This week at the grocery store, the spice section featured postings of an ominous note:
If there is a paprika shortage I don’t know WHAT I will do.
Also I keep wondering if the magic feta pasta (roast cherry tomatoes with olive oil and a block of feta, then add noodles) could work with any other vegetables? Okay, okay, I do see recipes that are experimenting with spinach or butternut squash instead of tomatoes. And here’s one with mushrooms and feta and spinach that looks like a possibility. But my ideal baked pasta would have mushrooms and goat cheese… and onions… and roasted garlic… and maybe some balsamic? And a few handfuls of arugula thrown in on top. Basically this pizza, but in pasta form. YUM.
Well, I haven’t purchased any mushrooms because I am not yet ready to try out my idea. But it’s on my mind, that’s for sure.
Dinners for the Week of February 9-15
- Roasted Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes: I am really in the mood for potatoes and roasted meat. Must be the intense, bitter cold we’ve been having. (Which is about twenty degrees warmed than the bitter cold my best friend back home is enduring. So I will count my blessings.)
- Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls: I have literally never once ordered a chicken burrito bowl from Chipotle, but oh man, these sound SO GOOD.
- Instant Pot Chana Masala: Our favorite local Indian restaurant has not survived the pandemic. It was not the most consistent place, but when it was good, it was good. I really hope the owners are doing okay. Anyway, I miss Indian flavors and this chana masala sounds warming and delicious. (I would probably add some bell peppers to it, as is my wont.)
- Broccoli Beef: This is an old standby, but we haven’t had it recently.
This weekend also features Valentine’s Day, so I really want to make these adorable striped sugar cookies with Carla. Although I have had kind of a brownie hankering lately… These raspberry brownies look amazing… and I wish these Mississippi mud brownies were in my mouth already.
My husband and I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day (although this year, I am extra sad about that because flowers and a date night would be so wonderful) (neither of those things is going to happen, unless I buy myself flowers) (which I might), so perhaps we will get takeout? Is Valentine’s Day going to be a big takeout day this year? Maybe we’ll do it Saturday instead.
What’s on your Valentine’s Day menu – sweets and treats or otherwise?
Those striped cookies look adorable…but too labor intensive for me. We have always been low key about Valentine’s – so probably nothing special. At most The Husband might think about bringing home flowers from the grocery store. Definitely no sweets here – after the oatmeal cookies The Husband AND the neighbors have asked that I back off baking for a while as we all work to bring down our blood sugar and/or pounds off the hips.
Those cookies do look awesome- but my baking skills are sub par… must be all the exact measuring… I tend to eyeball measurements and that doesn’t fly with baking.
We do celebrate Valentine’s Day- but don’t go in for all the commercial trappings. Nice bottle of wine, game of chess, a nice meal… we write each other notes and get gifts- but never chocolates in heart shaped boxes or anything. I am especially looking forward to it this year because- gestures at whole world- as well as the fact that we could use a day to remember how much we love each other considering we’ve also annoyed the ever living hell outta each other occasionally this year too!
I’m probably going to make Alton Browns chicken parm since it’s so damn involved (ie good on a Sunday) but SO good… and I swear my husband almost married me again on the spot after I made it the first time- so a bit of a favorite meal!
I am excited to try a Chipotle copy cat burrito bowl. We had a lot of leftover barbeque pork and rotisserie chicken the last few nights. I cooked a bunch of veggies and potatoes to go with it. Both nights. I am taking tonight off. Coach is grilling pork tenderloins. Then we have a big crockpot full of pot roast to heat up for the next few days.
1) We consistently celebrate Valentine’s Day by making homemade cards for each other. This started out because I forgot about it one year early on in our marriage (maybe we were engaged?) because I was working three jobs and it just slipped my mind, so I sat at the table and made him a card. Now it’s a tradition.
2) Early on in the pandemic, I literally could not find paprika or cumin. Eventually I found some tiny bags of cumin in the “Hispanic” aisle and the paprika came back in May or June. These days, I still cannot get daily shower spray, my preferred brand of toilet paper, frozen berries (particularly raspberries!), and I’m envious of your Lysol wipes because we still have some strange off-brand disinfectant wipe.