Weekly Menu Planning – May 2022

They’re not super excited about vegetarianism, but we eat meat (just not all the time), so it’s not a huge problem.
Those Honey and Co buns look amazing, though a bit fancier than the ones I made (which were delicious)…

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First of all, a trip to Europe sounds exciting, but tiring, and all the emotions in between.
Second, where have strawberry pistachio rolls been all of my life??? I need to correct this deficit.

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Thank you! He’s on the mend, but we’re not going to push any culinary limits this week.

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Happy Monday! After a week of lots of sun and very summery temperatures (around 28/29 celsius or mid-80s fahrenheit), the week ahead looks a bit cooler and rainier. This is okay by me as I sit sipping my coffee and starting my work day looking out at my neighbour’s very green backyard (the joys of a hybrid work schedule!).

Cooking for two adults and a 9 yo in southwestern Ontario.

Monday - Homemade burgers on brioche buns, fries, veggies and dip. I’ll make a double batch of the burgers and freeze the extra for an easy weeknight meal in the coming weeks.

Tuesday - Chicken fajitas (cheese quesadillas for the kiddo)

Wednesday - Weeknight fancy chicken and rice (NYT Cooking)

Thursday - Chicken caesar salad, garlic toast (Smitten Kitchen)

Friday - Take out

Weekend - It’s a long weekend in Canada and the unofficial start of summer. Either my husband and daughter will go to our family cottage on their own and I’ll have a weekend home alone, or I’ll join them…haven’t decided yet. At the cottage, if I go, I’ll regress to my adolescent self ( :rofl:) and let my mum cook steak, and bacon-wrapped scallops, and other summer favourites.

Breakfasts - I’ve prepped my favourite overnight oats (in fact, they’re the only overnight oats I like) for breakfasts.

Lunches - I’m making Kathleen Ashmore’s turkey club salad for my lunches

Baking - I picked up some rhubarb from the farmers’ market on Saturday and made Smitten Kitchen’s
rhubarb snacking cake

Wishing all a lovely week ahead!

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That sounds like a wise plan dustchick, happy to hear he’s feeling a bit better.

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Both the chicken dishes sound like good ideas right about now.

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Checking in from the Boston area, where my seniors have 8 more wake-ups before they are done with their high school classes forever (other than finals)! Busy week because we’re also trying to get MCAS (the yearly state tests) and AP exams done too. Here’s what is going on for 2 adults and 1 cat this week:

Sun. (5/15) - I joined a subscription service from Wulf’s Fish, a fish and seafood supplier in the Boston area. Once a month, I will get a 5lb. box of assorted fish for $99/month and can pause or cancel without penalty at anytime. I thought that would be a nice shot in the arm to get me thinking creatively and eating more fish. The first box contained 2 whole trout, and a pound each of cod, flounder, salmon, and monkfish. Everything is deeply frozen and vacuum sealed. We started with the flounder, which I did as a baked, stuffed dish with some crab (previously purchases and frozen from a different supplier). BF wanted pasta, so I served it over spaghettini with some roasted green beans.

Mon. (5/16) - Leftover flounder, gently rewarmed in the oven with more green beans, but over white rice this time.

Tues. (5/17) - My freezer to the rescue! A couple weeks ago, I thought I was going to make a chicken chile verde, , but got side tracked, so the cut up chicken, chiles, onion, and garlic got wrapped carefully and put in the freezer. Last night I took it out to thaw, along with some previously made fresh tomatillo salsa. Everything went into the slow cooker before I went to work with a little cumin and when I got home I add a drained and rinsed can of hominy. That cooked for about another half hour while I made rice. Before serving I checked seasoning for salt and also added Worcestershire and lime juice. It was a wonderful, stress free dinner!

Wed.-Thurs. (5/18-5/19) - One of these days will be leftover chicken stew from tonight and the other will be a variation on the Smitten Kitchen skillet ravioli with spinach. I bought spinach tortellini, a baby spinach and kale mix, and some Boursin for this.

Fri. (5/20) - Going to cook the whole trout! This will be my first time cooking whole fish. I am going to use this recipe for Whole Trout With Crispy Sage and White Wine from Food and Wine magazine. Not sure about sides yet, but I do have more green beans. They seem to hold pretty well in the crisper.

Sat. (5/21) - Numbers have been creeping up, but we may go out. We really want to see the new Dr. Strange movie and might also grab dinner.

Sun. (5/22) - TBD! I have a few ideas, but when I plan this far out lately, I find that I never end up actually getting to them. So, we’ll see!

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Greetings people.

It’s been a rough week. My 94-y.o. father’s health has taken a turn. About 10 days ago he suffered a heart attack and bad fall. He’s out of ICU and currently in rehab, stable but in need of support. I can’t cure what ails him (old age), but I can be there for him. At the same time, DH has been overseeing the bulk of the work in the garden during this very busy planting month. We’re both exhausted. No complex meals planned for this week, just easy comfort food (stress baking at 4 a.m. still is an option).

Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: Mexican-style baked chicken breasts. Leftover Peruvian rice from the freezer. Baby green peas.

