Weekly Meal Plans

I don’t usually post a Christmas menu because Christmas is spent at my parents’ home and I’m not in charge of cooking.  However, my mom is awesome, asks for my input with meals, and she and I enjoy cooking the family feasts together.  I figure this means that I’ve got the right to post the menu to my blog and, by doing so, help both of our memories for next year! 

Friday
Dinner: Lebanese Feast!  My mom was stumped for ideas and I suggested this theme because she spent her foreign study quarters living in Lebanon during college.  Hummus, pita, Chicken Shawarma, Tabbouleh, Tahini Sauce, and Tomato Relish.

Saturday
Breakfast: bagels, breads, cream cheeses, jams, etc.
Lunch: diy sandwiches, fruit
Dinner: spaghetti, garlic bread, tossed salad

Sunday
Breakfast: Our traditional Christmas breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, Coffee Cake, grapefruit, and the bacon my dad managed to convince my mom was part of our tradition. 
Lunch: “nibble food” since it’s unlikely that we’ll eat a proper lunch!
Dinner: grilled filet mignon, Sundried Tomato Butter, Green Bean Casserole, French Onion Casserole, baked potatoes (white and sweet), tossed salad, ice cream pie

Monday(my brother and nephew will be arriving in time for dinner!)
Breakfast: bagels, breads, cream cheeses, jams, etc.
Lunch: Out to Peppermill for hoagies, stromboli, and cheesesteaks!
Dinner: grilled salmon and filet mignon, Garlic Roasted Mushrooms, Lemon Broccoli Risotto (made with veggie broth), tossed salad

Tuesday
Breakfast: Our traditional Christmas breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, Coffee Cake, grapefruit, bacon.  (This is a repeat of Christmas breakfast since we’ll be doing the whole Christmas Thing for a second time with my brother and nephew!)
Lunch: diy sandwiches, fruit

And that’s the plan!  Lots of delicious food and fun times cooking with my mom.  I can’t wait!

1. Pomegranate-Balsamic Glazed Salmon w/ Caesar Salad
2. Charcoal-Grilled Barbequed Chicken Kebabs w/ Garlic Rice Pilaf
3. Grilled Steak Burgers w/ New Funeral Potatoes
4. Prosciutto Wrapped Pork Tenderloin w/ Maple-Glazed Acorn Squash
5. Big Ol’ Chef Salad
6-7. Christmas! Holiday Treats: Pumpkin Bread and others TBD

Things have been hectic, I haven’t been updating my blog, life keeps keeping on, I hope that I’ll start catching up after the holidays have resolved.  In the meantime, a good day is a day I cook dinner!

This week takes most of its inspiration from the new Cook’s Country 2011 Annual.  Which, apparently, doesn’t exist on the Cook’s Country website yet, so I can’t link to it.

I do apologize for the lack of recipe posts.  I’ve been cooking and taking pictures, I promise!

1. Breakfast: Baked French Toast, grapefruit, bacon.  Dinner: Out
2. Mom’s Chicken w/ Boursin Pasta
3. Pomegranate-Balsamic Glazed Salmon w/ Caesar Salad Out
4. Charcoal-Grilled Barbequed Chicken Kebabs w/ Garlic Rice Pilaf Out
5. Skillet Stroganoff
6. Chicken Cordon Bleu w/ salad
7. White Chicken Enchiladas w/ Mexican Rice

This meal plan is a bit late due to the busy choir concert weekend.  My parents were over for breakfast on Sunday morning after coming to my concert on Saturday, then I had another concert on Sunday afternoon!  This didn’t leave a lot of time for meal planning. 

Meals 3 and 4 are holdovers from last week.  The other (recipes are mostly repeats since I wasn’t feeling super motivated to plan adventuresome meals this week!

(My parents actually requested Baked French Toast for breakfast since they loved it so much after Thanksgiving.  Since it’s so unusual for them to request anything, I had to comply!)

1. Pomegranate-Balsamic Glazed Salmon w/ Caesar Salad Changed to Fajitas
2. Voice/Choir – Leftover Night
3. Pan-Seared Steaks with Herb Sauce w/ Spaghetti al Limone
4. Avgolemono Soup w/ Spanakopita
5. Choir – taco salad
6. Charcoal-Grilled Barbequed Chicken Kebabs w/ Garlic Rice Pilaf I guess we went out?  What a pathetic week for cooking this was!
7. Choir – Out in some form, Baked Spiced Nuts for concert

I guess last week was the first week of meal planning sans farmers market, but it was a down week so it doesn’t really count anyway, right?  This is the first week I’m taking advantage of the lack of farmers market, which has the downside of no local veg, but the upside of getting to plan WHATEVER I WANT. 

