Dairy-Free Weekly Menu April 6-12

I started making a weekly menu about 2 years ago. I found that it helps me save money by planning out my meals ahead of time. It also helps prevent some of the, "What would you like for dinner?" "I don't know, what would you like?" "Well, let's just order pizza." We don't have the budget for that sort of thing all the time and it's not healthy for us or the kids.

I've found several menu services online, but they either cost more than I'm willing to spend or they are loaded with kid-friendly (allergy non-friendly) high calorie foods. So I've decided to start posting my own here. Bear with me. :) Everything I post here will be at the very least dairy-free. I can't guarentee they'll be free of other allergens, but the Mommas I know who deal with their kids allergies are a resourceful bunch - I think most of the recipes will be easily adaptable.

Weekly Menu April 6-12

Sunday- Pork Roast, boiled potatoes and steamed veggies
Monday- Chili, biscuits and salad
Tuesday- Fish and Chips, raw veggies
Wednesday- McDonald's Playdate (substitute one of your favorite meals here!)
Thursday- Meatballs (Addie's 2nd favorite meal) - serve with noodles and red sauce, bbq sauce or Swedish meatball sauce.
Friday- Out of town
Saturday- Out of town

Pork Roast
I'm very unscientific about this. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Sprinkle roast with your favorite herbs - I use garlic, thyme, majorom and savory. Place roast in a roasting pan and bake for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 and bake for 50 minutes.

I make a small roast (or two small ones so I have one to slice and freeze for later) and place a thermometer in the meat and set the alarm to ring when it hits 165. It takes about 50 minutes for a small roast, but adjust cooking time for larger ones.

Chili
1 lb ground beef (or venison)
1 sm onion, diced
1 lg can diced tomatoes (or fresh in season)
1 can kidney beans
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 cloved minced garlic
1/4 Cup chili powder
1/2 tsp cayanne pepper
1 Cup Tomato Juice (if needed)

Brown beef in a soup pot. Drain any excess oil. Add onions, green peppers and garlic - cook until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, beans, chili powder and cayanne pepper. If you like your chili a little more soupy, feel free to add tomato juice to thin it out. We like our chili meaty and thick so this is definitely a hearty meal.

Fish and Chips
I found a bag of french fries in the frozen foods section of the grocery store last week for $1. I baked those in the oven so they're lighter than if you were to fry them. Normally I don't buy fries, I just wash and cut up several baking potatoes and bake those.

Fish fillets (any type will do)
Pam spray (not the butter kind)
1 Cup Bread crumbs or cracker crumbs
Salt and Pepper
Paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Put crumbs on a plate and add salt and pepper and paprika to taste. Spray each fillet (front and back) with the oil spray. Dip fillet into crumbs and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 min or until fish flakes easily.

Meatballs
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 cup soy milk
1 egg
1 1/2 Tbs Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
Mix all ingredients together. Scoop out portions of meat and form into balls (I use one of those cookie scoops). Place formed balls onto a rimmed cookie sheet. You can freeze uncooked balls like this. Just put them into a ziplock when they're frozen. Thaw completely before cooking.
Bake for 30 min.