Beautiful landscape in southwestern Virginia. We once drove from New Haven, CT, to Beech Mountain, NC, where my parents used to have a vacation home. That landscape in SW Virginia I still dream about. I am very envious of people who live in stunning rural areas. Thank you for posting the photographs. Gave me some real solace living here in the most densely populated town in New England, Somerville, MA. We love our very diverse neighborhood and proximity to Boston area cultural opportunities as well as not far from mountains, oceans, farms…but nothing like the intense beauty of where you live.
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It’s a very busy week at work, so simple meals are on the menu.
For two adults in San Diego:
This week’s breakfasts: Likely chocolate chip scones, with walnuts added for extra protein this time.
S: (tonight) takeout - kebabs, rice, hummus, greens, pita. The sides were huge and half will be saved for leftovers.
Su: Pasta with chicken and spinach in a cream sauce
M: Grilled chicken thighs with leftover takeout rice and hummus.
T: Tomato soup with bread - vegetarian
W: Chicken sandwiches with grilled onions and peppers, cheese, and chipotle mayo on toasted sourdough rolls
Th: Fish tacos - seafood
F: Heading to Los Angeles for the LA Times Festival of Books. Will be spending the weekend there. Wish us luck finding outdoor dining!
Have a good week!
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Hi everyone, feeding two adults and an 11yo in the Boston burbs.
Sun: we’re going to the movies this afternoon (Sonic 2, guess who chose it?). Dinner will be bbq chicken sandwiches using Costco rotisserie chicken, and salads because we’ll probably OD on popcorn.
Mon: Marathon Monday! We live about a half-mile from the race course, just past the halfway point, and our friends (who live closer) have an annual party. We are taking brookies (NYT) and maybe something else for snacking. For dinner, I’ll make meatball subs and roasted broccoli.
Tues: DS is making nachos. This is school vacation week so I assigned him a dinner of his choice. I’m fairly certain he will be able to make this on his own, and will only ask for help removing the pan from the oven.
Weds: a riff on SK’s skillet ravioli with spinach - sub tortellini, add asparagus.
Thurs: “Thai chicken bowls” - I’m winging this one. Grilled chicken probably rubbed with brown sugar and fish sauce, brown rice, peapods, maybe some carrots and/or red peppers, and a peanut sauce. As I type this, I realize I’m thinking of the California Pizza Kitchen Thai crunch salad… so, add cucumbers and maybe some wonton strips.
Fri: tbd as usual
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Whew! This past week was a bit of a doozy with my husband being away for 2.5 days, a smashed windshield, related insurance claim and rental car, and having to complete a final project for a grad school course. I didn’t sleep enough, but have mostly caught up over the long weekend.
My mum came to visit yesterday (Saturday) and made us a lovely meal of her trademark beef tenderloin recipe with gravy, roasted carrots, asparagus, and scallions, and herb-roasted potatoes. My very picky 8 year old asked for a bedtime snack of, “That yummy meat!” My husband also tried for the first time (and mastered) eggs Benedict this weekend! Today will be a mostly-outdoor (although it did snow overnight… 
) family Easter. Will be the first holiday we’ve been together with my husband’s family since Christmas 2019. I am bringing the coconut lime cake from Snacking Cakes, which came together so easily and looks lovely.
Cooking for two adults and a picky 8 yo (who turns 9 next week!) in southwestern Ontario where spring is really trying to happen, but not always successfully.
Onto this week which will hopefully be considerably less stressful and more restful than last:
M - Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic toast
T - Fish tacos with coleslaw, chipotle crema, and pickled red onions
W - Sesame chicken with cashews and dates (Dinner: Changing the Game), steamed jasmine rice
Th - Sheet-pan sesame soy steak and veggies (Caroline Chambers’ Substack)
Lunches - Mediterranean chopped salad with roasted red pepper dressing (Kathleen Ashmore)
F - Takeout
Weekend - My husband cooks
Wishing a happy and peaceful Easter, Passover, and/or Ramandan to those who celebrate!
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Actuals for April 11 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Although an author-friend of mine , Jeffrey D Burton says it’s actually March 48th since winter temperatures and frequent snow flurries are still happening. Still a Happy Easter here with families able to celebrate together. I was delighted to just see the neighbor’s youngest guests enjoying a quick egg-hunt in their back yard.
Mon: A wonderful favorite casserole (not a “salad” although that’s in the recipe title). Zucchini/haloumi/dried apricots using farro as the grain, not freekah. Added chicken. With naan. A half-recipe gives us 6 maindish servings.
Tues & Weds - Swiss and mushrooms burgers, sweet potato fries, mango, red grapes
Thurs - Shrimp corn chowder, naan
Fri - Curry cod over rice. Recipe posted in WFD
Sat - Ground beef & shredded potatoes casserole, sliced fresh oranges Inspired by the linked Julia Pacheco recipe, but using raw shredded potatoes not frozen hash browns. Next time I’ll double the potatoes, and use a lot more spice/seasoning than listed.
Sun - (today) - EASTER – skillet salmon, sweet potato, shredded apple/carrot/craisin salad, asparagus w 1-egg hollandaise, deviled eggs, Kings Hawaiian dinner rolls. Dessert (commercial) chocolate cream pie Sun (evening meal) - Slow cooker country style pork ribs in BBQ sauce, repeat lunch sides
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Congratulations on making it through a tough week. And happy birthday to your daughter.
I remember liking that sesame chicken. Delicious week.