It’s still a screwy week due to my upcoming choir concert with rehearsal two nights of the week and the concert one night (plus the following Sunday as well).  I didn’t want to give up cooking all of those nights, so I’m making something quick for meal 5. 

Most of the new (recipes this week come from the new Cook’s Illustrated 2011 Annual which arrived on my doorstep last week – very exciting.  I’m looking forward to getting back to cooking from cookbooks!  Recipes from the book are in meals 1, 3, 4, and 6.  The only other new recipe is from my google bookmark collection. 

So I guess it’s a fairly straightforward week – I’m excited to be making so many new (recipes!

1. Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing w/ Bread
2. Leftover Night
3. Turkey Tetrazzini
4. Swedish Meatballs w/ egg noodles 5. eggs w/ bacon w/ hashbrowns
6. Chicken Sancoche
7. Fajitas Out.

My main goal for this week was to try to get in some lighter foods that wouldn’t generate a lot of leftovers since we already have a fridge full of them from Thanksgiving.  Hopefully things like meal 1 and 6 will help with this goal.

Thanksgiving exists for Turkey Tetrazzini, so that’s pretty much a no-brainer for this week’s plan.  I believe there would be riots if I didn’t make it.  Meal 4, the meatballs, is a carryover from last week when I screwed up my ankle and ended up spending dinner time at Urgent Care instead of cooking. 

I really do try to avoid making the (recipes that feature in my monthly Recipe Roundup posts, since those are the things I cook the most and I try not to let myself get stuck in ruts, but there’s something to be said for comfort food that you know and love, so this week has me making three of those top ten (recipes. 

Maybe next week I’ll devote some time to a new cookbook again but, for this week, it’s tried and true favorites.

1-3. whatever
4. out to new restaurant in town
5-7. Thanksgiving 2011

We’ve got some heavy stuff going on this week and then there’s Thanksgiving.  Food until Thanksgiving will be pretty much whatever there is in the fridge, whatever is easy to make, and perhaps take away.  Then we’ll go out for pre-Thanksgiving dinner and then it’s Thanksgiving food for the rest of the week. 

I haven’t figured out yet what I’ll be doing for Saturday breakfast.  I hope that I have some sort of exciting inspiration strike between now and then!

1. Soy-Ginger Salmon w/ Chilled Sesame-Ginger Tatsoi w/ rice
2. Leftover night
3. tacos
4. Sour Cream Hamburger Noodle Bake w/ Greens with Hot Garlic Dressing 5. Swedish Meatballs w/ egg noodles w/ Frizzled Cabbage Out or something, I forget.  I think this was the night I screwed up my ankle. 
6. Art home! – Curried Beef Pot Pie 7. G&A: Beer and Bacon Bash, L: fends for himself
Lunch: Heirloom Tomato and Avocado Salad with Crispy Wontons and Spicy Cilantro Vinaigrette
Sweet: test run of Molten Lava Cakes

Meals last week went mostly as planned.  Sort of.  Only one meal was bumped up to this week (meal 1) and one side dish was swapped out for another due to it being on my mind and calling to me.  Not too bad in the scheme of things, especially since I’m still fighting whatever plague I’ve had since the beginning of October! 

The theme this week is ground beef.  Why?  Because ground beef (recipes tend to be cheaper in terms of ingredients and I’ll be buying dry ingredients for Thanksgiving during this week’s shopping trip as well.  I don’t want to have too much sticker shock when I check out. 

Art is also getting home on Friday from his first business trip to England (yay!) and then he’ll be home through Thanksgiving before going back.

(As a reminder, the order posted is not the order in which these meals will be eaten.  Our leftover supply is running low, so I’ll probably be making the casserole type things earlier in the week.  Although the tatsoi is on its last legs, so that meal will definitely be first.)

Edit: I didn’t get around to making the lunch recipe or the test run of the chocolate cakes.  I guess this means I’ll be making the cakes for the first time at Thanksgiving and just hoping that everything works out well!

Thursday
No Knead Bread (for eating)
Bread Machine White Bread x2 (for stuffing) High-Heat Roasted Turkey (We’re getting another heritage turkey this year!) Apple-Raisin Bread Stuffing x2 Green Bean Casserole Cream Cheese and Chive Mashed Potatoes x3 Sweet Potato Casserole Pumpkin Bread Vanilla Ice Cream Molten Lava Cakes x1.5
**
Friday Breakfast**
Bundt Cake
eggs
grapefruit
**
Friday Lunch**
Sausage Lentil Soup or Avgolemono Soup
leftover or new bread
Skipped meal due to lack of hunger and scheduling - we had a late breakfast!

