Spartan Living: Weeknight Dinner Menu

It's Monday so today I planned out our weeknight meals and grocery shopped. I used some coupons at Publix and spent $16 and saved $25! $16 for $41 worth of groceries is pretty awesome, especially when you consider the fact that in this trip I purchased vitamins and milk and a few other "non-coupon" items. Anyone else have any bargains to share?

Here's what we'll be having for dinner this week:

Monday: Chicken with mushroom pan sauce over egg noodles and roasted carrots
Tuesday: Salmon with fried rice and steamed edamame
Wednesday: Muffaletta sandwiches, cole slaw, pineapple
Thursday: Corned beef, potatoes and cabbage
Friday: Date night! We're going out while the little one stays with Yaya and Poppy.

I hope to post instructions for each of these meals this week as the week goes on! But for tonight, here are the instructions (and a cost analysis) for Monday night's meal!

Chicken with Mushroom Pan Sauce over Egg Noodles
For this meal to serve two, you will need:

1 chicken breast
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth (homemade, canned, cartons or even bullion cubes--whatever you have!)
4 oz. Egg noodles, 1/3 of a standard 12 oz. package, cooked to package directions
Pantry staples: butter and olive oil, a wee bit of flour, and salt and pepper, of course!
Optional additions: garlic, diced onion, 1 T heavy cream

Split the chicken breast into two pieces like so:

Why didn't I just use 2 chicken breasts? Well, neither James or I typically finish a whole chicken breast, and meat serving sizes should be about 3 oz., which is more like half of a chicken breast than a whole. Better for our waistlines and better for our pocketbook.

Pop some plastic wrap over those bad boys and pound 'em out! I don't have a meat mallet, so I just use the bottom of my skillet. It gets the job done. They should look like this:

Now is the time to season with salt and pepper, and dredge in some flour. Be sure to shake off the excess flour.

Add 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil to a medium-hot skillet. Once butter has melted, add chicken breast halves. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, then remove and set aside. (Don't worry if it's not yet fully-cooked).

Add sliced mushrooms to pan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until they shrink down a bit. (If you're adding the optional garlic and/or onions, now is the time!)

Add 3/4 cup chicken broth to skillet, and be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan for all those little bits of flavor from the chicken.

Add chicken back to skillet and simmer, covered, for 5-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened a bit. If you want to add some extra richness, then add 1 T of heavy cream. Serve over egg noodles.

Roasted Carrots

For 2-3 servings, you will need:

1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks

2 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. On a baking sheet, toss all ingredients together and spread out in pan. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during for even browning.