Menu: April 25 - May 6

Sunday Dinner: country style ribs, corn, and au gratin potatoes

Monday – Friday Meals:

            1. Salmon with brown sugar glaze, steamed broccoli, and rice
            2. Spicy roasted chicken legs w/ frozen veggies and artisan bread loaf
            3. Tacos
            4. Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina with sautéed yellow squash and artisan bread loaf
            5. Chicken quesadillas

Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: Waffles

Saturday Dinner: out to eat/menu make up day

Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: Cinnamon apple dutch baby

Sunday Dinner: BBQ Shrimp w/ cheese grits

Monday – Thursday Meals:

            1. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
            2. Hamburgers on homemade buns and zucchini chips
            3. Pineapple pork chops, mashed potatoes, and corn
            4. Baked tilapia and yams

Menu: April 16-23

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti w/ Italian sausage and zucchini

            Dessert: Blackberry Cobbler (but with less sugar this time!)

Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: muffins and eggs

            DH request: Homemade salsa

Saturday Dinner: Homemade pizza

Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: leftover muffins and pizza

Sunday Dinner: Spiced Beef Kabobs, veggie kabobs, and potatoes

Monday – Friday Meals:

            1. Tortellini with Fresh Vegetables
            2. Calzones
            3. Lettuce Wraps
            4. Cheesy chicken and rice casserole
            5. Leftovers/menu make up day/chicken nuggets, tater tots, and frozen veggie

Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

2 zucchini, sliced into rounds

¼ cup bread crumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 425*. Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan in a bowl. Place zucchini rounds in a separate bowl with the milk.

Dredge slices in bread crumb mixture and planed on a sheet pan lightly sprayed with oil.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning over once at 15 minutes.

I was able to prepare these in the time it took to preheat the oven, which is great in my book! I found them to be really tasty. In the future I will probably experiment with different seasonings to add to the breadcrumbs to add more interest.

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Biscuits

I've tried a few other recipes that are similar, but I always come back to this version. It's the best!

3 cups flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk

Stir the dry ingredients together. Then rub the butter into the flour until it looks like cornmeal (fork will work or a few pulses in a food processor). Then add the milk and stir. Don't all it all right away incase you don't need it all (I almost always do though). The dough will be thick and sticky. Scoop out of a bowl and onto a floured surface. Do a couple of light kneads and pat it out with your hands to 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Flour a glass (or a biscuit cutter if you're fancy) and cut the biscuits out. Put on a baking sheet. Brush lightly with butter or oil if you want darker golden biscuits. Baked at 450* for 10-15 minutes.

The trick is to handle the dough as little and as lightly as possible, so no rolling and no heavy kneading!!!

For buttermilk biscuits, add 1 teaspoon baking soda and substitute buttermilk for the milk.

Lemon Chicken

14 oz boneless chicken thighs
2/3 tsp salt
2 tsps water
6 tbsps corn starch (or potato starch if you have it)
oil for frying (as required)
7 1/2 tbsps sugar
6 tbsps lemon juice
4 tbsps rice vinegar
6 tbsps water
2 tsps corn starch (or potato starch)

Score the chicken using the tip of a knife, making incisions in places where the flesh is thick. Put the chicken in a dish and sprinkle the salt and 2 tsps of water over the chicken. Can easily add other seasonings of your choice. Leave the chicken skin-side down to marinate for 10 minutes. Coat all of the chicken except the skin with the 6 tbsps starch.
In a separate bowl mix the sugar, rice vinegar, and 6 tbsps water. Add to that the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add the 2 tsps starch and stir thoroughly until it dissolves.
Line a deep dish with paper towels to absorb excess oil after frying. Put enough oil to deep-fry the chicken in the pan and heat it to 350*. Put the chicken in the hot oil and fry, turning it over occasionally. Fry the chicken for one more minute after it begins to float to the surface to ensure that it cooks all the way through. Place the chicken on paper towels and allow the oil to drain off. Leave it to sit for 2 minutes to let the juices settle.
Put the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Place it over moderate heat. Stir until the sauce thickens, then remove it from the heat.
Cut the fried chicken in half lengthwise, then cut cut the chicken horizontally into 3/4" strips. Arrange the chicken on a serving dish and pour over it the hot lemon sauce.

***
We love this dish, but it's really the sauce that makes it so good. So if you're not into the fried chicken part, feel free to make the sauce and pour it over a healthier cooked chicken. :D

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