So, did anyone end up making those Beef Carnitas Empanada meal? Well, I did. And I decided to make the beef myself, instead of buying some pre-made fajita mixture or something. What I failed to do was calculate how long the meal was going to take to make when trying to do it all in one fell swoop. Do you know how long it took? 2 hours! Holy Cow. Never again. But you know what? It...was...awesome! Ok...the beef was the awesome part. It was so tasty! The "empanada" part wasn't the greatest. I didn't buy saffron, thinking I could do without it. I have a feeling it needed that special flavoring, whatever it is. But still...despite the time it took, it turned out pretty great. Next time, though, we are just going to make the beef and turn them into fajitas or something. Estimated time to make that? Half the time it took to make the Beef Carnitas Empanada. Phew!
So this week, I focused on trying to make sure the meals in the plan didn't take as much time, or that you could actually do something else while it was cooking. I couldn't with the empanadas...I spent an entire 2 hours standing and cooking. Ugh! Hope you find this week less involved!
Sunday- Italian Vegetable Enchiladas
Monday- Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine
Tuesday- Easy Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday- Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ
Thursday- Cream Cheese Potato Soup
Friday- Creamy Garlic Penne Pasta
Saturday- Pepsi Pot Roast
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Italian Vegetable Enchiladas
Easy Meals in Minutes, Time Life BooksIngredients
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small onion
- 1 medium green bell pepper
- 1/2 lb mushrooms
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- 8 flour tortillas
- 3 tbs shredded mozzarella cheese
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- In a food processor, coarsely chop garlic, onion and bell pepper. Remove to a large bowl. In same bowl, chop mushrooms. Chop mushrooms and add to bwol. By hand, coarsely chop tomato and add to bowl.
- In large skillet, warm oil over medium-high heat. Ad chopped vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes, until onion is slightly softened. Cool slightly.
- In medium bowl, combine tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp oregano and 1/4 tsp black pepper.
- In another bowl, combine cottage heese with remaining basil, oregano and black pepper.
- Place tortillas on a working surface and spread each evenly with 2 tsp of tomato sauce.
- Spread 2 tbs of cottage cheese along the bottom third of each tortilla.
- Dividing evenly, spread sauteed vegetable mixture over cottage cheese. Roll the tortillas up. Place rolled tortillas in a single layer in a baking dish. Top with remaining tomato sauce and mozzarella.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until the tortillas are heated through and cheese is melted. If desired, place enchiladas under broiler to lightly brown them.
Pepsi Pot Roast
Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb pot roast
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 package dry onion soup mix
- 16oz Pepsi, or other cola
- Place meat in slow cooker.
- Top with mushroom soup and onion soup mix.
- Pour in Pepsi.
- Cover. Cook on high for 6 hours.
The Grocery List
Garlic
2 small onion
1 medium green pepper
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 medium tomato
5 plum tomatos
4 large potatoes (red or baking)
1 package frozen vegetables
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2lbs chicken breasts
3-4lb pot roast
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
Bisquick baking mix
1 package flour tortillas
8 oz fettuccine
1lb penne pasta12 oz BBQ
Italian dressing
Worcestershire sauce
40oz chicken broth
8oz container low-fat cottage cheese
8oz container sour cream
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese
8oz cream cheese
Parmesan cheese
Brown Sugar
Milk
Eggs
Flour
Butter (or margarine) (or SmartBalance?)
16oz Pepsi (or other cola)
