browned bits. Carefully pour the broth or broth/water/milk combination into the pan. Whisk to combine juices and browned bits. Heat to boiling. Combine the corn starch and water or milk in a small bowl until smooth. Gradually pour corn starch mixture into broth mixture while whisking continuously. Add enough of the corn starch mixture to thicken the gravy as preferred (it may not require all of it).

Serve the chicken or pork and gravy with rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

**For a gluten free recipe, use rice flour or crushed Corn Flakes (which work really well).

- 3 cups cooked beef roast (use leftovers!) (-or- cooked chicken -or- cooked pork -or- a combination of any/all three -or- sauteed peppers, onions, spinach, or other vegetables for vegetarian enchiladas)
- 3/4 cup salsa of choice (we use a mild red)
- 1 sm. can (one to three oz) diced mild green chilis
- 1 32-oz can mild green enchilada sauce
- 1 16-oz can refried beans
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 cups cooked rice (we use instant rice)
- 6 large (burrito size, or 12 inch or larger) flour tortillas**
- Additional salsa
- Shredded cheese of choice (we use a cheddar/jack combo)
- Garnish recommendations: Sliced jalapenos, Sour cream, sliced black olives, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×15 casserole dish with non-stick spray.

Shred the beef roast into a skillet. Add 3/4 cup salsa, green chilis, and 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce. Stir to combine and heat over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, combine refried beans and water in a bowl and stir to combine until smooth. Prepare rice.

Line six flour tortillas on the counter, assembly-line fashion. Place 1/4 cup (or two heaping spoonfuls) of refried bean mixture onto each tortilla and spread down the center, stopping about 2-inches from the edges. Place 1/4 cup of beef mixture on top of refried beans. Place 1/4 cup rice on top of beef. Sprinkle each with two tbsp of salsa and 1/4 cup shredded cheese (or to taste). Keep in mind to stay away from the edges of the tortilla throughout!

To roll the enchiladas, fold one side over the ingredients. Fold top and bottom over the inside, then roll lengthwise to create a closed-ended wrap. Place side-by-side in casserole dish.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and pour remainder of enchilada sauce over all. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with shredded cheese. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove and serve with sour cream, jalapenos, additional salsa, additional cheese, black olives, shredded lettuce, or whatever garnish you desire.

You will likely have leftover refried beans, rice, and roast mixture. Combine all in a large bowl and heat for an excellent dip served with tortilla chips, or for fast lunchtime burritos. Very versitile leftovers!

**For gluten free recipe, substitute flour tortillas with corn and roll taquito-style.

Every family plans their meal menus differently.  Some wing it every night, some shop a few times a week and plan for a few days at a time, some cook and freeze a stockpile.  I prefer to plan my menus a week at a time, shop once a week, and follow a fairly simple philosophy:

Don’t repeat the same dish in a month, but use the same ingredients weekly.

What I mean by this is to offer several “types” of dishes in a week, but vary their preparation and accompanyment.  For example, I will offer some combination of a chicken dish, a pasta dish, a seafood dish, a beef dish, a pork dish, a crocked dish, a casserole dish, an ethnic dish, an “easy” dish… each week.  Sometimes I plan for leftovers from one meal to be used in a different way later in the week.  I do this specifically for the purpose that I don’t want to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen during the week.  Much as I love to cook, once work is done for the day I really don’t want to spend a couple of hours putting dinner together.  So I save the more ambitious dishes for the weekend when I have more time (and interest, and inclination) to prepare them. On most Fridays I just plan to have a fast food or pizza night - I know myself and by Fridays my kitchen ambitions are usually non-existant. And I rely heavily, overall, on my well-stocked pantry for side dishes and supplements.

This is the routine that works for me. Every Sunday I will sit down with a notebook and list the days of the week, Sunday through Saturday, down the right hand side of the page. I leave room next to each day of the week to write that evening’s dinner menu. Once I’ve determined what I’m serving I list all of the items I need to get at the store on the left hand side of the page. Then I go through my coupons (handily nabbed from the Sunday paper) and find whatever is available for the items on my list.

