Weekly Menu Planning - May 2025

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Hi folks. I have a menu planned for this week, but I’m not sure what’s for dinner which day. This is roughly in order of appearance, I think. There will be vegetables too.

Chicken birria tacos - my usual birria recipe but with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts instead as we’re (I’m) trying to cut back on red meat.

Red beans and rice with (chicken) andouille sausage - ATK, as recommended by @MidwesternerTT above

Caprese chicken pasta - but I need to get rotisserie chicken and fresh basil, as neither were available when we went grocery shopping yesterday. (I know the recipe says to poach b/s chicken but it goes so much faster with rotisserie chicken and it’s tastier, imho.)

BBQ meatballs (turkey) with cornbread on the side (I may bake rather than cook in the IP)

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Sending best wishes and golden light for a fast recovery!

Will Lulu be home this summer/while LLD is away?

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Anything caprese is wonderful!

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Chicken birria sounds good!

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Lulu’s school is on a quarter system, so she should finish just around when he returns. She isn’t sure yet what she’ll be doing this summer. Has a job offer to teach debate again this year for a few weeks. The internship she really wanted didn’t pan out. And letting her parents know what her plans are isn’t her strong suit (if you’re reading this Lulu, that was a nudge to let us know please).

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Okay, after seeing you post about it multiple times, I made the jalapeno ranch dressing tonight and I’m completely obsessed. I didn’t add the seeds so the heat in mine is muted but it’s so good! Thanks!

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Cooking for 3 in southwestern Ontario.

Monday:
Bean Enchiladas tonight made with canned beans, canned enchilada sauce and grated Mexican cheese blend.

Mexican-style shrimp.
I am using the shrimp taco marinades as inspiration.

Basmati
Calabrian Eggplant Parm, which is not breaded or fried
Salad

Tuesday:
Tuna Cakes
Mac and Cheese

Wednesday
Quiche Lorraine from a local baker

Thursday
Fast fry pork chops
Sides to be determined

Friday
Fish to be determined

Saturday
Steak or prime rib

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Good to know! I’m making it tomorrow, and looking forward to it. I don’t have any jalapeno’s on hand, but will be using some red serrano peppers (so my dressing will be pink-ish). Will post results.

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Interesting week ahead. I am covering for a super-busy colleague who is on vacation. Last time I covered for him it was an absolute nightmare but that was an unplanned absence. Hopefully this week will go better. But will definitely be ready to fall back on freezer plus eggs for dinners.

Tonight was stir-fried beef and celery on rice. One meal of leftovers.
Tomorrow I need to cook some boneless chicken thighs and spinach. Thinking Alexandra Cooks Instant Pot Butter Chicken, with some going into the freezer.
I also have RG Midnight Black Beans and a smoked pork steak to make a pot of beans. Good thing I work from home!
Also have 2 packages of ground bison. Taco meat? Chili? Berbere meatballs? Keftedes?
Lots of salad makings I have a responsibility to, and late in the week will have ripe avocados.

Next week I have been asked “as a favor” to cut asparagus from my neighbor’s asparagus bed while she is away on a vacation. Cannot wait!!

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I want those black bean enchiladas.

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I didn’t even realize it was Cinco de Mayo until 2 minutes ago. hahaha

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Hello friends! It is cool and dismal in Ottawa today so I am now enjoying a warm, spicy pork bone soup from the Korean grocer as my takeout lunch today. I love this soup but they don’t have it out very often so when I see it out, I snap up a bowl. I continue to keep myself busy. I had sketching class on Monday, yoga on Wednesday and the last film society screening of the season last night which I decided to forgo since I am getting tired so I opted to go to bed early last night :slight_smile: I only seem to have the energy to go out two nights a week rather than the three or four nights out that I used to do when I was younger. Yoga class will be the next activity to end in a couple of weeks then sketching in early June so I shall think about what activities I would like to participate in during the summer months. Preferably something outside. Onto my menus for this week:

Today: Pork bone soup for lunch spicy enough it is making my nose run :slight_smile: I will have a salad for dinner.

Saturday: Clean-out-the-fridge day. I haven’t given my fridge a good cleanout in awhile and I am getting my first CSA of the season on Thursday so I would like to welcome my first batch of veggies to a nice clean fridge :slight_smile: Now if I can get the rest of my apartment that clean… Stuffed peppers for dinner.

