Posts tagged week in food

The boxes are finally unpacked, the kitchen stocked and organized, and our massive to-do list (both for the condo and house) is a little shorter, so it’s time to get back into meal planning and legitimate dinners. 

[not that a frozen pizza is not a legit dinner.]

Here’s what’s cooking this week:

Tonight: Smitten Kitchen roasted buttermilk chicken, salad

Tuesday: Salmon with chermoula (from W-S Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking), roasted asparagus

Wednesday: Buffalo chicken salads

Thursday: London broil,roasted potatoes, salad

What’s cooking this week:

Tonight: greek chicken salads

Tuesday: cavatappi pasta with sausage ragu

Wednesday: roasted fish with Thai brussels sprouts

Thursday: (hopefully) “book club” @ yusho.

Friday: closing on the new crib, so we’ll see where the day takes us!

So,  work owns me and I did not stick to the plan.  That said, husband and I managed to pump out some decent late dinners.

Mike made a pizza crust, which we topped with chopped spinach, chicken apple sausage, roasted butternut squash, a little shredded mozzarella we had left from something else, and since that was clearly not enough cheese, a fair amount of goat cheese.  SO FREAKING GOOD.

Valentines Day - steaks with blue cheese, little baked potatoes, steamed broccoli.  Standard.

Grilled Jamaican-marinated chicken, black beans.  Well, this was a massive success and epic failure all at the same time.  Marinade - delicious and super spicy and authentic and not salty like bottled marinades tend to be.  Unfortunately, I marinated the chicken before I froze it (this is the way to go, friends) and threw the bottle out and now am kicking myself.  Grilled-ness - didn’t happen.  Mike preheated the grill and just as the chicken was about to go on, propane ran out.  Whomp whomp.  Under the broiler it went.  It was fine.

What’s cooking this week:

Tonight: Stir fry with the leftover pork chop from Friday (they were enormous - each of us only ate half) with peppers, mushrooms, onions and snap peas.  Brown rice.

Tuesday:  French onion soup from my Williams-Sonoma Essentials of French Cooking (very similar recipe here), salad (a Lyonnaise version with a poached egg if I get my ass to the gym that day).

Wednesday:  Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs, tzatziki, tomato-cucumber-feta salad

Thursday: Crispy fish with lemon-dill sauce, steamed broccoli.  Swearsies this will happen this week.

Friday:  Half day at work followed by Office Party #1. 

Last week’s eats:

Costco spinach and cheese ravioli with homemade San Marzano marinara.  These frozen raviolis are SO good and make a really great easy weeknight dinner. 

My non-cooking husband got ambitious and made me a homemade pizza (scratch crust and all!) on Thursday when he got home.  Maybe not the best thing to eat after the gym, but he tried really hard and I’ve never been one to turn down pizza.

Basic grilled boneless pork chops, roasted potatoes, steamed snap peas.  Snoozefest, but Myfitnesspal didn’t hate me for it.

What’s cooking this week:

Tonight: Costco spinach and cheese ravioli (the BEST, you guys) with homemade San Marzano marinara that my mom and I made and froze towards the tail end of tomato season.

Tuesday-Wednesday:  Mike is traveling for work, so rather than lie to you all about cooking something, let’s just put it out there that there will likely be two nights worth of single girl dinners, better known as wine, cheese and dry tortilla chips.

Thursday: Crispy fish with lemon-dill sauce, sauteed baby kale, steamed snap peas.

Friday: Either out or a homemade pizza with mushrooms, onions and greens.

Last week’s eats:

Black bean tacos with feta and slaw.  A favorite.  I add a little Greek yogurt and Cholula to the slaw to help bind it and spice it up.

Roast chicken with balsamic bell peppers.  This was SO good.  I didn’t have any balsamic, so I used red wine vinegar and the teeniest slice of butter to finish the sauce.  It was fantastic, and great with a little mashed potato on the side (store bought, I ain’t THAT good during the week).

Another short week means limited time in the kitchen.  Here’s what we’re nomming on this week:

Tonight: Lamb and butternut squash pasta. I’ve made this before, and it is really good and veggie-heavy.  I didn’t make it last week because I forgot to take the lamb out of the freezer, so it’s a must make this week.

Tomorrow: Pork fajitas.

Wednesday: Oven roasted flounder with baby bok choy, cilantro and lime.  Except with tilapia because Whole Foods didn’t have flounder.  Steamed broccoli on the side.

Thursday: Stuffing my face.  Literally, stuffing straight to my gullet.  And maybe a teeny slice of turkey on the side.

Friday: MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR.  We stay in comfies all day, watch movies, drink wine and graze all day long.  This year, we’ll have cheese and crackers, truffle popcorn and Zuzu-style boquerones.  Maybe a homemade pizza later in the day if we’re motivated.

