taco salads are not the same as tacos in the shell

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Dinners This Week

Well, here we are again. Another week, another meal plan.

On a food note (the only tune I play), I had a dream last night that a group of friends was insisting we all go to Domino’s to get pizza. And I kept thinking that if I were going to splurge (barf – I hate that term) on pizza, I wanted it to be GOOD pizza, not Domino’s pizza. And my husband kept saying that I was being unfair to Domino’s because I hadn’t had in more than a decade. There was no resolution to this dream, just arguing. 

On a totally unrelated note, but yet still also tangentially food-related, I watched the first episode of the newest season of Great British Baking Show and one of the contestants used the phrase “oh, suck an egg” as an imprecation, and I realized how close it is to “effing A.” A very satisfying replacement, I think.

Okay, here’s what’s on the menu this week:

Dinners for the Week of September 28-October 4

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Dinners This Week

This weekend, our grocery store was out of yeast again. Well. They had single-serve packs of organic instant yeast for $1.09. But that seems a little desperate, to me, considering you can buy a three-pack of the non-organic instant yeast for something like $1.19. In only moderately related news, the yeast for baking was on the shelf right next to the nutritional yeast which seems like a situation rife with potential misunderstandings. I don’t even know what nutritional yeast is (I think you can put it on popcorn???) but I am pretty sure it won’t make your dough rise.

Also: almost completely out of pepperoni, except for two sad packages of gourmet pepperoni that no one in my house will eat. Hormel all the way, baby.

ALSO: This is the first time in six months that I haven’t purchased a jar of pickles. Carla proclaimed that the pickles from the most recent jar were “sour” (isn’t that… the point of pickles?) and hasn’t eaten one since.

I am glad to be back to a weekly grocery shopping schedule. It feels more normal, for one thing. Plus, we are definitely wasting less food.  (Although I still need to work on limiting my fruit buying.) The next thing I need to adjust my shopping to fit: Not having Carla around all day. She is no longer eating lunch and two snacks at home, which somehow adds up to a LOT less food (and pepperoni) I need to buy. We somehow only went through one and a half pints of tomatoes this week! Either Carla is getting tired of tomatoes, or perhaps she does the majority of her tomato-eating during the school day. Time will tell.

Here’s what we’re eating for dinner this week:

Dinners for the Week of September 14-20

There is no cocktail of the week this week. I have grown weary of cocktails. Well, more aptly, I have grown weary of making cocktails. It is much easier to open a bottle of wine, if one requires an alcoholic beverage. Or to mix a little grapefruit juice into half a can of seltzer, if one isn’t in the alcohol mood.

I am also making this purple plum torte, which I have made for a couple summers running and which I adore. Right now, plums are abundant, so I bought a bunch. If you haven’t tried this torte, it is VERY easy and SUPER delicious and the perfect summer-to-fall transitional dessert. Or snack. Or breakfast.

How are you, Internet? What are you eating this week?

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Dinners This Week

How is it January twenty-first? January usually drags along at a meandering pace, completely oblivious to how much longer a grey, frigid day passes than a regular one. But this particular January is going by at a clip I am deeply uncomfortable with. Is this old age? Constant shock and denial of how quickly time is passing? It feels like I was posting last week’s meals just a few seconds ago. And yet… it’s a whole week later and the month is days from closing and, well, I wanted the final year of my thirties to go a bit more slowly is what I’m saying.

In any event, it is yet again time to plan meals for the week.

Dinners for the Week of January 21-27

  • Black Bean Burritos

This is what we’re eating tonight. I just stocked up on my favorite hot sauce and I am READY to pour half a bottle on top of some cheese smothered beans.

This is a new-to-me recipe and I’m pretty excited to try it. As per usual, I will probably throw a bell pepper or two into this to amp-up the veggie quotient.

Follow up: This was not a keeper. The curry flavor was kind of overpowering and it just wasn’t a favorite in our house.

  • Microwave Meals/Leftovers

This is working out pretty well as our Thursday Night Dinner. I am kind of enjoying trying new options. My expectations are so very low, it’s always a pleasant surprise when something is edible.

  • Taco Salad

We haven’t had tacos for a LONG while. It’s time.

  • Date Night!

Technically not really a date night date night. But we are going to a friend’s house and they are cooking us dinner AND date nights are a hot commodity around here so I’m going with it.

 

  • Chicken Paprikas

Another old favorite that we haven’t had in a long while. And the weather is really making me crave hot creamy carb-y foods.

 

What are you eating this week?