Weekly Menu Planning - June 2022

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore. Trying to start to clear out the freezer.

Saturday: leftover homemade hummus with homemade tomato/cucumber salad and baked pita wedges toasted with EVOO and za’atar
Sunday: chicken vegetable orzo soup with stock made from veg scraps
Monday: pasta primavera with sauce from the freezer and whole wheat spaghetti
Tuesday: roasted salmon with a cucumber-dill sauce, cauliflower rice
Wednesday: provolone cheese sandwich on rye toast with Smitten Kitchen’s pickled vegetable slaw
Thursday: leftover “A Nice Lasagna” (Small Victories/Julia Turshen) from the freezer
Friday: the last of the lasagna

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42

Hello, everyone. My husband is doing better, so I can go back to meal planning. The semester is finally over, so I’m ready to take it easy. We also will be asking our landlord to replace our fridge soon (really uneven cooling in the fridge part), so it’s a good time to start cleaning stuff out.

For two adults in San Diego:

This week’s breakfasts: Chocolate chip scones

S: (tonight) takeout

Su: Pizzas (salami, spinach) made with a sourdough loaf from the store bakery

M: Spinach tortellini with tuna and peas (freezer) or spinach - seafood

T: Chicken (freezer) fried rice

W: Big salad with bread on the side. Probably will pick up a southwestern mix and add chicken (freezer).

Th: Egg scrambled with spinach and cheese, hash brown casserole (freezer) - vegetarian

F: Pasta with ground turkey (freezer), spinach, and spicy tomato cream sauce

Have a good week!

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43

Good looking week. Appliance replacement wait-times are all over, so if you’ll need a fridge “soon” I recommend you request it now. It could be a few months until one that fits the space can be delivered.

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44

Actuals for June 6 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where we’ve had a string of beautiful Spring days and got the grill out for burgers.

Mon: In WI with my sisters, niece and grand nieces.
BAKED M&M cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Spaghetti with meat sauce, baguette, tossed salad
Tues: Chicken salad sandwich on croissant, tossed salad
Wed: Shrimp with red/green peppers, cheesy grits, green beans w/ almond. Rhubarb upside down cake w/ cinnamon ice cream BAKED - rhubarb upside down cake
Thurs: Slow-cooker BBQ pork ribs, mashed potatoes, green beans w/ almonds. Rhubarb upside down cake.
Fri: Orange chicken (used deli chicken tenders w/ sauce from Julia Pacheco site), rice from freezer
Sat: Reheated grilled burgers with new sliced mushrooms & Swiss. Macaroni salad. Corn on the cob.
Sun: (today) - Shredded Fiesta chicken as “nachos”, over tortilla chips with shredded lettuce. Based on this slow-cooker recipe but baked at 350 degrees in a covered roaster for 2 hours. https://www.juliapacheco.com/slow-cooker-fiesta-chicken/

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45

Re: Thursday “communications” - it used to be folks worked in an office and had the commute time to transition to “home”- mode, putting the annoyances of the day behind them a bit and getting ready to be human with the family. Perhaps your husband needs to build in a decompression walk or short drive after his work day at his home-office?

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46

Hi everyone, cooking for two adults and a tween in the Boston burbs. Five more days (well, 4.5 days) of school…. though from what DS has said, Weds is the last day of actual learning. We had a busy weekend with three soccer games and everyone was tired. Last night’s planned hot dogs on the grill were (a) browned on the stovetop and (b) eaten late with not a lot of enthusiasm.

Mon (today): nachos with pulled pork I found in the freezer (thank you, October Me, for freezing the leftovers!)

Tues: mustard chicken (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/crispy-mustard-roasted-chicken.html b/s breasts at 375 for 35 min), broccoli with cheese sauce

Weds: “crunch wraps” (https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/crispy-southwest-wrap/) and baked sweet potatoes

Thurs: grilled pork with sesame soba noodles (https://www.canadianliving.com/food/lunch-and-dinner/recipe/grilled-pork-tenderloin-with-sesame-soba-noodles)

Fri: leftovers/clean out fridge before a weekend trip away (and yes, we come back from a 3-day weekend to a half-day of school… wish our town had been a little stingier with the snow days!)

