More for the menu plan book

Hi! It's me again. I gotta share about a couple of things I added to our menu this week. Yesterday, I made chicken gnocchi soup that rivaled Olive Garden's recipe! It's been cold here in the South, ya I know, hush, I am not under several inches of non stop snow like my friends and family in the North, but it was a good soup day here, rainy and 40 degrees is yucky any where! Today (I have already done the cooking for this evening as we will try to get to an event at church), I made chicken egg roll bowls. SO good! 

Here's the scoop, I bought 1 package of ground chicken to make the 2 meals mentioned. Bringing the cost for the meat for each meal to about $2.00.  I splurged on the gnocchi and bought the organic stuff found in the refrigerator section of the store. So glad I did! It was much better than the dry stuff on the shelf! 

Brown 1/2 of the meat for the soup, adding just a 1/2-1 Tbs of olive oil, plus 1 tbs butter, (the real stuff),  to the pan so the ground chicken doesn't stick and burn. Stir in about 1/2 cup of diced onion, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and Mrs. dash. Once that is browned up add 1/4 cup rice flour, coat that by stirring well. Stir in 1 carton of chicken broth, & 1/4 cup of water, add slowly. bring that to a simmer, add in about 8 sliced up mushrooms and 1/2 pkg of chopped frozen spinach. Bring to a boil. Stir in gnocchi. Bring back to a soft boil, stir in 1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 or whole milk.  Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes letting the flavors all assimilate. Enjoy with hearty bread and grape juice. Serves 4. 

The Egg Roll Bowls:

Brown the rest of the ground chicken, with 1/2 Tbs. olive oil, and spices. I use Garlic Mrs. Dash, a scant amount of Spicy Mrs. Dash. Chop/slice half a head of cabbage, green onions, and 1 carrot, I also added 1 orange salad pepper, & 6-8 sliced mushrooms.  (You could use a bag of pre-chopped coleslaw). Stir all into browned meat along with 1/4 tsp minced garlic or more if you want. Let cabbage cook down for 3-5 minutes, add 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce, stir and heat thoroughly, cook till cabbage is tender. Serve over cooked rice and enjoy!  (Serves 4 with rice). 

I hate to get in a rut with the same old food. Bon Apetit`