Weekly Menu -- April 16 through 22

Life. It comes at you, doesn't it? And today we mostly caught it with both hands. Lots going on. First day back to school after break (much feet dragging and grumbling). Had to get the taxes in the mail (don't send city taxes until the very last day if you owe). And we had to quickly move one of the frogs to a terrarium, which required gathering large rocks and log pieces and baking them in the oven to kill all the yuckies; and then catching bugs for food. Luckily we live on a ravine, so we just went hunting and gathering in the backyard. Plus a whole day of Seton and I'm beat!

We also discovered this morning that today is Our Holy Papa's 8oth Birthday, which we wanted to celebrate. Thanks to Matilda, I found some recipes for which we had all of the ingredients and the willingness to try. So we turned our taco night into Bierock night. Since I'm posting after dinner, I'll tell you, they were really good. They will definitely appear again. And we had them with Potato pancakes (recipe below) which are a family favorite. Add applesauce and a St. Pauli Girl for the grown ups, and we had a German birthday party. For dessert we had Sugar Zwiebach, which even though sugar is in their name, were not sweet at all. Needed a heavy sprinkle of powdered sugar and a scoop of homemade frozen vanilla custard.

Other favorites this week are Paula's Chicken Pot Pie, for which I've posted the recipe before and Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli (recipe below). I'm actually using green beans this week.

E-mail me or leave a comment if you want any other recipes.

Monday
Lunch: grilled ham sandwiches
Dinner: Bierock, potato pancakes, applesauce, Sugar Zwiebach and frozen vanilla custard

Tuesday
Lunch: Bagels and cream cheese
Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie, fruit, cottage cheese, Pound Cake

Wednesday
Lunch: Chicken snack wraps, fruit
Dinner: Stir Fry Beef and Broccoli (green beans), rice, Cream-filled cupcakes

Thursday
Lunch: Pigs in a blanket, carrot sticks
Dinner: Spaghetti and Bolognese sauce, bread, salad, leftover cupcakes

Friday
Lunch: tomato soup, grilled cheese
Dinner: Tuna Noodles casserole, vegetable, Flan

Saturday
Lunch: Skyline
Dinner: pizza, fried dough

Sunday
Lunch: Pancakes, bacon
Dinner: Chicken Tender Parmesan, pasta, salad, bread, Sweet Potato Pie


Potato Pancakes

4 med potatoes
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup chopped onion
¼ cup flour
salt and pepper
vegetable shortening

Peel and grate potatoes. Squeeze out excess moisture with paper towels. (To prevent potatoes from browning, grate into a bowl of water with a little lemon juice; drain and squeeze out liquid. If you're making them quickly you don't need to do this.) Mix potatoes, eggs, flour and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Melt 2 T. shortening in a skillet over med. heat. Drop 1/4 c. potato mixture for each pancake into hot shortening. Flatten and fry until brown and crisp on bottom. Turn and brown on other side. Remove to paper towels and salt. Add more shortening as needed. Keep cooked pancakes warm while cooking remaining pancakes.


Stir Fry Beef and Broccoli

1 lb flank steak or boneless sirloin
1 lb broccoli
2 t light soy sauce
1 t rice wine
1 t Asian sesame oil
½ t baking soda
1 t cornstarch
3 T peanut oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 T fermented black beans
¼ cup chicken broth
1 T light soy sauce
2 t dark soy sauce
1 t rice wine
1 t sugar
3 T oyster sauce

Separate broccoli florets and peel and thinly slice the stems. Blanch broccoli in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain thoroughly. Cut steak in half lengthwise, then into thin slices crosswise (1/4 inch thick). Mix beef with soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, baking soda and cornstarch. Let sit for 20 minutes. Heat wok until very hot and swirl in peanut oil. When peanut oil is hot and smoking, add beef and stir-fry for three minutes. Remove beef with slotted spoon and drain off all but 1 T. oil. Reheat wok and add garlic and black beans, Stir fry for one minute. Pour in chicken broth, soy sauces, rice wine and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Dump in broccoli and then oyster sauce. Mix well and return beef to mixture, cooking for several minutes until very bubbly. Serve immediately with rice or noodles.