Menu for November 24-30

Monday: beef stew
Tuesday: pasta with sauce, parmesan zucchini
Wednesday: steak, couscous, broccoli
Thursday: THANKSGIVING DINNER (see a couple of recipes below)
Friday: Thanksgiving leftovers
Saturday: Italian tuna sandwiches, carrot sticks
Sunday: Southwest salad

Beef Stew
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg Lowry’s beef stew seasoning mix
1 cup carrots, chopped
2 cups chopped potatoes
1 pkg chopped beef (the package should say “Beef for stewing”)
Boil all ingredients until cooked through (about 40-45 minutes). Drain enough water out that the stew will not be too watery. Add the seasoning packet and stir.
Note: Also a great crock pot recipe!

Pasta with sauce
Use whatever kind of pasta you like. I always use jarred sauce. I think this week, I’ll use alfredo… If you want to add some meatballs, go for it. (It’s a vegetarian night for us).

Parmesan zucchini
3 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise in ¼ or ½ inch slices
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Parmesan cheese
Place zucchini slices in a baking pan. Sprinkle garlic over the slices. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes until tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Couscous, steak, broccoli
(This is our last bit of steak from Angel Food … sniff sniff).
Chad will grill our steaks after I marinate them. For the couscous, I use the boxed kind from Albertson’s (Far East is the brand). I’ll steam the broccoli and just put salt and pepper on it.

Thanksgiving dinner: We’re eating dinner with our friends at their house. We’re buying a ham this year, instead of cooking a turkey. I’m making a couple of dishes, and she’s making some. I’m just going to put down two recipes that I’ll make. They are SUPER yummy, and the pumpkin dumpcake is TO DIE FOR…it’s so great because of all the butter! Read on…

Sweet Potato Casserole
4 cups yams, peeled and cooked
1 cup white sugar (or brown for that matter!)
¾ cup margarine or butter, melted
1 tsp nutmeg (I always add more because I like that spice)
2 cups mini marshmallows
4 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp cinnamon (I add more, like 2 tsp)
1 cup coconut, optional

for the topping:
1 ½ cups crushed cornflakes
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 9x13 glass baking dish. In large bowl, mash potatoes, sugar, eggs, margarine, evaporated milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and marshmallows (and coconut if you want). Put mixture in baking dish. Bake 20 minutes in oven.
In small bowl, mix the ingredients for the topping. Spread topping over casserole, Bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Note: if you prefer, you can sprinkle the marshmallows on the top with the other topping. That’s what I did last time.

Pumpkin Dumpcake
30 oz can pumpkin pie mix (NOT pumpkin!)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 box yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter (I told you there was lots of butter … it’s so worth it!)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix pumpkin pie mix, milk, and eggs together. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top. Slice the sticks of butter into very thin slices, and place them over the top of the cake mix. Sprinkle pecans over the top (optional). Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
YOU’LL HEAR ANGELS SINGING WHEN YOU EAT THIS! IT IS SO GOOD!

Italian tuna sandwiches (makes 1 sandwich)
When we went to Italy in 2004, we order a tuna sandwich from a stand, expecting it to be mixed with mayonnaise. But it was more like this, and it was delish!
2 slices bread, toasted
½ can of tuna, drained
1 slice of mozzarella cheese
mayonnaise
mustard
¼ avocado, sliced
sliced onion
sliced tomato
Spread mayonnaise on one piece of toast and mustard on the other. Lay the tuna on top of one piece of bread. Add the slice of cheese. Add slices of onion, avocado, and tomato.
Serve with carrot sticks and/or cucumber slices.

Southwest Salad
(This recipe is really easy and quick. And it's a good vegetarian meal. Think of all the money you're saving not buying meat!)
1 can corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg Knorr Lipton Spanish Rice mix, cooked
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup picante sauce
½ cup cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice
Mix all ingredients together and serve.