Ah yes, welcome to another Monday facing down another week filled with mealtimes and family members who require sustenance.
Nothing sounds good to me today. Nothing. Alas, I don’t think my family (or my stomach, to be honest) would appreciate it if I served nothing this week.
Dinners for the Week of November 3-9
Cider Braised Pot Roast with Crispy Sage Potatoes: We’re having friends over this weekend, and a pot roast is something I can make in advance to maximize time with them while minimizing time in the kitchen. I’ll probably serve this with a simple side salad.
Sheet Pan Garlic Ginger Chicken and Broccoli: Yes, throwing some meat and veggies on a sheet pan and cooking it all together is exactly the level of effort I’m interested in capable of making this week.
Salmon Farro Bowl with Honey Mustard Dressing: This is a rollover meal from last week. We didn’t get to it, and then Julie posted the recipe for it and it continues to sound very tasty and nourishing.
One Skillet Garlicky Salmon and Green Beans: I’ve been in a green bean mood lately, so this sounds yummy. I’ll probably swap out the salmon for chicken, at least for my husband.
Golden Ginger Cauliflower Chickpea Bowls: Another sheet pan meal! Will my husband require chicken with this one, too? Perhaps not; he’s been much more amenable to vegetarian recipes lately.
Okay, that’s all I can muster on this Monday morning. What are you eating this week?
I need a Real Meal Plan this week because a) we are having houseguests! and b) Carla begins two new after school activities this week, so I need to do some advance planning or we will end up eating nothing.
This is a question I’ve asked before, but I am asking it again because food preferences change over time: Do you have A Specific Meal you make for guests? Like, something that everyone likes and you feel confident cooking it?
Someone – including but not limited to my mother-in-law – inevitably mentions ordering-in instead of fooling around with making a bunch of food. My houseguests are very flexible and would be fine with takeout, and I’m not opposed to takeout, but we also just got back from a vacation where we ate out for every single meal and I’m ready for some home cooked meals.
Here’s what I’ve got on the menu for the week.
Dinners for March 31-April 6
Sheet Pan Veggie Shawarmawith Jalapeno Cilantro Yogurt Sauce: This time I am not going to forget to include a zucchini in the mix. I will also include chicken tenders because my husband sometimes balks at veggie-only meals. (He is getting less balky as we age, though.)
Teriyaki Chicken Salad: I think my kid will (possibly reluctantly) eat this too. A deconstructed version, at least.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas or Maybe Chipotle Honey Chicken Tacos, I Don’t Know; Maybe It Will Be a Gametime Decision: I think my houseguests would prefer the fajitas, but it would be nice to have a slow cooker meal in my back pocket this week.
Something With Asparagus???: Nicole’s recent post about her favorite spring things gave me a real hankering for asparagus. I’m having trouble finding recipes that really allow asparagus to shine but are also fairly easy to make and also also diabetic friendly. (For instance, I would love a pasta with asparagus and mushrooms, or a delicious pasta primavera, but I don’t think our houseguests would be able to enjoy those dishes.) Soup is out because my husband doesn’t consider soup to be a full meal; stir fry is out because I have a weird bias against making stir fry for houseguests, don’t ask me why, I don’t even know.
At 5:30 this morning, I was torn from a nightmare by a low discordant keening. I might describe it as “toddler impersonating whale calls,” but my husband said it was more “cat meets blender.” We watched Longlegslast night, so the noise quite easily could have been the moaning of Nic Cage at his most grotesque and terrifying. (Even though I enjoyed it, I am not recommending the movie; it was Weird AF.)
We confirmined that the noise was, somehow, our neighbor’s snowplow – which means that it persisted for quite some time, as their driveway is not short. I did not fall back to sleep.
On the positive side, we got a ton of snow over the weekend. Oh, how I adore snow. I love the trees lacquered in white, how everything – shadows, blue skies, bare trees – assumes an extra vibrancy against the snow. I love sunshine caught in billions of ice crystals and winked back at me as I walk. Grey skies seem more dramatic and moody; sunny days have an extra sheen of cheer. I love it I love it I love it.
Soup is on the menu tonight, and therefore takes one of three spots for dinners this week. But before we get into that, I want to report on dinners past because they were YUM.
Dinners Last Week
Sheet Pan Veggie Shawarma: This was easy (aside from the veggie chopping, which is easy but time consuming) (I listen to an audiobook while chopping) and SO good. Few things are better than a big pile of roasted veggies. The seasoning/marinade was delicious, although I ended up doubling it because I added some chicken tenders to the mix. They were a good addition, especially for my husband. Also, because I was on a Green Sauce High from the previous week’s Birchie-recommended meal, I made the cilantro yogurt sauce from this recipe and slapped it on top of my veggie shawarma. One of the best decisions I made all week.
Salmon Burgers: For some reason, I dillied and dallied and delayed in making these, but then finally I did make them, and they were easy and yummy as usual. The recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated, and I’ve got a photo of the recipe here in case you want to try them too. Oh! The remarkable thing about this meal is that I forced Carla to eat it, too. She loves salmon and eats it regularly. This is the closest thing to salmon possible. She DID eat it, even though she didn’t particularly like it (it has teeny tiny shallots minced in it).
Beef Birria Tacos: The first time I ate beef birria was in Phoenix at a taco place, and I fell instantly, irrevocably in love. (By the way, I learned from my recipe search that birria is traditionally made with goat, but I’m not big on goat so I used chuck roast.) The need to eat beef birria again has been growing stronger and stronger with each passing week. However, I could not for the life of me find a recipe that I wanted to follow. Too many ingredients or too few; equipment I didn’t want to use; too many steps. What I ended up doing was cobbling together a recipe out of a bunch of recipes online… and it was SO GOOD. The recipe made enough for at least three generous meals, and we immediately froze the remaining beef and consommé, and I cannot stop thinking about it. So rich and spicy and omg perfection. My husband took over the actual taco making, which involves dipping a corn tortilla in the consommé, frying it, adding cheese and beef, and then putting on my plate for immediate consumption. This one is a keeper from a taste standpoint, but from a work standpoint, I think it’s something I would make maybe once a year.
There’s really no way I can top last week’s meals, so I’m not even going to try. This week is not about flash and romance, but instead about solid, reliable faves. Also, chicken was on sale, so it’s all about the chicken. (Luckily, these are veggie-heavy meals so I can limit or completely ignore the chicken in my own servings.)
Chicken and Zucchini Stir Fry: I am more in the mood for this Szechuan Stir Fry, but the bell pepper quality was very poor today, so I pivoted to chicken and zucchini stir fry instead. Of course, I have to go back to the grocery store to buy things I forgot to buy (namely: the two key ingredients of Ham Sandwich: the ham and the sandwich rolls), so perhaps I will peruse the peppers to see if the prospects are more perky.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas: The bell peppers may not have been crisp enough for stir fry, but they were of acceptable quality for fajitas.
Here’s hoping that tonight I dream of swimming in a sea of birria consommé.
