Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in September. 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. 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 calendar page may turn, but early September still feels like summer around here. An abundance of produce is inspiring or intimidating (if you need to find time to can/freeze it). And later in the month new cooking options from (slightly) cooler temperatures will have me considering more oven dishes. For many of us this month brings big changes in juggling “who’s home to eat what when” as activities at school, work or volunteering ramp up.
The August 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
Enjoying the last of “summer” while we can – “summer” being in quotes, because when I woke up yesterday morning it was 45 degrees farenheit out. In August! Regardless, I spent this last week jamming and freezing to make the most of seasonal bounty. Berries are winding down, and soon we’ll be on to apples and pears.
Starting out this week with a shrimp and orzo dish which got bumped from last week as I realized ALL our peaches (purchased) were ripe at the same time. I made instead a seasonal skillet dish of pork-and-basil meatballs with sauteed peaches. Also made peach jam, and peach and blueberry muffins. The plan is to get a small peach pie baked tomorrow, and maybe freeze one peach so I have the resources for a peach-and-blueberry cake (Dorie’s Everything Cake) in the near future. And that’ll be the end of peach season, however brief.
Hello everyone it’s Labour Day weekend already. Where has the summer gone? The weather in Ottawa this summer has been lovely and I didn’t even mind the heat too much since it cooled down at night so it was comfortable for sleeping. There were a few days earlier this month when it got hot out and stayed hot but in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that bad. There is one venue downtown that has live jazz bands on Wednesday nights and I’ve been meaning to take in some shows for awhile now. I made it out to a few of them this summer and I’ve discovered a couple of jazz bands I like. I have also tied in a few movies and museum visits. It won’t be long and I will be resuming my fall activities. Onto my menus for this week:
Today: My take out lunch is spaghetti and meatballs from a nearby deli. Dinner will be a corn, cucumber, tomato salad.
Saturday: Off to go shopping tomorrow, mostly to look for yoga pants, but also to do a little window shopping. I’ve got quite a few stores to visit so I will be making it a day trip so I will be on the lookout for lunch options. There’s a bagel store in Ottawa that I like that’s in the neighbourhood although I might try somewhere else. There’s a Five Guys where I will be going and I haven’t been yet - has anyone eaten there? Yay or nay? I will have another corn, cucumber, tomato salad for dinner.
Sunday: I will make an afternoon trip to the market to do my grocery shopping. I have a shrimp risotto pencilled in for tonight but I might have it tomorrow instead. There’s a late afternoon (6:00 pm) football game on so I might pick up a pork chop or sausage to have with the corn on the cob and romanesco in the fridge. Everything could be made quickly and I plan on having my bum on the sofa by kickoff.
Monday: Shrimp risotto or pork chop/sausage, whichever I didn’t have last night.
Tuesday: vegetable pilaf.
Wednesday: Leftover serving of hamburger casserole in the freezer. I will heat it up in the microwave then dash off to a jazz concert.
Thursday: fettucine al pesto, tomato-cucumber salad.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where we’re hoping for rain sometime in the near future. My meal plans keep getting upended by DH’s busy social schedule at the beginning of the semester, but I shall continue to over-plan and hope for the best
Breakfast: Orange and chocolate chip muffins
Saturday, August 31: Cuban-style meat loaves (pulpetas), some kind of potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower salad. I also need to bake a bunch of bread and make pesto before my basil wilts too much.
Sunday: Japchae with bits and bobs from the produce drawer; vanilla cream pie
Monday: Cheese ravioli with aforementioned pesto
Tuesday: Scrounge
Wednesday: Sopa seca/fideos
Thursday/Friday: TBD, probably leftovers
Hope everyone who gets one enjoys their long weekend! Happy cooking!
We used to love Five Guys - one of the best. Since the pandemic, however, and at least at one local store we visited, they seem to have gone down hill. Slow service, not quite as fresh seeming, and missing the panache of the early years. We haven’t been back in a couple of years. YMMV!
