Thanks, I missed your COTM report.
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I would gladly eat your whole menu!
Would you believe I’ve never had hamburger helper, though I’m fascinated by it — might have to try it out myself.
I hear you re election night. I was thinking of hanging out with friends to cut the stress, but I’ll be off a redeye and probably better at home (if not asleep, and just wake up to whatever, though I don’t think I really can).
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Thank you!
I’ve never had HH either, so there’s nothing to which to compare. I do like a mac and cheese, though, and have always been drawn to this recipe. I’ll report back on the NYT COTM thread.
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I’ve had it once or twice — my (American) ex introduced me to it. I can see it being a convenient way to get dinner on the table for a family with kids, but beyond that I fail to see the appeal 
I’d rather doctor up a box of Kraft mac, or make proper pasta instead.
Curious to see what you think.
You’ll have to get a box before you make it from scratch. It doesn’t really work in reverse 
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Hello friends from another balmy week in Ottawa. I was running errands during my lunch hour yesterday wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I don’t think it’s ever been that warm on Halloween before - not in my lifetime. It has cooled down a bit today so I needed a windbreaker when I was out earlier but still warmer than usual. Someone at work keeps bringing home baking and candy and I keep eating it. Good thing I only work in the office three days a week! 
Now I know why parents ration their kids’ Halloween candy 
The only activity I had on tap this week was a jazz concert on Wednesday. I had never heard the musician that was performing however has been getting good reviews. Sadly I’m not a fan. He’s a solo guitar player and a lot of the songs he played sounded similar so it was a long two hour concert. I have decided to stick to musicians that perform as part of a band. I had intended on going on a museum visit last night but was too tired in the end so It will get bumped to later this month. On tap this weekend is a shopping trip in Chinatown tomorrow and a matinée movie of “The Conclave”. Onto my menus for this week:
Today: I had another pasta dish as my take-out lunch today (spaghetti with creamy pesto sauce and chicken) so I will have a salad of some sort tonight. I baked some beets last weekend then froze them then I intended to take some out for salads this weekend then forgot. So I will forage for salad ingredients for dinner tonight.
Saturday: Shopping trip to Chinatown to replenish my stash of Asian ingredients. I will stop by the take-away counter at the Chinese grocer and get some bbq’d pork then make some chow mein noodles to go with.
Sunday: Off to the movies! I will be going with one of my meetup groups so we will be going to the movies then dinner after for something to eat and to have a lively discussion after. The restaurant we are going to has some really tasty looking appetizers and they are HUGE so I will probably get an appetizer for dinner.
Monday: I have one pepper left from last week’s CSA so I will make a stuffed pepper for dinner. I will have a corn-on-the cob as a veggie side and maybe another veggie to have along with it.
Tuesday: Peanut butter noodles with cucumber.
Wednesday: The kale I got in my CSA last week was a really big bunch. Usually I can only get two servings out of the bunch they give me however I had two meals from it last week and still have leftovers so this week I will have a marinated kale salad.
Thursday: I have a vernissage pencilled in for Thursday afternoon at a local art gallery. When I get home I will have pasta with arriabata sauce, corn on the cob, Brussels sprouts.
Best of luck to my American friends on Tuesday. It should be an interesting next few days.
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HH is babysitter food or it was when DS.had a wellpaid weekly gig that involved cooking HH for himself and one kid. DH had already nailed American Chop Suey from scratch and we made snarky remarks.
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Sorry for a trip down memory lane but as we visit the NYT site there was a favorite of mine from the 80s that is kind of HHish. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3178-macaroni-and-beef-casserole
I like pasta with ground beef, so I’m wondering whether the addition of cheese would make me happier or less happy.
I’ve had greek pastitsio with bechamel and lasagne with bechamel, but not sure how I’ll feel about American cheese 
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For Election night eats & drinks chatter:
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And now I am thinking about a pasta and bean bake in the style of American Chop Suey…
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Hi, all! Cooking for 4 in Chattanooga, where the kids are coming for a weeklong visit to celebrate a very early Thanksgiving (one DD is traveling during the actual holiday).
Breakfast: Omelets to power through all the cooking
Saturday: The whole shebang: “turchetta” with the breast and roasting the legs, stuffing, mashed potatoes, regular and veggie gravy, spoon bread, Brussels sprouts, green beans, sweet potatoes, rolls, 3 kinds of pie. This is for 6 people, mind you. We’re a little nuts around here…
Sunday: Leftovers, almost certainly
Monday: Pasta with bolognese sauce that I’m going to try and make vegetarian with mushrooms and lentils
Tuesday: Hiding under the bed, I don’t know
Wednesday: Frittata, hash browns, some kind of veg if we’ve worked through the Thanksgiving things
Thursday: Probably leftovers in some form, maybe tostadas or a pot pie?