Sunday: I will probably curl up on the sofa with a book. I haven’t done that since my toes were broken in December/January so I figure after four months I am due for a rest :slight_smile: Dinner with be shrimp in spicy coconut milk, rice on the side.

Monday: Off to sketching class. Hopefully it will be warm enough and not raining we can sit outside to sketch. Otherwise it will be indoors. I will have leftover dal for dinner, naan on the side.

Tuesday: Peanut butter noodles with cucumbers.

Wednesday: Second-to-last yoga class. Leftover chicken casserole and egg noodles for dinner.

Thursday: Pasta of some kind. I was going to have the last of the tomato-spinach sauce last Thursday but spent an impromptu evening home so I will forage.

Have a lovely week everyone.

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Greetings, People.

We took advantage of a break in the weather this past week and high-tailed it out to the coast with our (small canned ham) trailer for a few days. An annual thing and despite a mediocre forecast, we had perfect, sunny weather this year. We did a lot of trekking both on Washington’s beautiful ocean beaches and in its wonderous coastal rain forests. My Fit Bit shows just over 20 miles covered.

Back in town, it’s a return to thinning fruit and watching things grow. For anyone following our saga over the years – we’ve got Italian plums growing! Hoorah!

Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: Back from the road: steak and Caesar. Against all odds, a bit of @lulusmom1 ‘s chocolate whiskey cake made it back with us, so they’ll be a bite of that for dessert.

SAT: James Beard’s Pleasant Pasta with garden asparagus (my addition) and baby peas. Gift link from the NYT here.

SUN: Fish chowder – probably halibut. Leftover focaccia from the freezer.

MON: Cobb salad, with the leftover deli meats from our camping trip.

TUE: Pork tenderloin in some form. Homemade applesauce. Spuds in some form, and probably peas.

WED: Mark Bittman’s butter-and-fresh-herb roasted salmon (gift link). Salad.

THUR: Epicurious’s Korean Rice Bowl with more asparagus – an annual favorite during the season. Probably behind a paywall, but an incognito browser should get you there.

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Hi everyone! Another week, and not a lot of cooking happening. LLD was away for 4 nights, and I cooked twice and had leftovers twice. How had I forgotten about the joy that is having leftovers in the fridge and not having to cook?? More of this will be happening; definitely in the next 3 weeks, when he will be away again, and hopefully even after that. It will cut into his lunch stash. I don’t think he’ll be happy about that, so it will take some planning. I got news from my doctor late Tuesday that the biopsy from my operation doesn’t show cancer. Feeling a lot more relaxed and cheery. Also doing the first really big clean of the bedroom since Lulu was a little girl (i know, I know), and finding lots of fun things. Also realizing that some of my sinus problems may be from dust that had accumulated on bookshelves in there. Here is what we ate:

Sun: LLD made salmon, mashers, salad

Mon: date!

Tues: old school tacos with Impossible meat, cheese, cabbage

Wed: soy-braised tofu and scallions (J. Turshen), rice

Thurs: more tacos

Fri: more tofu

Sat/Sun: LLD will cook one night. The other will maybe be carry out, maybe be some sort of pasta I throw together. It’s both Mother’s Day weekend and graduation weekend, which puts us, being right next to UNC campus, in the midst of a lot of activity. Might be easiest to stay home and cook.

Wishing all the moms here a great Mother’s Day. And everyone a happy, delicious week.

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Hurrah for the clean medical slate!

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Hi everyone

It’s been a stressful week for a range of reasons, ranging from family to continuing global insanity that has hit home. Trying to keep my head and heart above water.

New York is in spring mode, with warm days that give way to rain to cool down, which I’m not complaining about because it’s good to have the pollen washed out.

I’m trying to get more legumes into my week as well as a daily serving of homemade yogurt. So far I’m at every other day or so on both, but I think a bit better planning and prepping a few servings at a time might help that goal. Last week I made two servings each of Turkish lentil soup and dal, but when those were done I didn’t feel like making more.

