Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in July. 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.
What’s your “tradition” for Independence Day / 4th of July meals? How has that changed in the past few years?
For the rest of the month: do you have a favorite maindish salad or a cold sandwich filling combo? If July (unlike wavering June) turns hot and stays that way, it’s time to break out all my keep-kitchen-cool ideas.
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 June discussion is still available for reporting the last week and follow-ups.
Since it’s almost July, I’ll go first! I am now half way through my staycation. So far I have been on three museum visits, I’ve seen a movie and I’ve been to a jazz concert. The coffee shop in the venue I went to yesterday was open so I scored a latte. Most of the jazz concerts start at 7:00 but the restaurants and coffee shop close at 7:00. The only business that is open is the bar and they have a limited amount of non alcoholic drinks and no fancy coffees I have another week off and more activities on tap. This is what I have planned for this week:
Today: Rest day. Time to do laundry, get caught up on social media, etc. I will have a Thai coconut fish curry for dinner.
Sunday: Off to the mall to shop for clothes. Pork chow mein for dinner.
Monday: Happy Canada Day! I plan on seeing a matinee movie (“The Great Leaper”) and will have popcorn for lunch. I will head over to the Canadian Museum of History after to see an exhibition on The First Royals of Europe. I will have an Asian style chicken salad for dinner. (Bean sprouts, snow peas, poached chicken with a soy sauce based dressing.)
Tuesday: I have a mid afternoon medical appointment which isn’t terribly convenient so what I do before/after is up in the air. A repeat of last week’s wrap and roll dish.
Wednesday: I have a museum visit pencilled in but I will have to go down a long flight of stairs to get down to the museum then back up again to get to street level. Whether I go or not will depend on my achy legs. I hate getting old Shrimp risotto for dinner.
Thursday: CSA pick up day. I might head up to the War Museum after to see an exhibition on Canadian women war artists. Fettuccine al pesto and spring mix for dinner.
Happy Canada Day to those who are celebrating and have a nice week.
Hi, everyone. I’m looking forward to the short week here, but as usual, that means cramming 5 days of work into the shorter week. BUT I have Friday off as well! and will be home by myself! I’m hoping to have enough motivation to do a bit of purging, aka sneaking stuff out of the house while my family isn’t home.
Last week we got our new microwave/oven combo installed. Since it was just the new version of the previous model, there was no learning curve… or so I thought, until I burned a batch of granola today. To do: figure out if there is a way to check oven temperature with a meat thermometer (probe style) rather than buying an oven thermometer. But it’s nice to have a functioning microwave again!
Sun: I made a huge batch of pulled pork, thinking this would be two dinners for the week plus one for the freezer… and then DS helped himself. So, freezing some seems unlikely. Served with cornbread and green beans.
Mon: hot honey chicken (NYT, rolled from a previous week), cucumbers vinaigrette (Moosewood)/alt veg for DS who doesn’t like cukes or vinegar
Tues: red beans and rice with chicken - was looking for something quick/easy but I’m a little skeptical of this… cross your fingers
Weds: pulled pork with mac and cheese, or mac and cheese with pulled pork… Probably a vegetable too.
Thurs: I’d planned to make spaghetti pie but didn’t think about a more traditional July 4th meal… so that might change.
Hi, all! Cooking for 1 in the Paris suburbs–DH is taking his parents to their place in Germany, and I opted to stay behind for some quiet time after a couple of extremely fun, extremely social week hiking, exploring, and eating with friends and family! We did a lot of cooking–a few savory tarts, a lot of salads, a big couscous, pasta with pesto–and a lot of eating out and scrounging around at bakeries, etc. Now back to work and some cooking for myself. I have a pot of beans and one of jam from mixed fruit the in-laws left behind on the stove and am trying to plan some simple meals. Here’s what I have so far:
Tuesday, July 2: Roasted vegetable and bean salad with a little cheese
Wednesday: A colleague is coming over to work on a project and I hope to make lunch for us. Some variation of this BLT salad, baguette, and some chocolate chip cookie bars because most of the French people I know are crazy about “les cookies”.
Thursday: Probably leftovers after going into the office and having lunch with colleagues
Friday: Some kind of meat, bean, and veggie casserole loosely based on a Cook’s Country recipe.
Saturday: I may play around with baking bread and fix a couple of vegetable dishes to go with it–that will become my weekday lunches.
Sunday: TBD–one daughter will be coming for a couple of days (from Germany on her way back to CA), so we’ll see what she wants to eat. Definitely a trip to the Sunday market.
Hope everyone in the US has a fun July 4th (and that our Canadian friends enjoyed their long weekend). Have a good week, and happy cooking!
I highly recommend it. It’s a good way to use the smaller ends of a sourdough boule. I pick the slice to fit the crab cake.
2 Likes
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
9
Too lazy to type but here’s my menu plan while my MIL is visiting. She is diabetic so there will be plenty of veg and protein on offer. Not extremely adventurous (no tofu, quinoa, Brussels sprouts, etc) but pretty easygoing.
My dad is T2; I take this ATK cookbook out from the library whenever I cook for them. We’ve all liked the recipes we’ve tried and they are easy.
I take handwritten notes at work, but I’ve noticed that my hand tends to tire/cramp up much sooner than it used to. I’m sure that can be attributed to less handwriting than years before, which kills me because I love putting pen to paper.
Still in the land of no planning , so here are actuals for the past week or so:
— Masoor (whole brown lentil) Pulao, yogurt, and papad with a side of potato-stuffed green peppers.
— Toasted sandwiches (potato, chutney, cheese and ham+cheese), butternut squash soup,and beet salad.
— Gambas al ajillo over crostini from leftover bread from one of the earlier parties, roasted cabbage, and spinach and ricotta manicotti in garlic bechamel from the freezer.
— Pasta and squid; manicotti in a creamy tomato sauce, and spaghetti in a raw tomato garlic sauce, with squid sautéed in garlic, onions, onion, and chilli flakes.
— Homemade Paneer BiryanI
— Spanish dinner out with cousins reported here.
Cooking ahead to host a bittersweet meal at home for one of my closest friends who’s coming into town after 3 or 4 years. He loved my dad almost as much as his own (who died when we were in high school) and wants to eat the same meal he and my dad enjoyed together last, with their top home and divey takeout offal-y favorites: beef seekh kababs, goat trotter soup, goat brain in green chutney and ghee, liver and udder skewers, goat biryani, and more. Plus a few of his and my favorite desserts to round it out.
Wish you all a great weekend and a good week ahead!
A melancholy week on Planet Earth. My 96-y.o. father passed at the end of June, following a two-year decline. He had been living in a long-term care facility for the last five months, and passed peacefully and comfortably surrounded by family. I don’t know why I feel compelled to share here, but I do. Going forward, spring daffodils will remind me of my mother, and summer strawberries will remind me of Dear Old Dad.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW.
FRI: Chicken smash-burgers on the grill, inspired by this NYT recipe (gift link). Carrot slaw to go with.
My deepest condolences @MunchkinRedux. Thank you for sharing, I think we share because we feel like we “know” each other over years and partake of so many tiny details of our days and meals and lives.
I have another week off and more activities on tap. This is what I have planned for this week:
, so here are actuals for the past week or so:
takeout offal-y favorites: beef seekh kababs, goat trotter soup, goat brain in green chutney and ghee, liver and udder skewers, goat biryani, and more. Plus a few of his and my favorite desserts to round it out.
