As is usual in December, I feel as though I’m whizzing down a very long, very steep slide. Every now and again, if I concentrate very hard, I can jam my heels into the slippery sides and slow down a bit – complete with loud squeaking of sneaker on plastic and the fear that someone is going to ram into me from behind – but gravity inevitably pulls me forward again.
My mind wants to be consumed by finalizing shopping (just a few things left), wrapping, mailing, card sending… but there is also the other normal day-to-day stuff required of a typical week.
Dinners for the Week of December 5-11
- Cuban Sheet Pan Chicken and Black Bean Rice Bowls: Ernie mentioned this recently and I realized I haven’t made it in awhile. Must correct that oversight tout suite.
- Chicken and Wild Rice Soup: This is one of my favorite soups, and it is a crockpot meal, and I am pretty sure my mother-in-law will like it. Usually I make a loaf of Miracle No-Knead Bread to go along side it, but I may just buy a loaf at the store.
- Sheet Pan Teriyaki Salmon with Green Beans: I think my mother-in-law and daughter would like this, and my husband would tolerate it.
- Shredded Beef Ragu: I saw this on Instagram and it sounds so warming and delicious. But it calls for a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, which I will not eat; I wonder if I could replace it with a 28 oz can of tomato puree?
- Some Other Sort of Soup: We are still in the thick of after-school activities, which means that we eat dinner together very rarely. I am in the mood, lately, to make soup that we can eat for several days. I may be butternut-squash-souped out, and I know my husband doesn’t consider soup to be a meal unless it includes meat. This Creamy White Chicken Chili sounds delicious… as does this Cream of Mushroom Soup. (The mushroom soup would be only for me, since it is meat-free.)
That’s it for today, Internet. Hope you have a happy Monday.
I woke up today and thought IT IS THE FIFTH ALREADY. December is already flying by!
TOO FAST.
I’m always so tempted by the chicken and wild rice soup recipes. Once I tried to make one, though, and it didn’t turn out AT ALL, so I’m scarred. Maybe I’ll try again.
It does feel like everyone should have the WHOLE month off to prepare and attend all the events. Or that at some point we’d come to a collective agreement that certain things – like school Christmas concerts – should get moved to January. Literally, NOTHING happens in January. Can’t we punt at least a few things from December into the new year?
YES!! January and February are so dark and dreary. Why can’t we have something in those months? There should be a weekend where we all put out lit koalas in trees or something. Ugh. I’m already dreading the first two months of the year. LOL
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts this month — thank you! It was a very busy last couple of weeks and didn’t get a chance to comment. I thought about commenting anyway (very late!) on some of them but it feels like I’m late to the party. Anyway, I’m glad to see you continue to blog past November; it’s such a treat to see your post when I check your site!
I tried that chicken and wild rice soup a couple of times. I think the key is getting the right kind of rice. The first time, I used a bag that was mixed rice and it had too much brown rice. Then I got the right bag and it was delicious!
I’m going to try that Cuban Sheet Pan Chicken one of these days since it seems to be a popular one.
I now want to show up at your door in time to share some Cuban sheet pan chicken. Yum.
I’m considering making the chicken wild rice soup recipe but I wish it did not involve flour. I can use GF flour and it isn’t very much, but I just wish soup could be thick while also being naturally GF. I also strongly dislike mushrooms. I will have to think about another veggie to substitute there.
We are driving 6.5 hrs home from a college visit today, so I have no dinner plans on the horizon. My people will be stuck with leftover pasta until I can wrap my brain around meal.planning.
Just popping in to say that I *always* substitute tomato puree for crushed tomatoes in recipes, and it’s always fine! That Cuban chicken recipe looks great, too — will have to add to my menu plan!
I know what you mean- there’s so much to do this month, it doesn’t seem right that we also have to cook dinner. As a matter of fact I have no idea what we’re having tonight. Veggie burgers? Pasta? It will be something like that. I big pot of soup sounds good though- maybe I’ll do that this week.
I just printed up that sheet pan Cuban chicken recipe, it looks amazing. Thank you for giving me some inspiration for one of my meals this week.
Tonight I’m making a roast herbed chicken and this amazing salad, because a friend gave us some pomegranates.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/11/brussels-sprouts-apple-and-pomegranate-salad/
I am making no meals this week since I go to Chicago Tues-Thur, have book club Friday, and then we take the kids to my parents on Saturday, stay until Sunday then go to Mexico on Monday! I am all done with Christmas shopping, though, but we have to buy so few gifts so get by easy!
I would TOTALLY buy a loaf of bread. Make it as easy on yourself as you can!
I read and enjoy ALL your posts — I’d comment more but my silly iPad won’t let me comment on WordPress for some reason. I don’t always get to my laptop….Every week I look at your meals posts & look for ideas for the week. We eat mostly vegetarian but use these for inspiration. I loved your gift guide & ordered the animal drawing kit for one granddaughter and the clay making crafty thing for the younger one – thanks!!
No kidding about whizzing through the days! Thanks to you, I actually sat down and placed two large orders and hopefully, I’m mostly done. I’m fairly certain, I’m done with my mother-in-law – whose package has to be mailed *looks at calendar* soon. Still on the hunt for stocking stuffers (why is it so hard and expensive to find stocking stuffers for men?!) and a few other holes in the list. And that damned tree STILL isn’t up. I just told my husband that it is going up tomorrow come hell or high water. At this point, I don’t even care if it gets decorated as long as it is UP.
The only thing that is giving me a bit of breathing room is that as of the middle of next week I am “technically” on vacation through the end of the year and maybe I’ll start finally making progress on my ENDLESS to do list.
We’re totally winging it for dinners this week. The next time I get in the mood to plan, the question is whether to make a while chicken chili for my family or not. I think they would like it but my husband has never had it and he’s skeptical. I’ve got my eye on a veggie version.
I honestly think we should all get December off to enjoy the holiday season and get all the holiday to-dos done. The usual day-to-day stuff can wait, amirite?
Coming back to say Thank You for the link to the sheet pan Cuban chicken dish. I’m not a big sheet pan cooker, I worry things will cook at different speeds and it won’t work out. But I gave it a try and it was a winner! I’m going to make it again, delicious.