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47

Agree! We placed our appliance order back in February and while the fridge we wanted was “in stock” the range is back ordered till September and the double ovens November. Our new dishwasher should be available Feb 2023. Also glad we are locked in on earlier this year pricing instead of what may be coming

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48

Our robin family lived over the light fixture right outside the driveway- 3 feet from the key pad to open and close the garage door. We have matching fixtures but the other doors (3 car garage) and we realized what I thought were LED bulbs were incandescent. Mama Robin had free in nest heating overnight.

We are working on “grill something” and “chicken” are fine suggestions when I’m putting a menu/grocery run plan together. They are not helpful when it’s 630 and we eat at 7. He’s a creature of habit (makes breakfast and lunch shopping easy to plan for him) and before we were living together/married he did marinaded boneless skinless chicken 5/7 nights a week with a noodles and sauce packet, salad or frozen veg. I think the suggestions come from the place that he knows how to make that meal.

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49

Hi everyone. Here’s this week’s plan. It started off much more ambitiously, but I am trying to outsource more things right now so that we can enjoy a bit of free time and recharge. 2 adults + 2 kids in Toronto.

Mon - pasta with pesto, sautéed shrimp with chile (Polpo)
Tues - purchased lentil soup + grilled cheese
Wed - shepherd’s pie (purchased), salad
Thurs - grilled tahini chicken (Repertoire), pita, shirazi
Fri - order pizza
Sat - seared wild salmon with brown butter cucumbers (Cook this Now), asparagus
Sun - Father’s day, so tbd… maybe skirt steak with salsa verde, potatoes, salad?

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50

Hi everyone!

There hasn’t been a lot of meal planning here with two long weekends away, and cobbled-together bites in between.

Recent actuals and a tentative outline for the week:

Fri - Takeout dim sum and roast duck from a Chinese grocery story, plus frozen scallion pancakes.

Sat - Aunt’s 75th birthday party (catered) - lots of good food, but the mini lobster rolls were my favorite!

Sun - Party leftovers

Mon - Leftovers sandwich when I got home

Tues - Birthday week - dinner out with a friend, and maybe another who happens to be in town unexpectedly. Italian.

Wed - Birthday week - group dinner with friends, first in a few years, looking forward to it! Modern Thai.

Thurs - Still have to use the maitake mushroom I bought before my previous weekend away, so maybe crispy mushroom with Boursin - a recreation of one my favorite restaurant dishes. Either toast on the side or some quinoa-rice pilaf.

Fri - 50% chance of weekend away at friends’ beach house. If this happens, I will bake a few things to take with me - orange olive oil cake, no-knead-ish bread or focaccia, Dorie’s cheesy apero bread.

Sat, Sun - If home, I’ll get to the the larb recipe from COTM Simple Thai Cooking and the Kaccha Kabab I never made last week, to use up the ground chicken I bought for them. Also going to make Mujadara for lunches and a side, and broccoli slaw from COTM VFAD.

I’ve been itching to bake but was trying to stay off carbs the past month, so once I restock flour, I’m looking forward to experimenting with some bread, pizza, and cake!

Hope everyone has some nice weather to enjoy along with good food!

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51

Happy birthday!

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52

Happy birthday! Wish you a great eating week!

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53

Are we married to the same man?? When DH and I started dating, his dinners were boxed starch/sauce combos to which he would “just add chicken” and thaw some frozen vegetables. Reasonably healthy, and better than fast food, but… not my cup of tea.

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54

Greetings, People.

Last week’s never-ending pasta salad was a hit with both diners and meal prepper, so going in that direction again, this time with Mediterranean elements.

FRI: Pizza with sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta. Greek pasta salad. Leafy greens.

SAT: Lamb meatballs with couscous and rajita. Greek pasta salad. Leafy greens.

SUN: Pan-roasted salmon (if I can get one – the supply of fresh salmon seems rather spotty around here). Greek pasta salad. Leafy greens.

