Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One

Welcome back…Do you ever need some help figuring out what to prepare for dinner? Need help figuring out what side dishes to prepare once you’ve decided on the main dish. Well you’re not alone. Stayed tuned as I have created a menu for any weeknight for you and your family. Say hello to Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One. Keep reading to see what I’ve got in store for your hungry tribe.

My Mom went back to work after being a stay at home Mom for 15 years. That’s how I really became interested in cooking. But Mom would plane dinners for the week. Of course the meals were based on school and work schedules. No different from today with our busy, action-packed lives. It’s the world we live in. Even though there are two of us in my family, the plan is the same which is to cook delicious, tasty along with quick and easy meals. Some menus will be better cooked on the weekends than during the week because of prep time. Yet that doesn’t mean on one of those rainy days the mood won’t hit you to play around in the kitchen. Food which tastes great and leaves you and everybody else wanting more is the reason for home cooking.

Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One

Cooking does the heart good and it’s my pleasure to bring you a delicious, mouth-watering menu each week with Make Ahead Weeknight Meals Menu One. This is the perfect way to prepare a special meal each week. You’ll be able to choose from the main dish usually containing a protein, vegetables and sides and accompaniments.

So Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One contains mouth-watering Latin Roast Pork Shoulder as Sazon and other seasonings are rubbed on the pork and marinated overnight and roasted the next day. Great recipe if any leftovers remain because the pork freezes extremely well. I love making extra and freezing for meals sometime down the road. The side dish is a favorite pairing, Cuban Rice and Beans. Golden Canilla Rice is flavored with Sazon seasoning.for starters, sofrito, tomato, garlic and small red beans finish the dish.

Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One

This is the perfect Sunday dinner and any frozen leftover roast can easily make a fantastic weeknight meal as rice can be made while roast is warming. I do this often as this is a sure-fire shortcut to dinner. Seems like we all need a shortcut now and then. Warm tortillas, Easy Peasy Guacamole and Spicy Pico De Gallo accompany this menu. Match made in heaven for sure.

Hope you enjoy this menu but most of all use these recipes as a guide to creating fantastic meals for you and your family on a busy weeknight, during a relaxing weekend or a rainy day. You’ll find each recipe here in this post. Happy Cooking!

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Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One

Latin Roast Pork Shoulder

1 – 4 to 5 pound boneless or bone-in pork shoulder roast, excess fat trimmed

1/4 cup Olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, finely minced

2 t. Goya Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning with Pepper

2 t. fresh lemon juice

2 packets Goya Sazon with Coriander and Annatto

1 t. crushed oregano

1/2 t. ground black pepper

In a small mixing bowl, combine Olive oil, garlic, Adobo, lemon juice, Sazon, oregano, and black pepper. Set bowl aside.

Using a large knife, cut slits into roast. This will allow marinade to soak through the meat. Generously rub oil mixture over entire roast. Wrap roast with plastic wrap, place in baking dish and allow to marinate in refrigerator overnight.

To prepare: Remove roast from refrigerator, bringing roast to room temperature, about one hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap roast, pat with paper towel to remove excess marinate and place in a roasting or baking pan. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in oven. Bake for approximately 3 – 3 ½ hours or until inserted instant read thermometer registers 145 degrees. Remove foil, raising oven temperature to 450 degrees. Bake uncovered for an additional 20 – 25 minutes or until top of roast is nicely browned. Add a small amount of water if pan becomes dry.

Let roast rest for 20 minutes before serving. Slice roast as desired, serving with Cuban Rice and Beans and flour tortillas.

Cuban Rice and Beans

1 T. Olive oil

2 T. tomato sauce

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 heaping teaspoons Goya Sofrito Tomato Cooking Base

2 packets Goya Sazon without Annatto

1 packet Goya Sazon with Coriander and Annatto

1 – 15.5 oz. can Goya Small Red Beans, drained, liquid reserved

1 ½ cups Golden Canilla Rice

1/2 t. granulated sugar

Over medium-high heat in a large saucepan, heat oil, tomato sauce, garlic, Sofrito, and all 3 packets of Sazon. Cook mixture for one minute until fragrant and thickened.

In a 4-cup measuring cup, add reserved bean liquid and enough water to measure 3 ½ cups. Pour liquid into pot then stir in beans, rice and sugar.

Bring rice to bowl; cover, reducing heat to low simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let rice rest for 5 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork and serve hot. Delicious with my Latin Roast Pork Shoulder.

 Make Ahead Weeknight Meals – Menu One

Easy Peasy Guacamole

2 large ripe avocados, seeded and removed from peel

½ small onion, chopped

1 plum tomato, chopped and finely chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded

½ t. salt

¼ t. pepper

Juice of 1/2 lime

In a medium-sized bowl, add avocados and lime juice. Add onion, tomato, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly, leaving guacamole chunky.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Note: Add bacon for a deliciously different touch.

Spicy Pico De Gallo

4 – 5 medium beefsteak tomatoes, chopped

1/2 medium red onion, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

3 Serrano peppers, 2 seeded, 1 unseeded and chopped

3/4 – 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

1 ½ t. salt

1/4 cup Olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, mix tomatoes, red onion, green onions, Serrano peppers, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt and Olive oil. Thoroughly mix and adjust salt to taste. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Note: Do not touch your face or lick your fingers after chopping peppers. Wash your hands thoroughly to prevent burning sensations.