How many of last week’s planned meals did I make? Stay tuned for the thrilling answer!

But first, I wanted to give you an equally thrilling update on the fruit fly situation, which is that we still have them. Per Swistle and Steph, I tried a combo of boiling water and bleach in the kitchen sink drain. I really really thought this had done the trick, as the fruit flies seemed non-existent the following day. But then they slowly returned, although not to the intensity of before. The Zevo, which some of you LOVE, and SWEAR BY, continued to do nothing. Out of desperation, I bought a package of 100 sticky gnat traps to stick in my plants; they seem to operate by a similar principle as the Zevo, only without requiring a blue light. The traps only just arrived, so I don’t know whether they are doing anything yet, but I have high hopes.

Now back to dinner talk. Last week, I planned three meals. Of those three meals, I made ONE, the Sheet Pan Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Rice Bowls. We ate this meal as a rice bowl one night and as tacos another night.

I did not make Beef and Broccoli because, despite your assurances, I was concerned it would prove to be too much broccoli with the other meal I had planned. So I made Fire Fry instead. WHAT A GREAT IDEA. We ate leftovers a second night, and then I ate vegetarian fire fry for two – no, three lunches and loved every bite. It’s been a hot minute since we’ve eaten Fire Fry, and I do not know why we waited so long. It has everything I love: sauce over rice, spices, and bell peppers. YUM. I have found that the key to really good Fire Fry is whole milk yogurt, though, and I haven’t found a whole milk Greek yogurt that works quite as well as boring old Dannon… and Dannon’s downfall is that it’s got a much lower protein content than Greek yogurt. Oh well. You win some, etc.

The other meal I planned to make was Oven Baked Pork Chops with Something Green, and that Something Green was intended to be broccoli. Well, it’s on the meal plan again for tonight, but the broccoli I bought last week had developed a five-o’clock mold shadow, so into the garbage it went. That’s what you get for shirking your meal plan, I guess: moldy broccoli. I’ll sauté some peas and shallots for tonight’s Something Green.

Yesterday, I made some chili, which I find pairs perfectly with fall weather and football. We have plenty of chili leftover, so I’m anticipating a repeat of that this week. But what else?

DINNERS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 26

• Oven Baked Pork Chops with Something Green: Let’s just put this back on the meal plan, for the sake of completeness.
• Fried Rice with Some Sort of Protein:I would like to eat fried rice with shrimp, but I suspect my husband would prefer chicken. I may end up mish-mashing some recipes together (doesn’t fried rice usually have ginger in it???), but I chose this one because it does not require oyster sauce. I don’t have oyster sauce on hand, and it’s one of those things I wouldn’t use very often if I bought it.
• Guiness Beef Stew: I’m in a stew sort of mood. This seems like a good option for a Halloween-y weekend.

Carla has a big test this week, and for her post-test treat she has requested Taco Bell and apple crisp. I plan to make the apple crisp because I’m not aware that Taco Bell has it on the menu, and… even if they did have it on the menu, I might choose to make it anyway. Do you have a favorite recipe for apple crisp? If it helps, I like mine to have lots of crisp oaty goodness in among all the apples.

What’s on your meal plan this week? Any carryovers from last week?