Friday Dinner
burgers w/ Sweet Potato Fries w/ Aioli w/ Bacon Onion Jam
**
Saturday Breakfast**
Baked French Toast
grapefruit
bacon

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I want to get started with the non-perishable shopping to help spread out the cost and the back strain.  The savory side of Thanksgiving is the same as it always is.  We’ve got our traditions that are hard to break!  I will be deviating with the dessert.  I’m trying to break the tradition of having infinite desserts.  I’m going to keep it simple this year and just make individual lava cakes.  Well, I’m going to try to.  I’ve never made them before.  I might do a few test runs between now and then. 

My parents will be here for the holiday and staying with us through Saturday morning.  My mom brings a delicious bundt coffee cake for Friday breakfast every year and I’ll be making the rest of the meals.  I sort of have them planned, but I need to fill in the rest of the gaps at some point. 

On Tuesday I’ll do the white bread for the stuffing and the pumpkin bread.  I’ll start the ice cream and no knead bread dough as well. 

Wednesday is casserole prep day which means I’ll get the green bean and sweet potato casseroles together and in the fridge. 

On Thursday the turkey goes in the oven, Art and I will prepare the stuffing and mashed potatoes, and I’ll bake the casseroles once the turkey is out of the oven. 

This has been another year full of things for which we are thankful and it’s always a joy to celebrate this with those I call family.

1. Sugar-Seared Salmon with Cream Sauce w/ Stir-Fried Green Beans
2. Fiesta Chicken and Rice w/ salad
3. Salmon with Wasabi Sauce and Bok Choy w/ rice
4. Leftover Night
5. Soy-Ginger Salmon w/ Chilled Sesame-Ginger Tatsoi w/ rice Moved to next week.
6. Olive Oil Poached Salmon w/ Pasta with Sicilian Green Tomato Sauce
7. Flank Steak with Creamy Mushroom Sauce w/ Crispy Baked Potatoes Creamy Tater Tot Casserole
Lunch: Heirloom Tomato and Avocado Salad with Crispy Wontons and Spicy Cilantro Vinaigrette

This is a pretty fish-heavy week.  Why?  Because Art is away on business travel so I can make lots and lots of fish (recipes!  It’s a small consolation. 

Meals 1 and 2 are leftovers from last week.  One meal was postponed due to Art’s travel (since he requested I make his favorite dish before he left) and the other was postponed due to being too sore to cook after using the pressure washer for two hours! 

It should be a tasty week: three nights of salmon, lots of good green stuff from the market, and delicious flank steak.

Edit: There is a new Stephen King book out this week.  I’ll be on a posting hiatus until I finish it.

1. smoked pork ribs w/ Slow Cooker Baked Beans w/ Sweet Potato Fries w/ Aioli
2. Top Round Roast Beef w/ Bread
3. Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing w/ Bread
4. Fiesta Chicken and Rice Out
5. Meatloaf w/ Creamy Tater Tot Casserole
6. Sugar-Seared Salmon with Cream Sauce w/ Stir-Fried Green Beans Changed to Pasta with Sausage, Basil, and Sundried Tomatoes due to Art’s upcoming travel
7. Saffron Risotto with Pancetta, Tomatoes, and Sausage
Treat: Sopapilla Cheesecake

I realized at 11:30pm on Saturday that I had yet to plan the week’s meals.  Oops.  So I’m up much later than I’d like to be, because these things must be done before Sunday! 

Meal 1 is a holdover from last week.  We had planned to smoke ribs on Saturday but then it rained and even (!!) snowed.  In October.  What’s up with that? 

As a change from summer meal planning which tends to revolve around the veggies I have, meal planning now seems to be revolving around the meat in the freezer.  Meals 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 will reduce our massive supply of cow and pig.  Sadly I’ve still got to buy chicken breasts and fish at the grocery store. 

I’ve also got a few time constraints this week so meals 3, 4, 6, and 7 should all be somewhat quick for those nights when I want to get something on the table before 9pm.  The rest of the meals probably won’t be on the table until 9pm because I have a horrible habit of neglecting to read dinner (recipes until 5pm and then get shocked when they’ve got instructions like “marinate for 1 hour.”  Eek.  I try to make notes about these things in my copy of the meal plan, but I’m still prone to failure. 

This week has an unusual addition – a sweet treat.  It’s rare that I make dessert type foods, but I saw a recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake, two things I love, and it has been calling to me.  So I’d better go ahead and make it!