This week, we’re making poppy seed chicken casserole, salisbury steak, fried catfish, crock pot pork chops, and mac and cheese with ham for supper. There’s apple dapple cake for dessert, too!
Five dinners, two open nights, and one night for leftovers. Every dinner has a side to go with it, and the grocery list at the bottom adds everything up for you so you’re not flipping between recipes in the store.
Click the dinner and side dish names to open the full recipes.
This week’s menu
| Night | Dinner and sides |
|---|---|
| Night 1 | Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole + Air Fryer Asparagus |
| Night 2 | Easy Salisbury Steak + Slow Cooker Cheesy Hashbrowns |
| Night 3 | Leftovers or eat out |
| Night 4 | Fried Catfish, Black-Eyed Peas + Bisquick Cheddar Biscuits |
| Night 5 | Crock Pot Pork Chops + Candied Yams |
| Night 6 | Mac and Cheese with Ham + a bagged green salad |
| Night 7 | Open night. Use what you have or make a family favorite. |
Dessert: Apple Dapple Cake
Night 1: Poppy seed chicken casserole and air fryer asparagus
We’re starting the week with a 9×13 of poppy seed chicken casserole. It serves six, which is the whole point of putting it on Night 1. What’s left goes straight into Night 3.
The casserole calls for 4 cups of cooked chicken. A rotisserie chicken from the deli gets you there in about five minutes of pulling meat off the bone, and that’s what I’d do on a Monday.
The air fryer asparagus takes seven minutes start to finish, so make it while the casserole rests.
Allow: about 40 minutes for the casserole and 7 minutes for the asparagus.
Little tip: crush the Ritz crackers in the sleeve before you open it. Fewer crumbs on the counter.
Night 2: Salisbury steak and cheesy hashbrowns
Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy comes together in half an hour on the stovetop. It’s the kind of supper that tastes like it took longer than it did.
The cheesy hashbrowns are the part that needs planning. They’re five hours in the slow cooker, so get them going in the morning and forget about them.
The recipe as written feeds fifteen, which is wonderful for a potluck and a lot for a Tuesday. The grocery list below buys for a half batch. If you want the full pan, double what’s listed.
Allow: 5 hours in the slow cooker for the hashbrowns, 30 minutes for the salisbury steak.
Make it easier: the gravy uses two packets of brown gravy mix, so there’s no roux to babysit.
Night 3: Leftovers or eat out
Let’s see what’s in the fridge! There should be casserole from Night 1 and probably hashbrowns from Night 2. Nothing new to buy.
Night 4: Fried catfish, black-eyed peas, and cheddar biscuits
This is the big Southern supper of the week, and it’s the one night that needs a head start.
The catfish soaks in buttermilk for two hours before it ever hits the oil. The black-eyed peas simmer for about an hour and twenty minutes. Start both in the early afternoon and the actual cooking at suppertime is quick.
The peas make a full pound, which is more than four people will eat. That’s on purpose. Dried peas come in one pound bags, and they reheat better than almost anything else in this plan.
The cheddar biscuits bake in twelve minutes while the fish drains.
Allow: 2 hours for the buttermilk soak, about 1 hour 20 minutes for the peas, and 30 minutes of active cooking at the end.
Little tip: the catfish breading wants fine-ground cornmeal, not the coarse kind. Coarse cornmeal falls off in the pan.
Night 5: Crock pot pork chops and candied yams
Four ingredients go in the crock pot and three hours later you have creamy pork chops. This is the easiest dinner of the week by a wide margin.
Because the chops are in the slow cooker, the oven is free for candied yams, which bake for an hour.
One note on the yams: they call for two tablespoons of vanilla. That’s not a typo. It’s what makes them taste like the ones at a church dinner instead of just sweet potatoes with sugar on them.
Allow: 3 hours in the crock pot, 1 hour in the oven for the yams.
Make it easier: you only need one slow cooker this week. Night 2 and Night 5 are far enough apart that it washes in between.
Night 6: Mac and cheese with ham and a green salad
Mac and cheese with ham is thirty minutes and one pot of pasta. A bagged salad on the side is plenty.
The recipe wants 1½ cups of diced cooked ham. A ham steak from the meat case is the simplest way to get it without buying a whole ham.
Allow: 30 minutes.
Little tip: shred the cheese yourself if you have a minute. Bagged shredded cheese is coated so it doesn’t clump, and that coating is what makes a cheese sauce grainy.
Night 7: Open night
Open night. Use what you have or make a family favorite.
Something sweet: Apple dapple cake
Apple dapple cake is an old church cookbook cake, and it serves twelve, so it’ll last most of the week.
It’s a heavy batter packed with chopped Granny Smith apples, and then you pour a warm brown sugar topping over it while it’s still hot so it soaks down into the cake.
Allow: 30 minutes to prep, 45 minutes to bake, and an hour to cool before you cut it.
The walnuts are optional. Leave them out if you’ve got picky eaters and nobody will miss them.
A little preparation before the week starts
- Pull the chicken off a rotisserie chicken and refrigerate it. Night 1 needs 4 cups.