MON: Greek chicken with lemony potatoes and rajita. Greek veggie salad.

TUE: Steak frites. Greek pasta salad. Leafy greens.

WED: Dinner out. At a sit-down restaurant TBD. I’ve almost forgotten what that was like…

THUR: Nachos and margaritas.

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55

Hello, all. Late posting this week as my daughter brought a non-COVID virus home late last week and I’ve been down and out with it since Monday. This meant the menu I planned did not end up being the menu we ate, as I was too sick to do much of anything for a couple days there.

Mostly actuals, for two adults and a 9yo in Ontario:

M - My husband said he’d pick something up but I insisted on making (mostly just assembling) pulled pork sandwiches on brioche buns, vinegar slaw, McCain sweet potato fries

T - My husband picked up some chicken and orzo soup for me from Farm Boy on the way home, and he and my daughter had McDonald’s.

W - Smitten Kitchen’s crispy chicken cutlets, chickpea salad, roasted broccoli

Th - Caro Chambers’ grilled steak caprese

F - Takeout

Made Once Upon a Chef’s spinach quiche for my breakfasts this week. This is a recipe I’ve come back to countless times.

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56

That looks tasty! Have you ever made it without a crust by any chance?

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57

Yep, I have lots of times. Just keep an eye on it in case you need to reduce cooking time at all. It works really well though :slight_smile:

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58

Great to know, thanks!

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59

Happy Friday everyone! The countdown is on - only one week until my two week staycation starts. The Ottawa Jazz Festival starts next Friday and I bought a pass so I will have to pick out some concerts to go to. I would also like to tie in some museum visits during the week when they won’t be so busy. I will also have to see if there is anything else to do while I am on vacation. I don’t remember what I did before covid 🙂

My menu plan for a solo diner in Ottawa is as follows:

Today: I bought a lobster roll for lunch and it was a huge disappointment. My parents used to rent a cottage in Kennebunkport, Maine when I was little and we used to tie in at least one lobster roll meal while there. The lobster was stuffed in a white hot dog roll and coleslaw on the side IIRC. I wasn’t expecting the same especially since the resto charged $22 for it. The bun was okay and the lobster-to-mayo ratio was spot on but the lobster was flavourless. I’ve had other lunches there and the ones I’ve had so far are good. I will just stay away from the lobster rolls next time. Tonight I will have a potato asparagus salad for dinner.

Saturday: Fridge and freezer clean out day. I bought some meatballs at the Italian grocery store about a month ago and I want to find out how many I have left. They are only available in trays of 6 and I am getting tired of meatballs… Dinner tonight will be a pot pie from the pricey butcher. They make several different types in-house and I bought four of them when I was there a couple of weeks ago so I will randomly pick one for dinner.

Sunday: asparagus and shrimp risotto.

Monday: poached chicken with a tomato sauce. The recipe calls for pearl onions (in addition to tomatoes) and I got some in my CSA last week. The farm calls them “spring onions” - I call them “pearl onions”. Undecided if I will have starch on the side https://www.godairyfree.org/rec…/chunky-fresh-tomato-sauce

Tuesday: pork lo mein https://www.seriouseats.com/stir-fried-lo-mein-noodles…

Wednesday: staff luncheon

Thursday: Pasta night! I will stirfry the last of some random vegetables in the fridge including cremini mushrooms and red pepper. Served over spaghetti.

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60

Hello, everyone. We will be heading to Santa Barbara for a few days this week, the farthest either of us have been from home since February 2020. I’ll report any good meals when we get back.

For two adults in San Diego:

This week’s breakfasts: TBD. Hope to find a diner with outdoor seating, as well as hit up bakeries.

S: (Tonight) Beef and bean burrito with guacamole

Su: Ham (from the freezer), peas, and macaroni and cheese (to use up cheese before we leave).

M: Driving up to Santa Barbara, TBD

T: TBD

W: TBD

Th: Driving back to San Diego, TBD

F: Tacos, using taco meat from the freezer.

Have a good week!

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