I didn’t plan too far ahead, but this week’s meal plan is working better than typical!
Monday
Roast chicken, orecchiette with half a jar of Rao’s pasta sauce, braised parsnips, cannellini beans in tomato sauce
Tue
Country Captain using leftover chicken, jasmine rice, bbq beans from a can, butternut squash with maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and butter,
Wed
Moussaka using leftover Rao’s sauce (adding some oregano, cinnamon and nutmeg), leftover beans , parsnips, squash. I used old cheddar instead of parm or mizithra in the bechamel, and it turned out good!
Thu
Cuban rice and beans from a kit , roasted Italian sausage, asparagus (the first American asparagus I’ve been able to buy this season), leftover moussaka, roasted spaghetti squash, hopefully 2 big artichokes I should have dealt with already.
Fri: fish to be determined
Sat : steak to be determined
Sun: Take-out to be determined
Last week dinners were mostly out to catch up with various friends while I was home for a few days. Used some of my weekly plan for lunch, though.
This week, back with Mom and Sis, going to plan a bit for some interesting-to-them meals as they’ve been eating pretty simply while I was gone.
So far we’ve had:
Mom’s pan-roast chicken and potatoes (which was also my departure meal a little over a week ago)
Khichdi with spice-stuffed whole baby pomfret (fish)
I’ll probably take over dinner starting tomorrow if my jet lag cooperates. Some ideas I came up with (actuals will be determined by what the others are in the mood for):
Asparagus risotto (pressure cooker version, along the lines of this or this)
Clay pot rice (with mushrooms – this or this) + chicken
Enchiladas verdes (riffing on this and somehow incorporating this too)
Viet garlic (umami) noodles with lemongrass chicken
Sushi bowls (or handrolls with seaweed snacks)
Chicken tinga probably in tacos, but maybe over rice (this but simplified)
Sesame-soy-scallion noodles with sesame paste (this plus this)
Also hoping to bake a little (eggless and refined sugar free for mom), make lemon posset, and possibly NKB even though I don’t know what the gluten content is of the flour at hand. Let’s see what I get to.
Gotta do what you gotta do. I expect I’ll be back & forth a bit till mom’s on her feet. It’s a lot for them to deal with in every sense, and I have the flexibility so why not use it.
Weeellll… I did have the luxury of bringing my ingredients with me this time (after trying and failing to find some things like chipotle, or deciding not to spring for them here when I have them sitting in my pantry).
Aside from a few specific things (like chipotle, or tomatillos) there’s quite a bit of overlap in Mexican and Indian flavor profiles, so the rest is not that hard. Mexican food is very popular, and while it used to be very Indianized a couple of decades ago, the current offerings are quite good. (Just a few nits here and there for picky folks like my SoCal nephews but even they squeeze in a few Mexican meals when they’re visiting).
I actually brought more Asian ingredients with me than Mexican – stuff like doubanjiang. The broad Asian pantry available is also very good, it’s just some specialty stuff that’s a bit more challenging to track down.
Oh, I definitely see the overlap in ingredients helping, though I know even finding (or finding the simple ingredient for homemade) corn tortillas is an issue in lots of places.
Yes, a few years ago the corn tortillas and corn chips tasted very different because the corn wasn’t nixtamalized. Something changed in the past few years, because I barely got a chip from a few orders with guac in December (nephews decimated them, and they are very picky about their Mexican food – as in “why is there Basmati in my Mexican rice??? ”)
Agreed @Saregama you are certainly wonder woman. My elderly parents lived only a two hour drive away and some weekends the shuttling back and forth between cities was exhausting. Then I had to factor in making homemade soups since my mom had ALS and had difficulty swallowing and soups were what my dad liked best. As you said you gotta do what you gotta do.
Hello everyone. After two weeks of rain spring has finally sprung! The sun is out and it is warming up a bit. Wearing a windbreaker today would have been suitable but I am wearing my fleece jacket and now I am dying of the heat. Although it’s nice complaining about the heat for a change I finally got my pay situation sorted out so HR will take money off our pay in two stages instead of one big lump sum and I got my first strike pay for the first week we were off. Apparently we will be getting our second payment in two weeks. My pay won’t go back to normal until June so I still have another month of recession cuisine. It’s been a rather stressful last two weeks so thanks for listening. Onto my menu for a solo diner in Ottawa, Canada this week:
Today: Happy cinco de mayo! My take-out lunch today is a barbacoa burrito. Dinner tonight will be a Greek salad. (Two nations in one day!)
Saturday: King Charles coronation. The broadcast starts at 4:00 am local time so I will roll out of bed just before it starts and bleary eyed make my way to the sofa just in time to watch the ceremony. Breakfast will be mushrooms on toast, bacon, and fried tomato. Dinner will be fried cabbage and noodles.
