Weekly Menu Planning - June 2022

Weekly Menu Planning – June 2022

Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in June. It’s helpful if you can include your location and how many people you are feeding. Links to recipes are always appreciated, and sources help.

Will you be doing more cooking outdoors, either over a campfire / campstove or your backyard grill? Picnicking at summer sports events or by the beach? Keeping cool indoors and enjoying your favorite chilled maindish salads?

We all know plans can change, so it’s fine (practically expected) when your week gets rearranged from your posted plan. You may choose to report actuals for the prior week to share ideas with others.

The May discussion is still available for reporting the last week and follow-ups

Reminder – Keep your comments menu / food related. And in the interest of faster viewing times, please use the Heart under a comment to indicate you liked it or want to echo what was said by another, rather than posting a separate comment.

4 Likes

Hi, cooking for two adults and an 11yo in the Boston burbs.

Sun: firecracker chicken https://easyfamilyrecipes.com/firecracker-chicken/ with rice and snow peas. This was good - wish I remembered who’d recommended it! I cut the brown sugar to 1/4 C and used gochujang instead of sriracha; both worked well. Next time I’ll cook the chicken, then take it out of the pan while I simmer/reduce the sauce (it got a little overdone and didn’t stay crispy).

Mon: brats/hot dogs on the grill, grilled pepper panzanella https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/06/grilled-pepper-and-torn-mozzarella-panzanella/ and some store-bought potato salad for DH

Tues: taco chili (How to Instant Pot) which I’ll make tomorrow and just reheat after a long day in the office

Weds: spaghetti pie, green beans

Thurs: hoping to make pizza on the grill - I think I’ve liked Alton Brown’s crust?

Fri: tbd, soccer soccer and more soccer

17 Likes

Wishing everyone in the US a long weekend that brings more light than the past week did <3

Cooking for two adults and a 9 yo during the first heatwave of the year in southwestern Ontario. Menu isn’t very heatwave-ish, as I try to balance seasonal cooking with some crowd-pleasers for my picky kiddo.

Monday - Spaghettini and meatballs, garlic toast

Tuesday - Fish tacos with cilantro slaw and chipotle crema

Wednesday - Caroline Chambers’ Thai basil beef bowls with coconut-ginger rice and peanut sauce

Thursday - We’re going out to our favourite local bistro to celebrate my husband’s 44th birthday.

Friday - Takeout

Breakfasts - Joanne Chang’s maple blueberry scones (except I forgot to buy blueberries…so I’m going to try strawberries)

Lunches - Kathleen Ashmore’s chopped chicken taco salad

15 Likes

Saving the firecracker chicken recipe to my file - thanks!

4 Likes

cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore

Monday: steamed lobster tail, steamed veg, baked sweet potato
Tuesday: “a nice lasagna” (Julia Turshen), green salad
Wednesday: lasagna and salad
Thursday: pot roast from The New Midwestern Table, egg noodles
Friday: leftover pot roast/egg noodles
Saturday: shrimp ceviche

18 Likes

Had a good time at Star Wars Celebration. Wish more people had kept their required masks on, but it was good to spend a few days around such joy and passion. Will be testing daily this week, just in case. Now I have to finish grading and turn the grades in, because I need this semester to be over!

For two adults in San Diego:

This week’s breakfasts: Good ol’ dependable TJ’s chocolate croissants

S: takeout - One of the best things about the Anaheim Convention Center is the food trucks that set up out front. On Friday night, I had a great rice bowl (half orange chicken, half teriyaki chicken), and on Saturday I had chicken feta garlic fries.

Su: Back home for fish tacos (easy way, frozen battered fish, purchased coleslaw). - seafood

M: (tonight) Pulled pork sandwiches with (purchased) potato salad.

T: Chicken apple sausage with the rest of the potato salad and coleslaw

W: Piroshky (because Seattle’s Piroshky Piroshky is doing another pick-up event) - beef and cheddar for me, salmon pate for him.

Th: Pasta with fresh tomato sauce - vegetarian

F: Old school crunchy tacos - ground turkey and all the fixings.

Have a good week!

14 Likes

Hi folks

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s been an oddly quiet weekend because I canceled my plans to visit friends, to protect my travel plans for the next 2 weekends (didn’t want to be on closed buses and trains for hours with unmasked people and jeopardize two weekends I really don’t want to miss…).

