Weekly Menu Planning - June 2025

Cooking Discussions
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Hello friends happy Friday the 13th! Apparently today is the only Friday the 13th this year. My last sketching class was last Monday but they will be offering another one in July as well as a class in drawing portraits so I will probably sign up for both. Now that I have the basic concepts for sketching outdoors I hope to improve my sketches a little. And if I take the portrait class hopefully I can graduate from drawing stick people :rofl: In the meantime I am gearing up for this weekend. Onto the menu for this week:

Today: I had to run to the grocery store at lunch to pick up sone strawberries for smoothies and since I don’t plan on being near a grocery store tomorrow or Sunday, I bought them today. I had intended on going to the Korean grocer across the street to pick up lunch from their take-out counter but there is always a steady line-up at the take-out counter at Loblaws (the grocery store with the strawberries on sale) so I picked up a combo for one from their fried foods section. (They also sell sushi and sandwiches as well as other prepared foods.) For $9 I got two generous pieces of chicken and some mac 'n cheese but the chicken was dried out and the cheese sauce on the mac 'n cheese had a gummy texture to it. I won’t be buying lunch there again especially with so many dining options in the area. After work I will head up to the dollar store to pick up a couple of things for the house then off to another grocery store for toiletries then I am done with my shopping for the weekend. When I get home I will have a Greek salad while watching a football game.

Saturday: I will be staying at home today to do a little cooking in the loosest sense of the word since CSA season is in full swing. I got another bunch of radishes in my share this week so I will use the leaves to make pesto sauce then freeze it and I will make some farro for salads this week. Two days this week I will use some of the cooked farro in tabouli and the rest in a barley salad

Tuesday: Pork chop, squash, asparagus.

Wednesday: Chicken and asparagus stirfry. I wasn’t terribly fond of the lemon in the sauce when I made it a couple of weeks ago so I might substitute it with some sesame oil.

Thursday: I will have the last serving of gnocchi with spinach tomato sauce and a salad on the side.

Have a nice week everyone!

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Cooking for 3 in southwestern Ontario.

Tonight, I’ll make branzino picatta.

Some ppl in my household are on a diet, so we are eating lighter for the next while.
Sautéed homegrown spinach. Maybe Armenian pilaf.
I made a big Alton Brown coleslaw yesterday which was not a hit. I added more pickle juice, more mayo, and more vinegar, and we got it to how we like it. First time to have a fail from him.

Tomorrow lunch, road trip. I am craving a hot dog at a hot dog stand or chip wagon made by someone else, so that’s in the cards.

Tomorrow will likely be ribeye. Sides to be determined since we still have eggplant Parm, melizanasalata, roasted parsnips, roasted potatoes in the fridge.

Father’s Day to be determined. I made pork ribs last night. Italian rosemary oregano lemon and evoo. A couple of which which are also leftovers on had right now

I understand from my local butcher that Prime Rib and pork ribs are the big sellers this weekend in southwestern Ontario.

Local strawberries are in season. Maybe I’ll make that Polish strawberry pasta for Father’s Day? We haven’t tried that yet.

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Hi, all! Cooking for 2 back in Chattanooga, where it’s great to be back in my own kitchen! We did have an excellent trip and some good family time abroad. Actuals and plans for the week:

Wednesday, June 11: Roasted fish with beans in basil sauce; roasted asparagus.
Thursday: Kale and quinoa salad with roasted shiitake chips from Family (somehow, DH polished off the leftovers today!! Guess even he is feeling a veg deficit)
Friday (tonight): Lamb shanks and rice, with a peach and cucumber salad to make the meal feel more seasonal
Breakfast: Banana muffins
Saturday: Going to an afternoon bridal shower and bringing Maida Heatter Hungarian walnut bars; if I have time and energy to cook dinner, I’ll do a tomato and chard stew.
Sunday: Grilled pizzas, green beans, more cookies?
Monday: scrounge
Tuesday: Shrimp and avocado salad or Saturday’s stew if I don’t get around to it
Wednesday: TBD
Thursday: Greek baked chickpeas with chard
Friday: Sautéed trout; potatoes; whatever veg needs using up

Happy Father’s Day to those who celebrate, and have a good week. Happy cooking!

