Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in February. 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. 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 torch of love is lit in the kitchen.” What will you have for your Valentine’s Day meal?
Will your parties for watching the big games and sporting events feature old favorites or something new?
Funny you should mention this… Today, I started digging around for my heart shaped cake pan. I only use it once a year and it gets buried all the way in the back of the pantry… but I did find it.
Boy, I missed the whole month of January! The year started so normally and then… things blew out of control. Hoping things are stay calm from here on out.
I went to my local butcher shop yesterday to stock up on provisions for the week (A Cut Above, in Santa Monica). For those of you who live in Los Angeles, please support your favorite vendors right now as everyone is suffering. Our businesses have already been through a lot with Covid and the aftermath. Enough guilt. Onto menu planning.
I picked up a spatchcocked chicken which is currently drying out on a sheet pan. I will be making Kismet’s roast chicken with schmaltzy potatoes, p. 198, a personal go to recipe of mine.
I also picked out two NY strip steaks that I pan seared for last night’s dinner - spectacular.
TJ’s rack of lamb is defrosting in the fridge and 4 duck legs are in my freezer for future confit making.
I’m going to the opera solo on Valentine’s Day. It’s part of my subscription. I’ll probably get take-out from a restaurant that isn’t a popular destination on Valentine’s Day. Maybe doner or shawarma. Or perhaps an early bird French take-out, before the dinner rush.
The more interesting meals for me in Feb will fall the last week of Feb, when I’ll make some Mardi Gras/ Carnevale meals. I hope to make a Lasagne di Carnevale this Feb. I often make a gumbo or jambalaya during Carnevale.
Pączki Day falls on Fat Thu (Feb 27th this year) in Poland, and on Fat Tue (March 3rd this year) in most States. I usually buy a few Pączki at some Polish bakeries at some point.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where a temperate rain is a welcome change from the biting cold of last week…Glad to kick January to the curb, fingers crossed for February.
Breakfast: Pumpkin muffins
Saturday, February 1: Going to pull out the grill for some stuffed chicken breasts, with potato salad on the side
Sunday: Slow-cooked lamb shoulder if I can find that cut at the store; rice pilaf; salad; pumpkin gingerbread from Maida Heatter
Monday: Leftovers–will probably get buns for leftover lamb sandwiches
Tuesday: White bean and mushroom gratin from ATK; broccoli
Wednesday-Friday: TBD, need to get my cookbook group to choose a recipe!
Wishing all a safe and comfortable week. Happy cooking!
Hi, everyone. Cooking for three in the Boston burbs, where it is still cold and damp. Yesterday I had someone pick up a bicycle that DS outgrew and I had to wheel it down the driveway through the snow - it was really weird seeing a bike track in the snow!
Busy week at work, again, which means weekend desk time and weekend meal prep.
Sun: I’m going out with friends. Guys are having cheese ravioli and meatballs (like this), which I’ll throw in the oven before I leave. Daytime: prep granola for breakfast, black bean soup for lunches, and the sauce and some of the filling for Wednesday’s enchiladas.
Mon: experimental chicken shawarma bake, courtesy of a random instagrammer. but rice instead of couscous because I’ve never seen gluten-free couscous, and honey instead of silan.
Back in my kitchen and trying to reset positively (with some help and inspiration from these parts which helped me get a list of ideas going).
Return was to mostly outside meals for a few days as travel followed travel, but I got some cravings out of the way, which I’m taking as a positive!
I was a bit extra (or didn’t want to go back out in the cold again) and stopped by the grocery store on the way home from my weekend trip , so I am stocked for a few days.
Ideas:
– Salmon roasted with mustard, red lentils / masoor dal cooked with cauliflower stem, sauteed gingery cauliflower, quinoa-rice blend.
– Roast chicken, fennel salad, cauliflower mash (or roast cauliflower, let’s see).
– Fish (salmon) tagine using zhoug and chimichurri for cheater’s charmoula, and adding cauliflower, carrots, and potato
– Soy sauce chicken, tbd veg, quinoa-rice blend
– Spinach faux-gozleme using big chapatis from the freezer, some kind of soup on the side (maybe curried carrot or butternut squash)
– Potsticker patties or meatloaf with ground turkey
Not sure if this will align with what I’ll feel like eating while still jet-lagged, but at least it’s a start.
Thanks for the link to the Peri Peri chicken! Have you made this version before?
We’re big fans of Nando’s, and usually visit when we’re in Vancouver. I use their sauce for making it at home, but this from-scratch version looks really good. Will be trying it.
Greetings from Ottawa where it continues to be chilly. Will it ever warm up?! And it’s quite windy today - I was nearly blown away on my way to the deli to pick up my take-out lunch today. Our winter festival Winterlude started last weekend but I haven’t been yet since nothing on last weekend’s roster of events caught my eye so I went on an art gallery instead. I have plans to go to an immigrant market on Sunday as part of the Winterlude activities. My menus for this week look like this:
Today: Today’s take out is spaghetti and meatballs so I will have a salad for dinner. I know I have spring mix and tofu in the fridge so I will forage at dinner time to see if there is anything else in there I would like to add.
Saturday: Pantry clean out. I usually do this once a year to take inventory and to finish up cans of stuff before the CSA season starts. Dinner will be linguine with zucchini and mint and spring mix on the side.
Sunday: I will head off to take in an immigrant market then off to the market to buy missing ingredients for dinners this week. Dinner tonight will be an Asian salmon bowl.
Monday: Aloo gobi, naan. I will make all four servings (instead of scaling the recipe down to one serving) so I can have leftovers for the freezer.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where I’ll make our Northern friends a bit jealous when I say that it’s unseasonably warm–at least for the next few days…We are kind of ignoring the Super Bowl/Valentine’s aspect of this week
Breakfast: Chocolate-orange buns; a mash-up of a Nigel Slater recipe and a King Arthur one.
Friday, February 7: Spätzle with sausage and onion (gift link), insisting that it’s still actually winter
Saturday: Shrimp and white beans (gift link), with toast as suggested
Sunday: Brazilian black bean stew (feijoada) in the slow cooker, rice, orange and jicama salad, maple-walnut chocolate chip cookies from Bravetart
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Pasta with zucchini and leeks
Wednesday-Friday: TBD
Happy Superb Owl and Valentine’s week! Happy cooking!
Hi everyone! LLD had surgery on Thursday. It went well and he was able to come home that day. But he’s sore and feeling a little small. Trying to be a good nurse. It’s been warmer here; we had one day this week with temps in the high 60s. It was lovely. Here’s what we ate:
Mon: Jamie Oliver’s penne carbonara with turkey bacon, arugula salad
Tues: we went to see Dog Man, crazily enough. Then out for a very nice dinner.
Wed: eggs kejriwal (NYT) with sliced peppers on the side
Thurs: picked up pizza on the way home from hospital. Got 2 larges so there is plenty for lunches in the coming week.
Fri: chicken forestiere (D. Henry) over mashed potatoes. I was really looking forward to this, but it was kind of dull. Hoping a night in the fridge has given it time to become interesting because LLD just told me he’s feeling glum and not very interested in food, so heating up leftovers seems optimal. Maybe over egg noodles this evening.
Wishing everyone a happy week with delicious dinners and minimal clean up!
Hi all, cooking for the usual suspects in the Boston burbs. In anticipation of Super Bowl shopping crowds on Sunday morning (my usual shopping time), I went this morning (Saturday) and faced a store full of storm preppers instead. And oddly, the store was out of all Coca-Cola products with sugar - no Coke, no Sprite - only the sugar-free versions were there. So I had to stop at a different store on the way home. (We’re not big soda drinkers, but DS signed up to bring a bottle of Sprite for something at school this week.)
I came down with some sort of respiratory bug on Tuesday and spent much of last week lounging in bed drinking tea. I’m finally feeling human again, but still congested. Maybe this is/was the flu?
Sun: we are expecting about 5” of snow overnight, so we’ll need to power up the snowblower in the morning. Otherwise, a low-key day. Pigs in blankets are on the menu for lunch, I think. Dinner will be a Philly cheesesteak mac and cheese (but only 2 C milk as it’s way too runny with 3 C) with an Italian chopped salad. Go Eagles! (Well, really, go anyone but KC.)
I also plan to make a batch of buffalo chicken chili (ATK) for lunches.
Mon: baked cod with shallots and cherry tomatoes (NYT), garlic bread, green beans. Rolled from last week because I got sick and the guys ordered takeout.
Weds: yaki udon (ATK) with ground pork, carrots, and broccoli instead of bok choy. (I know it’s kind of a weird swap but DS will eat the broccoli.)
Thurs: cornmeal-crusted chicken, corn, scallions, queso fresco skillet thingy from How to Cook Everything Fast - every time I make this, I try to find the recipe online but have never succeeded.
The chicken had improved somewhat, and I realized that I had some truffle salt that I’d bought based on a recommendation from Smitten Kitchen/Deb Pearlman. And boy, did that liven things up!
and weekend meal prep.
, so I am stocked for a few days.