Sunday: I will be having two curries this week to finish up some coconut milk left in the fridge so tonight it will be basa fillet curry. If it is as sunny and warm as the weatherman says I will spend the afternoon sitting outside, reading and enjoying the sunshine.
Monday: Thai beef currry.
Tuesday: chicken livers and rice.
Wednesday: Ham fried rice.
Thursday: Last film society screening of the year so I will probably go to a nearby Chinese restaurant that I like.
Lunches this week will alternate between Greek salad, black bean soup, and quinoa salad with roasted eggplant and pine nuts.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
31
It’s farmers market day so we’re giving that priority. Mrs H is going to video the broadcast (starts 8am here) and then fast forward to the interesting bits (which, in very girlie way, she describes as looking for the clothes and hats). Me? I’ve got some gardening to do, or have teeth pulled, or some such.
I will be watching the coronation for the same reason as your wife. I always enjoy seeing what people are wearing as well as to see which celebrities will be there. People have already started gathering along The Mall to get a prime viewing area. I will be sitting in the comfort of my living room having my fry-up and a big old mug of tea.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where it may very soon be time to complain about the heat
Breakfast: A friend’s family recipe for “health bread”, which involves bran cereal and cottage cheese among other ingredients but is still, as I recall, delicious…
Saturday, May 6: Spanakopita cigars; maybe a salad on the side
Sunday: Italian sausage over polenta; salad; finally that Ottolenghi rhubarb and blueberry galette
Monday: Potato and cheese soup; maybe homemade bread since it’s a holiday for my French company
Tuesday: Chicken broth and lemon Jell-o in preparation for everyone’s favorite procedure
Wednesday: We shall see how I’m feeling; perhaps something soothing like dal
Thursday/Friday: TBD; a meal out might be nice
Hope everyone enjoys the festivities of their choice this weekend! Happy cooking this week!
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
34
Heading to Sacramento at the end of the week for family obligations, on top of extra duties at work. So, a short easy, week of meals is planned here.
For two adults in San Diego/Sacramento:
This week’s breakfasts: TJ’s brioche, toasted with Nutella. Putting the rest of my homemade baked goods in the freezer for when I return from our weekend trip.
S:(tonight) takeout - Pizza: pepperoni and spinach, with additional mushrooms on my side. Will also be lunch tomorrow.
Su: TJ’s Santa Maria tri-tip, Caesar salad, green chile au gratin potatoes
M: Fish sandwiches (battered fish on sourdough), apple slices - seafood
T: TJ’s tarte aux brie et au tomates. Husband picked this out for our vegetarian meal of the week.
Actuals for the first week of May, cooking for 2 in MN. Where it’s finally warm enough to take walks without our parkas, garden chives are plentiful and my husbands daily hunt /dig for dandelions ensures our yard will never be the source of those for greens or wine. We joke that our “lawn” is actually a perfect example of urban plants biodiversity, but dandelions aren’t allowed.
Friday’s planned Cinco de Mayo sheet-pan fajitas got moved to Saturday; my husband’s friend needed an early morning medical-procedure driver & evening close help. Saturday, having prepped a double batch of veggies and both beef & chicken, I found the oven wasn’t heating so pivoted to use the countertop electric oven for the meat and a cast iron skillet for the veggies. Looking forward to lunches with the leftovers. A replacement igniter for the oven should arrive Monday. When we pulled out the manual to get the part number, we found we’d done this quite recently - in December 2020 - and made notes. A good thing since neither of us had any memory of it.
Mon: Turkey chili w sweet potato thickener, French bread. Linda Whit’s recipe from the April What’s for Dinner discussion
Tues: Mahi mahi, green beans, mac & cheese w/ cubed sweet potato
Wed: Turkey Chili over macaroni noodles, tossed salad
Thu: Crusted Cod (Costco), coconut rice (from freezer), peas, fruit salad
Fri: Solo dinners. Me - Schwans frozen beef tamales, salad, He- OUT Burger & fries
Sat: Sheet pan /skillet fajitas with toppings, guac. Dessert later – orange creamcicle ice cream, bakery lemon cookies
Sun (today): Salmon, mashed potatoes, vegetables Normandy
DDE—Daily Dandelion Elimination is what we do here, but just the flowers. The deer friends take care of the greens after I’ve picked my share for salads and I give the flowers to a friend who makes muffins, breads and wine from them.
but even they squeeze in a few Mexican meals when they’re visiting).
”)
I finally got my pay situation sorted out so HR will take money off our pay in two stages instead of one big lump sum and I got my first strike pay for the first week we were off. Apparently we will be getting our second payment in two weeks. My pay won’t go back to normal until June so I still have another month of recession cuisine. It’s been a rather stressful last two weeks so thanks for listening. Onto my menu for a solo diner in Ottawa, Canada this week:
