Meal Plan for Week 17 2020: April 20-24

• Break apart ramen noodles and set aside. Heat oil in skillet or wok and stir fry chicken until reheated, about 2 minutes.
• Add broken noodles to skillet with water, seasoning packet, vegetables, parsley and soy sauce. Heat until liquid boils.
• Reduce heat and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. When noodles are soft, serve immediately.

• Wash acorn squash, cut in half lengthwise; scrape out seeds.
• Place cut side down into a glass baking dish containing 2 tablespoons water.
• Cook in microwave until squash is tender, about 6 minutes. (Cooking time depends on your microwave strength and the number of squash you are cooking; this recipe was tested using one squash—two halves—in a 1600 watt microwave.)
• Remove from microwave, turn squash right side up in same dish.
• Into each hollow, place butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cook in microwave until butter mixture is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes. Serve hot.
• Cook in microwave until butter mixture is bubbly. Serve hot.

• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
• Add next 7 ingredients and cook until bell pepper just softens (about 6 minutes).
• Mix in the broth, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, stir in barley and lentils.
• Reduce heat and simmer until barley and lentils are tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 ½ hours.
• Thin soup to desired consistency with additional broth, and season with salt and pepper before serving.

• Fill a stock pot with water and heat to boiling for ravioli.
• Combine cream, Parmesan cheese, salt, crushed red pepper, and sun-dried tomatoes. Heat cream sauce over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until thickened.
• While cream sauce is heating, boil ravioli according to package directions. Drain ravioli and return it to the stock pot.
• Add cream sauce, which should be thickened, to cooked ravioli. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and serve immediately.

• Cook carrots by steaming to your tenderness preference.
• Place remaining ingredients in a serving bowl and mix well.
• Add steamed carrots to the bowl while still hot. Toss gently until coated with glaze.

• Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place frozen burritos in the baking dish.
• Combine soup, milk, and green chilies, mix well and then pour over the burritos. Top with cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes or until heated though and cheese is melted.

• Melt butter in a large skillet and allow to start browning slightly. Add brown sugar and stir until it becomes thicker and syrupy.
• Add pineapple slices and cook until they become a nice brown color, about 3-4 minutes per side.
• Remove pineapple slices into a serving bowl leaving the syrup in the skillet.
• Reduce the sauce by about a third by cooking over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for around 5 minutes.
• Pour syrup over the pineapple and serve.

Crockpot Instructions

• Coat steak with a mixture of flour, mustard, salt, and pepper. In a skillet, brown the meat in 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil. Transfer to a slow cooker.
• Heat remaining butter and oil in same skillet. Sauté onion, carrots, and celery until almost tender, then add to crockpot with meat.
• In the same skillet, combine tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. Heat, scraping up drippings, until skillet is deglazed. Pour tomato mixture over meat.
• Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until tender. Serve meat with vegetable sauce spooned over the steak.

Instant Pot Instructions

• (Instant Pot instructions are courtesy of Carolyn, who converted the recipe for use in her IP. Note that the venting instructions are *not* tested.)
• Coat steak with a mixture of flour, mustard, salt, and pepper. On sauté mode, brown the meat in 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil.
• Remove the steak from the pot and set aside.
• Sauté onion, carrots, and celery until almost tender.
• Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar and use it to deglaze the pot.
• Add the beef back to the pot and stir gently just enough to cover the meat in sauce.
• Add cover and seal. Cook on Stew mode for 30 minutes.
• Vent as preferred; NPR was used in Carolyn's conversion but venting immediately would probably work fine. (Let us know how your method worked in the comments.)