SAT: One-pan pasta with bacon, fresh spinach and parmesan cheese.

SUN: Pan-roasted chicken thighs. Leftover smashed potatoes. Garden salad.

MON: Lentils with chorizo and fresh kale. Aromatic yellow rice.

TUE: Lemony bean soup with garden greens.

WED: Grilled beef and late-season asparagus.

THUR: Easy chicken noodle soup.

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I am distressed to hear about your father; wishing recovery for your dad, and comfort and strength all around. (My dad is 96, and healing from a recent surgery.) i do worry a lot. Baking sounds like a good distraction.

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Thank you! We’re all taking it one day at a time, including Dad. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Beautiful day here, finally, in Chapel Hill, NC. Cooking for 3, and here is what we’ve eaten:

5/9: spiced beef kebabs with coriander pickled onions (both from Season), tomatoes, cucumber slices, yogurt, pita

5/10: solo dinner while Lulu was at a meeting, baked potato! Loved it

5/11: date! Lulu had a school event

5/12: tomato, olive, goat cheese clafoutis (Diana Henry’s From the Oven to the Table - so good!), salad, homemade bread

5/13: penne with broccoli and chicken sausage

5/14: carry out

5/15: LLD made radicchio risotto

5/16: impossible meat and asparagus stir fry by SK via Bon Ap. Big thanks to whoever posted the recipe here (original recipe has pork), rice

5/17: pasta with radicchio, turkey bacon, wine and cream sauce. What were the chances that both LLD and I would pick up radicchio this week?

5/18: carry out

5/19: another date! Magical feeling.

I hope everyone is continuing to stay safe, and is doing well. Lots of distressing stuff happening, and I’m grateful to and for this group. Have a good week.

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Happy Friday everyone where it has been fall like all week and today it is positively summerlike. Hopefully the warm weather is here to stay. I picked up my first CSA of the season yesterday and got some arugula in this week’s share. It tastes so much better straight out of the garden than the store bought variety. My fridge is bursting with fresh produce so the trips to the grocery store will be less frequent since I have veggies to eat up and I always have a well stocked pantry. The last two summers I bought a CSA share my grocery bill actually went down during the summer months. My menu for a solo diner in Ottawa looks like this:

Today: I am now eating a veal parmigiana from a nearby deli which I am thoroughly enjoying and it’s much better than the chicken teriyaki I bought last Friday. Dinner will be a salad.

Saturday: fridge and freezer clean out. I bought some meat on sale recently (a couple of pork chops, a fish fillet or two, etc.) and have been adding everything to the freezer without updating my inventory list so I have no idea what’s in there. Dinner will be the fettucine with carmelized onion sauce that got bumped yesterday. I forget dinner is usually later on CSA pickup day so I will have to plan Thursday night dinners with a little less prep work.

Sunday: basa fillet with roast asparagus and cherry tomatoes. https://www.budgetbytes.com/garlic-butter-baked-cod/

Monday: asparagus and sundried tomato risotto.

Tuesday: ginger bok choy soup with noodles.

Wednesday: I’m going to a jazz concert tonight! I don’t know the band I am going to see but one of my meetup groups is going and it’s free. It will be nice to get out with people again. I’m not sure yet if I will buy dinner beforehand since the restaurants in the concert hall seem to only be open at lunch. If any of the restos are open I will eat out, otherwise I will have a chilled soba noodle salad at home.

Thursday: Chinese noodles with chilies and scallions https://alexandracooks.com/…/lightning-fast-sichuan…/

I hope everyone has a nice warm weekend. And happy Victoria Day to my Canadian friends!

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Thanks for all the healing thoughts towards my husband. He’s feeling much better after a week of eating whatever his body told him to. Um, some of those items were not the healthiest, but it worked. :wink: Now I’m heading into finals week, with some travel at the end, so cooking is not a high priority. Forgive me! Easy and simple, mostly from our freezer, that’s what’s on the menu.

For two adults in San Diego:

This week’s breakfasts: Think I will give these a try - https://smittenkitchen.com/2022/05/double-chocolate-chip-muffins/

S: (tonight) takeout - Thai - red curry chicken, drunken noodles with roast duck, white rice. So good after a week without much spice.

Su: Macaroni and cheese, chicken apple sausage, peas.

M: Purchased chicken potstickers with homemade stock and veggies

T: Lobster rolls (filling in freezer from recent Goldbelly delivery), chips - seafood

W: TJs green Chile cheese tamales, beans - vegetarian

Th-S: My husband will be foraging (prediction: pizza and/or El Pollo Loco chicken and tortillas) while I’m at Star Wars Celebration. Masks and vaccines required, but I’ll still be dodging people, doing outdoor dining or eating in my hotel room with windows open and air purifier on. This will be our longest time apart since Feb 2020. mind boggles

Have a good week!

