Dinner Diva Menu Week of 1/31

Happy February! I've got son's 6th birthday party behind me (sigh of relief), and this week I'm focusing on good food to feed my Father-In-Law, who is here staying with us for a couple of weeks. He lives alone and cooks accordingly, so I want to fill him up on some good old fashioned meals (as much as I like to be creative, I think he'd appreciate down-home familiar cooking more.) Add to that our monthly meal swap, and cooking frozen meals ahead for our trip to Colorado, and my kitchen will be a busy place this week! Please check back often, as I intend to post frequently this week.

Sunday: Pork Chops with Sauerkraut, steamed green beans, bisquick biscuits
We all love this recipe. It goes together quickly, and bakes up tender and flavorful. The fact that it is a "diet" recipe from the Curves handbook is easily forgotten from the first bite.

Pork Chops and Sauerkraut

Monday: Beef and Asparagus Stir Fry, rice, commercial egg rolls
While I've posted this one before, it's worth a repeat or two. I intend to add in mushrooms and shelled edamame for extra oomph.

Stir Fry


Tuesday: Perfect Fried Chicken, Home Fries, steamed vegetable medley (commercial; try steam-in-the-bag)
Okay I know what you're thinking. Fried Chicken? Dinner Diva? Really? And, no, this isn't a fat-cutting, calorie-shaving substitute for the real thing. This is the honest-to-goodness, blow your diet into oblivion, indulgent, finger-lickin' stuff. And it's okay for a healthy family to eat it once in awhile!

Perfect Fried Chicken

Home Fries
(this would be where I shave some calories, because I actually like these better than deep fried)

Use 1 1/2 white potatoes per person eating; slice them into french fry shapes (I use a french fry cutter, but it's also very easy to make thick julienne cuts with a decent sharp knife. Alternatively, cut each potato lengthwise into 12 wedges.)

Toss cut potatoes with 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 1/2 t. salt and 3/4 t. pepper in large ziptop bag until well coated. Spread in single layer on jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 15 min. Stir. Continue to bake 30-45 more minutes, or until fries are tender inside and browned outside, stirring every 15 minutes.


Wednesday: Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon, Parmesan breadsticks, Caesar Salad
This was on the myrecipes.com homepage today as the Dinner Tonight suggestion. Looked too good not to include in my week.

Fettucine

Breadsticks

Thursday: Beef Pot Roast, Crusty dinner rolls (I like the bake and serve from Earth Grains when I don't bake my own)
This is by request from my husband, and it seems like the perfect time in the year for it.

Beef Pot Roast

Friday: Gosh I'm tired just researching these recipes! Imagine how I'll feel after cooking every single day this week! I think this might be a good day for leftovers or a restaurant. (Not that I won't be cooking---I'll be making meal swap recipes this weekend. See later post for recipe.)

Saturday: another day off: frozen pizza it is!