Weekly Menu Planning - March 2023

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Feeding three in Asheville, NC, including an almost 6-yo who’s finally trying and even enjoying some new foods! If you see repeat recipes here it’s because we haven’t gotten to them yet, and I’m not giving up :joy:. This order is purely speculative…

Tonight: butter chicken and basmati rice (The Essential Indian Instant Pot), naan, sauteed garlic spinach with dried cherries and chaat masala

Tomorrow: snacks and drinks with our neighbors; if we’re still hungry, leftovers scrounge

Thursday: taekwondo night. Fondue with lil smokies, Italian bread, apples, cauliflower, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and whatever else I can pull together quickly

Friday: twice-cooked pork (belly) (Ma La Market) with knife-cut noodles and CSA veg TBD

Saturday: Andouille, potato, and corn chowder (AllRecipes)

Sunday: Roasted Chicken Thighs, Potatoes, Brussels & Scallions with Herb Vinaigrette (Eating Well) Succession Season 4 debut! :raised_hands:t2:

Monday: eggplant parm sandwiches with fresh mozz and roasted red pepper on Ciabatta

Tuesday: taekwondo. Cracked pepper turkey tenderloin, boxed stuffing, jarred gravy (will have to doctor), canned cranberry sauce, and pan-seared Brussel sprouts. AKA nostalgia on the cheap

Wednesday: date night out!

Thursday: clay pot rice with chicken and sausage (NYT), CSA veg

Friday: Tajín grilled pork tenderloin with coconut rice and black beans

Saturday: my DH is going out of town for the night, and I’m planning on pizza out or something equally easy

Sunday: Smitten Kitchen’s white ragu over TJ’s trofie pasta

Monday: cock-a-leekie soup with barley (WaPo)

Tuesday: “barbecue” shrimp and cheddar grits (Pat & Gina Neely)

Wednesday: Thai peanut chicken (The Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook)

Thursday: sloppy lentils in buns, cole slaw

Yeah, sure, that’ll all happen :rofl:

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We read a lot of the same media. Two of these are on my radar, as well: the clay pot rice and the cock-a-leekie soup. I’ll be interested to see your write-ups when they come.

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Here, I’ve found I really only can expect to make a main dish 3 - 4 times weekly. All other lunches/dinners are recombinatory leftovers and reheats with perhaps a fresh salad or side.

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That phrase made me laugh and nod, YEP that’s exactly how some weeks feel here!

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We have solved this matter. Make soup.

It can clear a fridge in moments

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Well, it’s been a minute. Or a month that feels like a few years. Feeding 3-5 adults in Mumbai at the moment, rather than mostly 1 in NYC.

We lost my dad unexpectedly a month ago, and just before his 1 month prayers (and my anticipated return home thereafter), my mom tripped and then had to have surgery for a compound hip fracture. We brought her home yesterday, and it is a new normal in so many ways that we are all mentally and physically exhausted and drained – each in our own ways (and I’ve extended my trip for a few more weeks). She doesn’t feel like eating (no surprise, given the physical pain, the medications, and the emotional trauma), and neither do we, really, so I am back to planning at least a few days out so there are options to cover us and keep her well fed with the diversity she seems to need at the moment.

Tues – Home from hospital. Lunch: Aloo parathas, yogurt, pickle. Dinner: Terribly unplanned scrounge (mom barely ate a piece of toast with tomato and some clear soup, we ate leftovers from the preceding takeout days at the hospital).

Wed – Lunch: Cauliflower and potato curry, yogurt, and I made two fresh chapatis for mom so I could control the size and feed her 50% more in her acceptable count, lol. Dinner: Roast chicken with potatoes, fresh bread, and rice cooked in the chicken drippings (triple carbs ftw) for us; purple yam cutlet, butternut squash soup (we had this too), and fresh bread for mom with bonus nutritious dessert of a favorite comfort sweet (sheera / ww “pudding”).

Thurs – Lunch: Kerala vegetable stew with appams (one of my sis’s specialties). Dinner: leftover cauliflower potato curry repurposed into Pav bhaji (mashed veg with buttery griddled bread) with the addition of a few more vegetables.

Fri – Lunch: Green moong in buttermilk gravy, sautéed cluster beans or ivy gourd, chapatis. Dinner: Momos (Tibetan dumplings, paneer+vegetable and mutton options), sweet corn soup.