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Lamb shanks are always so appealing, but what’s available in store vs in restaurant always looks so small / more bone than meat, so I don’t buy them often.

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Hi everyone

A busy week of visiting friends and kids of friends with many meals out, so simple things again at home to balance it out.

Last week involved a lot of avocado to use up the bag of tinies — toast, salad, handrolls with seaweed snacks, crackers :joy:.

I did make 3 batches of gravlax for friends (and dug into one myself hahaha), then found two more lovely pieces of salmon, but I will wait a day or two until I acquire beets to add some fun color.

Ideas for the week (pushing forward several from last week that got supplanted by avocados :rofl:):
– Paneer bhurji / scramble (I bought extra milk specially to make fresh paneer because it was so good a couple of weeks ago) + toast + shaved zucchini salad
– Capellini with smoked salmon & salmon + tomato salad
– Lamb chops + mashed potatoes + roasted zucchini + salad
– Capellini with raw tomato sauce + tbd protein + more shaved zucchini salad
– Quick chicken tagine with vegetables + quinoa
– Pan con tomate + avocado salad + tbd protein (chorizo or Spanish pork or chicken / pinchos morunos)
– Oyako-don / Japanese chicken and egg over rice + tbd veg

Enjoy your weekend, and have a great week ahead!

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You’re such a generous cook, always making things for others!

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Hi everyone, the whole family is together now. Nice feeling. It’s been a very busy week and there has been more rain. It’s my favorite time of the year for fruit - cherries, peaches, nectarines. I got a few luscious looking peaches yesterday, and am having an internal battle: eat them as they are or bake with them? It’s a good problem. Here’s what we ate:

Mon: Indonesian swordfish (COTM, Barefoot Contessa - easy and delicious), ric, roasted broccoli

Tues: Lulu home! Her flight was delayed, but luckily the quesadilla she requested was easily warmed up for her once home.

Wed: smoked trout and apple salad with creme fraiche and salmon roe, baguette

Thurs: tiktok pasta, with boursin instead of feta

Fri: carry out

Sat: Lulu hanging with a friend, LLD has suggested taking me to the seafood place again. Thumbs up!

Sun: fathers day dinner at our favorite French place. I’m guessing he’ll get steak frites.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

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Happy Lulu homecoming…and a little earlier, LLD! The weather in New England has been so cool and rainy…and we are so far away from local stone fruit harvest. Lulu may have some drastic temperature shock. The local strawberries are so good though and I hope they last for at least another week.

I hope you all enjoy Fathers day together.

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For two adults in San Diego:

Breakfasts: Granola with berries and almond milk

S: (tonight) Chicken caesar wrap at the pub on the corner

Su: Shrimp fried rice - seafood

M: Pasta with white bolognese sauce

T: Cheese(turkey)burger salad (with hash browns on top) - salad

W: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023024-beans-and-greens-alla-vodka - with garlic bread - vegetarian

Th: Zuppa toscana - soup

F: Tostadas (bean and leftover ground turkey) with all the fixings

Take care of yourselves!

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Cooking for 3 in southwestern Ontario

Tonight with be prime rib and Yorkshire pudding. I asked for 3 lbs yesterday, at a nice butcher shop outside town. The cut ended up being 3.5 lbs, and I realized I probably should have asked for 2 lbs. So we will probably be eating beef from Sunday to Tuesday. LOL. Also, leftover brown sugar maple beans that I made last night. Sautéed spinach and arugula.
Fresh strawberries for dessert.

Monday, I’ll make charro beans with bacon. Maybe, also a fresh tomato pasta sauce, using raw tomatoes.

Tuesday, roasted chicken thighs.

We’re eating fairly plain around here lately, to attempt to drop weight. Kind of boring for meal planning.

Happy Father’s Day to everyone celebrating today.

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Your meals sound pretty good to me! Good luck with the weight loss.

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Thank you.

I am the lowest weight I’ve been in a year, so that’s a start. I’ve lost around 3 kg from my high weight at Christmas.