Last week:

Oh-she-glows butternut squash and black bean burritos, but in bowl form.  Always a hit in our house.  Add avocado, a little regular shredded cheese, Frontera Grill salsa and Greek yogurt.  So good.

Wednesday - Friday: A work-related grand tour of North Carolina.  I ate at some very glamorous places, guys.  Like a BBQ joint.  And Outback.  And an oyster bar at the airport (yeesh).

Friday night: We had planned to hit Browntrout as our first stop on the Bib Gourmand tour, but a 3.5 hour delay out of Raleigh pushed my touchdown time in Chicago from 7:40 to after 11.  Boo.

No follow up this week, because I didn’t make it to the grocery store after our trip until this weekend, so we were raiding the freezer and cabinets for any available odds and ends.  It definitely made for an interesting week of random dinners (and not in a good way!)

So, this week, back to it - particularly in light of the massive wine-induced CC bill we just paid - we’re trying to be good and bring breakfast and lunch to work and eat dinner at home. 

I made a bunch of mini bagel breakfast sandwiches - scramble some eggs, pour into muffin tins (not too much) and bake until set.  Put the egg on a mini bagel with a half slice of cheese and either a half slice of bacon, ham, or a mini sausage patty (I made my own turkey sausage using this recipe - super easy and so good).  Wrap in wax paper, then foil, and they will keep in the freezer and reheat really well. 

I also roasted a chicken for dinner Saturday night.  I’ve got a ton of leftovers, so I’ve reserved a little for lunch salads, and tonight I’ll put together some chicken soup to freeze for a future week of lunches.

This week’s lunch soup: Minestrone

For dinners:

Tonight: Beef stir fry broccoli, peppers, mushrooms with jasmine rice

Tuesday: Election night party at Christa’s

Wednesday: The crockpot beef stew that I’ve been saying I’m going to make for three weeks.  Swearsies this time.

Thursday: The delicious oh-she-glows butternut squash and black bean burritos, but in bowl form.  And with real cheese.  Duh.

Friday: Dinner at Ada St. (yes, this breaks our streak, but we’ve got a friend in town from NYC)

What are you eating this week?

It’s a busy but short week as on Thursday morning we are GTFO and heading to SF/Napa for a long weekend of drinking quality time together.  From November 1 to the end of the year, I am going to be one busy [redacted profession] and this was our last chance to escape!

Anyway.  Food.

Last week fell kinda sorta by the wayside, as I was trying to clear out our fridge of leftovers, random veggies and stuff that needed to be used before vacation.

G’s Tumblr-famous chicken and mushrooms, a little bit of leftover mashed potatoes, something green.  Always a house favorite.  The something green ended up being brussels sprouts, roasted until ultra-crispy.

Mushroom-leek risotto.  I used the rest of the mixed mushrooms from the farmers’ market, a lonely leek I found in the bottom of one of my veggie drawers and topped each bowl with half of a leftover grilled chicken breast from last week.

Pasta with homemade sauce and broccoli rabe.  Used my bag of Pasta Puttana white wine pasta with a container of leftover homemade marinara.  Jazzed it up with half of a onion and the last few slices of bacon in the fridge and some crushed red pepper.

Salads with roasted beets, butternut squash and onions.  So good.  Made a quick Dijon vinaigrette and added some goat cheese to the top.  Noms.

This week it’s more of the same - get rid of the remaining odds and ends in the fridge!

Tonight:  White turkey chili (in the freezer), topped with the rest of the cherry tomatoes, greek yogurt and the tiny chunk of habenero jack cheese.

Tuesday:  Crockpot beef stew (that I’ve been saying I’m going to make for three weeks).

Wednesday:Leftovers if there are some or something from the freezer (maybe TJ’s chicken gyoza and some veggies).

Thursday-Monday: drinking ALL the wines and eating ALL the foods.

We are on MAY-JAH eating out lockdown in preparation for our upcoming Napa trip.  It’s lunches from and dinners at home all this week.  Here’s what’s cooking at the S house:

Tonight: G’s Tumblr-famous chicken and mushrooms, a little bit of leftover mashed potatoes, something green (probs salad).

Tuesday: Cajun-style red beans and rice (I made this a few weekends ago and froze some of the red bean part), sauteed kale

Wednesday: Quick dinner after kettlebells - pasta with homemade marinara, broccoli rabe

Thursday: Crockpot beef stew (that I didn’t make last week), salad

Friday: TBD.  Leftovers or chili that’s in the freezer.

I made a big pot of Thomas Keller’s chicken soup with dumplings last weekend (from his Ad Hoc cookbook - SO GOOD but so, so, so many pots and pans involved) and we took it for lunches all week.  That was such a hit that I made another huge pot of soup again this weekend - this time PEO Gourmet Bean Soup (oh you fancy, huh?).  I’ll post the recipe later this week!