Hi everyone, I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend. Here is what we ate this week, and the next few days:
Mon: coconut curry chicken soup with mushrooms and baby bok choy served over rice
Tues: black bean tacos with feta and cabbage
Wed: pasta with roasted tomatoes and boursin (my take on tiktok pasta)
Thurs: carry out
Fri: leftovers
Sat: LLD headed to the store right now to pick up ingredients. Will depend on what looks good.
Sun: carry out.
Mon: roasted chicken sausages and cabbage with caraway over polenta.
Lots of Lulu’s favorites on this list. We’ll be moving her into her dorm on Wednesday (away from home Tues, Wed., and Thurs.). I’m holding it together as well as I can. I’m excited for her, but of course will miss her a lot. LLD has been a prince the last few days.
Sending golden light and warm thoughts to all of you for Lulu’s college departure. I hope LLD keeps up the prince identity as the parents go through such an emotional transition!
I can’t believe the first two weeks of the semester have passed already. It’s the last weekend of the summer, which means we are hiding out in our apartment instead of dealing with the crowds in our neighborhood. Resting up for the week.
For two adults in San Diego:
Breakfasts: It’s been difficult to force myself to bake recently. I might use up some browning bananas for bread.
S: (tonight) takeout - pizza
Su: Eggs scrambled with spinach and cheese, hash browns - vegetarian
M: Cheeseburgers, potato salad
T: Crab cakes, salad kit TBD - seafood/salad
W: Orange chicken (from the freezer), veggies, and noodles or rice, eaten at my desk before an evening event
R: Sloppy joes (made with ground turkey), fruit
F: Pasta with TJs turkey meatballs, red sauce, spinach, cheese
Hi everyone! DS’s first few days of high school were surprisingly smooth (hope I’m not cursing myself by saying that…). Aside from the cafeteria food being “gross,” there were no major crises, academic or social. We did some belated back-to-school shopping today, clothing and then school supplies. I’m pooped and glad to have an extra day off!
Today: we had a late lunch (pizza) after the outlets and so dinner was even later, steak tips, mashed potatoes, and peas for them/salad for me
Mon: I desperately need to go grocery shopping tomorrow morning! Dinner will be spanakopita chicken meatballs (Rachael Ray), pita/flatbread (which I didn’t make last week), and tzatziki. I’ll also make chicken fajitas for DS’s lunches and black bean chili for Tues, or at least the roasted vegetables for it.
Tues: black bean chili (SK Keepers) with chips and cheese. Late day at the office, hence the cooking ahead.
Weds: turkey cutlets, crispy chickpea-bacon salad (another Rachael Ray recipe)
Thurs: I’m hoping we have leftover meatballs - if not, will make something easy like fried rice
Fri: tbd. I found grouper fillets in the freezer and I’m thinking pan-fried grouper and maybe some risotto?
Preview of this week’s actuals – Tonight’s chicken with zucchini noodles in peanut sauce from Sally’s Baking Addiction site was too good (and FAST) to not share. I don’t have a spiralizer so simply cut zucchini into thin fettuccini-like slices. I had all ingredients already sliced so cooking was less than 15 minutes.
I think @fivealive described it best: we’re hanging on to summer. Or trying to. One last week of warm-weather food rituals: mixing gazpacho, barefoot grilling, and indulging on garden produce: berries, fruits, veg, fresh herbs. So very nice, and so sorry to see it coming to the season’s end.
I am getting ever closer to my trip to Montreal - only a week and a half to go! I have my train and hotel booked, I have tickets purchased and outings planned, now I just have to find a few restaurants to eat at on the nights I am available. I made it out to a jazz concert last Wednesday to a jazz musician who I’ve seen before so it was nice getting out of the house mid-week for a bit of a break. I am saving my money for Montreal right now but I did sign up for a brunch on Sunday with one of my meetup groups since I would like to do a little peopling. On to my menu for this week:
Today: My take-out lunch is from a Middle Eastern restaurant that has been getting good reviews and I keep forgetting about it. It’s only three blocks away from home but there aren’t many businesses on that street so I tend not to go down there very often but today I remembered it was there so I got a chicken kebab sandwich. It comes on a choice of saj or pita so today I asked for my sandwich on a saj since I’ve never had one. It includes a chicken kebab, garlic sauce, pickles and fries. Only two complaints, and just minor ones at that. Apparently all sandwiches include pickles however they gave me regular pickles (like Bicks pickles) as opposed to the pickled turnips I was expecting. And the fries are placed inside the sandwich as opposed to on the side to they are soggy. I will make note of this for next time. The chicken, garlic sauce, and bread are worth the cost of the sandwich alone, though. Tonight I will have a tomato bean salad for dinner.