I have a very stubborn metabolism.

Some good news is that a dress I bought 2 years ago, when I was 2 kg lighter than I am today, fit last weekend.

I’m finally seeing some changes.

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Congratulations! I was hoping to loose a pound a month this year but so far I’ve gained 2 lbs since January. My downfall is the cake section at the metro I shop at. I will have to start making detours around the pastry counter…

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Happy Sunday everyone !

Feeding 2 or 3 in Southwest France.

Last Sunday: started with a kind of Osso Bucco with some amazing Veal Shanks from a farm down the hill, made in the Pressure cooker and served with local red corn Polenta.

Monday: leftover Osso Bucco with the addition of some local Oyster mushrooms on Toast

Monday eve: Often soft tofu day in our house as our Oyster Mushroom supplier is married to a japanese woman who makes miso and tofu, heaven. This week I made a favourite tofu, mushroom and Black Bean sauce on rice.

Tuesday: Sunny day so got the solar oven out and braised some flat green beans with some canned tomato passata from last year.

Wednesday: family day out in San Sebastian, Spain. Needless to say, alot of eating was enjoyed with a bit of daytime drinking. Even managed to cook up some simple Hake fish and salad picked up in the fish market when back home in the evening…

Thusday: Turned the leftover HAKE into a kind of Fish LASKSA with coconut milk and rice noodles.

Thursday eve: YES eating too much today. Off to make food for my elderly family and deliver the VEAL stew I made in the solar oven with a different cut of veal from our farmer for them to have in the freezer … We ate a dinner of Duck confit with lettuce salad and potatoes.

Friday: A bit of that veal stew kept for us served on Polenta with griddled zucchini (courgettes)

Saturday: Home alone and working selling our soaps at the local market. After closing my stand, sat in the local restaurant and enjoyed a slice of gooey Spanish style tortilla with salad and a chilly glass of white. Very civilized :grinning:

And today’s lunch; I had VEAL stock to use up so I made a congee with some leftover duck confit and grilled broccoli on top with a Chinese tomato and shallot salad.

I did a lot of cooking this week as my daughter is home after 8 months volunteering in Greece so was excited to FEED her :sweat_smile:

We’re expecting hot weather this week so my thinking cap is on for our Solar Oven ! Enjoy your week …

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The tofu, mushroom, black bean sauce sounds amazing. Thanks for adding a link.

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Feeding 3 in the Boston burbs, where yesterday was the 14th consecutive rainy Saturday - argh.

DH asked for pancakes for Father’s Day, so I made them for lunch and was keeping them warm in the oven (stove cooktop, oven below). These pancakes were pretty thin, not quite crepe level thin but definitely not fluffy. They were just thin enough for two of them to slide into a crack between the oven door and - well, whatever the undercarriage of the oven is called - and I can’t see them to get them out! I couldn’t see if any parts are removable to access the lost pancakes. (I was being careless, transferring them to the oven on the spatula, didn’t take the tray out.) this will be an interesting project…

On to the menu…

Tonight: baby back ribs, mac and cheese, salad (or peas for DS)

Mon: stir fried ground chicken, green beans, and tomatoes (Dinner in One - original recipe calls for pork), jasmine rice

Tues: chicken parm sandwiches, roasted broccoli

Weds: nachos (last day of school - woohoo!)

Thurs: tbd

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Oh my God on the pancakes.

More rain here today. Kind of sick of it.

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I hope you somehow find the pancakes before you start smelling them! I’ve done stuff like that before!

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DS cleverly figured out a way to ease them out with a table knife, whew! Unfortunately, the oven demanded a blood sacrifice - he sliced a finger on some interior metal part. (he’s fine)

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DS is quite the clever and helpful lad! Nachos for the last day of school sounds perfect.

I bought some expensive Spanish bellota iberico ham, aged manchego cheese, and Spanish piri piri nuts along with the favorite Italian crackers (I forgot the name, the little twisty ones) for the dad here and the double strawberry shortcake biscuits are in the freezer for baking in a couple of hours (NYT recipe).

We are somewhat east of you, I think, and my allergies know the Canadian wildfire smoke is still around.

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