Weekly Menu Planning December 2024

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in December. 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.

Are you planning meals with new-to-you ingredients or spices? Or revisiting family-favorites from past winters? Making meals for a crowd or meals for 1-2, or both? At our house, early December features simple meals while I spend a week baking treats to mail to family and give to friends. This year’s cookie recipes list is yet TBD, but will be much smaller than last year (… I say every year).

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.

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Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where I should probably be focused on cleaning out the fridge but am in fact doing lots of cooking and baking because I’ll be gone from my kitchen for the next few weeks…
Breakfast: Completely unnecessary but delicious crumb cake
Saturday, November 30: Beer-battered fish and chips; Krautsalat from Classic German Cooking. Baking chocolate-cherry cookies, rugelach, ginger bars. Already baked cookies-and-cream cookies and Baseler Brünli.
Sunday: Chinese-style short ribs, rice, more cabbage
Monday-Tuesday: Work on whittling down the leftovers
Wednesday: Turkey-kale burgers, probably in meatball form, starch TBD, maybe carrot salad?
Thursday-Friday: More fridge cleanup and/or takeout before Saturday’s flight
I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy this week! Happy cooking!

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For two adults in San Diego:

Breakfasts: My husband gave me the Bonne Maman advent calendar, so I baked plain scones to go with it for the first week. I’ve never had an advent calendar of any type, not even as a kid. I gave my husband the LEGO one, as usual. :slight_smile:

S: (tonight) Takeout - Beef and bean burritos

Su: Thanksgiving pot pies - leftovers under a crust, with cranberry sauce

M: Omelettes with ham, spinach, and Boursin, hash browns

T: Bean and ham - soup

W: Leftover pot pies

Th: Grilled cheese with cranberry sauce, salad - vegetarian

F: Fish tacos - seafood

Have a good week!

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Between your chinese short ribs and @ChristinaM’s Thanksgiving short ribs, I might have to go get some!

Have a wonderful break — guessing you are off to France?

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Indeed, lucky me!

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Cooking for three in the Boston burbs, where we made it through a very carb-laden Thanksgiving meal… thank goodness I held off on making stuffing (it can wait for another day). How is it December already??

Sun: I made a ton of meatballs… 4.5 lbs of ground pork and turkey, just over 10 dozen. We had some for dinner with red sauce, rolls, and provolone cheese - my artistic vision turned out to be incredibly messy and structurally unsound, but tasty. The rest of the meatballs are likely to go into DS’s lunches this week and the freezer.

Mon: queso chicken chili - I use regular Jack cheese, not pepper jack, and Rotel for some of the salsa.

Tues: pepper steak (red peppers because we don’t like green), rice

Weds: some sort of breaded chicken breasts, cacio e pepe twice baked potatoes (from the new Julia Turshen cookbook - we just made these a couple weeks ago and DS is obsessed), roasted broccoli

Thurs: out, separately. I’m meeting some former colleagues - please cross your fingers for me that this does not turn into complaining/gossiping about our former company or coworkers, because I don’t have the mental bandwidth for it. Guys are doing the annual pilgrimage to Olive Garden in celebration of my late FIL’s birthday, so they’ll eat their weights in breadsticks.

Fri: adobo chicken burrito bowls, I think. Maybe leftovers instead.

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I’ve given both Lulu and her Dad each an advent calendar for years with no reciprocation, so when Godiva sent me an email offering one, I decided to hit the forward button. Pretty sure one has arrived at the house, and I am very happy about it!

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I just love the Olive Garden memorial meal tradition.

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I’m glad someone can take a hint! Sounds like a great birthday present for you. And yesterday was the first day of advent!

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My kiddo noticed the disparity this year and asked where mine was. Yeah, hmm :thinking:

His dad has been sharing his Advent chocolate with him and tonight the little one asked if he would like one of his gemstone minerals from his own calendar in exchange. I had to credit him for his empathy/sense of fairness.

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Hello to everyone from the brisk Twin Cities of MN where it feels like December with full winter coats and hats in regular use. The time of the year where we kind of regret living close to “shops and restaurants” as a major mall is between us and little one’s school. Amazingly our December calendar is much quieter than November as big kiddo’s theater has wrapped (great show, not sure about how II feel about my 13 year old being the “hot girl” in the distracted boyfriend meme) and thanksgiving has passed. Thanksgiving was wonderful for seeing my brother and his family, and the food was food. Bless her heart, my mom is an eat to live cook and my brother is gluten free ish. At least he can now have dairy so life was better for that

Actuals and plans for 2 adults and 2 busy and growing girls

Thurs 28: Thanksgiving at my parents’: A 20 pound bird, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, jarred gravy, stove top stuffing, frozen peas, frozen pies. Wonderful to be with family, and to watch my niece and nephew who are rather picky and have picky eater parents emulate their cousins and try new things

