Happy Halloween! Week One Meal Ideas...

Monday-Ghoul-ash

Tuesday-Hamburger Helper w/Salad

Wednesday Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops

Thursday-Asian Barbecue Chicken

Friday-Grands Mini Pizzas

If you see this * it simply means this is an item I always keep handy in my pantry.

Items needed from the grocery store-

*2lbs. Ground Beef ($5.98)

* 1 15oz. can Corn, drained (.99)

French Bread ($1.49)

Bagged Salad (.99)*

*1 28oz. can Spaghetti Sauce (.99)

* 1 8oz. bag elbow macaroni (.59)

*1 8oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese ($2.99)

*1 box Hamburger Helper (.99)

3 Pork chops ($3.44)

1 box of scalloped potatoes (.49)

6 Chicken Drumsticks ($1.19)

Grands Biscuits (.99)

*Lemon juice (.99)

*Olive or Vegetable Oil ($2.99-5.99)

*Garlic Cloves (.99)-I use dried garlic

*Garlic Salt (.99)

*Lemon Pepper (.99)

*Dried Oregano (.99)

*Ketchup (4.99)

*Brown Sugar (.99)

*Soy Sauce (.99)

*Rice Vinegar (.99)

*Onion and Garlic Powder ($1.98)

Pizza Toppings of your choice: Olives (.99), Pepperoni (.99) or whatever you like.

Monday: Ghoul-ash

Brown one pound ground beef in a large skillet until browned completely through. Drain. Meanwhile cook the elbow macaroni according to package instructions. Drain. To the meat add the can of drained corn, the cooked and drained macaroni and the can of spaghetti sauce. I use half of the can and reserve the rest for Friday’s Fun Pizzas.

Stir together and heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once heated through top with shredded cheese if desired and serve with French bread. 

Tuesday-Hamburger Helper

This is going to be easy because tonight we’re going to prep our Lemon Herb Pork Chops. I’ll eventually give you my homemade hamburger helper recipe, but for tonight we’ll keep it quick and easy.

Brown one pound of ground beef and follow the instructions on the Hamburger Helper package. Serve this with the bagged salad.

Prep the pork chops: In a large resealable gallon bag place the following ingredients: ¼ cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper (regular ground pepper will do in a pinch), and ¼ teaspoon dried oregano. Mix well. Add the pork chops, seal the bag and rub marinade into the pork chops. Refrigerate overnight.

Wednesday-Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops

Get the grill ready! Don’t forget to prep the Asian Barbecue Chicken for tomorrow’s dinner. You’ll grill those tonight along with your pork chops.

For the Asian Barbecue Sauce combine these ingredients in a medium bowl:

½ cup ketchup, ½ cup packed brown sugar, 4 Tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons rice vinegar and one tablespoon each of onion & garlic powder.

Mix well. Once your chicken drumsticks go on the grill, you’ll baste them with this sauce, grilling the chicken over medium-high heat, turning often for about 20 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.

Lemon Herb Pork Chops: grill these over medium-high flame-if they’re one inch thick, cook for 7 minutes one side, 5 minutes the other side. If they’re not as thick, start at 4 minutes one side, 3 for the other side until they are white and juicy inside. You do not want to see any pink in pork.

Let them rest for 5-10 minutes and serve with the scalloped potatoes cooked according to the package directions.

Thursday-Asian Barbecue Chicken

Serve these cold with whatever you’d like. I keep frozen vegetables and canned vegetables handy so I can just heat and serve. I also love to find great deals on veggies at Farmer’s Markets and grill those when I grill my meat. This works for zucchini, corn, squash, baked potatoes, bell peppers, etc.

Friday-Fun Pizzas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Open your Grands Biscuits and separate each biscuit. Press each biscuit into a 4”round. This makes a nice thick crust for each mini pizza. Place each mini pizza onto two large greased baking sheets. Top each pizza with 1 tsp. spaghetti sauce left over from Monday’s dinner, shredded cheese (also left over from Monday’s dinner), and two pepperonis. I also add sliced olives to mine.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until the bottoms are browned and the cheese is nice and melty. For thinner crusts, press each biscuit into a 6” round reduce bake time to 10-15 minutes.