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It’s a beautiful spring day here in Chapel Hill, NC. But tomorrow will be wet and chilly. But it was lovely yesterday for Lulu’s picnic birthday party on our back porch, and honestly that makes it ok for me. She’s about to turn 16. Not sure how that happened. She keeps doing the whole “oh, didn’t I mention I won’t be here for dinner“ thing. Drives me crazy but I’ve managed to maintain my cool. Just … if you know in advance, please tell me (I know all of you would, I’m just sending this out to the universe). Here is what we’ve eaten in the past week.
4/9: my mother was in town, took her to dinner
4/10: LLD grilled swordfish, mashers, salad (all delicious)
4/11: chicken in brown sauce over rice (COTM), sounds boring but really good. Served with roasted broccoli.
4/12: surprise surprise, Lulu had a meeting. Made myself a salad and a baked potato.
4/13: carry out, Korean fried chicken
4/14: toasts with sautéed spinach with garlic, chilies, lemon with fried eggs, feta, pumpkin seeds (Diana Henry’s Simple). This was so good that LLD didn’t even mind a toast dinner or feta cheese!
4/15: gnudi (DOTQ) with bottled tomato sauce, salad, baguette. Wonderful.
4/16: Lulu having her picnic (parents doing most of the cooking/prepping). LLD had steak with grilled veg, I had a big salad. I love a good salad, but I need to branch out.
4/17: carry out! Malaysian.
Hope everyone is well, and enjoying whichever holiday you celebrate.
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HAPPY birthday to Lulu! And You! I can’t believe that she’s 16.
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I feel the same way! If anyone finds a good salad cookbook/website, I’d love to hear about it. I have a Cooking Light anthology from about 15? years ago that has some good ideas, but it lacks that magical “we’ll all eat this with minimal substitutions” recipe…
And happy birthday to Lulu!
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Happy birthday to Lulu! Sixteen! Does she start driving?
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She’ll be taking drivers ed over the summer. Her Dad is nervous. Thanks for the birthday wishes!
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There was a COTM on Chowhound called Raising the Salad Bar that had quite a variety of both main dish and side salads, as well as dressings for a relatively modest paperback. I recall liking what I made from it (I used a library copy), and I think it got good reports, on the whole.
Here are a couple of recipes from it:
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Mandy’s Gourmet Salads is a great salad cookbook. Full of recipes from Mandy’s, a trendy salad restaurant in Montreal.
I also recommend Kathleen Ashmore’s series (I think it started on TikTok, but don’t let that deter you - she’s a trained chef) “Hungry Lady Salads.” I’ve made two so far and am making a third today. They’re great if you like to prep lunches for the week, but would be excellent dinner salads too, with the option of adding additional protein if you’re so inclined: https://kathleenashmore.com/category/salads/
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Happy birthday Lulu! your week sounds really good. I love, love, love baked potatoes and we definitely don’t have them often enough.
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Happy birthday to Lulu!
I made up my favorite salad. Years ago, people ate it all when I served it at home or took it to someone else’s house. However, nothing works for everyone!
Arugula. Roasted green beans. Shredded green apple and shredded celery root. Toasted pecans or walnuts. Blue cheese. Dressing with lots of mustard, walnut or pecan or hazelnut oil, lots of vinegar…I used speciality fruit vinegars I wanted to use up sometimes, otherwise sherry or champagne vinegar. When available, pomegranate arils. I love the combination of colors, flavors, and textures.
Another favorite salad for me. I’m not so fond of ricotta salata, so I usually substitute blue cheese or another salty cheese and also add pom arils if available. The pistachio nuts work really well here, but any nut is fine.
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Thanks! I’ve placed a hold on it from our library!
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Hi everyone,
I had a revelation this week. I have used so little vacation time this year (July-June) that I can take almost every Monday off for the rest of the academic year (except the weeks I have to see patients on Mondays) plus the entire last week of June. So that’s the plan for now. I hope it’ll get me feeling less demoralized.
2 adults who are both feeling various shades of languishing here and 1 teen who is thriving despite it all. Must be due to all the random days off of high school she gets!
Sat 4/16: daughter made dinner while I napped and it was delicious. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/caramelized-pork-and-cucumber-stir-fry In a tragedy of epic proportions, my husband bought THE!WRONG!KIND!OF!WHITE!RICE! so daughter improvised with arborio, but made a ton of it which led to another improvisation (Tues).
Sun 4/17: chicken shawarma pie adapted from Falastin. loved it. green beans
Mon 4/18: Mac & cheese, sautéed baby chard from farmers’ market (prepared with onion, garlic, and red wine vinegar)
Tue 419: croquettes made from “risotto” which was the leftover arborio rice from Sat, mixed with some pecorino and a few eggs to hold them together. not as good as real arancini from a restaurant but a decent use of a lot of leftover rice! roasted asparagus.
Wed 4/20: leftover chicken shawarma pie, asparagus
Thu 4/21: leftover Mac & cheese, more asparagus? kinda overbought this week…
Fri 4/22: another celebration of surviving the week!
Also my daughter made the carrot cake from Dessert Person last weekend and wow it is so, so good.
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I made the chicken shawarma pie when Falastin was COTM on CH last year, and I will happily make it again sometime.
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Cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore
Wednesday: leftover mustard/pineapple glazed ham with leftover spaghetti squash
Thursday: Pasta Cacio e Uova from Serious Eats (basically meatless carbonara) https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-cacio-e-uovo-vegetarian-carbonara
Friday: Confetti Meatloaf (Now & Again), mashed cauliflower, broccoli parmesan fritter
Saturday: leftover confetti meatloaf, broccoli parmesan fritter
Sunday: ham and cheese quiche (why did I make a whole ham for 1 person?), green salad
Monday: homemade merguez with herby yogurt (Small Victories), balsamic marinated cucumber and onion salad
Tuesday: leftover merguez, yogurt, cucumber salad
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