Following are four weeks of sample menus - many of the recipes can be found on this site. Note that the lists are for dinner menus only. You might want to plan breakfast and lunch items - we usually only eat breakfast and lunch at home on the weekends, which is why I concentrate on dinner items myself.

Week One:
Sunday: Crock Pot Beef Roast with boiled potatoes and salad
Monday: Baked Enchiladas (using the roast left over from Sunday) with refried beans and spanish rice
Tuesday: Chili Chicken with potatoes au gratin and green beans
Wednesday: Soup and sandwiches
Thursday: Baked Ziti with salad
Friday: Stuffed Baked Potatoes (basically your “loaded” potato) with Pinwheels (tortillas spread with cream cheese and ham, rolled and sliced into medallions)
Saturday: Fried Pork Chops with rice pilaf and asparagus

Week Two:
Sunday: Crock Pot Beef Stew
Monday: Tuna Noodles with peas
Tuesday: Elegant Chicken with salad
Wednesday: Pork Loin Kabobs (recipe forthcoming) with rice pilaf
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner - eggs, bacon, homefries, toast, fruit
Friday: Chicken stir-fry (recipe forthcoming)
Saturday: Meatloaf with boiled potatoes and green beans

Week Three:
Sunday: Garlic Lime Salmon with black bean and corn relish, and rice
Monday: Tacos (recipe forthcoming) with refried beans and spanish rice
Tuesday: Steak (recipe forthcoming) with baked potatoes and asparagus
Wednesday: Fried chicken with rice and salad
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner - Breakfast Casserole
Friday: Flatbread pizzas (recipe forthcoming)
Saturday: Minestrone Stew with crusty bread

Week Four:
Sunday: Crocked whole chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn
Monday: Shrimp Scampi with rice pilaf and sauteed summer squash
Tuesday: Salsa Burgers and fries with salad
Wednesday: Crocked pork loin (recipe forthcoming) with stuffing and asparagus
Thursday: Chicken, Black Bean, and Potato Skillet
Friday: American Chop Suey with salad and crusty bread
Saturday: Italian Beef sandwiches with raw veggies and dip

Okay! So I owe you guys recipes for Baked Enchiladas (done), Fried Pork Chops, Fried Chicken (both done), Grilled Steak, Pork Loin Kabobs, Chicken Stir-Fry, Tacos, Flatbread Pizza, Sauteed Summer Squash (done), and Crocked Pork Loin. Stay tuned (or e-mail me if you need something right away, I’ll be more than happy to help).

Four medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or eight b/s thighs)
1 can chili with beans
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes
1 cup (or more!) shredded cheese
Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper

Place chicken in an ungreased baking dish. Top with tomatoes. Season to taste with italian seasonings, salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Remove from oven and carefully drain off the majority of the liquid using a spoon or ladel (this is what I do, anyway, it doesn’t hurt anything to leave the liquid in). Spoon chili over each chicken breast and return to the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven, top with cheese, and return to oven for five more minutes.

Recommended served with rice.

One of the most important factors in the life of a busy cook is having a well-stocked and convenient pantry.  When the pantry is well supplied with various meal “finishers” and essential staples, mid-week meal planning and emergency last-minute meals become a great deal less stressful.  The ultimate goal is to have enough variety available in the pantry that weekly grocery shopping becomes less of a task - and less of an expense.  Knowing that you have all the sides in the world that you need at home allows you to just shop for main dish items such as meats and seafood.

In a worst-case scenario (such as a couple of weeks ago when not one, not two, but ALL members of my family were down sick with the flu all at once), grocery shopping can be skipped altogether and a family can “live” off of “cupboard food”.  Such an event necessitates replenishment, of course, but when all you’re concerned about is sheer survival, NOT having to make a run to the store is a godsend.

To begin with, let’s discuss “instant” food.  Many die-hard cooks poo-pooh the use of such things as instant rice, instant stuffing, and instant potatoes.  However, the quality of such foods has increased dramatically from the generic, pasty, bland versions of our parents’ and grandparents’ day.  When preparing a fast meal, it is so much easier to boil up instant rice or potatoes in five minutes than spend a half-hour or more on preparing the “real” kind. 

