Lol - I hear you on the reshuffling. I cooked up some big bags of beans to make room in the pantry, only to portion out the cooked beans and relocate them to the freezer. I suppose I got them one step closer to being consumed (or at least more likely to be used in cooking), but some days it can feel like a slow slog to the end goal.
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Congrats on your progress! And I think that was your photo of new garden asparagus on WFD… so nice to see the season is Spring somewhere. We’re getting 5 inches of snow tonight.
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Hello to everyone from the snowy Twin Cities of MN where we had pea sized hail today at 630 and we are looking at 4 inches of snow and counting now as I type this at 1130 PM Counting my blessings- one of the Iowa tornados came too close for comfort for my brother - bring on the snow! Good news: we passed our building final inspection! Big kiddo leveled up in skating (despite a hard splat belly flop catching her toe pick on an edge) Not so good: little kiddo has been on a diarrhea bender for a week that even Imodium won’t stop. Good variant out of that is the rest of us haven’t caught it (yet?) Actuals and plans for 2 adults and 2 growing girls:
Tues 28: The late night of skate show rehearsals. Leftover ravioli for little one, frozen commercial burritos for Mr autumm/big kiddo, secret takeout stash for me
Weds 29: No swimming cause the pool pump was broken (sooo not sad about this) Leftover pork loin, stuffing, green peas
Thurs 30: Take out pizza after picking up new skates for big kiddo and to celebrate her test passed and the inspection passed
Fri 31: Toasted english muffin sandwiches with scrambled eggs, avocado. salsa and cheese. Assorted crudite
Sat 1: Would very much like to make lasagna but not sure if it will happen logistically. Morning is skate show Pictures so might not get to have the sauce started in time. Might bump this to sunday as I can’t see us going to the zoo in little one’s current GI status
Sun 2: See what happens on Saturday and adjust accordingly
Take care everyone! Super jealous of all of you having a real spring!
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I’m so impressed with your freezer clean out. Great work, while eating well.
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Congratulations on the building inspection!
And to big kiddo’s skate promotion.
Hope little kiddo’s stomach settles down soon.
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Cooking for 3-5 adults including one recuperating patient (my mom) whose appetite is spotty and finicky at the moment (vs. her usual eat-everything approach) in Mumbai vs. my usual NYC.
A meal plan is even more helpful to me at the moment than usual to organize my thoughts. At lunch, we follow the house approach of one-day-at-a-time, decided the night before, but it’s always an Indian vegetarian meal that follows the traditional pattern of vegetables+legumes+chapatis+yogurt/buttermilk so it’s not too hard to pick one from each column. Dinner is currently my domain (because everyone else is either exhausted or fed up or both by then), so that’s what I’m focused on planning with a view to variety and tastiness for the patient, who usually doesn’t want to eat anything by evening.
Last week actuals where they deviated from my plan, and some ideas for the coming week:
Tues - Steak dinner for us, burger with the same sides for mom. Miso butter mushrooms, garlic broccoli, scalloped potatoes.
(Thai curry was coopted as lunch menu so I had to come up with something else for dinner.)
Wed, Thurs - Soup, tomato salad, and sandwiches (I made too many sandwiches, so we ate them two days in a row). Soup varied, sandwiches were smoked salmon and corned beef. Mom had soup, fresh bread and butter, and cheese one day, Beyond italian sausage and salad the next.
Friday - Korean! Mixed mushroom Japchae (big hit with mom) including some wonderful oyster mushrooms, plus Beyond steak and Chicken lollipops (frenched wings) in a riff of the Buldak Bal glaze from prior COTM Koreatown. Whole meal was extremely successful and will be repeated!
Sat - Sushi bowls for sis and me (shrimp, smoked salmon, avocado, carrots, nori, mushrooms) with steamed broccoli on the side, mom has opted for leftover Japchae and steamed (from frozen) vegetable-paneer momos.
Sun - Baked ziti (except macaroni) with simplified Marcella sauce, side vegetable or salad. Or stuffed shells – we’ve got both jumbo shells and cannelloni at hand, stuffing mixture will be malai paneer instead of ricotta plus the rest
Mon - Indian Chinese: Vegetable Hakka noodles, Paneer Manchurian (freezer), Soya chilli chicken, one more vegetable (either garlic green beans or something I can’t think of yet)
Tues - Freezer leftovers for us (Ghee roast crab, Goan prawn curry), tbd leftovers for mom from whatever she liked from preceding days.
Wed - I’m thinking coconut curry noodle soup with lots of vegetables might be hit the spot for everyone, with some added chicken or shrimp for us.
Thurs - I’ve had Spanish tortilla on my mind so maybe a Spanish-leaning meal, but have to think of something good and vegetarian for mom to center it around. Maybe mushroom croquetas, I’ve also got spanish-stye grilled and marinated artichokes, or I could do veg paella if she’s up for it. Could also add some smoked paprika to veg hot dogs and sautée as mock-chorizo. Will keep thinking.
Fri - Pizza, which is always a favorite for everyone. Maybe I’ll make the crust instead of being lazy and getting the pre-baked one. Some sort of salad.
Sat - Baby lamb chops coated with potato for us, vegetarian kheema-stuffed potato chops for mom (maybe, otherwise leftover pizza), tbd vegetable soup.
Sun - Cheesetoast (the sandwiched kind) and tomato soup for everyone.
The fruit is great at the moment, so we’re enjoying grapes, watermelon, and chikoo (sapota) while the mangoes come into full swing.
Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, and a peaceful and delicious week ahead.
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Congratulations on the inspection, and yikes on the stomach bug - hope it settles soon and passes the rest of you by!
Your lasagna idea is tempting me.
