1. (Game Day) Orange Chicken w/ rice, Chocolate Wontons w/ Ginger Ice Cream
2. Fish Baked in Foil with Leeks and Carrots w/ Lemon Potatoes
3. Slow Cooker Coconut Beef w/ rice
4. Out
5. Leftovers (I ended up going out with friends to celebrate my birthday!  Much fun was had by all.)
6. Teriyaki Flank Steak with Green Onions w/ rice
7. Batter-Fried Chicken w/ Mediterranean Chopped Salad

I think I’m going to try to break the habit of declaring weeks “normal” since it seems like normality varies with the phase of the moon.  Normal or not, this week is a pretty straightforward one.  Art will be gone for meals 2, 3, 4, and 5 due to business travel.  Meals 3 and 5 are designed to be easy to accommodate choir practices. 

The fish used in meal 2 is dependent upon what my store has in stock. 

Meal 4 is the rare dinner out, since it’s the day I file taxes and eating out afterward is something of a tradition.  We have plans to try out a new Japanese place in town. 

We’ve also got a Game Day this week and a few of our gamers are bringing egg rolls and I’m doing other Chinese food to go along with that.

I used the 2009 Cook’s Country Annual and the 2009 Cook’s Illustrated Annual for the new recipes of the week.

1. French Pork and White Bean Casserole
2. Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin w/ Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes
3. Roast Lemon Chicken w/ Pasta alla Norma
4. Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
5. Beef Enchilada Casserole
6. Leftovers
7. Steak and Bacon Tournedos and Béarnaise Sauce w/ Easier French Fries and Belgian-Style Dipping Sauce
Baked Potato Soup I've given up on this happning for a while since we keep ending up with plenty of food without the addition of soup!

This is an exciting week!  Art is home all week for the first time in at least a month.  How fantastic!  I asked him if he had any special requests, but he just wants “good home-cooked food.”  That, I can do. 

I turned to the 2009 Cook’s Illustrated Annual and the 2009 Cook’s Country Annual for inspiration.  And, since our butcher is finally stocking flank steak again, I’ll finally be able to make the Steak and Bacon Tournedos I’ve wanted to make since November! 

I’m also planning to finally get this Baked Potato Soup made, since it will be great to have for lunches with all of us home.  This will be a fantastic week.

1. (Game Day) Arancini, spaghetti w/ Meatballs w/ garlic bread, Black-Bottom Cupcakes
2. Swedish Meatballs w/ egg noodles w/ salad
3. Leftovers
4. Broiled Salmon with Potato Crust w/ sautéed broccoli
5. Leftovers
6. Marinated London Broil w/ Crisp Roasted Potatoes w/ salad
7. Mom’s Chicken w/ Baked Gnocchi with Tomato and Basil
Baked Potato Soup

Recently meals seem to be a combination of leftovers and recipes I’ve made before, so I haven’t had that many new recipes to share.  This week’s meal plan, however, has five new recipes!  Life is slowly getting back to normal for us, Art is able to be home again for weekends now that the snow is (knock on wood) gone.  I do have two nights of leftovers planned this week because a) we have a lot of leftovers and b) it’s easier on choir nights to skip the meal prep parts of dinner. 

I turned to the 2008 Cook’s Country Annual and the 2009 Cook’s Illustrated Annual for meal planning inspiration.  Those recipes feature in meals 2, 4, 6, and 7. 

Since we’re all going to be home this weekend and all of next week, I’m also planning to get around to making the Baked Potato Soup I had hoped to make last week.  We’re slowly making a dent in the food supplies – here’s hoping we don’t get more snow as soon as the fridge is manageable again.

1. Chicken Vesuvio
2. Creamy Tomato Chicken Penne
3. Leftovers
4. Tourtiere w/ Roasted Cabbage
5. Leftovers
6. Baked Chicken Chimichangas w/ refried beans and cheese
7. BLT Steak!
Chocolate Ice Cream
Baked Potato Soup

Sadly the snow is still keeping Art away from home, so I’ve got a couple days of leftovers planned in order to prevent us from building up an even more ridiculous amount of food in the house! 

Chicken Vesuvio is carried over from last week due to a very kind neighbor who brought us a nice casserole of beef stew.  I used the 2009 Cook’s Country Annual to help me with my planning this week. 

Assuming Art is finally able to make it home for next weekend, we’ve got plans to celebrate our birthdays all in one fell swoop at BLT Steak. 

I’m also planning on making some Baked Potato Soup to make a dent in my half and half supply and then Chocolate Ice Cream since I ran across an interesting recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream machine and I’m curious to try it out!

I'm looking forward to life getting back to normal.  Whatever normal is.  Or, at the least, something that doesn't involve three feet of snow on the ground.