Last week’s plan saved me on several days! Then there were a couple when I just couldn’t bring myself to cook. Slowly, slowly.

Here are actuals for this weekend and plan for the week ahead:

Fri - Was going to go to the grocery . Then had the brainwave to go see Top Gun Maverick in a day show when the theatre would be empty. Had promised a friend I’d tell her when I planned to go, so we ended up with a last-minute visit for a 2pm show (4 other people in the entire theatre). Wine bar for a glass of bubbly and snacks after constituted dinner. (Also - if you are a Top Gun era person - go see it!)

Sat - Was supposed to meet a friend for dinner but she pushed that back to drinks at the last minute. Leftovers to the rescue - chicken curry and turkish green beans, chapatis from the freezer, and the last bit of rice+quinoa to sop up the delicious gravy.

Sun - Met the same friend for dim sum, and then spent the day shopping for… reunion clothing, sigh. Got home pretty late, and very hungry. Not in the mood for leftovers, and I had picked up fish fingers with Nigella’s riff on Bengali fish bharta in mind. My riff on Nigella’s riff described here - I think I’ll stick with this version, because the broccoli slaw worked great with the flavors and also added bulk and texture.

Mon - Tonight - Plan was to do some real cooking, but I whiled away the evening on the phone with a friend, so dinner was a use-up-the-produce warm salad of shaved Brussels sprouts and butternut squash that ended up being quite delicious!

Tues - More use-up-the-produce - Crispy roasted Maitake mushroom with Boursin and leftovers of the warm salad from the other night. This is a recreation of one my favorite restaurant dishes.

Wed - On Mon night I had thought I’d make the larb recipe from COTM Simple Thai Cooking, but then mom told me that they ate Kaccha Kabab (our basic home kabab that’s very similar to the parsi burger from My Bombay Kitchen, which is less a parsi recipe than a ubiquitous Bombay recipe). So now I’m craving that. Let’s see. With Vietnamese broccoli slaw from prior COTM Vietnamese Food Any Day.

Thurs - Sat - away for my college reunion, very excited to see old friends and new.

Sun - Back home. Dinner will be leftovers of larb or kababs.

Enjoy the short work week!

16 Likes

I’d forgotten all about those Parsi burgers … those used to be in rotation around here and I loved them. Thanks for the reminder.

4 Likes

Will try to be better about posting to this thread. For this week, below is/was the plan.

Sunday Air Fryer (AF) Steak, Instant Pot (IP) Baked Potato then into AF, AF Grilled Veggie Kabobs, Hot Rolls
Monday Repeat of Sunday with leftovers
Tuesday LO Steak Tacos, Mexican Street Corn Salad, Avocado (Didn’t get tired of the steak for 3 nights; it was a great tasting steak!)
Wednesday Swiss Cheese Omelet, Hash Browns, Orange Juice
Thursday Pasta with Artichokes, Capers and Toasted Breadcrumbs, Salad, Garlic Bread
Friday AF Cod, IP Asparagus, IP Rice, Cherry Tomatoes
Saturday Hamburger, French Fries

10 Likes

Thank you so much for the link to the Firecracker Chicken. Have saved it.

1 Like

This looks great. Question for you: how do leftovers hold up? Thinking the fish fingers might not stay crispy. Of course it would not be hard to make the base, divide in half and make another batch of fish fingers for the second meal.

1 Like

Greeting, People.

This is a “no shop” week - the menu driven by proteins from the freezer, languishing hold-outs in the fridge, and anything green from the garden. In some ways this is my favorite type of cooking: making good food, fairly simply, from whatever it is we have on hand. Inspired by, but not necessarily sticking to, recipes. Hoping to bake some bread and crackers, as well (have to use up some of that sourdough discard).

Cooking for two adults in the PNW.

FRI: Whole roasted scallion chicken over potatoes. Green salad.

SAT: Beef and asparagus on the grill. Last call for asparagus?

SUN: Leftover roast chicken in cream sauce with mushrooms and peas over pasta.

MON: New England style chowder made from locally caught shrimp and some clams we dug ourselves. Crackers. Salad.

TUE: Pan roasted pork chops. Sauteed greens. Oven fries. Prompted by the French fry thread, we’ll be trying McCain fries for the first time.

WED: Minestrone or Italian wedding soup, or some hybrid thereof. Homemade bread.

THUR: Burgers on the grill. King Arthur’s potato buns. Garden greens.