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Kudos on the freezer / pantry discipline and progress!
I chuckled as I read along, because I have somehow become the family freezer cleaner / organizer: first my brother’s during the pandemic (several times, yikes), then my own when I got home a year later, and now my mom’s, because they have a small upright one that my brother and I delight in filling up, and that I finally tackled earlier this week. Everything has now been grouped and bagged, and I even made a (word) “map” and list for my sis who is usually in charge of it so she knows where things are.
But at least we know what’s in there now and can work our way through it, like you have been doing so methodically!
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I need another week of Spring Break. Alas…
For two adults in San Diego:
This week’s breakfasts: I picked up some bakery treats for this weekend, so I’ll be finishing up chocolate chip scones from the freezer when those are done.
S:(tonight) takeout - pizza for him, empanadas for me
Su: Chili (ground turkey), with fries leftover from lunch out on Friday.
M: TJ’s butternut squash ravioli, spinach, Boursin cheese - vegetarian
T: Shrimp tacos - seafood
W: Pasta with chicken Italian sausage, spinach, red sauce, parmesan
Th: French toast (bakery Challah as a base) with chicken breakfast sausage
F: Pizza - pepperoni and spinach
Have a good week!
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Hi, everyone. Spring might finally be here in the Boston area - it was 63F yesterday!
Sun: chicken pot pie with cornbread biscuits (NYT)
Mon: spanakopita chicken meatballs (Rachael Ray), Greek roasted potatoes (https://www.thechunkychef.com/wprm_print/12888)
Tues: chicken and black bean tostadas, Mexican rice with Ro-Tel
Weds: steak tips, either mashed or roasted potatoes, salad
Thurs: I’ve run out of energy for planning. Leftovers if we have them?
Fri: takeout
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I’d happily eat everything on this plan!
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Two in the Berkshires of Western Mass where the weather has been normal and boring thank heaven
Last week I stayed close to plan and will repeat the paparadelle and shrimp this week. I also decided that the reason the family likes my meatballs is that I buy the ingredients at the pricey butcher. The commercial meatloafmix is blah. I am having a redo. tomorrow
Friday April Fool was stuffed peppers and salad
Saturday I made a small lasagna with meatballs and a new to me no cook lasagna noodle. I tossed the leftovers and froze the meatballs.
Sunday fish for me and stuffed pepprs for DH. Swiss chard.
Monday do over meatballs and tbd
Tuesday something DH likes
Wednesday shrimp dish broccoli
Thursday scrounge… cheeseburgers?
We are doing Easter a day early due to kids school schedules
Friday meatballs and spaghetti for kids TBD adults
Saturday Easter dinner … DS and I will decide and shop
Sunday leftovers for me and DH
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I feel for you. I went from having the best boss I’d had in my working life to the worst. We had a mutual disrespect for each other. So, no surprise that when I applied for early retirement, at 53, with a reduced pension, it was approved with speed. I reach 20 years of being retired in September - probably the second best decision I ever made (after deciding to share my life with Mrs Harters, when we in our teens).
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I don’t blame you on deciding to retire early. I will be eligible for early retirement in two years but would prefer to wait until I am eligible for a full pension in eight years from now. I’m worried about running out of money before I run out of life but at 58 years old I am getting too old to handle workplace stress.
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Cooking for two in a lovely springlike northwest England. It’s the Easter weekend - we have no religious faith but that’s no reason not to feast.
Friday - a Thai-esque aubergine & tomato curry (Nigel Slater recipe from Kitchen Diaries 1 - can’t find it online)
Saturday - this meal probably couldnt get more “English spring”. Potted shrimps (bought). Roast leg of lamb, roast spuds, peas, carrots, gravy, mint sauce. Rhubarb crumble and custard
Sunday - hosting a family get-together. Purple sprouting broccoli with anchovy & chilli dressing. Vegetable & cheese tart (Rachel Roddy recipe). Spuds & green beans. Apricot fool for afters. I fully expect ther ardent meat eaters to be less than thrilled with dinner
Monday - steak, saute spuds, veg
Tuesday - oat crusted haddock, spuds & veg
Wednesday - possibly celebrating a friend’s 70th birthday. Our treat. Her choice of restaurant. If not, out to an Italian place in the city for the two of us.
Thursday - sausage pasta bake (from the freezer brown gloop drawer).
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Garlicky mushrooms? Pan con tomate? Or Curate here does a fried eggplant dish with honey that folks rave over. I always like those little wrinkly salted potatoes with dipping sauces from the Canary Islands.
Some good ideas here: https://spanishsabores.com/11-delicious-vegetarian-options-in-spain/
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Those haunt my dreams (we were last in the Canaries in 2019). We’ll be in Tenerife in a week or so.
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I started planning my Easter Dinner menu. I really didn’t want to cook a big ham, so I started thinking about just getting a ham steak (slice of ham), but then I remembered I had leftover (cooked) Christmas Ham frozen in the bottom of the freezer.
So that makes my life a lot easier.
Easter dinner will be… Re-heated (Christmas) Ham, pork stuffing, sweet potatoes, pork gravy, peas and cranberry sauce. Sunshine loves cranberry sauce – I always open a can at any of the BIG meals I prepare for any holiday. I picked up a chocolate Easter Bunny for Sunshine, so that will be her dessert.
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We usually spend three weeks in Tenerife each winter but havent been able to this year as medical issues prevent us getting travel insurance. I like the little Canarian potatoes but, after three weeks of getting them at almost every meal, I get sick to death of them.
My SiL did have a week there in January and brought us back jars of green and red mojo sauce which I also get mighty bored with when they appear at virtually every restaurant meal.
