This week I did the annual culling of my recipe notebooks – removing recipes I’ve made and which appealed to me initially, but which have not since been specifically memorable or craved (or, in some cases, are too similar to other recipes I like better). I dumped 30-40 recipes in the recycle bin and feel good about being slightly more organized.
Other than that, another week, another menu. Cooking for two adults in the PNW.
FRI: Irish champ. Lamb sausages. Baby garden peas from the freezer. Prompted by the Irish Cooking thread.
SAT: Hot wings on the grill. Veggie stix and ranch for me; leftover Irish champ and Heinz beans (blue can) for him.
SUN: Bacon and egg sandwiches on buttermilk biscuits. Green salad (and undoubtedly more Heinz beans).
MON: ATK‘s red beans and rice (with thanks to @Pweet for the reco). Will use fresh (not smoked) andouille
TUE: A new-to-me fish stew recipe from Simply Recipes. One can’t have too many chowder recipes up their sleeve. Will use Alaskan halibut from the freezer.
WED: Another new-to-me recipe for roast chicken with apples. Will use spuds instead of turnips. Not a turnip fan.
My main meal of the day now needs to be consumed before 4pm (sux getting old!) at the latest. This is the usual time I traditionally started working on it and I do spend a lot of time leisurely preparing that meal. This two (sometimes only one) meal a day has been a bit difficult to manage, especially with the family frequently visiting and the roomate’s schedule, but according to some ‘experts’, fasting like this is good for you.
So what I do is make the main meal to be eaten early by me and anyone else who wants to join in and the left overs, if any, go in the fridge for those to eat later. The plan through Saturday at least is…
• tonight— homemade potato latkes with the usual accoutrements and smoked salmon and Waldorf-y salad
• tomorrow’—(going to start this tonight) old school mac & cheese and a
tossed multiple greens salad (a medical test is during my new
meal time, will have to eat later and suffer the consequences )
•Saturday— (will start ahead tomorrow) meatball madness. Going to
cook up multiple meatballs (all ‘plain’) for Saturday’s sketti & balls
meal, and freeze portions for future use ('prolly Xmas)
Holiday baking blitz starts Saturday, so through the weekend food’ll be on the fly thereafter for a few days. The pantry and fridge are loaded for that.
‘The kitchen may be off limits at times due to increased demand. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience!’
Hello everyone and Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating. Only one week to go until my Christmas vacations start and I am looking forward to getting out a little while I am off. The covid fatigue seems to be almost gone and cabin fever is starting to set in. Time to line up some activities to do! This weekend’s plans are up in the air since the weatherman is predicting freezing rain for today and tomorrow. I’m not as steady on my feet as I used to be so if the sidewalks are icy I don’t go out. Thankfully it has held off for now so I was able to do part 1 of my grocery run at lunch today. I have a few missing ingredients to pick up tomorrow then I am done. Believe it or not Whole Foods sells the local eggs I like for a little bit cheaper than the nearby grocery stores near my apartment. So much for calling them Whole Paycheque! I hope to tie in a museum visit on Sunday afternoon. On to my meal plan for this week:
Today: For the first time in forever I forgoed (forwent?) a take out lunch. Our team Christmas luncheon was yesterday and I will be going out for dinner tomorrow so between that and the treats people keep bringing to work I figured I can have a nice homemade lunch today. I had a very delicious Greek salad (my favourite!) so I will be making risotto with leek and sundried tomatoes for dinner.
Saturday: Dinner out. My dinner club organizer wants to go to a Christmas market conveniently located just down the street from me. We will be meeting up there to grab a bite to eat (we will decide when we get there) then off to see the Christmas market.
Sunday: The last of the rainbow trout that I made last weekend, Greek salad on the side.
Monday: Beans with courgettes. This is a new-to-me recipe that I found in one of my cookbooks that calls for sautéing zucchini and tomatoes with navy beans. Since I have three servings of already cooked beans in the freezer I will try this one out. I will have rice on the side.
Tuesday: Chicken skewers from the freezer (West End Cuisine brand from Costco) and another Greek salad on the side.
This seems like a good place to ask: I want to make 2 or 3 meals this weekend for a neighbor who will be bringing home a 19YO recovering from major surgery early next week. Only restriction is no mushrooms, otherwise she says they eat everything “like raccoons in a dumpster” (which really tickled me).
I thought of the RecipeTin Eats spinach ricotta pasta bake because that should yield leftovers for lunch, plus salad which I know they always eat, but what else? Zuppa toscana, maybe? A big shepherds pie? Ideas??
ETA: these are the lovely neighbors who invited me for Thanksgiving and then dropped off a gorgeous plate when I was too sick to go. So you can see my motivation!
This is wonderful of you, and they do sound like great neighbors. Soups and stews are good because they’re easy to reheat, and easy to portion on the receiver’s end. Cookies? A big pot of chili? Grain and bean salads are good because they’re fine at room temp and keep well for a few days.
2nd the Chili recommendation, with cornbread and honeybutter.
A quiche or 2, for good breakfasts or dinner. BBQ meatballs and cheesy grits - these reheat well. With green beans almondine and a salad.
A cut fruit salad? Or just some grapes, washed and vines snipped for easy-to-grab bunches of 6-10
Pasta bake (lasagna, ziti, mac & cheese, etc), enchilada bake, one-pot rice like mujadara or ottolenghi’s cardamom chicken rice, shepherd’s / cottage pie.
Rotisserie chicken or roasted thighs with some simple sides (salad, mashed potatoes).
Dumplings (chinese, pan-fry from frozen) and easy garlic or scallion noodles.
Loaf of bread, sandwich fixings, a good boxed soup (if you’re not making soup) — let’s them DIY a little. Or you can assemble some paninis or grilled cheese and drop off with ready soup.
(Each time we’ve been post-hospital we’ve craved flavor and also been more likely to graze than eat full meals, if that’s helpful.)
Hi everyone! I suddenly realized on Monday that I needed to get moving on Christmas! So it’s been a busy week. Also having a problem with my mouth - my doctor and I both think it’s thrush, but the test was inconclusive, but she gave me meds for that, and they’re slowly working. I’m experiencing spicy food burning my mouth for the first time I can remember. But I keep forgetting this while I’m cooking, so continuing to add my usual amount of chilies. Oops. Here is what we ate this week:
Mon: rigatoni with sausage, broccoli, and beans from the COTM. Delicious.
Tues: puffy spoonbread with corn, crab, and roasted peppers (last month’s COTM), salad, rolls.
Wed: LLD out for work event, kidney bean curry, basmati.
Thurs: carry out burritos
Fri: Lulu out of town for debate. LLD made meat skewers, I made roasted farro and carrot salad with dried apricots, pistachios, and feta.
Sat: LLD is making us burgers, mine impossible
Sun: carry out
Hope you’re all better prepared for the holidays than I am so far! Wishing you a happy week.
I got thrush, mostly in my throat, once when I had a huge exposure to known allergens (grass and other pollens) after I moved to Northern California from the East Coast decades ago. I found that foods that weren’t hugely crunchy worked best and that anything acidic (like OJ) was very painful. When the meds kicked in, thrush cleared up, though the allergic symptoms didn’t as much (California has a long pollen season).
Your week sounds great! That roasted farro salad with some of my favorite ingredients is so appealing. Is there a link? Sounds Ottolenghi-like.
I’ve found myself looking at the calendar and thinking, WHAT? at being unprepared for Christmas some of the years after our son-to-be-adopted 6-year-old moved in in fall 2006. It still happens some years. Son isn’t very enthusiastic about Christmas (too sad in some ways for him) and neither are his adoptive parents, so we’ve pared it down to ways that work for all of us. I’m still the parent in charge of gifts, holiday card, holiday gift baking, and holiday food for the 3 of us; that last one is the simplest.
We just had our holiday celebration with his older sister and his niece and nephew today (take out from the pub down the street as is their preference) and this year I finally did the gifts early.
So at this point, 2 of the 3 of us are hoping for snow this season since there was almost none Boston-area last year. The third of us, who grew up in Iowa, hates snow passionately. Son loves to shovel for us and as a volunteer for others.
Best wishes to all for the season; more joy, less angst.
The recipe is from Six Seasons, do you have that book? I sort of halved it, but think I put too many carrots, so it feel sweeter than I would have liked. But overall it was good. And yes, I think buckwheat would work well.
I’m usually better and more prepared than this, so it came as a bit of a shock. I’m impressed that you’re so close to ready.
Interesting that you got thrush from allergies!! It had started before we went to Bermuda, but once there it seemed to get better. Makes sense if it is caused by local allergens. Thank you so much for that info.
I’ve been told thrush is more likely to happen when the immune system is overwhelmed for whatever reason…I’ve known a couple of people who got thrush when they got a sudden onset severe case of influenza. The few times in my life I had zero allergy symptoms was when I was at a beach for more than a couple of days. The ocean air/breeze zaps the local allergens for me. Tobacco smoke also is a big allergen for me. Not as much a problem now, since all the non-smoking laws went into effect decades ago. For me, it all adds up.
I have Six Seasons and have mostly cooked several recipes from it many times but I have long intended to make a dent in the rest. Great cookbook! I’ll look at it for the farro. Thanks!
Best wishes to your family as LL is in college application season.
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I hope to tie in a museum visit on Sunday afternoon. On to my meal plan for this week: