Weekly Menu Planning – July 2023

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
59

Birria has been I my “must make” list for so long … I must make it!

2 Likes
60

It’s Comic-Con week! The most wonderful time of the year!

For two adults in San Diego:

This week’s breakfasts: Will bake double chocolate chip muffins. Nice and portable for my purse. :wink:

S: (tonight) takeout - green chile and bean burrito

Su: A version of this: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021273-white-bean-caprese-salad, with a little salami added. Will probably serve with garlic bread - salad

M: TJs green Chile and cheese tamale with beans and guacamole - vegetarian

T: Dinner provided by employer during an evening event. Should be tacos.

W: Orange chicken and veggies (from freezer) with noodles - postponed from last week

Th-Su: San Diego Comic-Con. :slight_smile: There will likely be a few seafood meals at touristy restaurants near the convention center, which is located on San Diego Bay.

Have a good week!

12 Likes
61

I bet like any beef stew, it will get better as it sits!

Belated happy birthday to the teen! (And strength and patience to his parents :rofl:)

4 Likes
62

I’m embarrassed to say I had to look up birria! Apparently there is a chicken version, and it sounds delicious.

You’re going to rock the teen years, and so will your DS.

3 Likes
63

Intrigued by the birria tacos, which I too had never heard about. Spice wimps that we are, I’d need to massively change this to omit the chipotle in adobo. Beef shanks are super-expensive here - ideas for an alternative cut - beef spare ribs maybe?

64

I have made it with chuck. Works well.

3 Likes
65

Hi everyone! I’m having a great time solo. This morning I made crumpets from my sourdough discard. First time doing so, and it was shockingly easy. Ate a couple of them with butter and apricot jam that was a gift from a CH/HO friend, Wimbledon on the tv, dog sitting next to me, beautiful morning. Heaven. Looking forward to being with my family again though. Here’s what I’ve cobbled together for dinner while on my own.

Sun: big salad with turkey bacon, beets, blue cheese

Mon: scrambled eggs with asparagus and tarragon; toast. I don’t love eggs, but this was delicious.

Tues: bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, capers

Wed: leftover turmeric rice and chickpeas; sliced tomatoes

Thurs: capellini with chopped raw tomatoes with garlic and sherry vinegar

Fri: Impossible burger

Sat and Sun: decided to pamper myself by ordering a pizza. Plenty left over for tonight too.

All of this was crazy easy and fast. That’s what I’m looking for these days, so I need to figure out how to make it happen with the family around. It sort of surprised me that I was able to do it all so easily without having planned for most of it. Food for thought!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

12 Likes
66

My beef birria recipes in Eat Your Books call for either chuck roast, shoulder, or short ribs. Other recipes involve lamb or goat or turkey. Also, none of these recipes call for chipotles in adobo. Most involve a combination of various dried chiles.

2 Likes
67

Sounds fantastic! Tarragon and asparagus make anything excellent, especially eggs. I’m sure the dog also enjoyed Wimbledon, because you were there! I heard from my mom in NC that the local tomatoes are great right now. We have to wait until around August 10 for local tomatoes here in Boston area. But who knows what is happening to the tomatoes with all the rain. I feel lucky to have gotten some local strawberries and blueberries before the current deluge.

2 Likes
68

It has been a very weird summer here. So much rain. The tomatoes are amazing though.

2 Likes
69

Actuals for July 10 week , cooking for 2 in MN where we once again have Canadian wildfire smoke blotting out the sky and unpleasantly scenting the air. I feel like we’re missing summer. Grump. Windows closed and A/C on, I baked this morning. And we have had a bit of summertime via great desserts of ice cream (on BOGO sale…) with strawberries and blueberries. And milkshakes made with (…on sale… there’s a theme here…) chocolate ice cream and milk.

Lunches - A half recipe gave us 3 day of lunches - Ditalini “grinder” pasta salad with pepperoni, ham, salami, banana peppers and lettuce – this recipe is a keeper. The other days we split some fancy composed salads from the grocery deli case - on sale this week.
Suppers 4 meals- Baked from frozen two previously assembled freezer meals – Shepherds pie and the Sausage coins/potatoes/peppers/onions sheetpan meal. Both still tasted great after a month in the freezer, so will be repeated.
Fri/Sat Skillet chicken teriyaki, coconut rice (refrigerator case), cauliflower/broccoli combo
Sun (today) :Tortellini, Italian sausage, tomatoes, spinach, cream one-pot meal
BAKED - blueberry coffee cake, recipe posted in the April baking discussion here

11 Likes
70

I’m glad to hear that because I bought a chuck roast today - it works for other braises.

@MidwesternerTT I’m cutting the spice level way back too… guajillos are considered mild/medium chiles and I’ll omit as many seeds as I can. The recipe also suggested using adobo sauce from the canned chipotles (just the sauce, not the peppers) to tone it down.

2 Likes
71

I love this. Thank you for the reminder! (Tomato prices here (Mumbai) have skyrocketed in the past few weeks, so I may wait till I get back to NYC though :joy:)

Glad you enjoyed your solo week!

Much easier to wing it for 1 than for 2 or 3, because other opinions and food moods have to be accounted for (I am dealing with the inverse at the moment)

4 Likes
72

Your menu for the week made me think of this NYT article about “girl dinner” - basically a snacky plate of whatever. I did that for my lunch today while the guys ate hot dogs with baked beans (totally not my thing) and it was lovely! (My plate included brown rice crackers, dill Havarti, some Spanish chorizo bites, and a sliced LoriAnne peach.)

(NYT link is a gift article so non-subscribers can access it!)

5 Likes
73

You’re so right about how much easier it is for one person. Really good point. I adored the pasta/tomato dish, and I just know LLD wouldn’t.

I think about all the cooking and differing tastes you dealt with in the depths of the pandemic and I’m in awe. Sorry you’re having to go through a different issue now.

3 Likes
74

I saw that article, and totally identified with it this week! Love meals like your lunch, and I’m crazy about dill havarti.

2 Likes
75

Cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore with a funny stomach

Sunday: over-easy egg on buttered toast
Monday: stuffed red bell pepper
Tuesday: Monday leftovers
Wednesday: crustless spinach and feta pie from Skinnytaste https://www.skinnytaste.com/easy-crust-less-spinach-and-feta-pie/
Thursday: Wednesday leftovers
Friday: summer cavatelli with corn, tomato, and zucchini https://www.skinnytaste.com/summer-cavatelli-with-corn-tomatoes-and-zucchini/
Saturday: Friday leftovers

12 Likes
76

Good reminders of how much I like both of those recipes!!!

2 Likes
77

The comments are funny (as usual)

1 Like
78

Hi all

Hope you’re having a good summer whereever you are. I am enjoying the monsoon in India after many years, which ranges from unbearably humid heat to cool breezes and moist sprays enjoyed at an open window (while everyone else yells at me to shut the window because the rain will come in and wet the floors / furniture / people :joy:).

Cooking for 3 to 4, including one recuperating, vegetarian senior, plus a new addition for the next 2 weeks because my uncle will be visiting, which will change the cadence and composition of our meals.

Actuals (joke’s on you if you’re looking back at my plan :rofl: – or maybe on me :flushed:)

  • Pasta night: Burrata and corn raviolio (TJs) in a light tomato broth for mom, fettucine aglio olio e peperoncino plus shrimp for us, and fresh rosemary and onion focaccia for everyone
  • Sushi bowls for us, asparagus and paneer stir-fry (same ingredients) for mom
  • Grilled cheese (and ham and cheese) with broccoli soup
  • Chicken wings alla diavola with spinach and ricotta farfalle (mom had “desi” pasta)
  • Chutney bheja fry (offal, not going to elaborate) with fresh pao (dinner rolls)
  • Laksa (from a packet but doctored)
  • Parsi feast (takeout): Mutton Dhansak, brown (caramelized onion) rice, kababs, papad
  • Masoor (brown lentil) Biryani – just like Biryani, but meatless, Delicous.

Ideas for this week (adjusted for uncle’s constraints / preferences, but I am sure this will change):

  • Tonight: Mushroom and spinach quiche for us (deep Thomas Keller version if I can swing it), eggless spinach and ricotta “quiche” for mom
  • Mutton Biryani (homemade or my favorite place, my guess is mom will want us to make it at home)
  • Indian Chinese: Hakka noodles, fried rice, soya chilli chicken, paneer Manchurian
  • Thai green curry (chicken for us, mixed veg & paneer for mom)
  • Chicken curry (our simplest home favorite)
  • Prawns with peas, dal, rice
  • Fish curry + rice
  • Sushi bowls (spicy shrimp, asparagus, mushrooms, avocado, furikake) – on a night he’s out, though he enjoys sushi so maybe this would be a good break even when he’s home
  • Spanish tortilla, chorizo, alioli (pasta for mom) – ditto, but I know he loves Spanish food too

Ongoing wishlist (so I don’t forget what I want to eat :rofl:):

10 Likes