Menu for the Week

I don't struggle too much with making specific recipes, but I do struggle with coming up with a grocery list and meal plan for the week. I'm really bad about wasting food or forgetting one essential ingredient from the store.

I do my very best to plan out a menu for the week and do all my shopping on Sunday afternoons.

I'm going to share a few recipes and my menu for the week. On Sunday afternoon, I made some chicken in my crockpot and I used it all week. It's best to make it on a day that you'll be around, since you don't leave it in the crockpot for a full 8 hours.

Cafe Rio Chicken

(from this blog)

Ingredients:
1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves garlic—minced
5 lbs chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.

*I used half the amount of chicken breast and Italian dressing, but close to the same amount of spices.

This chicken is really delicious! On Monday night, I had a little bit of the chicken on a salad with the Tomatillo Ranch Dressing. Yum!

Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

(also from this blog)

Ingredients:
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (Use the seeds too if you like it spicy. You could substitute a few drops of green tobasco for the jalapeno.)

Prepare Ranch dressing according to directions on the package or recipe you're following and set aside.

To make a roasted tomatillo dressing, dice tomatillos, place on a baking sheet, and roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes before adding them to the food processor.

Remove large cilantro stems, then wash leaves and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Add cilantro to food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until finely chopped. (If you don't have a food processor, I'd chop all ingredients well by hand and then blend dressing in a blender.)

Add tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and chopped jalapeno to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are finely pureed. Add the 2 cups of prepared dressing and pulse just a few times, until ingredients are well combined. Chill dressing for an hour or two and serve.

*I recommend using a little less buttermilk- the dressing was just a little bit too runny, but so good!!!

On Tuesday night, we had Cafe Rio rice, black beans, and the chicken. It was a really good combination!

Café Rio Rice

(also from this blog)

Ingredients:
4 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ onion
2 c rice (see note)

Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.

I still had quite a bit of leftover chicken and I used that in chicken tacos and chicken quesadillas. The rice, beans, and chicken was great leftover and taken in my lunch to work.