Ideas for the coming week (skewing Asian-heavy like my produce after a Chinatown visit):
– Dim sum-style spare ribs in black bean sauce + veg + fresh ho fun / wide rice noodles
– Angel hair in Vodka Sauce from COTM Ina Garten + tbd protein
– Cantonese soy sauce chicken + woodear mushroom salad + lotus root salad + quinoa-rice
– Seared & marinated tuna Japanese-style + rice + gingery snow pea salad
– Singapore curry noodles (either vermicelli or angel-hair) inspired by @LulusMom1
– Dumplings + salads – I bought some new kinds of dumplings / jiaozi from the Chinese grocery store; will boil or pan-fry and toss with a new Sichuan bean sauce + the woodear mushroom and lotus root salads
– Vegetable pad see ew with fresh rice noodles + tbd protein
– Chicken curry from COTM Raghavan Iyer / On the Curry Trail – either Viet Ca Ri Ga or Malaysian Kari Ayam + tbd veg + rice

Have a lovely weekend and a good week ahead!

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Hello to everyone from the Sunny and Summery Twin Cities of MN where the birds are sinning, dandelions are blooming and I’m ready for June. Admitting procrastination is in progress- I have volunteer drivers I need to connect with the officials for our competition next week and I’ve already wrote 36 thank you notes and decorated the theater lobby today. And was rather abruptly woken this morning by a Turkey. Entering into Skate Completion week and Musical Theater performance week at the same time. Actuals and plans for 2 adults and 2 busy girls. (who really need their skates sharpened but that might not happen) some of this is me just typing it out to plan. . .

Weds 7: A repeat of SK sour cream pancakes with ricotta and strawberry rhubarb sauce

Thurs 8: Supposed to be grilled burgers but ran out of propane so finished inside. Salads, assorted crudite, the last of the potato salad lingering

Fri 9: No school day we somehow missed putting on the calendar! My new car got an underbody rust prevention coating and she stinks. Big kiddo skated. A skillet riff on the sheet pan sausage and gnocchi from a few weeks ago with a mango habanero sausage. I mixed up a little ponzu and mango chutney for a sauce but nobody had it

Sat 10: Tonight! I have some kofta (Jerusalem) I found in the freezer defrosting but I might bump them to tomorrow. Some kind of lemon-tahini sauce, rice vs naan. Salads? If I keep cooking minimal i won’t need to switch on the AC

Sun 11: Late afternoon skating exhibition. The kofta if we don’t have it tonight

Mon 12: Big kiddo has theater practice till 9. I have a skate committee meeting at 7. Anticipating a scrounge event.

Tues 13: Little one’s orchestra concert. I work. Mr Autumm in office. Big kiddo theater. Freezer dive and assorted leftovers. If I make rice we have some of frozen chicken curry things they like

Weds 14: Both kiddos skate. Big kiddo has theater matinee performances all day. Thinking about a big batch of meatballs and sauce for random foods over the next couple of days

Thurs 15: Competion begins! First evening show for Theater. Might do take out Thai for eating in shifts between being here and there

Fri 16: Big kiddo’s free skate in the morning. Evening show for her with Mr Autumm volunteering to Usher. Leftovers. Hoping I can talk little one into a bubble bath so I can chill

Sat 17: My parents in town to watch the show and see the girls skate. Big kiddo has an hour between the matinee and evening call for dinner and she does not want to walk with half the cast to McD’s. Probably pizza for the rest of us hoping things are going ok at skating. Las year Saturday evening with a big mess

Sun 18: Both kiddos skate in the morning. Trying to come up with a plan that does not involved me feeding people lunch here cause I will be working the completion and I don’t want my in-laws in the house. Dinner will be wine for me. Maybe gyros (costco) as I will probably be sick of takeout by then

So that’s the menu plan for us this week! Thanks for letting me de-stress and Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate!

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Happy Mothers Day! Phew I’m exhausted reading about your plans for this week. I hope everything goes well with skating and theater.

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What wonderful news on your negative biopsy result, and wonderful that you are now feeling more relaxed and cheery! The rewards of big cleanups are finding fun things that bring back wonderful memories! Accumulated bookshelf dust is definitely the cause of some of my allergy symptoms, the rest is pollen.

I hope you get a nice meal out for mother’s day and surgery celebration! And easier, less cooking soon to come.

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That is fantastic news, Kari! How wonderful!

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