Weekly Menu #1!

Some of our dedicated readers may remember us doing monthly menus about a year ago. They were a big hit and earned us lots of pins on Pinterest (thank you :), however they were a bit of work to format on our part. Especially because both of the magical moms contributed to each monthly menu, there was a lot of formatting and fonts between computers that just wasn't easy to work with. And because most moms usually go grocery shopping on a weekly basis, we thought this format would work a little better for us, and make it a little more organized for you.

We put the weekly menus together with our tried and true recipes, and you get all the adoring compliments from your family! We will suggest a starch and veggie/fruit dish for each main course (pasta meals already have the starch). And remember, all of our posts are recipes that we use, and the pictures are our actual meals (have you ever made a recipe from Facebook and they show ingredients that aren't even on the ingredient list? Well that's because a lot of websites use stock photos- paid for photos of other food!) And we always welcome comments and questions for each of our posts. We are magical, but that doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, or that someone may alter a recipe that really needs to be shared with everyone, so comment away!

Each week we'll try to have a good mix between beef, chicken, pork, pasta, seafood, etc. Our weekly menus will also be relative to the time of year... not a lot of grilling recipes during the winter months, and less crock pot in the summer. We also realize that it may not be realistic for you to cook at home all 7 nights of the week (don' think that's ever really happened at my house), so our weekly menus are just Monday-Friday for 5 dinners a week. Shift them around as needed of course, but that's just how we'll lay it out for simplicity's sake.

Monday
Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak
2-Step Potatoes with Loaded Sour Cream
Henderson House Salad

Tuesday
Coco Loco Chicken Tenders
Better Than Rice-a-Roni  Broccoli Cheddar Rice
Garlic Parmesan Green Beans

Wednesday
Spicy Bacon Carbonara
Low Carb Italian Chopped Salad

Thursday
Buffalo Thigh Surprise
Garlic Rosemary Potato Wedges
Herb Butter Corn on the Cob

Friday
Spicy Italian Shredded Beef Sandwiches
Oven Roasted Asparagus

I'm sure this will be a weekly menu your family rave about!

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Spicy Bacon Carbonara

This recipe is a variation on something that I made before, but this one is MUCH better. My family has actually requested it be put on the menu again and I just made it last week! My oldest son, who is VERY picky, loves bacon so I was able to get him to eat it too!
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 2/3 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• Parsley Flakes (I didn't measure, I just shook it a couple times)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 lb bacon fried crisp and crumbled
• sliced mushrooms (I didn't measure, I just through in a couple handfuls)
• 1/2 of small onion
• about 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 1 16 oz box of fettucini

First I cook and crumble the bacon. I have to do this quickly so that my son doesn't try to sneak any! Set bacon aside. Start water for pasta. Next I chop the onion. I am not a huge onion fan, but I do understand the flavor value of onion in cooking so I do use them. I cook the onion and minced garlic in about a tablespoon of butter, but you could use some of the bacon grease for extra flavor. When the onions are almost cooked all the way through I add the mushrooms. You might need to add just a little bit more butter to saute the mushrooms. When done, leave them in pan but set them aside

Next, in a bowl beat with a fork eggs and heavy cream. Add Parmesan, parsley, salt and red pepper and lightly mix again.

Drain pasta (save about 3 tablespoons of pasta water just in case sauce is too thick) and return pasta to pot. Add the mushrooms and onions to pasta (you may need to heat them up in their pan first depending on how long you had to wait for pasta to finish cooking). Pour the egg/cream mixture over the pasta. Stir over LOW heat for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in bacon. Top with additional Parmesan Cheese and serve with bread and a salad! DELICIOUS!
Note: Make sure that when you add the egg/cream mixture that you have the stove on LOW. You do not want to scramble the eggs! I was very worried about this process. The first time I made it I actually made my husband leave the room just in case I completely ruined dinner I didn't want him to witness my failure. It has gone together perfectly every time! Also, if you like less spicy food you can add less red pepper flakes.

This recipe was featured in Two Magical Moms March Menu Madness and our Appetizing April Menu.  Check out the menus and try out some of our other YUMMY recipes!