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Actuals for May 16 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where I’m ferrying flower planters /containers in and out of the garage nightly for a couple more nights, until this span of 40’s overnight temperatures is behind us. I quit planting half-way through when I heard the forecast. The colder weather had me baking (first rhubarb cake of the season!), roasting and making soup. I’ve now got a fridge full of leftovers so the crust dough and roasted-veggies components for a planned quiche got tucked away in spare corners and will get shaped/baked tomorrow. Daytimes were warm enough for enjoyable shopping at our city-wide garage sales. I got an oven-rack puller, which should mean fewer scorched potholders when removing pans from my countertop oven.

Mon: Oven teriyaki beef, rice. Dessert: Rhubarb upside down cake - First of the season - family recipe is over on the WAYB discussion
Tues: Stuffed pork chop (COTM - New Midwestern Table), corn on the cob
Wed: Deli carnitas meat as nachos base on tortilla chips, with Homesick Texan Spanish rice, black beans, chopped tomatoes, avocado guac, cheese. Dessert / BAKED – Pear and Honey Bundt cake (COTM - New Midwestern Table)
Thurs: Salmon, baked potato, sliced fresh orange
Fri: OUT – Qcumbers buffet
Sat: French Cabbage & sausage soup, (Half recipe, diced 3 Johnsonville Kielbasa links, 14oz package of shredded coleslaw mix), naan bread, (Schwan’s) turtle pie slivers
Sun (today): Deviled eggs, bread stuffing w/almonds, Normandy vegetables, roasted boneless turkey breast.
Prepped Sweet potato bacon quiche components (Dinner in French) to bake Monday

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Hi everyone

Still trying to get back to writing a plan, though I’ve been mindful of menu planning when grocery shopping, so that’s a step in the right direction, I hope.

Actuals for the past week, and a tentative plan for the coming one:

Mon - Spurt of energy. Made Tom Kha Kai using the broth and chicken from the white-cooked chicken I made when I got back home. Then made a big salad for dinner to use up some of the lovely produce I had excitedly bought days ago but done nothing with: oyster and baby trumpet mushrooms, butternut squash (pan-roasted), plus red onions, over shaved fennel and arugula.

Tues - More fennel and arugula salad with leftover steak and mushrooms, red onion, trumpet and oyster mushrooms. I’ve been on what can only be described as a salad kick, but because I was lacking cooking inspiration and salad ingredients were at hand.

Wed - Impromptu meal out with a friend - Turkish. Zucchini fritters, crudo, lahmacun, kofte in tomato sauce.

Thurs - Bengali mustard salmon (yet again, but with coconut milk added for a change), Turkish stewed green beans, quinoa+rice.

Fri - Seared sesame-crusted tuna with pureed cauliflower and wasabi-butter peas. I was out after my booster, but then revived enough to use up ingredients I wanted to eat!

Sat - Impromptu dinner at friends’ - they ordered in Spanish food (which I love but does not travel well).

Sun - Hoppin’ John. For some reason, this was a regular feature in my college dining hall - I loved it, because I love black-eyed peas in general, and it had familiar flavors (boiled-past-death broccoli? not so much… took me years to eat broccoli…). Maybe some arugula salad to start.

Mon - Leftovers: Mustard-coconut milk Bengali salmon, garlic broccoli, quinoa+rice.

Tues - Indian: maybe Dad’s chicken (which I haven’t made since October when I took it to a potluck, and have been craving… somehow we never made this the whole time I was home!), stewed Turkish green beans, parathas from the freezer (thanks Mom!)

Wed - Fish tagine with frozen yellowtail over quinoa+rice, with roasted cauliflower.

Thurs - Leftovers: Indian chicken and roasted cauliflower.

Fri - Probably out.

Wish you all a happy and delicious week!

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Have you made the French Cabbage Soup recipe before?

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Cooking for two adults and a tween in the Boston burbs.

Sun: southern chicken salads for dinner - fried chicken (fingers), Colby/Jack cheese, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers atop romaine, with honey mustard dressing. DS was out with friends which is why I could pull off salad for dinner, haha!

Mon: I’m meeting friends for dinner, guys are having rotisserie chicken, cornbread, and peas. (Standard “mom’s not home for dinner” meal 1 of 2.)

Tues: chicken tostadas (using the NYT pressure cooker honey/chipotle chicken tacos recipe, just on a different tortilla format), Mexican chopped salad (radishes, jicama, corn, bell pepper in a honey-lime vinaigrette)

Weds: Cuban pork tenderloin (NYT) and black beans/rice (also NYT)

Thurs: I’m going out again, this time with a few of my recent former coworkers. Guys are going out too.

Fri: tbd

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Cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore

Monday: Beef stroganoff over buttered egg noodles, green salad
Tuesday: shrimp salad sandwich
Wednesday: leftover beef stroganoff and egg noodles
Thursday: pasta primavera
Friday: homemade clams casino
Saturday: leftover pasta primavera

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Yes, @MunchkinRedux I’ve made the French Cabbage Soup many times,using the recipe I linked. A half recipe gives us 4-5 meal-sized servings. Edited to add that I do change up the sequence, and wait until the first simmer (of veggies, broth, sausage) is underway to make the roux using a very small (one-egg) skillet.

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Thank you! I’ve put it on my list of things to try.

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