Sat – Lunch: Thai green curry with vegetables and mock duck. Dinner: Homemade pizza (either using ready crusts which are ubiquitous here or Roberta’s crust recipe, depending on my energy level). I may play with lahmacun as I have both beyond and meat kheema ready in the freezer and the turkish topping is two tiny steps from it

Sun – Lunch: Millet flatbreads (Rotla), eggplant mash (bharta) though not for me, garlic chutney, yogurt. Dinner: Mixed mushroom Japchae (found sweet potato starch noodles, amazingly), soup tbd.

I’m also trying to get some breakfasts and tea snacks made (yes, there are 4 meals a day here) so there’s always something to eat that she’ll try a bit of, as she can’t taking medication without eating something proper, and a single biscuit / cookie / cracker doesn’t meet the bar.

Will report back on how the longer range planning turns out in this otherwise daily plan household.

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Sorry to hear about both parents. Must be very stressful. How are you doing?

Pav bhaji. Mmmmmm. Perhaps my favourite Mumbai street food dish.

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So sorry to hear about your mom’s health journey, on top of your dad’s loss.
Blessing that you and your sister are there, (and your brother for a while?)

Hope the nourishing food restores your mother as much as possible.

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Sending hugs–you’ve got a lot on your plate. So sorry for your loss. Hope feeding your mom will be healing for you as well as for her.

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Thanks @Harters, I’m in don’t-think-just-do mode at the moment.

I love pav bhaji. Really easy to make at home, if you want to try sometime. Easy to cheat too, if you have a ready tomato gravy base and a pack of frozen mixed veg!

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Thanks @Rasam. Her prognosis is thankfully complete recovery to normal, so it’s just time, mind, and effort between here and there. But it’s a lot given the context.

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Ooof, so much for you and your family to deal with! Meal plans sound great. Hope your mom starts to feel better and stronger soon!

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I keep promising myself.

It’s a regular order at our favourite Mumbai street food place. The owner of which has just returned from a trip back home to see family. And, this evening, tells me that on Sunday the restaurant is doing a Parsi tasting menu, based on the food from the city’s Irani cafes. I’ve missed it the last two years but definitely going this time. Interestngly, his business partner is Iranian.

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I winged the sauce, somewhat loosely based on a pan sauce recipe (Warm Tomato Vinaigrette) in The Dinner Plan. If memory serves, I used 1 gigantic shallot (minced) sautéed in olive oil, a pint of tomatoes, and a splash of red wine vinegar (plus s&p) - no herbs and no capers, pretty basic. It worked well enough!

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Greetings, People.

A heartening time of year in the PNW for vegetable gardeners. Our asparagus bed is coming back to life and we’ve harvested a few spears. The veggies we carefully wintered-over - spinach, kale, broccolini - are producing. Spring peas are poking through the ground, as are carrots, leeks and scallions. The fruit trees and blueberry bushes are budding, and the numerous starts in the greenhouses are well on their way to being transplanted. Last frost is behind us, and all good things fresh are coming our way.

I’m excited!! Yay!

Cooking for two adults:

FRI: Tex Mex style chicken breasts. Rick Bayless’s Mexican rice. Homemade refries and tortillas.

SAT: Roasted asparagus and scallion quiche.

SUN: Big-batch spaghetti in homemade, roasted tomato sauce (last season’s) with Italian sausage. Salad. Planning on lots of leftovers for lunches.

MON: Char siu fried rice.

TUE: Scallion pancakes with homemade chili crisp. Leftover fried rice.

WED: Greek chicken, spinach and potato stew.

THUR: Pasta with homemade pesto from the freezer. Asparagus vinaigrette.

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Parsi new year was this week (also several others) so maybe that’s why the timing. Look forward to hearing about what’s served.

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Saregama, it’s good to hear she has such a good prognosis. I am so sorry for the loss of your dear dad, and your mother’s accident. I hope all of you feel a bit better each day after two such devastating events. You and your family are in my thoughts, as so many other HOs have expressed.

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Yes it is because of new year. Here’s the menu

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Saregama, I’m so sorry to hear about your parents. This must be such a tough time. Thinking of you and sending big hugs.

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I’m jealous of your garden!

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