Menu April 13-17

Monday April 13 - Deer Curry
Tuesday April 14 -
Wednesday April 15 -
Thursday April 16 -
Friday April 17 -

Deer Curry

I really like our Pork and Pineapple Curry recipe. But I wasn't sure how it would translate into using deer. So tonight I tried it. Here is what I came up with. It turned out really good! Greg just wishes the deer would be a little more tender.

Deer Curry
From: ME!

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, cut into large chunks
1 pound boneless deer meat (I actually used 2 of our packages, which had like 8 pieces of deer in them total)
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon fresh minced or grated ginger
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into large chunks
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into large chunks (I use frozen bell peppers)
1 (10-ounce) can reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup
1 (10-ounce) can of cream of broccoli soup (but could use another cream of mushroom or something else)

Heat oil in a large nonstick frying pan on medium-high heat. Add onions, stir and cook until translucent. Cut chops into large cubes and add to pan. Sauté until all sides are browned. Add curry and ginger to pan and stir. Add peppers and stir; add soups. Stir to combine and reduce heat to a high simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over a bed of rice.

This turned out really good. Will be adding it to our normal menu! We have been wanting to find more deer recipes. Definitely a keeper!

April's No Bake Cheese Cake

I wanted to make something for dessert. I found this on one of the blogs I follow. I had a crumb crust in my freezer, so I thought I would quickly whip this up last night. We had Greg's parents over for today for Easter. We ate this cheesecake instead of the one they brought. It was really good. Anna and Dana said it was creamer than a normal cheesecake. Dana really liked it. I thought it was good too.

April’s No Bake Cheesecake
From: Delicious Dishes

1- 8 oz package pkg. cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup fresh or bottled lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1- 9 inch crumb crust
1- can prepared pie filling (any flavor you want)

1. Soften cream cheese to room temperature**; whip until fluffy.
2. Gradually add sweetened condense milk; mix until well blended.
3. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract; blend well.
4. Pour into pie crust; chill 2-3 hours (best overnight)
5. Garnish with pie filling.


**To soften cream cheese right out of the fridge just unwrap it and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 8 seconds at a time until you can poke your finger through it :)**

Stromboli

I had never made a stromboli before today. Though we would try it for lunch. I found the recipe from one of the food blogs I follow. We liked it, I did make some changes, I put those at the bottom.

Stromboli

From: mmm...cafe

2 ½ cups lukewarm water

2 tsp. yeast

1 Tbs. salt

3 Tbs. sugar

3 Tbs. vegetable oil

6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water, add remaining ingredients, let sit for 20 minutes knead for 2-3 minutes. Divide dough in half, let sit 10 minutes. Roll each out into a rectangle.

-OR-

Divide dough in half. Roll each out into a rectangle.

Cheesy Garlic filling:

2 egg yolks(save whites for topping)

1 Tbs. oil

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. pepper

3/4 cup mozzarella

Mix together and brush evenly over one rectangle. This one is great as a "side dish" to your more filling roll.

Alfredo Deluxe filling:

1/3 cup Alfredo Sauce

1 piece boiled, shredded chicken

3 slices turkey bacon, cooked and chopped

1/8 cup canadian bacon, cooked

3/4 cup mozzarella

Spread other rectangle with Alfredo sauce. Top with chicken, turkey bacon, canadian bacon, and mozzarella.

Roll rectangle lengthwise and pinch together at seam. Place seam down on a greased 9x13 cookie sheet. Tuck ends under to prevent fillings coming out during baking. Both rolls can be placed on the same baking sheet. Top generously with egg whites, garlic salt, and oregano. Cook rolls together at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serves 4. (AT LEAST!)

I doubled the cheese on everything. I used canned chicken and regular bacon bits instead of the Canadian bacon and the turkey bacon. We didn't care for the cheesy bread. It would be good for a side with pasta. The chicken alfredo was pretty good. Am interested in trying other fillings.

Menu for April 5-10

Sunday April 5 - Ginger Sweet Potato Chicken Bake
Monday April 6 - Pork and Pineapple Curry (Mom is here and hasn't had it before!)
Tuesday April 7 - Taco Soup
Wednesday April 8 - Black Bean and Cheese quesadillas
Thursday April 9 - chicken (actually turkey) pot pie
Friday April10 - Cheesy Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Baked beans
Saturday, April 11 - Stromboli

We tried this last night. We had Kevin over for supper. It was pretty good. Still needs some tweaking, but it was good.

Ginger Sweet Potato Chicken Bake

From: $5 Dinners.com

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, about 1.25 lb ($2.21) Recently on sale for $1.77/lb
2 large sweet potatoes, about 1.5 lb ($1.02) Recently on sale for $.68/lb
1 15 oz can of pineapple pieces, in 100% pineapple juice (FREE) Used Free Item Coupon!
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil ($.10)
1 tsp ground ginger ($.10)
1 tsp garlic powder ($.05)
1 tsp ground cinnamon ($.10)
Salt/Pepper
1 cup brown rice ($.40) Purchased 2 lb bag with $1 off coupon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Dice chicken breasts into 1/2 - 1 inch cubes. Helpful Hint: It’s easiest to cut chicken breasts while they are still partially frozen. I usually thaw mine about 75% of the way, making it much easier to cut. Cutting them while still completely frozen is really tough on the fingers. I don’t recommend that!
3. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch cubes.
4. Drain pineapple juice, reserving about 1/2 cup to use when cooking the rice.
5. In large bowl, toss diced chicken breast, sweet potato pieces and pineapple piece. Add extra virgin olive oil, ground ginger, garlic powder, ground cinnamon and salt and pepper. Toss well. Transfer mixture to 9×13 baking dish.
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes uncovered. Remove and cover with foil, and then bake another 30-40 minutes.
6. In saucepan, cook brown rice as directed on packaging. I subsituted 1/2 cup of the liquid suggested on the package with the reserved pineapple juice. Brown rice takes longer to cook, so be sure to start this at the same time you put the chicken bake into the oven and they’ll both be ready at about the same time!
7. Serve Ginger Sweet Potato Chicken Bake with side of brown rice.

P.S. We served it over white rice.