Weekly Menu Planning - October 2023

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Hello to everyone from the very Fall like Twin Cities of MN where the front came through today and it’s Cold (yesterday it was 61 at this time, it’s 35 now). It’s also Wife week here for our fantasy football league and the bets are serious: the loser has to take the kids out trick or treating when it will be 30 out. The winner will be providing the hot boozy coffee. Menus are still revolving about what big kiddo can eat one handed to keep her new shortie cast clean. Her insistence at having a meatball sub for lunch one day after getting her new cast was rather entertaining. Actuals and plans for 2 adults and 2 growing girls:

Sun 22: Roasted butternut squash and garlic soup to make a dent in the CSA end of season bounty. I loved the roasted garlic twist on it. The rest of my crowd ate very slowly. https://alexandracooks.com/2023/10/15/roasted-butternut-squash-and-garlic-soup/

Mon 23: Both kiddos skated at the same time. It’s so neat to see them on the ice enjoying it together. Frozen pot pies Costco

Tues 24: Sloppy sloppy Turkey joes on hot dog buns. Peas. assorted random leftover sides. Last CSA pick up for the season

Weds 25: Having a rough day. Very proud of Mr Autumm for making a decision and ordering take out

Thurs 26: Chicken sandwiches ala Tyson frozen, coleslaw, assorted crudités. I was planning gyros but the cucumbers at the store were past their prime and then some

Tonight: Both kiddos skate. Leftovers from Wednesday’s take out

Sat 28: Little kiddo at a friend’s birthday party. Probably turkey larb as she is not a fan of it

Sun 29: Hungarian goulash with dumplings. A mr Autumm request. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beef_goulash_with_dumplings/

Mon 30: Both kiddos skate. Probably leftovers/clear out the fridge

Tues 31: A halloween tradition: Meatballs in the crock pot for after trick or treating.

Take care everyone and stay healthy! Just got a text from my brother: he and his wife have COVID. Stupid germs!

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I’ve had pretty good luck subbing pumpkin/squash puree for bananas in a muffin or quick bread situation.

I don’t recall where I got the recipe (silly internets), but it was almost 20 years ago and a pumpkin cranberry cookie was not good. They were worthy of the confectionary failures post.

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I recommend it–it’s delicious!

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How is it possibly going to be November this week?

For two adults in San Diego:

Breakfasts: Will give these a try tomorrow: https://www.budgetbytes.com/cheese-danish/

S: (tonight) Seafood restaurant before watching the San Diego Symphony present the Empire Strikes Back in concert. Our first time at the Rady Shell, which is an outdoor concert venue on San Diego Bay. Incredible experience - seafood

Su: Chicken sausage, spinach and ricotta pizza (purchased crust) with salad

M: Beef stew (carrots, potatoes, peas, onions) - does this count as soup?

T: Bean and veggie quesadillas with salad and avocado - vegetarian

W: Leftovers from freezer (TBD) before an evening event

Th: Beef pot pies, made with leftover stew

F: Old school tacos with all the fixings

Have a good week!

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Those danishes look so easy. Please let us know how they are.

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The November discussion is ready for our planning conversations.

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Absolutely beef stew counts as soup.

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Back from our road trip to S.E. Tennessee (Oak Ridge & Knoxville) a day early, due to forecast snow along our route. We did get to experience 2 hours of “winter driving conditions” in N. Iowa and S. MN late Saturday afternoon but fortunately the final hour was dry, just cold. We visited family in WI, IL and Iowa along our route and saw spectacular fall color in the mountains of Southern Kentucky and all of TN.

A small amount of cooking did happen during the week. We stayed a night with my sister both going out and coming back. She & I made a big breakfast and also assembled an egg bake on the first morning, and toasted sandwiches for supper before the 2nd night.
Sat - Grilled turkey/cream cheese sandwiches on bakery cranberry/walnut bread. Potato puffs.
Sun (today) - Salmon, roasted kobacha squash. That squash is huge - a half-dozen were gifted from a gardener-neighbor to my niece, who gave 4 of them to her parents/my sister who gave 1 to me.

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Hi Everyone! Absolutely gorgeous fall day here - low 70s, blue sky. Lulu is in Florida for a debate event (she made finals!), and LLD is driving back from DC, where he attended a memorial service for our old boss/his former co-author - a sudden death that shocked us. We’re trying to remember to appreciate all the wonderful parts of life. And those include food! Here is what we ate this week:

Mon: tamarind fried eggs with chilies over rice (M. Clark, Dinner), roasted broccoli

Tues: Sausage and pepper heroes, based on A. Bourdin’s recipe.

Wed: Lulu left town that afternoon, and we had a date. Delightful!

Thurs: in an attempt to start making special empty nest dinners, I made flank steak with mustard sauce and herbs (made it before and it is wonderful https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/fast-recipes/flank-steak-mustard-capers-15744), salad with blue cheese and walnuts, and rolls.

Fri: another date night! We had planned to go somewhere fancy, but when the time came around, it was too late to go some places, and the other places didn’t appeal. Then I remembered there is a place with a NE-style white clam pizza that I’d been wanting to try, so we went. I loved the pizza, and the fried brussels sprouts with chilies and lemon that we shared before it.

Sat: solo, I made harissa roasted cauliflower and potatoes with garlicky yogurt, almonds and dill from Dinner in One.

Sun: just me and LLD again, carry out. But I’ve got a cardamom sour cream pound cake (also Dinner in One) in the oven to welcome everyone home.

Wishing everyone a happy, delicious week.

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The squash is spelled kabocha per the internet recipes and “how to cut” instructions. Their best hint is to roast for 15 minutes (25 for me…) then cut and wedge. Before I did that, I struggled for 30 minutes using a large chefs knife and finally managed to cut a portion away and scoop out seeds. After partial roasting it was easy to cut the rest into wedges.

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I usually cut kabocha in half, scoop the seeds out, roast the halves upside down until they’re soft. I used to coat the ovenproof dish with veg oil. Lately I’ve been using a little water instead, so nothing burns.

I have used a microwave technique to soften spaghetti squash before cutting and roasting .

I guess that could work with other winter squash. Prick with a fork all over, microwave for a bit, then cut into wedges or halves for roasting or tempura.

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How was the harissa roasted cauliflower?

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Cooking for one in Reston, VA

Reporting actuals from last week.
Sat, Oct 21 - Kung Pao Chicken from Woks of Life (COTM)
Sun, Oct 22 - Leftover Kung Pao Chicken
Mon, Oct 23 - Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw from Elie Krieger’s The Food You Crave
Tues, Oct 24 - Leftover pork chops
Wed, Oct 25 - Tortilla Soup (from freezer) - Recipe from Melissa Clark’s Dinner. It is a really quick recipe that I make to use up leftover chicken.
Thurs, Oct 26 - Had lunch out with a friend so just had salad for dinner
Fri, Oct 27 - Vegetable Chili from The New Basics. This is a favorite; I’ve been making it for probably 25 years.
Sat, Oct 28 - Book Club. Host made Chicken Pozole soup, salad, and apple crisp. Delicious. It was an unseasonably warm day and we had dinner outside.

I’m working on next week’s plan. I got cauliflower and brussels sprouts at the farmers market and need to figure out how to incorporate them into next week’s plan. I’m also perusing the November COTM to see what I will make.

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It was very good. I couldn’t find a lemon - went to two different grocery stores and neither had one! So I used a small scoop of preserved lemon paste in the place of zest. I needed more, so just used bottled lemon juice on the finished dish; not sure how much difference that made. Could easily add a can of chickpeas to it to give it a bit more protein, but it was great as is.

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@Phoenikia - that (cut in half and roast) was my initial plan. But the squash was dinner-plate size - 10.5 inches across and also 5 inches tall. The tough skin proved impossible for the knives I own (no meat-clever or electric knife), so I felt fortunate the slice I was able to make opened the edge of the seed cavity. Roasting it (or microwaving) to soften the skin was essential.

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Turned out nicely. My only changes - left off the icing and added a bit of lemon extract. So simple. Will definitely make again.

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For cutting large squash I have had good luck with ATK’s suggestion of putting one whole in a plastic bag or clean trash bag and then dropping from waist height onto the sidewalk. I’m always surprised how clean the break is ( almost always only 2 pieces, the max I ever got was 3) and pretty close to split in half every time.

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It works for me dropping the large squash onto my granite counters or in the stainless steel sink. I’d drop it on our kitchen floor rather than the concrete sidewalk except that I am hesitate to try it given we have the original 1845 fir wood floor.

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Thanks for the concrete-drop to break a squash hint!! I have a handy front step and also an unfinished concrete basement room (workshop) floor.

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This brings back childhood memories of my dad having us crack a coconut by tossing it down the basement stairs, which were lightly carpeted over concrete. Worked every time! :joy:

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