14 Likes

Reporting back on the grilled pizza - I did use Alton Brown’s recipe for the crust, but found it to be written a bit unclearly. Read carefully to avoid fully carbonizing a crust… otherwise, the pizzas were tasty!

10 Likes

Actuals thru Saturday, cooking for 2 in MN. And on my way solo to visit family in WI, so husband knows “YOYO” (you’re on your own) for meals today - Tuesday. Plenty of just-reheat items in the fridge. We’ve had a couple of spectacular days for outdoor activity. After many years of missed-timing, we got in a walk at the Arboretum yesterday to see iris and rhododendrons in bloom.

Mon: Corn Fritters (COTM The New Midwestern Table) beside reheated chili
Tues: (Frozen) pizza before an early-evening meeting
Wed: Shrimp and lemongrass wontons (Schwans), beef & broccoli rice bowl (commercial frozen meal), red grapes, rhubarb cake with cinnamon ice cream
Thurs: Salmon, sweet potato, peas. Dessert: Chocolate pudding (microwave, to use up an extra egg yolk)
Fri: Ground turkey/sliced potatoes hot dish (Julia Pacheco https://www.juliapacheco.com/ground-turkey-potato-casserole/ (I made hot dish prep harder than needed by making my own equivalent of cream of mushroom soup – good but not as fast as opening a can). Spinach/apple/craisin salad with croutons and poppyseed dressing
Sat: Noon - had a friend over for lunch - Orzo/tomato/sausage soup, another spinach/apple, etc. salad, baguette. Dessert – (commercial) chocolate pie
https://www.juliapacheco.com/sausage-orzo-italian-soup/
Sat: Dinner - Egg-bake, toast

15 Likes

Ha! Re: McCain fries. As a Canadian, I never know which of our products (and music, tv shows etc.) are popular outside our borders and I always just assumed McCain fries were a solely Canadian thing. I’m partial to Extra Crispy Straight-Cut Superfries, which became a regular in our house during the pandemic. I’m making them tonight, in fact!

3 Likes

Cooking for two adults and a 9 yo for the first half of the week, and then my husband flies to Nova Scotia on Thursday for his first in-person conference since 2019. So it’ll be one night of cooking for just my daughter and me, and then takeout pizza on Friday, and a weekend at the cottage where my mum will cook for us :slight_smile:

M- Homemade burgers (I always make a double batch and then freeze half, so these are frozen patties from a few weeks ago), McCain oven fries, kale salad

T - Salmon and couscous salad with cucumber-feta dressing (NYT Cooking)

W - Fusilli with vodka sauce, Italian sausage, bell peppers and mushrooms

Th - Breakfast for dinner (blueberry pancakes, bacon, fruit salad)

F - Takeout pizza

Weekend - At the cottage where my mum will cook

Breakfasts - I made Caroline Chambers’ copycat Starbucks egg bites frittata, and sweet potato hash

Baking - Caroline Chambers’ Coronado cookies - these are excellent!

I don’t link to the Caro Chambers recipes, as they’re behind a paywall. I’ve subscribed to her Substack for a couple months now and I’m really enjoying it. Recipes are meant for busy weeknights and are written in such a way that, even when they have multiple components/side dishes, she tells you exactly when to start what. We’ve had a few big hits so far, especially last week’s Thai basil beef bowls with coconut-ginger rice and peanut sauce… chef’s kiss.

14 Likes

Spaghetti pie? Please elaborate.

2 Likes

I’ve had my eye on that salmon and couscous salad. I’d have to serve some of it deconstructed for my kids, but let me know how it works out.

And that Substack looks really good! I keep cutting down on my newsletter subscriptions and then finding other ones I like. I pay for a few of them that I really enjoy, and figure it’s about what a magazine subscription would be. Are there others you like? The ones I enjoy a lot are Letter from Berlin (by Luisa Weiss, aka the Wednesday Chef), the Amateur Gourmet, Olivia Mack McCool, and of course the Smitten Kitchen digest. Do you (or anyone else) subscribe to other good food ones I need to know about?

4 Likes

Ditto! So many good recipes in My Bombay Kitchen.

1 Like

There were no leftovers :smiley:
But yes, I’d remove some of the base if you’re planning on multiple meals.
That said, the base cooks while the fish bakes, and it might be better fresh vs leftover.

1 Like