Last week’s eats:

Hake with kale.  This was OK.  I didn’t think the fish was particularly good, and I’d probably opt to just bake it if I were to make this again.  The greens, however, were super tasty with the little bits of Spanish chorizo!  I’d definitely make the kale aspect again.

Corn and feta ravioli from Pasta Puttana.  Her stuff is always fantastic - get it at Evanston and Green City farmers markets, some Whole Foods or her amazing little shop on Grand.  I topped each of our bowls (4 ravioli each) with half a grilled chicken breast, chopped cherry tomatoes and fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

Baked parmesan-sage pork chops, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts.  The chops were really good.  I used panko bread crumbs instead of regular and I thought it was a good swap.  Shhhh…I bought mashed potatoes at the grocery store.  I’m good, but not that good on a weeknight.  Roasted sprouts til the wheels fall off.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy, so I haven’t done a Week in Food post in awhile.  We subsisted on mostly salads, sandwiches, stuff from the freezer and takeout.

But back to the routine.  After a full summer of BBQs (I seriously had a million brats this summer), patio happy hours, dumping rose down my gullet, and ice cream, the S household is feeling a tad bit…squishy.  Mike and I are on a mission to drop some L-Bs.  We don’t eat a ton of processed food, and we don’t eat badly in general, but I’ve recommitted to watching the amount of oil I use, limiting refined carbs, upping veggie intake and packing my breakfast and lunch.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week:

Tonight: Corn farrotto, sauteed zucchini and yellow squash on the side.

Tuesday: Chicken lettuce wraps with napa cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers.

Wednesday: Egg fettucine from Pasta Puttana, with turkey meatballs I made yesterday and some homemade San Marzano tomato sauce.  My mom and I turned 30 pounds of tomatoes into 15 quarts of sauce - a ton of work, but well worth it.

Thursday: Veggie enchiladas loosely based on this recipe, subbing a tomatillo sauce for the cheese sauce.  I made and froze them (sans sauce) a couple weeks ago.  We’ll see if they are freezer-friendly.  I am also known for my hatred of all things enchilada, so this will be interesting.

Friday: Marinated London broil from the Green City Market, roasted brussels sprouts with a bit of parmesan and truffle salt, any other veggies we’ve got in the fridge that need to be used.

AND!  Now for a bit of accountability.  My workout plan:

Tonight: 2 mile run

Tuesday: Either a post-work swim or a long walk with a friend

Wednesday: Kettlebells

Thursday: 30 minute attempt to get out of bed after Kettlebells.  Try to not fall down stairs.  Walk (if possible) after work to loosen up.

Friday: Off

Saturday: 4 mile run.

The Green City Market was back this week!  I loaded up on the goodies, as October (the end of the outdoor market) will be here before we know it.

Here’s what we’re eating this week:

Tonight: Chicken piccatta, sauteed rapini.

Tuesday: Ground turkey taco salads.

Wednesday: Grilled pork chops, grilled corn, mixed grilled veggies

Thursday: Sweet onion pasta from Pasta Puttana with spicy turkey sausage, caramelized onions and baby bella mushrooms.

Review of last week:

Gruyere grilled cheese with apple salad.  This was really good!  The caramelized shallots and thyme with the gruyere and crusty bread gave the sandwich almost a French onion soup vibe.  We split a sandwich and I made extra salad.  The light, tangy dressing was a perfect match to the rich sandwich.

Chicken-apricot skewers with an Asian-inspired marinade, cripsy kale salad. I couldn’t find apricots so I just made the chicken.  Meh.  I preferred this spicy Asian chicken marinade as previously reviewed here.  We both liked the crispy kale and the salad separately, but together it was just bizarre and not a good taste. 

Eggplant-saffron rice bake.  No.  Just no.  A waste of good saffron (which isn’t cheap) - you could barely taste it once the tomato sauce and cheese was layered on.  The cooking times were SO far off - I had to bake it for over an hour before the rice wasn’t crunchy anymore.  Plus, this dish entails SO many steps - roast the eggplant, par cook the rice, etc.   For that much work, I’d do a roasted veggie lasagna.  If I wanted something simple, easy, baked and cheesy, you can’t go wrong with a standard baked ziti.

My attempt to go to the farmers’ market this weekend was an epic FAIL.  Apparently, it was canceled due to the Air & Water Show.  Despite not procuring a big produce haul, my new issue of Bon Appetit provided some inspiration.  Here’s what we’re eating this week!

Tonight: Gruyere grilled cheese with apple salad

Tuesday: Chicken-apricot skewers with an Asian-inspired marinade, cripsy kale salad. I didn’t get around to making this last week or the week before.  SWEARSIES I am going to make it this week.

