Week of Feb. 23rd - Mar. 1st

Hey fellow Chefs! Are you ready for a new and exciting week of menus?

Remember when I said that fresh is best? Well, this week we're putting that to the test! This is also my "Ode to Martha" week. Most of these recipes are from her cookbook. I've noticed with Martha - less is best. The more ingredients and steps, the less optimistic I am that the recipe will turn out well.

Here we go!! Bust out your food processor and your simplicity skills & lets get cookin'!

Monday, Feb. 23rd - Chicken Chilaquiles with Carrot Cumin Slaw and Refried Beans

Tuesday, Feb. 24th - Dinner Out (we're dining out b/c we have a brother-in-law in town - life does get in the way of the best of intentions!)

Wednesday, Feb. 25th - Potato and Onion Frittata, Ham, and mixed green salad - I'm only including ham for my carnivore of a son (and we have a few small ham steaks in the freezer from Cooper's couponing). Feel free to omit it.

Thursday, Feb. 26th - Chili **Here's my tip: for a good, easy, pantry chili - saute one small chopped onion, add minced garlic, chili powder, one can Ranch Style beans, and one can Chili without beans - it's yummy! (make that two cans of beans and chili if you have a family of 4 or more)** If you want to pretend it's 1983 and you're eating in the Christie Elementary Cafeteria, put that chili on top of Fritos! It's a Texas favorite - Frito Pie!

Friday, Feb. 27th - Stuffed Peppers with Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Marshmallow Fruit Salad **give me credit here - my kids are going to fuss and cry b/c they hate, hate, hate peppers and my boy is going to be doubly hurt by green beans, so I've got to add the kid friendly fruit salad as a buffer. Think of it as dessert! Oh, and I don't make them eat the whole pepper although I have paid them to do it!!! WHATEVER WORKS, EH?!**

Saturday, Feb. 28th - I'm mixing it up with Lunch. My whole family is always starving at lunch on Saturday ... so I'm changing things around a little bit. I'm making Lentil Soup and serving it with a fresh loaf of crusty bread. For dinner we're going to Shorty's Diner, which is in the kitchen - eating leftovers (in case you missed that post).

Wow! I'm hungry just typing this up this morning!!!

Hope y'all enjoy & happy cooking!

The Glamorous Chef

Condensed Soup

For those of you who may have been turned off or intimidated by Grocery Shopping on the Cheap 101, I thought I'd post an easier, less work-intensive version. I, myself, adopted this version of shopping after Cooper started his couponing habit. He was - uh, hem - a little enthusiastic at first and was bringing home so much food that I was forced to create menus around 12 lbs. of Velveeta and twenty loaves of bread. Now that he has calmed down a bit, I am free to once again plan and shop at my leisure.

Here is Condensed Soup for those of you who want to set and stick to a budget:

1. Choose ONE store that you love the most or has the best deals for the week (still peruse the weekly circular)
   
2. Plan your weekly menu
3. Eat a snack before your weekly shopping
4. Remember to look for good produce deals & discounted meat
5. ***ONLY BUY WHAT YOU NEED***

There it is! Hard, eh?!

I best flit off to prepare this upcoming week's menu.

Happy Cooking!

The Glamorous Chef