Friday: Out to celebrate DH’s birthday
Hope you have the best week possible! Happy cooking!
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Nov 1
Seafood Chowder tonight, with shrimp and fish. I think I’ll use the Mark McCrowe recipe as inspiration.
I will cut back on the amount of seafood to around 1.5 lbs in total, and cut back on everything else, so it is the right amount for 6 servings.
Kale, preparation to be determined
Green Salad
Maybe French carrot salad, need more salads
Nov 2
steak, and eggplant parm
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Ha ha! When my first nephew was 3 or 4 and I was the babysitter, it was blue box mac and cheese all the way. Man, he loved that stuff. My husband, to whom I had recently become married and who was not born in the States, couldn’t stand the stuff. It took him over a decade to agree to trying a homemade mac and cheese. He’s since become a convert.
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I wish you’d been there tonight - she was fantastic, really funny!
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I am always inspired by your menu planning and your arts programming! And how you use up your refrigerator supplies in such inventive ways!
It’s going to go on for months after Tuesday…
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I started reading it last night! Completely riveted! I predict I’ll finish Grey Wolf before election day. So glad you enjoyed it!
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Actuals for the past week, ending 11/3, cooking for 2 in MN. Where everyone I’ve spoken with is far more tense than in previous election years and everyone agrees we’re ready for the seasonal halt of political messaging in all forms (tv ads, emails, text messages, postal mail, phone calls, door knocks, social media, billboards, signs… have I left out anything?). Avoiding all of those, I’ve “played” in the kitchen this weekend, and now have a good amount of rotating meal options to reheat for the upcoming week.
Mon: Shepherds /Cottage pie (from last week’s roast), spinach, apples, red grapes
Tues: BBQ beef (from last week’s roast, shredded w sauce) on buns, coleslaw, apples
Wed: Egg Bake (from freezer) baked apple
Thus: Shredded rotisserie chicken, mac & cheese. HALLOWEEN – 12 visitors, a fun increase over previous years. One of my FB friends who has 3 kids in school got 600!
Fri: (and reheat Sat evening) - Squash-half stuffed with taco-seasoned chicken thigh and (from freezer) rotel/black bean/brown rice Red grapes
Sat: Lasagna, garlic-buttered English muffins, Red grapes. As I browned the beef, I found I had only half the amount of sauce and mozz. cheese on-hand for a full 9x13 pan, so made an 8x8 pan and also made lasagna soup with the rest of the beef and broken noodles. 4 slices of lasagna are now frozen for future meals.
Sun (today) - noon: Pork, apple, sweet potato skillet stew with coconut rice.
Previously posted here. Evening: reheat Lasagna soup made Saturday, baguette. Also BAKED this morning, pumpkin crumble dump cake
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Cooking for three in the Boston burbs, where I simultaneously want this week to be over but am also dreading one possible outcome. We voted early, a couple weeks ago, so there’s nothing more I can do but try to stay calm. It seems like this might be a good month to work on earning that meditation badge in the Peloton app…
Sun: carne asada mashed potato bowls. Basically a burrito bowl with mashed potatoes instead of rice, courtesy of alexrioscooks on Instagram. I’m cheating a bit and using prepared potatoes because that’s easier.
Mon: chicken parm (and I’m just now realizing I forgot to buy a chunk of mozzarella, hope I have shredded in the fridge), red sauce, pasta, green beans
Tues: drunken noodles and perhaps Idiocracy on Disney+
Weds: I’m going into the city tonight with a friend to see “&Juliet” - guys are having leftovers. I’m supposed to be in the office for our annual Giving Back event, but I suspect turnout may be low as people may not feel like, well, peopling.
Thurs: green chicken enchiladas, refried black beans
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Hello again from Pasadena, CA, where we’ve Santa Ana winds forecast for the week and there’s two of us needing food.
Feeling no inspiration, and fretting about the week to come (both the Tuesday stuff and the fire weather stuff), decided to front-load (a phrase stolen from @Saregama, I believe) with much takeout from a local Thai place (for partner) and a Lebanese place (for me).
Hoping the leftovers will hold through Wednesday night, as we’re doing something special for partner’s birthday on Thursday or Friday (though that’s TBD).
Meanwhile, as the winds set me very much on edge - and I’m already antsy - I’m hoping to turn that excess energy into a positive.
So, freezer-feeding shall ensue!
Options
- Split pea soup
- Beige soup
- Zucca Toscana
- Bean and vegetables chili
Also some baking
- Pumpkin bread
- Blueberry and apple bread
- Carrot (birthday) cake
- Peanut butter cookies
(Regarding the winds: I’m not a great fan of Didion, but these two pieces really capture the edginess, especially with an extended event.
“The Santa Anas” and “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”.)
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