Saturday: Cleaning day. Also to try on some new clothes I’ve bought during the last couple of weeks to make sure they fit. I now have a pair of cotton pants, a pair of jeans and a couple of tops to try on. Pork chow mein for dinner using the last of the bbq’d pork I bought in Chinatown recently.
Sunday: Off to a nearby resto for brunch then off to our downtown metro store that has reopened! Metro is a grocery store chain and our downtown store closed five years ago since a developer bought the property and built a condo there. The store has reopened on the main floor of the condo and it looks like a nice big well lit grocery store. I peered in the window on my way to the movie theatre last week so I’m excited to see what it looks like. I am also hoping to score some butter tarts from a local bakery while I’m there since they are only available at metro. I will have a shrimp salad for dinner.
Monday: Peanut butter noodles with cucumbers.
Tuesday: Stirfried pork with five vegetables.
Wednesday: Asian style chicken wrap. Chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves with rice noodles and hoisin sauce.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga. Going to feel a little like fall this week with some cool evenings, but personally I would prefer some rain!
Breakfast: Granola parfaits with peaches
Saturday, September 7: Fish with red wine-caramelized onions, mashed potatoes, peach and green bean salad
Sunday: Steak quesadillas, leftover salad, banana cake. May need some kind of snack for people coming over for an afternoon meeting; possibly corn fritters.
Monday: Harissa shakshuka from Milk Street
Tuesday-Friday: TBD. We’ve had so many leftovers the last couple of weeks that I want to keep things open…
Hope everyone has a good week. Happy cooking!
The sandwich (except for the pickles and fries ) really was very tasty. They have salads and wraps (minus the fries) on the menu so I will try something else next time. And it smells sooooo good in there!
Halibut. I’m going to try this seared halibut with bacon and mushrooms recipe.
Potato salad
Roasted squash
Leftover tomato gratin
Green beans with olive oil, vinegar and dill
Saturday:
Lemon oregano lamb chops for the Dining Companions,
leftover sides from Friday’s dinner
Sunday:
a brunch at a French restaurant for me.
Undecided dinner
Another busy week here. With a lot of extra events, appointments, and meetings on my schedule, really quick meals are on the menu.
For two adults in San Diego:
Breakfasts: I baked banana bread last week! First time I’ve baked in ages. Felt good. And tasted good. Perhaps scones later this week after I finish up the bread?
S: (tonight) takeout - Chile verde and bean burrito
Su: Leftovers soup - homemade chicken stock, sloppy joe filling, pasta, onions, peppers, spinach, cheese… kinda like a lasagna soup - soup
Hi, everyone. Fall snuck in quickly here! We had a really nice Saturday, lots of outdoors time. We went out for dinner last night and then I got sick on the way home (not sure if it was due to gluten, grease, or food poisoning). So today has been recovery day - lots of tea and couch time. My Apple Watch keeps nagging me to get moving and I’ve been talking back at it.
(Cooking when you’re queasy is so much fun. Not.)
Sun: made chicken lo mein for DS’s lunches this week, then a big batch of chicken parm meatballs. Dinner was meatball subs for the guys, a few meatballs over polenta for me (maybe not wise but I was so hungry), and green beans.
Mon: fried rice since I made a big pot o’ rice earlier today
The plan for the rest of the week assumes either DH or I go shopping tomorrow…
Tues: chicken wings, carrots/celery, and baked potatoes (inspired by football foods, baked potatoes are like potato skins, right?)
(not sure if it was due to gluten, grease, or food poisoning). So today has been recovery day - lots of tea and couch time. My Apple Watch keeps nagging me to get moving and I’ve been talking back at it.
