This is a busy time of year, with many activities wrapping up before summer, and spring sports underway. The menu plan falls back on some old favorites, and has an ethnic flair to it...but they are pretty common ethnic foods for us. Softball games start tonight, and will be just about every Monday and Wednesday night for the next month. So, watch for really quick meal ideas on these days for the next month! Just for fun, to kick off the season, I will serve hot dogs, chips, and veggies after the season opener tonight--the traditional baseball food! Plus, this will be easy to fix up quick.
Thursday is the last regular AWANA night at church (and Andrew's Cubbies group will be having their awards night), so we will do a quick warm-up of leftovers for this night, and have "The Most Delicious Peanut Butter Cookies" for dessert like Ernie Elephant and the Cubbie Friends make with the 'Better-Butter-Batter-Baker' in Andrew's Cubbie Book--a cutesy way to end his Cubbie year. I have a Cubbie Bear to give him as a reminder of the Scripture he learned in his Cubbie Book, so if he's not too 'manly' to love a teddy bear, he can share his AWANA Awards dinner and cookies with his new teddy bear. Next Thursday night is Jessica's Sparks Awards Night to end the AWANA year, and then Thursday nights will be freed up. I suppose I will have to think up a 'Sparkie' dinner for that...hmmm...
Monday
Season Opener Night-Hot dogs w/ whole wheat buns, potato chips, veggies w/ ranch dip served in red baskets, picnic-style, root beer floatsTuesday
Oriental Night-Egg Flower Soup, Fried Rice, Sweet & Sour Chicken w/ vegetablesWednesday
Mexican Night-Taco Soup (in crock pot), Whole Wheat-Cheese Quesadillas, served w/ shredded romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salsa & sour cream Thursday
Leftovers Night-yippee!Friday
Italian Night-calzones (feature recipe of the week)**********************************************
Chicken-Broccoli Whole Wheat Pizza or Calzone
1 pkg. Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough ($.99 in the refrigerated section—comes in white, whole wheat, and garlic herb and is great for breadsticks or foccacia bread, too. Freezes well, so I always buy a few when I go to T.J.’s)
1 small pkg. frozen petite broccoli florets, drained (or steam your own fresh broccoli, chopped small)
¾-1 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese (use a combination of other favorite Italian cheeses, if desired)
½-3/4 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped
about 1/3 Alfredo Sauce recipe (see below)
olive oil
Roll dough into desired pizza shape on the Roulpat, and place on the Silpat and baking tray. Brush dough with olive oil, top with Alfredo sauce, chicken, broccoli, and cheese. For calzone, place toppings on ½ the dough and fold over, pulling and crimping the edges together by hand. Follow package directions on the dough for temperature and time to bake pizza, about 425-450 degrees for 10-15 minutes for pizza, or 25-30 minutes for calzone.
Alfredo Sauce
2 T. butter or olive oil
¼ c. finely chopped onion
1 lrg. garlic clove
½ c. chicken broth
½ c. milk (or cream may be used for a richer sauce, if desired)
½ tsp. freshly ground
black pepper
a pinch of salt to taste
1 c. shredded parmesan
4 oz. cream cheese, cut into small pieces
***Makes about 3 cups of sauce
Saute garlic and onion in butter over medium-high heat until just translucent and soft; do not burn. Add broth, milk, and seasonings. Heat to a boil. Add cream cheese and parmesan cheese, mixing well until melted and smooth. Return to a boil, stirring constantly and remove from heat.
Use for sauce on Chicken-Broccoli Alfredo Whole Wheat Pizza, or serve over your favorite pasta with chicken and steamed broccoli. Freezes well.
1 pkg. Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough ($.99 in the refrigerated section—comes in white, whole wheat, and garlic herb and is great for breadsticks or foccacia bread, too. Freezes well, so I always buy a few when I go to T.J.’s)
1 small pkg. frozen petite broccoli florets, drained (or steam your own fresh broccoli, chopped small)
¾-1 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese (use a combination of other favorite Italian cheeses, if desired)
½-3/4 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped
about 1/3 Alfredo Sauce recipe (see below)
olive oil
Roll dough into desired pizza shape on the Roulpat, and place on the Silpat and baking tray. Brush dough with olive oil, top with Alfredo sauce, chicken, broccoli, and cheese. For calzone, place toppings on ½ the dough and fold over, pulling and crimping the edges together by hand. Follow package directions on the dough for temperature and time to bake pizza, about 425-450 degrees for 10-15 minutes for pizza, or 25-30 minutes for calzone.
Alfredo Sauce
2 T. butter or olive oil
¼ c. finely chopped onion
1 lrg. garlic clove
½ c. chicken broth
½ c. milk (or cream may be used for a richer sauce, if desired)
½ tsp. freshly ground
black pepper
a pinch of salt to taste
1 c. shredded parmesan
4 oz. cream cheese, cut into small pieces
***Makes about 3 cups of sauce
Saute garlic and onion in butter over medium-high heat until just translucent and soft; do not burn. Add broth, milk, and seasonings. Heat to a boil. Add cream cheese and parmesan cheese, mixing well until melted and smooth. Return to a boil, stirring constantly and remove from heat.
Use for sauce on Chicken-Broccoli Alfredo Whole Wheat Pizza, or serve over your favorite pasta with chicken and steamed broccoli. Freezes well.
*********************************************
In the Kitchen photos from the past week...
Last Wednesday, the kids helped me bake Cate's birthday cake, and we had a little party for her after we came home from Bible study later that night. The kids also made these shortbread-jam cookies to take to Bible Study. The recipe was from their Clubhouse Jr. magazine (by Focus on the Family), and was a cookie to make for Easter with crosses on them. J & A made some with 2's (for their sister turning 2), initials of everyone in our family, and then lots of crosses, as well. It was a basic shortbread dough, rolled into a ball and flattened with the floured-bottom of a glass. Then the symbols were made by creating indentions with the wooden handle of a spatula, then gently filling with a small amount of jam (we used red currant jam). They had a lot of fun with this.
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