Menu Plan Monday

I've decided to add ratings (1-5 diamonds ♦) by past weeks meal plan recipes (or recipes I've cooked before), to let you know what I thought of them. So watch for that in the coming weeks.

Monday:

Crockpot pork burritos (link) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
3 lb pork sirloin roast
2 tsp southwest seasoning (I used THIS recipe, halved) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
3 cups prepared chunky salsa, divided
8-10 flour or corn tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar or colby-jack cheese
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves (snipped or chopped)

Rub southwest seasoning on both sides of pork and place in slow cooker. Pour 2 cups salsa over pork, cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Using two forks, shred pork. Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and heat in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or until heated through. Spoon pork mixture onto center of each tortilla and top with additional salsa, cheese and cilantro. Broil 1 minute or until cheese is bubbly. Roll up like a burrito to eat. Serve with beans and rice. We're going to eat this with leftover Z'tejas Cornbread (♦ ♦ ♦ ♦) that I made yesterday. So yummy!


Wednesday:
BBQ Chicken Pizza (link) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
4-6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb chicken tenders
2/3 cup BBQ sauce (Bullseye Original recommended)
flour, for dusting surface
1 package Pillsbury Classic pizza dough
3/4 cup shredded Gouda
1 cup shredded Mozzarella
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro


Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute chicken tenders until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. When chicken is cooled, dice to yield a little over 1 cup. In a small bowl, toss chicken with 2 Tbsp BBQ sauce. Set aside. On a floured surface, roll out dough and place on greased sheet pan. Shape to fill the sheet pan, about a 15 by 10-inch rectangle. Spread remaining BBQ sauce evenly over pizza dough. Sprinkle Gouda, Mozzarella, Parmesan, onions, and chicken over top. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese bubbles. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and cut into pieces.


Friday:

Italian Layered Meat-and-Potato Loaf (link)
1 lb potatoes, peeled and diced
2 Tbsp milk
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red chili pepper chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 lbs minced beef or ground pork or ground veal (I'm going to use beef)
3/4 cup white breadcrumbs
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
6-8 spinach leaves, washed, dried, stems and tough bits removed
2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 200-degrees. Boil potatoes till tender and drain. Add milk and salt and pepper to taste; potatoes should still be pretty dry, but hold together enough to work with in a later step. While potatoes are boiling, add oil to frying pan and saute onion, pepper, and garlic till tender, but not brown (about 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the onion mix, minced meat, breadcrumbs, basil and egg. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well with your hands. Place half of the meat mixture in a baking dish, shaping it into a rather wide loaf with a flattened top. Take half of the mashed potatoes, and make a level layer of them above the meat base. Cover the potato layer with the spinach leaves. Cover the spinach with the mozzarella, again making a level layer. Cover this with remaining potatoes and level. Finish off with the remaining meat, molding and shaping it to not only cover the top , but down the sides as needed to keep the stacks together. Bake for 2- minutes, glaze the top with honey, and continue baking for 20 to 25 more minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.