{"id":5319,"date":"2010-04-19T07:59:19","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T12:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=5319"},"modified":"2010-04-19T10:52:02","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T15:52:02","slug":"weekly-dinner-menu-41910","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2010\/04\/19\/weekly-dinner-menu-41910\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Dinner Menu: 4\/19\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"


One of the things we strive for when planning our menus is making everything fit together into one nice, neat little package. We look to use ingredients in different ways throughout the week so that we’re benefiting from the ability of do-aheads and being able to buy in bulk. We also benefit from a well-stocked pantry<\/a>.<\/em>
\n\"\"
\nThis weekend we took the kids on a walk around the lake near our house. I pretended that the laundry was gone and the pile of work due the next day was finished. I baked cookies and muffins, and I still made it to bed before 1:00 a.m. (huge accomplishment for me). How was your weekend?<\/p>\n


Monday \u2013 <\/strong>Asian Chicken Salad<\/a>
\n
Tuesday \u2013 <\/strong>Lemon Quinoa Salad with Feta and Wilted Spinach<\/a>
\n
Wednesday \u2013 <\/strong>Chinese Broccoli Beef Noodle Stir Fry<\/a>
\n
Thursday\u2013 <\/strong>Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi<\/a>
\n
Friday \u2013 <\/strong>Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad<\/a>
\n
<\/p>\n

The Preparation Shortcuts:<\/h3>\n

1.<\/strong> Buy a bunch of organic spinach and one other lettuce variety. Use a portion of the spinach mixed with another variety for the salad on Monday, and then use the rest for Tuesday and Thursday.
\n2.<\/strong> Buy one roaster chicken for both Monday’s and Friday’s meal. Cook it Monday or over the weekend, and chop it so that it’s ready to go for both meals.
\n3.<\/strong> Assemble the pasta salad for Friday ahead of time and have a picnic with your kids. It’s totally worth it.
\n4.<\/strong> Use a stockpot with a basket when boiling your noodles on Wednesday or fish them out using a strainer. Then add in the noodles for Friday’s meal to the already boiling water. You’ll save energy and water not having to boil another pot of noodles, but you’ll also eliminate that step from the prep.
\n
<\/p>\n

The Shopping List:<\/h3>\n

1 whole roaster chicken
\n1 pound beef sirloin
\n20 ounces fresh spinach
\n1 pound Chinese broccoli
\n1 head lettuce variety of your choice
\n3 bell peppers
\n1 mango
\n1 bunch cilantro
\n1 bunch scallions
\n3 lemons
\n1 lime
\n1 knob fresh ginger
\n1-1\/2 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese
\n1\/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
\n2 ounces goat cheese
\n1\/4 cup feta cheese<\/p>\n


Pantry<\/a> Items:<\/strong>
\neggs
\nmilk
\ngarlic cloves
\ndry white wine
\nextra virgin olive oil
\nrice wine vinegar
\nchicken stock
\nsoy sauce
\nsesame oil
\npeanut oil (can use a different salad oil)
\noyster sauce (if you have to purchase this, do it and I’ll show you how to use the rest next week)
\n1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
\nmayonnaise
\nsour cream
\nranch dressing
\nflour
\ncornstarch
\nsugar
\nquinoa
\ndry pasta
\npeanuts
\nnutmeg
\ndry mustard
\nkosher salt
\npepper<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week from Food for My Family<\/a>:<\/h3>\n

Prosciutto and Artichoke Pizza on Garlic Flatbread<\/a>
\nAsparagus, Bacon and Feta Pizza on Garlic Flatbread<\/a><\/center><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more menu plans:<\/center>\"orgjunkiempm1\"<\/a>
\n
<\/p>\n
Never miss a recipe! Have them delivered right to your RSS feed<\/a> or to your inbox as an email<\/a>!<\/center><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things we strive for when planning our menus is making everything fit together into one nice, neat little package. We look to use ingredients in different ways throughout the week so that we’re benefiting from the ability of do-aheads and being able to buy in bulk. We also benefit from a well-stocked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,41],"tags":[344,707],"class_list":{"0":"post-5319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-menu-planning","7":"category-the-monday-menu","8":"tag-meal-planning","9":"tag-recipes","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"mv":{"thumbnail_id":null,"thumbnail_uri":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5319"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5326,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5319\/revisions\/5326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}