Take, for example, that roast that you (efficient cook that you are!) threw in the crock pot this morning. The last thing you want to do when you get home at 6:00 at night is to spend the next 45 minutes peeling, quartering, boiling, and mashing a pot of potatoes. A couple of envelopes of instant potatoes are done in five minutes, and you will eat dinner and finish cleaning up in less time than it would have taken to prepare “real” potatoes.

How about the leftover chicken sitting in the fridge. Boiling a pot of “real” rice will take 30-40 minutes. Making instant rice takes five - you can heat up the chicken in the microwave, whip up a bunch of rice, and have dinner over and done with in no time at all.

So. I’m sure you get the idea. Now, nutritionally speaking instant foods tend to have a higher fat, calorie, and sodium content. So those with dietary concerns will want to keep this in mind and check labels accordingly. Many types of instant foods have lower fat-and-sodium preparation alternatives.

It is also important to have a lot of variety in canned, frozen, or jarred foods. Not only to canned vegetables provide for a quick and easy side dish or addition to a casserole, but they are also nearly as nutritionally sound as their fresh counterparts (again, choose low-sodium products, of which there are now a clearly-labeled variety). Having canned soups and “convenience” foods (such as Ravioli or Mac and Cheese) are also handy when only one or two people are eating or if “the cook” (and isn’t there usually just one in the house?) doesn’t feel like cooking. For example, sometimes I myself throw my hands up in the air and declare a “fend for yourselves!” night, in which I don’t feel like cooking AT ALL and everyone just kind of scavenges around the kitchen. My family members will generally grab a can of soup and make a grilled cheese or ham sandwich to go along with it.

It is a good idea to have meal solutions stocked in the pantry for those days when you are fresh out of ideas.  Dry noodles and jars of pasta sauce, cans of tuna and “cream of” soups (chicken, mushroom, celery), even frozen meats and seafood (Trader Joes has a GREAT variety of frozen fish) can be pulled out, whipped up, and prepared with ease.  I routinely make Shepherd’s Pie, Tuna and Noodles, or spaghetti and meatballs or meat sauce just based on what I have available in the pantry.

Most grocery stores and warehouse stores cater to those of us who wish to “stock up”. Soups, canned fruits and vegetables, convenience and frozen foods, and dried goods are routinely on sale or sold in bulk for ridiculously low unit/ounce cost. Even when I know I don’t “need” an item, if I see it on sale for a really good deal I’ll stock up anyway. It becomes a habit, perusing the isles for the things you need now but finding items that you will need, eventually. And in the end you’ll find that you spend less on groceries overall.

So, with all the “why” reasons out of the way, it now comes down to the “what”. Following is my recommended list for a well-stocked and convenient pantry.

• Dried pasta
• Jarred/canned pasta sauce (in different sizes)
• Canned tomatoes (diced, stewed, whole)
• Tomato paste
• Several varieties of canned soup
• Cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of celery soup
• Canned corn and green beans
• Canned beans (kidney, pinto, garbanzo)
• Refried beans
• Boxed mac and cheese
• Canned convenience foods (spaghettios, ravioli, beefaroni, etc.)
• Canned fruit
• Canned tuna
• Canned chicken
• Ramen noodles
• Instant rice
• Instant potatoes
• Instant stuffing
• Rice and pasta “mixes” (Rice-a-Roni, Pasta-Roni)

Stock your freezer, too - burger meat, chicken breasts, fish and even frozen breaded fish (I recommend Trader Joe’s breaded cod and tilapia - not your mother’s fish sticks!). Plus there are a lot of excellent “steam fresh” frozen vegetables in family and single sized servings - I recommend Bird’s Eye Steam Fresh peas and brussel sprouts (yes, brussel sprouts!). It’s also a good idea to have a variety of long-lasting refrigerated items on hand - various sliced and shredded cheeses, deli meats, and plenty of condiments (our family would DIE without ranch dressing).

The ideal is, of course, to have all the time and inclination in the world to prepare fresh meals the “hard way”, all the time, every time. But we live in the real world, and reality dictates that we do what works for our busy lives. Convenience foods are no longer the anathema they once were, and your family will appreciate consistent hot, nutritious meals that appear as if by magic minutes after you walk in the door.

Stay tuned for next week’s article - Menu Planning by the Week.