Fri 29: Take out pizza from a childhood favorite place Bummed as toppings were a bit skimpy but still darn tasty

Sat 30: Ravioli from freezer, pesto. A not feeling like cooking meal after driving home from my parent’s

Sun 1: Take out Thai. Needed carbs that were “worth it” and leftovers

Mon 2: No school day so put up the Christmas tree and indoor decorations. The tree which was my grandmother’s she bought in 1988 is hanging on and doing its best real tree interpretation by dropping needles everywhere. Big kiddo skates and little one is having a bubble bath while I type, Assorted leftovers ala Leftover Monday

Tues 3: Back to school and normal. Needed to do a grocery stock up. Baked crab cakes, tots, and pea pods

Weds 4: Old school ground beef tacos with the standard fixings after both kiddos skate

Thurs 5: Who knows. I need to do a big fill the fridge shop. Will not buy any turkey…

I continue to be thankful for our corner of the internet and the community we have. Stay warm and happy cooking to all!

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Ennui seems to have set in post-thanksgiving and pre-winter break trip.

Also it got COLD - and SO FAST! Ugh I hate the cold. I finally put on all the humidifiers because the ambient heat was bad enough (apartment living), but then I finally had to turn my own heat on one or two frigid evenings.

Warm and comforting are what the weather has ordered.

Ideas:

Soupy / stewy things:
— Coconut curry chicken noodle soup — with potatoes
— Ottolenghi curried lentil and coconut soup
— Salmon / Fish chowder for DOTQ – this one from COTM NYT sounds good with lemongrass and coconut milk for tom kha vibes
— Chrissy Teigen’s Carrot and Coconut Soup from an old COTM

Comfort things:
— Roast chicken with scalloped potatoes
— Masala Khichdi with some accompaniments

Pending-on-my-list and still-want-to-eat things:
— Steak bites – Bo Luc Lac or Japanese soy-garlic steak
— Korean beef (turkey) and tofu patties / Wanja Jeon – this or this
— Shumai burgers (maybe as meatballs, possibly with chicken thighs or ground turkey) or spiced Shrimp burgers / Thai shrimp cakes (COTM)
— Fish larb (COTM NYT)
— Spanish-flavored chicken & potatoes inspired by @MunchkinRedux – this combined with this

Have to empty my fridge pile-up, that’s the unpleasant job of the week.

Also have a hankering for homemade fudge and cheese cookies mentioned over on the holiday treats thread, may finally give in.

Wishing you all warmth and good eats!

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It is SO COLD, and I hate it too.

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I love snow, but as I get older, the cold becomes more uncomfortable. And the dry air the indoor heating causes makes it feel more uncomfortable. It’s getting warmer here in Boston so our precipitation tonight and tomorrow will be rain. For me, cold rain is worse than snow. It just feels colder because of the humidity.

Cooking comfort food/braises/soups/stew and hot drinks help a lot.

I still love snow!

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Greetings People.

Thanksgiving and all its traditions are behind us – bring on Christmas!

This week we’re making our annual trip to BigBoxVille where we will visit mainly food-centric stores and will fill our carts with reckless abandon. TJ’s, Costco, World Market, Total Wine – all the good stuff. I’m cutting back on the cookie-and-sweets-baking this year, so I can better partake of the savory delights. Thus, I’ll be particularly interested in charcuteries and cheeses, maybe a little chocolate, and for sure some good brandy.

Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: A shopping day, and we’ll be home late for dinner. Turkish lentil soup with greens from the freezer. Yogurt naan.

SAT: Burgers on the grill. Convection-oven fries.

SUN: Marcella’s roast chicken with lemon (NYT gift link). Green salad.

MON: Steak on the grill. If I’m feeling fancy, then maybe mini brioche tarts with a mushroom and gruyere topping, otherwise - a pile o’ sauteed shrooms and some kind of starch. Green salad

TUE: Halibut in cream sauce with leeks. Rice.

WED: Leftover lemon chicken in some form.

THUR: Ikea Swedish meatballs from scratch – an annual treat. I’m thinking egg noodles this year. Currant jelly. Green peas.

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Greetings from Ottawa where the temperature has dipped overnight and it is FREEZING! Apparently it is only -7 celsius (19 Fahrenheit) today but it feels like -1000. I guess it was so mild last winter then continuing over the summer months that I forgot what cold is like :grinning: I went to see a jazz show last Wednesday and I was a little delayed in getting home since I had an errand to run so I only made it to the second half of the concert. There were only three of us there (five if you count the two waitresses) which was really disappointing. But we got our first real snow fall of the season that day so I guess a lot of folks decided to head home after work and stay at home. Onto my menu plan for this week:

Today: Take out lunch is another chicken pesto pasta from a nearby deli. It’s delicious but I am really going to have to expand my take-out options. Dinner tonight will be a Russian salad.

