Actuals for Sep 2 week, cooking for 2 in MN, where we’re back into summer weather in this week’s forecast - 83 F as today’s high.
Mon - as previously mentioned Chicken/zucchini with peanut sauce – half batch, farro
So good I made a 2nd half batch Tuesday for lunches.
Tues: BAKED Vanilla baked donut cake with citrus glaze Not good as “donuts” but quite nice under strawberries. Also a zucchini egg rollup appetizer that didn’t work so well - I ended up frying slices for my breakfasts Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp8_rZQkrhQ
Dinner - from freezer - Pizza, cheese breadsticks. Trying our several breadstick brands, looking for something easy to pair with fall soups to replace a brand no longer made.
Wed and Thurs: Pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, potato salad
Fri and Sat: Hot ham & Swiss sandwiches, sweet potato fries, peaches & red grapes. Half ear corn on the cob.
Sun - Day trip to visit niece and family in WI. Carry out chicken for lunch, homemade pizza for supper with veggies cut by the 2nd grader who is very at ease in the kitchen. While I entertained grand nieces/nephew, my niece made a peach pie for our dinner dessert. The almost-one-year babies each got a dollop of whipped cream in bowls, eaten with fingers and then bowls dropped on floor. Grin - yes, they’re at that stage of playing with their food and dinnerware.
We are big fans of the green mill breadsticks. In the refrigerator section at Cub. I try to keep a bag in the freezer. In the oven for a few minutes and a quick brush of melted butter and ready to go
Thanks, I will look for those. Using R&D “budget” to find some reasonably packaged for a household of 2. The frozen ones tried so far are tasty but making a tray of 8-10 at a time wasn’t really what I had in mind.
Several unpredictable evenings this week, so keeping the entire stretch simple and flexible. I love a Caesar salad, and DH never objects to meat-centric meals - win-win all around.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW:
FRI: Salmon burgers + extra patties for tomorrow’s dinner.
SAT: Salmon patty Caesar.
SUN: Steak Caesar.
MON: TBD
TUE: TBD
WED: TBD
THUR: Oven wings. Green salad.
10 Likes
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
26
Coming up for air after a nutso summer in Asheville, NC. Cooking the following for two adults and a kiddo over the next week or two, but haven’t nailed down the order yet, except for prioritizing perishables. We’re also trying to eat out a bit less – Thursday nights and weekend days have been historically when we indulged. Many ideas cribbed from this discussion thread and previous.
Last night we had leftover lasagna with beef and zucchini and sauteed asparagus with lemon oil and truffle salt
Vietnamese caramel salmon from Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant, spicy green beans, steamed rice
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga. This week’s theme seems to be braising and project cooking, perfect for the rainy weather.
Friday, September 13 (tonight): Zucchini and corn galette from Family
Breakfast: Pain au chocolat; going to go laminate my dough in just a bit!
Saturday: Red-cooked chicken, stir-fried cabbage, rice
Sunday: Beef stew, bread?, chocolate roll from a Maida Heatter cookbook
Monday: Kale and white bean stew with linguica to appease DH
Tuesday-Friday: Scrounge/takeout/TBD. Yesterday I used a “randomized decision wheel” to choose our takeout restaurant and it really helped our hangry selves pick something fast
Hope that any of you in Francine’s path are drying out and doing OK. Have a great week, and happy cooking!
— Momo night, fam fave — “desi” chicken, paneer and vegetable.
— Baby lima bean coconut curry, sautéed cauliflower and peas, chapatis, rice
— Takeout North Indian favorites — butter chicken, chicken malai kabab, naan, rumali roti, paneer bhurji
— More takeout faves — scotch broth, mushroom crepes, burgers, fries
— Mom’s roast chicken and potatoes, schmaltzy rice
— Mom’s chicken curry (yep, she’s back in the kitchen now and then, slowly, slowly but ever forward) with rice
— Chaat evening at a friend’s Ganpati festival celebration that constituted most of dinner
Plans for the next few days:
— Pasta with mushrooms and spinach (or maybe I’ll use fondue for fancy mac & cheese)
— Indian chinese — hakka noodles, egg fried rice, soya chilli chicken, paneer or vegetable Manchurian
— Masala cheese toast and Bombay-style (potato and green chutney) sandwich toast
— My favorite takeout biryani
— Frankie night
— Offal favorites at home (trotters and more)
I have to bake for mom too — focaccia and a baby boule, plus I spotted an overripe banana for banana bread.
Yay your mom is back in the kitchen! I hope that is a good thing?
I am envious of your hakka meals. Finding hakka dishes in Ottawa (where I live) is next to impossible. Most Ottawans don’t know what it is so you rarely see it in these parts. Some Indian restaurants will put a hakka dish or two on their menu but that’s as far as it goes. I guess I am going to have to learn to make hakka dishes myself…
Yes, slowly back to normal for mom is a great thing, especially as it’s been much slower than she expected (so frustrating for an active person).
Re Hakka — my understanding is that Hakka people traveled far & wide, so there are versions of Hakka food everywhere (and also embedded in what we’d encounter as other chinese regional food like Cantonese).
In India, there’s Chinese-Chinese which was the original Hakka people’s food, and then Indian chinese, which was an adaptation to local tastes with more aromatics and spices. Hakka noodles are actually the latter, haha. Not hard to make at home, though, especially these days as you can buy a handy packet of spices to toss in (hakka masala or schezwan or manchurian). But hakka noodles are actually very simple, you don’t need a masala packet, just a bit of effort chopping up the veg.
Ages ago, back on Chowhound, a Hakka cookbook was cookbook of the month. I made a few things from it, they were easy and good. I believe it was called The Hakka Cookbook.
Yes, the Hakka Cookbook by Linda Lau Anusasananan. As I recall, the cumin beef/chicken was the standout favorite. There was also a good steamed fish recipe.
Hi everyone! We got Lulu all moved into her dorm, and despite many tears on everyone’s part, we all seem to be doing well. I’ve barely heard from her, which I take as a good sign. The house is awfully quiet without her here though, and Lady Berkeley seems a bit down. I am having fun with cooking for 2, and having leftovers for dinner. LLD possibly a little bummed out that all leftovers are not automatically his for lunches anymore, but after 18 years I like the additional freedom. Here’s what I cooked this week, after a weekend of using up leftovers for dinner:
Mon: SK’s steak salad with tomatoes and blue cheese, rolls
Tues: Cape Malay chicken curry (Milk St) over rice. Made extra, and had it again on Friday.
Wed: spicy egg, tomato, leek toasts (Dinner in French). This isn’t an exciting name, but holy cow it was delicious.
Thurs: carry out
Fri: leftover chicken curry, more rice
Sat: LLD was going to cook, but his day isn’t going well. Possibly carry out, but there is a football game at UNC, so maybe I will make pasta.
Also baked 2 loaves of bread, and made Toronto Jo’s bars of shame for a potluck.