Monthly Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping Part 2

     First of all, let me say that the best thing that's come out of my monthly menu planning and shopping experiment is that there isn't any stress over dinner. Granted, I focused so much on dinner that I kind of forgot our lunches here at the house. Oops. However, next month, I'll know better. 
     I have a lot of things that will carry over to next month, partially because we traveled a bit to visit family, and partially because we eat a lot of breakfast around here. :) We have some meat in the freezer, and still two gallons of Organic Milk we haven't touched! I'm pretty excited. 
     We have a lot of new menus in our collection now too.  All the recipes I planned for this month were new. I had never made them before. And now I am going to share more of our favorites with you! 

Chicken Fried Steak with Creamed Gravy
4 Large, thin ribeyes cut in half
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs
1 tsp ground pepper
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
Oil for frying

Combine Panko, flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish. In a second dish, whisk milk and eggs. Dredge chicken in dry mixture, dip in milk mixture, and dredge in dry mixture again. Pour oil to a depth of 1/2 inch in a skillet. Heat oil and fry steaks in bathces, about 10 minutes, adding oil as needed. Turn, fry a couple more minutes until golden brown.  Remove to a wire rack on top of a pan.  You can place the pan in the oven to keep the steaks warm. 

Creamed Gravy:
1/3 cup flour
2-3 tbsp pan drippings
3 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste

Carefully drain all but 2-3 tbsp of the pan drippings from the skillet. Add flour adn cook over medium high heat. Whisk the flour until it becomes brown and forms a paste. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly until combined. Let the gravy come to a boil adn then reduce heat and simmer until the gravy thickens. Salt and Pepper and serve over Steak and Mashed Potatoes. 

**This recipe can be repeated with thinly cut chicken too. This is the best "chicken fried" recipe I have tried! 

Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
10 (20 oz) Chicken Thighs
20 Medium Asparagus, ends trimmed, cut in half
3 Bell Peppers, any color
1 cup carrots
2 Red Onions
10 oz Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup EVOO
1 tsp Sugar
2 cloves of Garlic

Preheat oven to 425. Wash and dry the chicken well. Combine all the ingredients together using your hands and arrange in a very large roasting pan.  The vegetables should not touch chicken, and all should end up in a singer layer. Use two baking dishes if necessary. Bake 35-40 minutes. Enjoy! 


This post also appears on our family blog: toddandmandywatson.blogspot.com