Sometimes a person wishes she could just sit in front of her laptop and read blogs all day long. Alas, NaBloPoMo desires notwithstanding, a person still has to plan meals, cook them, and eat them. (And post about them online so that Future Her can find the ideas and recipes when she’s completely baffled about what to make each night.)
Dinners for the Week of November 10-16
- Ravioli with Beef and Green Beans: Ah yes, we’ve had another episode of “Suzanne Doesn’t Know How Much Food to Cook for Guests.” I made a big crockpot full of cider braised pot roast when friends visited this weekend. And now we have enough cider braised pot roast to last us the rest of 2025. Tonight I’m going to use the leftovers to make a made-up meal: cider-braised pot roast with goat cheese and caramelized onion ravioli and a cider reduction sauce, with pan-sauteed haricots verts on the side. Will this taste as good in reality as it sounds like it will, in my imagination? Hard to say, but I’m leaning toward “no.”
- Fried Rice: My mom occasionally makes fried rice and it’s always very good and seems quite easy. Trader Joe’s has a package of frozen vegetable fried rice and I plan to throw some eggs, soy sauce, and frozen shrimp in with it to round things out.
- Black Bean Burritos: We haven’t had these in awhile and I am very much in the mood for beany cheesy goodness drowned in hot sauce.
- Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas: What is a week without tacos? A sad week indeed, I always say. Mainly I have a pork tenderloin in my freezer that keeps blocking the freezer drawer when I try to open it, which I’m pretty sure is a cry for attention.
My husband and I also have a date night this week, but as usual, even though I have known for many weeks that we have an upcoming kid-free evening, I have not made any effort to make reservations. Sigh. Perhaps we will order takeout and watch a horror movie instead of going out?
I like all of these ideas, especially the one about getting takeout and watching a horror movie for date night. Which horror movie will you see?
We had a family party yesterday so we’re stocked with leftover pizza for the next night or two. But after that I will have to you, you know, cook something.
“Sigh. Perhaps we will order takeout and watch a horror movie instead of going out?”
This made me laugh so hard, my friend.
We do at-home date-nights every weekend and I LOVE them. Sometimes we do take-out sushi, but mostly my husband makes a handful of recipes we love. I adore being able to stay home IN MY PJS and call it a date. (I feel like Jenny would approve of this, too.)
“And now we have enough cider braised pot roast to last us the rest of 2025.” lol
I have five avocados that all just ripened, so tonight is going to be tortilla wraps! With extra avocados! What a terrible problem to suffer through.
I would eat at your house any of those nights! But hold the hot sauce. 🙂
Please report back on those raviolis, because they sound amazing. AMAZING.
I’m chuckling at your tenderloins cry for attention. How are you managing to post on two blogs right now? Blown away here. I’m not allowed to ever order pizza again, because I order enough to feed our crew and 4 more – so I feel you on the beef in the crockpot. I made cheesey chicken tonight and have lettuce wraps leftover from my folks’ anniversary luncheon – long story but they were an app that came after my entree, so I brought home the entire thing and might not even share. We have more chili in the basement fridge from last week, prob will serve tomorrow night.
Goat cheese and caramelized ravioli sounds mouth-wateringly amazing!
I love the stay home and watch a movie date! Luckily, my husband does too! All of your meals sound amazing.
I toss a “I just CAN’T tonight” set of meal ingredients in my cart on Mondays when shopping (usually pesto sauce, cream, baby kale, and ravioli) for a dinner-feeling dinner that takes me 10 minutes. I usually end up using this on Wednesday or Thursday… and instead used it for Monday’s dinner. As my energy for cooking flags through the week this does not bode well…
That repurposed use of the pot roast sounds amazing! I am terrible at coming up with clever ways to reuse leftovers. My mom was/is a pro at that!
I made a big pot of lentil soup on Saturday, on the tales of making a big thing of chicken tikka masala on Friday night. And then Phil made a Spanish tortilla on Sunday. So we are done cooking for the week! Hurrah!
I’ve always seen those TJ fried rice bags in the frozen section and never thought to add eggs and soy sauce—definitely going to try that!
At first I thought you were making your own ravioli and filling it with the beef, goat cheese, etc. And I was going to smack you for making life Too Hard! Thankful the ravioli are the pre-made kind, whew! 😉
What do you put in your black bean burritos?
Do you always need a reservation? Although, take out and a movie does sound lovely.
Not sure about you, but I can’t keep up with all the November reading–it’s a lot!