Weekly Menu Planning November 2024

Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in November. It’s helpful if you can include your location and how many people you are feeding. Links to recipes are always appreciated, and sources help.

Are you planning meals with new-to-you ingredients or spices? Or revisiting family-favorites from past winters? Making meals for a crowd or meals for 1-2, or both? Planning an all soup week? (I love this idea, but haven’t managed to get one organized – maybe this year!) In the run-up to US Thanksgiving, I’ll be focused on emptying the freezer, kicking back with a good cookbook – or few – and watching winter arrive.

We all know plans can change, so it’s fine (practically expected) when your week gets rearranged from your posted plan. You may choose to report actuals for the prior week to share ideas with others.

The October discussion is still available for reporting the last week and follow-ups.

Reminder – Keep your comments menu / food related. And in the interest of faster viewing times, please use the Knife & Fork (like) under a comment to indicate you liked it or want to echo what was said by another, rather than posting a separate comment.

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Hi, cooking for three in the Boston burbs. Back to two-handed cooking! I have mixed feelings about Halloween coming - I’m not ready for fall to slide into winter. But I’ve got an all-day work meeting on Thurs, and several of us are baking cookies to share - my festive sprinkles and a jar of eyeballs arrived today. (candy eyeballs, of course!)

Sun: pasta with pork ragu from Smitten Kitchen Keepers - but with short pasta, as I liked it better that way. Also making a pork/peppers/potato stew in the IP, recipe from Dinner in One, for Thursday, and a batch of polenta for tomorrow.

Mon: baked chicken breasts (we have a ton of spice blends to try), polenta fries, sautéed asparagus

Tues: chicken and white bean chili. Making cookie dough too

Weds: Italian chicken and dumplings - a Rachael Ray recipe using gnocchi and pesto. Bake cookies.

Thurs: pork stew. TBD whether we will be home to pass out candy, or “not at home”, or not at home. We usually get about 15-20 trick or treat groups, but I’m not really feeling it this year. So if we are not at home (or “not at home” we might rethink this meal.

Fri: DH and I are going into the city to see/hear Louise Penny talk about her new book. Not sure if DS will be home on his own or out with friends.

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Oh!!! I so wish I could go to the Louise Penny talk! I just ordered the book that’s being published in a few days…this one sounds great…enjoy! Keep taking care of that hand.

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Yay!

Do you fry these yourself?

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Last week certainly flew by.

Turns out it will be a short week for me as I have decided to go visit my nephew for his birthday (he’s “all grown up” so it’s friends-only birthdays, but he did a via-brother inquiry about about my travel plans, so then I bought a ticket).

Diwali is also this week, but it doesn’t feel very festive here with the usual friends I celebrate with away or otherwise occupied, so it will be nice to see family, even though it will be the end of the holiday.

Aspirational ideas, let’s see what I get to:
Shiu mai burgers but using the more correct-sounding seasoning from the other shu mai recipe (I ate some this week, so the lack of black mushrooms and other flavors in the burger recipe stick out).
— Sushi bowl, maybe the crispy rice or baked kind – I saw a version where the rice layer is crisped in the oven before adding the other layers. With avocado and snow pea salad
— Korean beef and tofu patties / wanja jeon that I ate earlier in the week – this NYT recipe is a bit fussier than the one I’ve made previously from Maangchi. With kimchi, bok choy, and rice.
— Japanese salmon & mushroom rice / Takikomi Gohan (ingredients here, cooked like this except with mushrooms & mushroom broth for the rice).
— Craving steak – maybe Bo Luc Lac or Japanese soy garlic steak.

My own cooking might get de-prioritized to make a few Diwali & other treats for the birthday boy:
— More of the almond fudge and gram flour fudge, which he loves even more than his brother. Made the Nutella balls already, but the almond fudge needs to be fresh so I have to wait.
— Masala puris, the crunchy kind.
— Lemon muffins (I usually bake them there with him, but it’s a short visit, so if I can make them before leaving it will simplify my life).

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

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They’re pan-fried, so yes. I made the polenta today and spread it in an 8x8 pan to chill overnight. Tomorrow I will cut into sticks/fries and pan-fry. I think the original recipe I have is from Epicurious, maybe?

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Yippee on both hands working! How do you feel about that SK book? I was excited about it when it came out but read some meh reviews, but I really like her (penne comment aside). It’s been unavailable at my library the whole year.

Excited for you about Louise Penny!

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Keepers is the only one of her cookbooks I own, and there are some recipes we like, but I’ve found most require tweaks - or, at least, we like them better tweaked than as written. The black bean soup/chili is one that comes to mind: she calls for roasting onions, tomatoes, and chiles - which is a great twist to the recipe, but I use more veggies and bell peppers instead of chiles, and more beans… so, the final product is more “inspired by” than verbatim. The pork ragu (which I think would also work with ground turkey) is one of the few recipes I don’t change much, other than the pasta shape.

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@Saregama I forgot how untalented I am at pan-frying - they were messy and not worth the mess. I tried brushing some with olive oil, sprinkling with Parmesan, and sticking them under the broiler. It was better, but not perfect. So take my recommendation with a grain of salt!

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Oh no! Sorry to hear.

I think “fries” may be a harder shape than circles — I’ve pan-fried or baked a polenta log before, less tricky.

When I’ve had them at restaurants, they’re always deep fried, which is easier but I don’t do much of at home.

Another similar one is chickpea fries.

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*slices from a polenta log

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I like to cut polenta quite thin and “toast” the slices stove top, with just a bit of oil. I’ve had on my list forever to dive into panisses/chickpea flour creations of several kinds. Got to wait until family and election stresses ease up some.

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oooooooh, do luv’ some thinish sliced polenta fried up crisp!
does splendid work with scrapple slices.

this is the “planning sheet” we use for the weekly fare. always subject to change and White-Out “corrections”

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Greetings, People.

It’s almost November – wow!

I’m trying not to stress over the elections. At the same time, and partially as a distraction, thinking ahead to the holidays – family, friends, fundraisers. That holiday bit, at least, is looking pretty good from here.

Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: Leftover aushak from the freezer. Scallion couscous. Roasted carrots.

SAT: Caldo verde with added halibut (rolled from last week). Focaccia.

SUN: A repeat of the ATK Japanese steak-house dinner with sides of mushrooms and fried rice. So good!

MON: A new-to-me prep for cooking salmon from the NYT – gift link to Mark Bittman’s recipe here. Smashed potatoes.

TUE: Election night. I’ve been torn between planning a celebratory dinner and serious comfort food. Leaning towards comfort food, with my eyes wide shut - gift link for NYT Homemade Hamburger helper here.

WED: Got cabbage? Budget Bytes cabbage stir-fry. Rice.

THUR: Chicken-zucchini meatballs with orzo and veggies in broth.

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Have you tried the hamburger helper recipe before? I didn’t care for it.

Please report back on how the salmon turns out (and what kind of pan you use)!

I have not. It’s been on my list for ages.

What did you not care for (taste, texture, other)?

Will do!

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I thought it was really one-note, and not much of an improvement to the store-bought kind, TBH.

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I’ve made it several times since the first time I reported it on the COTM thread — easy, delicious, and riff-able.

I used a gratin dish for a single piece, and a slightly larger baking dish for 2 portions. You need something that’s not too much bigger than the size of the fish so the butter doesn’t get lost.

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