Welcome to the April edition of the thread where we share our weekly menus and more.
Some of us share a day by day plan, others report last week’s actual meals, and some put together a list of ideas to work from the week. Please do whatever works best for you, and take comfort that the best laid plans do change for all of us!
If you have recipe links or sources, do share them, as we all love picking up new ideas from everyone else’s menus! For context, please include your location and how many you plan and/or cook for.
April is a busy cooking, eating, and feeding month for many with Passover and Easter. If you have special dishes, menus, or traditions, do share them! Then there are the silly / just for fun days — April Fools’ (which is also apparently National Sourdough Day in the US), Deep Dish Pizza Day, Burrito Day, Oatmeal Cookie Day – and it’s also Filipino Food Month! What are you looking forward to cooking or eating in April?
(The March thread remains available for reporting actuals and any follow-up discussions.)
I’m intrigued with Vegetable Sandwiches and Indian sandwiches lately. I might actually get around to making some at home.
Sometimes, I have a little rhubarb cropping up in the garden by the end of April. I will make rhubarb crisp or compote once I have some. I also dig this shashlik with rhubarb sauce recipe.
Hope you all have a good month.
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April 1, I think I’ll roast the duck that is taking up space in my freezer.
Lingonberry sauce from a jar, maybe I’ll make a bread stuffing.
April 2. Leftover duck, the rest to be determined
April 3. Fast fry pork chops with lemon and oregano, tzatziki
Hello everyone it’s a lovely sunny day in Ottawa - for now! - but the weatherman is predicting another snowstorm tomorrow and freezing rain on Sunday. We are expecting anywhere between 4 to 8 inches of snow tomorrow and up to 1/2 an inch of ice build up on Sunday. In other words, your guess is as good as mine. Have I mentioned that I am sick of winter? What I do this weekend depends on the weather. At least my menu plans are predictable:
Today: I ran up to Farm Boy (Canadian equivalent of TJs) to pick up some herbs for this week’s meals. Their herbs are reasonably priced and very fresh so this is where I source my herbs. Their meats and veggies in general are very fresh and good quality. I bought a felafel bowl at their take-out counter and it is very good. I lived dangerously and wore my shoes to go to the store and back. My feet froze but there are no puddles today and who knows when I will be able to wear them outdoors again. I will run up to the market later this afternoon to pick up missing ingredients for the dishes I will be making this week so I can get my shopping done before the bad weather arrives. I will have a cod fillet (protein) that I bought on sale at Farm Boy and a salad (veggies).
Saturday: I have a matinée movie penciled in for this afternoon but if it’s snowing cats and dogs then I will curl up on the sofa with some tea and a book and my crossword puzzles. I will make ratatouille for dinner and farro on the side. I’ve been wanting to get more fibre in my diet so farro it is.
Sunday: I have a museum visit penciled in for this afternoon but if the sidewalks are encased in ice, it will be a repeat of yesterday. I will have a salmon fillet with a Greek salad on the side for dinner.
Monday: I work in the office today. Hopefully the sidewalks won’t be slippery. Otherwise I will be skating or zip lining to work. Dinner will be a risotto with sundried tomatoes and leek that got bumped from last week (although I can’t remember why).
Tuesday: Chicken with mushroom sauce, egg noodles and peas.
Wednesday: Shrimp salad.
Thursday: I will be going to a film society screening tonight so I will have dinner on the way to the movie theatre.
I got a lovely box of vegetables in my Good Food Box this week including carrots with tops and they make a good pesto sauce so I will make some this weekend. I also bought some radishes with the tops attached and they also make a nice pesto sauce so I will be making a double batch of it this weekend. I like pesto sauce best served over pasta but it also makes a nice salad dressing.
On another note, I signed up for an art class to start on April 7th and it’s called “Sketching en plein air”. It’s held every Monday night until June 9th and I am very excited! Part of the class will be held outside so I hope it won’t be too snowy by then…
Hi, all! Cooking for 1-4 in Sacramento and Chattanooga. It’s been a lovely almost month in California, but I’ll be happy to get home to DH, the cats, and my well-stocked kitchen.
Very loose plans for the upcoming week that all depend on my getting to the store soon after my arrival (there is a very long list of things DH would rather do than go to the store; apparently he has been attending university functions avidly in the past week for the free food, haha).
Breakfast: Zucchini muffins
Saturday, March 29: Red lentil soup, rice, marble cake with returning DD and her BF
Sunday: Off to Oakland, where the other daughter is taking me on a food tour
Monday: I guess I’ll need to pack a snack because I’ll be running between flights
Tuesday: Gambas al ajillo (Cook’s Country), assuming I have shrimp in the freezer. Side dish TBD.
Wednesday-Thursday: TBD
Friday: Perhaps I’ll splurge on steaks, smashed potatoes, and some kind of asparagus
I’m having a large-ish crowd over on Saturday for our monthly community dinner; does anyone have ideas for something springy that will work for a multi-generational crowd? I’ve done enchiladas, chili, and pasta in the past. I could do a couple big grandma pizzas, but am open to suggestions!
Have a good week (I hope things thaw out soon for our Canadian friends) and happy cooking!
I was going to suggest a saucier pasta primavera (maybe a light bechamel so it doesn’t dry out), but great idea on spanakopita pasta, or tweak it for spinach artichoke dip pasta, which you can bake like ziti and cut into squares.
Not terribly springy but good for a group is any kind of arroz con pollo — use chicken legs or boneless thighs to keep it simple and prevent the chicken from drying out. Even easier if you take salsa verde (or any salsa) and purée it with additional aromatics and cilantro/parsley for the flavor base. (I’ve been adding sautéed spinach to the rice of late.)
Different take, but my aunt does a side of poached salmon for a spring party every year, and it’s always a big hit. Homemade mayo and lemon slices on the side.
Jacques Pepin’s slow roasted salmon (fish at room temp to a 200 degrees oven, roughly 40 minutes roast time) is great for feeding a crowd, Depending on size, you could easily do two whole salmon filets at the same time. No chance of over-cooking, and good served warm or at room temp. How big is the crowd? I’m curious.
And for the multi-generational crowd, you could have a simple side sauce for those who prefer that, and something zingy for the more adventurous (I’d do a zhoug mayo or gochujang mayo, or the herby yogurt that’s with this merguez recipe, but I love it on its own - grate in some garlic and squeeze plenty of lemon in).
Thanks to all for the great suggestions! We have vegetarians in the crowd (it tends to be in the 12-15 range), so that spanakopita pasta looks like a good possibility. I also came across this lasagna recipe, but it might be too veg-heavy for the kids among us…
2 Likes
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
13
You might have thought of this already, but a taco bar is very accommodating of different dietary restrictions. Big pot of charro beans, rice, mojo pulled pork shoulder, maybe even a Crock Pot of classic Americanized spiced ground beef, chopped lettuce and toppings. Everyone can find something, even those who are eating low carb or who don’t eat pork or meat.
As a formerly quite-picky child and a currently slightly-picky adult, I think this simple lasagne from Julia Turshen might work very well for you (also, as an expert in picking out things I don’t like from food, lasagna with some greens is easier to eat as a picky kid than spanakopita pasta — I would have eaten the sheets of pasta )
Hi, everyone. Feeding three in the Boston burbs, where much of this week’s plans are a result of reshuffling last week around because of Life.
Sun: DH’s birthday dinner at the fancy steakhouse we’re not at tonight because DS wasn’t feeling well. (I made fried rice for dinner tonight, he ate plain rice.)
Mon: turkey burgers, broccoli slaw, maybe some potato chips for crunch.
Tues: fried chicken salads with cornbread croutons and honey mustard dressing
Weds: cheesy baked rigatoni (rolled from last week, I forget exactly why I didn’t make it)
Thurs: black bean soup/chili (Smitten Kitchen Keepers) and cheese quesadillas
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
17
A new week, but not a lot of new stuff on the menu. I didn’t get to many of the meals I had planned while my husband was out of town. Here’s what I have in mind for us adults; our kiddo may eat some parts, but I’m not especially hopeful.
I ate way too much this weekend with other nyc and visiting Onions (see here, here, here, and here) so I need some remedial fasting or light eating for a few days .
We had a glorious almost-80 and sunny day here in nyc that dropped right back to the 40s, so no spring-y food just yet, still warm and comforting stuff.
Ideas for the week, with some roll-overs:
– Quick swordfish and vegetable tagine + quinoa Lots of baby trumpet mushrooms to use up:
– Mushroom japchae
– Pelmeni with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and potatoes
– Mushroom and barley pilaf (restaurant copycat)
– Kimchijeon or kimchi fried quinoa+rice (but not the insane bacon one from Koreatown ) + added cabbage + fried egg
– Arroz (+quinoa blend) con pollo or Indian chicken Akhni pulao
– Pongal again + sauteed veg + yogurt + papad
Will attempt a tiny sourdough loaf again, using one of the simplified methods.
Is it a sign when I run into my Sicilian godmother at the grocery store on April 1st, that it’s the first day of Cuisine of the Quarter, Sicilian edition?
On April 1, I made Farfalline alla Norma, braised leftovers and insalata mista.
So much for that plan of duck.
April 2 will be shrimp or fish, style to be determined. I should use the fennel bulb and spinach in my crisper.
Hello to everyone from the rainy/snowy April Fools weather day from the Twin Cities of MN. When this freezes we are going to need the skates to get anywhere. I’ve been overprotective on my food outputs as ii completely forgot about Mr Autumm’s client meetings this week (they feed him lunch and dinners out fro 3 days) and then we were watching the figure skating worlds this weekend and oops, too many leftovers now. I should just stash some things in the freezer. I’m supposed to be finishing a sign up for feeding our coaches next week but I oopsed that so taking a break for a bit. I also need to relace big kiddo’s skate but I only do that after some wine
Actuals and plans for 2 adults and 2 busy girls:
Sat 29: More skate watching with a pizza buffet: Calzone with pepperoni and sausage, Margareta, hulapenio, garlic with bacon and chicken.
Son 30: SK steak salad . Good but the refrigerator ate my limes so I used a combo of lemon and rice vinegar instead. Better with limes
Mon 31: No school day. Big kiddo 2 rehearsals. So pasta salad there and plate of leftovers. Mr Autumm out and brought me home some Thai. Little one leftover pizza
Tues 1: Tonight! Big kiddo was in a funk after theater. Girls have rehearsal at 830 PM and Mr Autumm out with “da boyz” for a late birthday celebration. Waffles from freezer with berries, ricotta for them. Leftover takeout for me
Weds 2: Regular skate lessons plus finale practice. An hour break in between so probably some bento box kinda of snacky meal for them. Mr Autumm out with coworkers. I will scrounge
Thurs 3: Just big kiddo theater after school. Leftover steak and other odds and ends
Fri 4: Something with the freezer find grilled pork or the chicken, sides TBD but salads for sure
What I do this weekend depends on the weather. At least my menu plans are predictable:
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