Actuals for the week:
Duck legs, not salmon cakes on Monday
Italian take-out Tue
Leftover Italian take-out, quiche and creme caramel from a bakery Wed, reheated rancheros pinto beans from the freezer and COTC from my garden.
Lamb tonight. Maybe I will try a zucchini agrodulce. https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegan/romana-courgette-agrodolce/
Hooray for surprisingly pleasant visits! Love your menus, especially the pan pizza 
It is now a lovely sunny day in Ottawa, Canada - not too hot and not to cool. It’s a perfect way to end the week and a nice start to a one week staycation. I’m really tired today but that seems to be normal at this time of year. I work in the office on Thursdays then off to pick up my CSA after work. By the time I get home and unpack two really full bags of veggies it is often 8:00 by the time I have dinner. So much for trying to eat dinner earlier! And I am happy I can work from home on Fridays so I can sleep in a bit instead of having to schlep to the office. I have a two page list of things to do while I’m off - all fun activities - so we’ll see how far down the list I get! On to my menus for the upcoming week for a singleton- all pencilled in as I firm up plans for this week:
Today: I was getting a hankering for Korean fried chicken wings after eating really healthy lunches for weeks now and they tasted soooo good! Greek salad for dinner tonight.
Saturday: I am going to get started on cleaning out some kitchen cupboards. So this is the one not-so-fun item on my list this week. But I haven’t cleaned out my kitchen cupboards in a couple of years and the ones I want to tackle the first are my pantry cupboards. I have been stocking up on canned goods during the last couple of weeks. I have been buying items as they go on sale then putting them in the cupboards willy nilly so I don’t know what I have in there anymore. I will order take-out for dinner.
Sunday: Off to the cinema to see a cat videofest. Corn risotto for dinner.
Monday: Thai noodle salad.
Tuesday: Salade niçoise.
Wednesday: Gado gado.
Thursday: First film society screening of the year! Dinner out before the show. Apparently the food truck across the street is supposed to be good - who knew! Depending on the weather (too cold/rainy) I may take refuge in a restaurant.
Have a nice week everyone. Hopefully Hurricane Lee will have blown out of steam by the time they hit shore.
This is my first time participating in this topic - I read it religiously and learn a lot - often I’m just astonished by what busy lives some of us have and what ambitious menus are posted. I used to be able to do all of that, but not anymore. Just the two of us, retired, live remotely on outer Cape Cod (waving to Hurricane Lee). We generally don’t plan much ahead, but eat from the freezer, what we find on sale and what we grow in our garden/what’s available seasonally and what fish/shellfish we’re able to catch and dig. This month is different because I flew to Ohio and brought my 91-year-old mother back with me to stay until October 10th. So we have had to plan ahead. She has a good appetite and is not too hard to feed - except she likes to eat her evening meal about 2 hours earlier than we do!
Breakfasts are roll your own - a Boston Cinnamon-Walnut Coffee Cake, Bay’s English muffins with butter/peanut butter/jam, breakfast bars, cereal…coffee by the Melitta pour-over method because we all get up at different hours. We have a great local coffee roaster and love their Bali Blue Moon organic dark roast.
Lunches either eat out or leftovers from previous day(s)
Sunday: Took her to our local clam shack for lobster rolls with coleslaw and all of us shared an order of freshly made onion rings
Monday: Sloppy Joes (Stonewall Kitchen sauce) on grilled bulky rolls and local corn on the cob
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin from the freezer with a honey garlic sauce, sweet potatoes and green beans
Wednesday: Pot roast (pressure cooker) with onions, carrots and potatoes.
Thursday: We had a big lunch out - all of us got fish & chips. Nibbles for supper and half of a fresh peach pie a la mode
Friday: Pulled pork from the freezer with grilled bulky rolls and some more local sweet corn on the cob
Saturday: Hello Hurricane Lee - will probably have no power but we do have a gas cooktop and a generator to keep the refrigerator alive. Leftover pulled pork, the last of our garden tomatoes, leftover corn on the cob and the rest of the peach pie.
Sunday: Defrosting some chili from the freezer with shredded cheese, sour cream, scallions and corn chips.
We filled the bathtub with water so we have a flush toilet, charged our flashlights and electronic devices, anchored all of the stuff outside that can fly around in high winds, put extra lines on our boat. Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst!!
Sending best wishes from mid-coast Maine that Hurricane Lee leaves you unscathed!!
PS - us here in Maine too!!
Yikes - hope you don’t have any serious damage. Our worst storms are the winter coastal nor’easters. Last hurricane here was Bob in 1991. Fingers crossed for New England and points north.
Hi Everyone! I hope those of you in the NE are safe and don’t have damage from the storm. And that the Canadian wildfires aren’t effecting anyone’s air quality. I’m definitely feeling the eco-anxiety I read about in the newspaper. Here is what we ate this week:
Sunday: I cooked because LLD was feeling a little overwhelmed with work: pasta with raw tomato sauce (cut up tomatoes, capers, olives, olive oil and sherry vinegar). I didn’t think he was going to like it, and have only made this meal for myself and recently Lulu, but he enjoyed it! Yay!
Mon: Vietnamese caramel salmon (Dinner), rice, salad
Tues: big sushi dinner out
Wed: sausage (chicken), cabbage, and potato stew (J. Pepin)
Thurs: Lulu had a college interview, we stopped at Shake Shack after. Their mushroom “burger” is so good.
Fri: my version of tiktok pasta; boursin instead of feta, and a little cream.
Sat: LLD made tuna tacos.
Sun: carryout of some kind. I’ve got a cherry vanilla almond cake in the oven right now. Winging it, so wish me luck. Slightly worried that the frozen cherries will be an issue.
I’m heading to Michigan and Ohio mid-week to see my dad and some friends. Looking forward to it! Hope everyone has a great week.
Wow! College interview! Is she going to stick close to home? And pasta sauce sounds wonderful!!
Now this, I would eat and enjoy!
Week sounds great.
Yes, how did this happen?? She’s applying to a fair number of places, including local ones. If she goes to UNC I can wave to her from the house; if she goes to Duke LLD can wave to her from his office.
It’s so easy (although I cook the pasta separately and add to the sauce) and incredibly comforting and good. Make it!
Boursin is one of those gems I keep forgetting about. Will try soon. (Coincidentally made that raw tomato sauce pasta myself tonight - another one of those easy favorites!)
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where we just came back from a rainy but fun camping trip. Dinner while camping was mostly grazing and pre-prepared food from home: I don’t really like washing dishes at the campsite (we camp in our vintage VW bus)…
Breakfast: Maida Heatter blueberry crumb cake
Saturday, September 16: Potato salad, beet/carrot salad, random snacks (we had lunch at the state park restaurant so weren’t very hungry)
Sunday (today): Polenta bowls with bacon, roasted tomatoes, broiled greens (a new technique I really liked), and fried egg hit the spot for a back home meal
Monday: Saag paneer with an assortment of farmers’ market greens; rice
Tuesday: Pizza/trivia
Wednesday: Coconut soup with greens and rice noodles from Family for our cook along
Thursday: TBD
Friday: Fried fish with passion fruit sauce; probably rice
I have a bunch more market overbuys I need to process: corn, tomatoes, apples, pears, but I’ll think about that when I have more energy.
Hope everyone has a good week. Happy cooking!
Hi, everyone. Cooking for two adults and a teen in the Boston burbs. We made it through last week’s auditions, callbacks, and casting for the school musical - DS went on quite the emotional roller coaster but I think he’s ok with the part he got. (Not as big as he wanted, but not the ensemble.) I have no idea how real actors’ parents manage the stress!
Tonight: meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes, green beans. I have a ton of “tried and true” meatloaf recipes, but GF breadcrumbs are awful, so none of them really work anymore. Tonight’s recipe is from ATK and uses mashed potato flakes. Fingers crossed.
Mon: chili (optional chorizo on top) and cornbread. Late dinner due to a late meeting for me (with folks in Australia) and rehearsal for DS. I’ll make the chili at lunchtime and delegate cornbread-baking to DH.
Tues: carnitas (from Costco), rice and beans on the side
Weds: I have an all-day work meeting followed by dinner. Guys will have an encore presentation of the meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and peas.
Thurs: pulled chicken tacos. Another late work meeting, plus a vet appointment in the early afternoon.
Fri: tbd
This all sounds so good! I miss the days of cooking just whatever I wanted to eat 
That polenta bowl sounds so good to me right now.
I’ve used instant mashed potatoes in meatloaf, and it worked well for me.
I agree that GF breadcrumbs are awful. We have a fish market with several locations that uses a GF coating for all of their fried food. I do not like it, and I only buy fresh fish/shellfish there to cook at home - never takeout. My Mom always made meatloaf with oatmeal as a binder.
Do you happen to remember her ratio of oats to meat? I’ve been trying to figure out a ratio-based approach to meatloaf, eg X amount of vegetables and Y amount of a specific starchy binder per pound of meat. This recipe called for 1/3 C potato flakes for 2lbs of meat. (And “2 onions” which makes me nuts… specify the weight or volume, people!)
We lived in the Netherlands for awhile. I could buy a package of Boursin for 1 euro. It’s up to $7.99 here, but if I’m lucky enough to get to a Trader Joe’s, it’s half that. I used to make my mashed potatoes with the stuff…