- Thaw the catfish in the fridge the day before Night 4. Two pounds takes overnight.
- Night 2 and Night 4 both need a morning or early afternoon start. Put them on nights you’ll be home.
- Peel and chop the apples for the cake the night before and toss them with a little lemon juice so they don’t brown.
- Check that you have enough vanilla. The candied yams alone use two tablespoons.
Already using my Dinner Theme System? These dinners can fit right into the themes you’ve chosen.
Grocery list
Everything below is added up across all five dinners, the sides, and the cake. Where two recipes use the same thing, I’ve combined them so you’re buying the right amount once.
The note after each item tells you what it’s for, so if you’re skipping a night you know what to leave off the list.
Produce
- ☐ 1 bundle asparagus: air fryer asparagus
- ☐ 1 lemon: air fryer asparagus
- ☐ 1 head garlic, plus jarred minced: asparagus, black-eyed peas
- ☐ 8 oz sliced mushrooms: salisbury steak
- ☐ 1 yellow onion: black-eyed peas
- ☐ 2 lb sweet potatoes: candied yams
- ☐ 1 large orange: candied yams, for the zest and juice
- ☐ 4 medium Granny Smith apples: apple dapple cake, for 3 cups chopped
- ☐ 1 bag green salad: Night 6
Meat and fish
- ☐ 4 cups cooked chicken: poppy seed casserole. One rotisserie chicken covers it.
- ☐ 1 lb ground beef: salisbury steak
- ☐ 2 lb catfish fillets: fried catfish
- ☐ 6 slices bacon: black-eyed peas
- ☐ 3 to 4 lb boneless pork chops: crock pot pork chops
- ☐ 1½ cups diced cooked ham: mac and cheese. A ham steak works.
Bread, dairy, and eggs
- ☐ 16 oz sour cream: poppy seed casserole, cheesy hashbrowns
- ☐ 1 lb unsalted butter: uses about 3¼ sticks across the casserole, hashbrowns, biscuits, peas, candied yams, mac and cheese, and the cake
- ☐ 1 dozen eggs: uses 4, for the salisbury steak and the cake
- ☐ ½ gallon whole milk: cheddar biscuits, mac and cheese
- ☐ 1 pint heavy cream: mac and cheese, cake topping
- ☐ 1 quart buttermilk: fried catfish soak
- ☐ 18 oz shredded cheddar: about 4½ cups, for the hashbrowns, biscuits, and mac and cheese
- ☐ ½ cup shredded mozzarella: cheddar biscuits
- ☐ 1 cup shredded Colby Jack: mac and cheese
Cans, jars, and frozen
- ☐ 3 (10.5 oz) cans cream of chicken soup: poppy seed casserole uses 2, pork chops use 1
- ☐ 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup: pork chops
- ☐ 1 (10.5 oz) can condensed cheddar cheese soup: cheesy hashbrowns, uses half for a half batch
- ☐ 1 (26 oz) bag frozen diced hashbrowns: cheesy hashbrowns, half batch
- ☐ 2 (32 oz) cartons chicken broth: black-eyed peas, needs 6 cups
- ☐ 1 lb dried black-eyed peas: black-eyed peas
- ☐ 2 packets brown gravy mix: salisbury steak
- ☐ 1 large sleeve Ritz crackers: poppy seed casserole topping, about 32 crackers
- ☐ 1 jar dill pickles: fried catfish needs 2 tablespoons of the juice
- ☐ 2 cups elbow macaroni: mac and cheese
- ☐ 1 box Bisquick: cheddar biscuits, needs 2½ cups
- ☐ 1 oz packet ranch dressing seasoning mix: crock pot pork chops
Check your pantry: sauces, baking ingredients, and seasonings
- ☐ All-purpose flour: about 3½ cups
- ☐ Granulated sugar: about 2½ cups
- ☐ Brown sugar: about 1⅓ cups
- ☐ Vegetable oil: 1 cup for the cake, plus enough to fry the catfish
- ☐ Olive oil and cooking oil
- ☐ Fine-ground yellow cornmeal: 1½ cups
- ☐ Bread crumbs: ¼ cup
- ☐ Mayonnaise and ketchup
- ☐ Worcestershire sauce: 3 teaspoons
- ☐ Apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard
- ☐ Vanilla extract: about 3 tablespoons total
- ☐ Baking soda
- ☐ Poppy seeds: 1 tablespoon
- ☐ Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice
- ☐ Garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning
- ☐ Old Bay, seasoned salt, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper
- ☐ Salt, black pepper, garlic salt
- ☐ Cooking spray
- ☐ Equipment: air fryer, slow cooker, 9×13 pan, deep skillet or Dutch oven for frying, baking sheet, large pot
Optional extras
- ☐ Vanilla ice cream: for the cake
- ☐ Parmesan cheese: for the asparagus
- ☐ Fresh parsley: salisbury steak, hashbrowns
- ☐ Chopped walnuts: ½ cup for the cake
Want another week of dinner ideas? Browse all of my easy weekly meal plans.
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