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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Southwest Steak with Chipotle Butter

One of our most popular posts (Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak) has inspired many other recipes that we have tried. The Magical Moms often make healthy recipes, but they are not afraid to experiment with BUTTER or BACON!  I learned the finishing butter on a steak trick while attending a cooking class a few years ago.  I don't do it all the time but when I do I always enjoy it!

Ingredients:

• 4 (6-8 oz each) Steaks
• 1/3 Cup A1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Chipotle in Adobo Sauce (just one pepper not the whole can)
• 1 Tablespoon of Water
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 2 tablespoons of butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon adobo sauce

Serves 4

In a small food processor combine A1 , chipotle pepper, water, minced garlic, and lime juice and process until smooth.  Place steaks in a ziploc bag and pour 2/3 of the marinade over it.  Reserve 1/3 of marinade to brush on steaks while cooking.  Marinade steaks for about 30 minutes.  

Chipotle Butter

Place softened (not melted) butter along with 1 teaspoon of adobo sauce in small food processor and process until well combined.  Place butter in small bowl and place in fridge so it can harden again.

Grill steaks (I cooked them on my grill pan on the stove inside) until they are cooked to desired temp.  I cooked mine to medium.  Then top with a slice of the hard chipotle butter and let it melt into the meat.  

Follow the Magical Moms on Facebook and Pinterest for weekly menu ideas, crafts, and Disney Magic.  

Whiskey Steak

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Rosemary
• Juice of 1/2  lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons A1
• 2 Tablespoons of Whiskey
• Steaks- your favorite cut

Combine all ingredients except steak and mix well.  Pour mixture over steak and let it marinade about 30 minutes.  Then grill steaks to desired temperature.

I served with Oven Roasted Asparagus, Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes, and Mushrooms.

This recipe was featured on our Appetizing April Menu. Check out the entire April menu for a variety of dinner ideas!

Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak

Have you ever wondered why you can't ever make a steak quite as good as one from a steakhouse?  Well I can share a couple of their secrets.  Last fall I took a cooking class on how to make the perfect steak.  When I was choosing the class I was leaning towards taking a class to learn how to cook something new or even make my own pasta, but then I thought "why not learn how to make something I already make but make it better."  My husband usually grills, which requires me to wait until he gets home from work to start dinner.  The tips I learned let me make a FABULOUS steak in the middle of winter because no grilling is required.  Yes, I said they do not grill it!  The second secret is that they use butter, butter, and more butter.