Saturday: Cleaning day. I have a pile of magazines in my living room that I am tired of looking at so I will see if I can get rid of some of them. Dinner will be a Chinese noodle soup.

Sunday: I actually don’t have any plans for today! It’s been years since that happened :rofl: I might go clothes shopping or maybe a museum visit. I will decide when I get up on Sunday morning what I feel like doing. I will have chicken with mushroom sauce and egg noodles for dinner.

Monday: Stir fried lo mein noodles with pork and vegetables.

Tuesday: Arugula salmon salad.

Wednesday: Off to another jazz concert at 7:00 so I will heat up leftovers for dinner then head off to the show. I will have the other serving of hamburger stroganoff I made last week with egg noodles on the side.

Thursday: Pasta. I usually have something planned but I’m expecting to have a few random veggies left by Thursday so I will make a last minute decision based on what I have left in the fridge.

Hopefully those living on the west coast weren’t too badly affected by yesterday’s tsunami.

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Oooh… that sounds like a good one. Hope you’re enjoying it!

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Hi, all. Cooking for 3 in the Boston burbs, where we had our first snowfall this week - fortunately just an inch that mostly melted the same afternoon. I’m not ready to shovel.

Sun: lasagna, maybe with some leftover meatballs as one of the layers? Cheesy pull-apart garlic bread (from The Elements of Baking, shared on instagram), green beans to counteract all that cheese.

Mon: steak tips. Either mashed potatoes (the refrigerated kind) or the rest of the garlic bread. Glazed carrots.

Tues-Thurs: I’m heading on my first business trip in a while, to Minneapolis. On Tuesday night I’m having dinner with friends from grad school who I haven’t seen in almost 20 years (how is that possible, since we’re all still in our 30s??). Weds might be a business dinner but I’m crossing my fingers that it might be room service in my jammies.
Guys will be eating:
Tues: DH special - rotisserie chicken, Jiffy box cornbread, peas
Weds: leftover lasagna, garlic bread from the freezer, something vegetable
Thurs: PTO fundraiser at a local Italian place / ordering in - I’ll have them get me a salad or something

Fri: tbd, as usual

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I’ll be rooting for the jammies in bed route. Hope you enjoy a bit of time on your own!

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Actuals for Dec 2 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where it was 50! degrees yesterday (no coat required, just a sweater) and is forecast to be minus 3 this Thursday. It’s been baking-for-boxes week and all has gone reasonably well. By planning meals to use up some freezer inventory, and by shifting the pizza stash to the fridge freezer, I created just enough space in the upright freezer for all the batches, so far. I have 2 more cookie recipes I want to make, and hope to finish those this afternoon. Then I’ll pack 6 boxes Monday and perhaps even mail them. Delivery of cookie trays to friends will spread out over the next couple of weeks.

Mon: Turkey noodle soup, cheeseball & crackers
BAKED pecan tassies
Tues: Lunch (from freezer, to make room for cookies) Rotel rice & chcken - served as hard shell tacos. Guac, dab of salad Dinner- Slow cooker Italian pot roast, box frozen veggies, microwave potato quarters,
BAKED Cranberry pinwheels
Wed: meals repeated/reheated from Tues.
BAKED Cardamom Toasts
Thurs: Salmon, bag salad, wild rice (from freezer), fresh orange slices
BAKED Apricot fold overs – also same dough / filling shaped as Finnish stars (directions per Beatrice Ojakangas in The Great Scandinavian Baking Book)
Fri: Lunch - Meatballs (from freezer) with marinara in hoagie buns, bag salad, red grapes
Supper - (disappointingly plain) Ground beef & vegetable soup (Julia Pacheco recipe). Biscuits (from a dry mix) with honey
BAKED Molasses Crater cookies. Also mixed and froze chocolate icebox cookie dough (for slice & bake)
Sat: Dinner - Ham & cream cheese sandwich on cranberry walnut bread. Cranberry sauce, Spinach salad. Spanakopita. Cookies.
BAKED slice & bake chocolate icebox cookies
BAKED cookie press Spritz - snowflakes, trees, wreaths
Sun: (today) - Ground beef & veggies soup leftover converted to a Tex-Mex casserole - with corn, diced green pepper, chili powder and cumin added, topped w/ cornbread.
(The rest of the soup & broth got converted to Italian-casserole, with added marinara, elbow pasta and oregano; we’ll have that this upcoming week.)
Made snack mix Crispix Mix using Chex cereal, no pretzels, double nuts
Plan to BAKE oatmeal raisin cookies
Plan to make no-bake cookies/candy - rice crispies, mini marshmallows, peanut butter, dry roasted peanuts, white candy bark.

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