Wednesday: Eggplant-saffron rice bake, salad

Thursday: Braised chicken with capers and parsley, roasted heirloom potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday: Either leftovers or sushi date.

Review of last week:

Pizza with San Marzano tomatoes, spinach and fresh mozzarella from Brunkow Farms.

Pizza.  Duh.  I always prefer homemade pizza because I can control the healthy-factor more.

Pork tenderloin with plum chutney, steamed carrots and grilled kale.

Amazing.  Go easy on the salt on the tenderloin, especially if you are going to assemble the tenderloin the night before.  Don’t skip the chutney - it’s fabulous.  I used about a tablespoon of whole grain mustard instead of mustard seeds because I didn’t have any and they were expensive at the store.  It turned out fine.

Pasta Puttana fresh herb pasta with greens and heirloom tomatoes, salad with roasted beets.

Pasta with heirloom tomatoes and basil.  Pretty standard.

Crispy black bean tacos with broccoli slaw. 

The best tacos ever.  Period.

Whew, a busy work week, working over the weekend, a birthday dinner and a double baby shower for some of my closest friends - it feels like the weekend didn’t even happen!

Fortunately, I did manage to squeeze a trip to the farmers’ market in this weekend.  Here’s what I’m planning on making with my haul!

Tonight: Scallops with summer vegetables and beurre blanc, green salad.

Tuesday: Fettucine with tomato cream sauce, steamed broccoli

Wednesday: Grilled flank steak with tomatillo sauce, tomato-avocado-corn stacked salads.

Thursday: Open faced sandwiches with pesto, tomatoes, mushrooms and fried eggs.  This was Mike’s pick, I don’t think it sounds that great, so we will see how it turns out.

Friday: TBD.  Either leftovers or a restaurant.

Now, my thoughts on last week:

Monday: Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk roasted chicken on the grill again! 

This was great (and a little different) with the addition of smoked paprika to the marinade.  The patatas bravas that I made were super easy - toss quartered potatoes with a little olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne and salt and pepper, wrap in foil, and grill with the chicken. 

Tuesday: grilled fish with salsa verde, grilled squash and portobellas, broccoli rabe.

This totally did not happen.  Instead, we had sauteed squash, portobellas, onions and broccoli rabe with ground turkey and marinara, mixed with just a little mezzi rigatoni.  This was one of my favorite dinners last summer when I was training for the marathon, and I had a major craving for it.

Wednesday: Grilled boneless chicken thighs with this marinade and with this grilled vegetable salad.

SO GOOD.  I skipped the rice in the salad and didn’t miss it one bit (and it streamlined the process for a weeknight).  The grilled okra is actually really delicious, and the combination of the corn, eggplant, squash and okra was new and different.  I skipped the process of roasting chiles for the dressing (again, it was a weeknight) and just used a squirt of Sriracha instead.  I’d go that route again since you are just trying to get a little heat in the salad dressing.  The marinade for the chicken is fantastic!  I made some extra and reserved it for basting instead of boiling the marinade after the chicken sat overnight - something about using marinade after the raw chicken was in it for 18+ hours was way gross to me.  I would definitely make both the chicken and the salad again.

Thursday: Pasta with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and olive oil.  Salad.

We had a good amount of leftover lemongrass-turmeric chicken and some leftover salad dressing, so I chopped that and tossed it with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion and salad greens.  Thai chicken salads!

Friday: Sushi date!

We opted for Coobah instead, mostly because it was beautiful outside and I just wanted to sit on a patio and drink a couple of my favorite cocktails of all time, the Uva Caribe (light rum, pineapple, muddled grapes and limes and club soda).  Figures they were out of the ingredients for my drink! 

(Can you tell we have trouble sticking to a plan?)

A whirlwind wedding weekend and I am BEAT.  Good thing I have a super busy work week and a really nasty summer cold.   Trying to keep things simple this week with simple marinated grilled proteins and veggies.

Monday: Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk roasted chicken on the grill again!  See below for more details, but oh my god you guys, grilling the chicken is even better than the roasted version!  This time I added the smoked paprika to the marinade, and I’ll make some patatas bravas and a salad.

Tuesday: grilled fish with salsa verde, grilled squash and portobellas, broccoli rabe

Wednesday: Grilled boneless chicken thighs with this marinade.  The original recipe is for chicken wings, but I don’t really like wings and I have a ton of other various chicken parts in my freezer.  With this grilled vegetable salad.

Thursday: Pasta with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and olive oil.  Salad.

Friday: Sushi date!

So, what did I think of last week?

Monday: Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk roasted chicken - I skipped the paprika, opting to just use buttermilk, garlic, salt, sugar and black pepper in the brine.  Grilling it was FANTASTIC.  The skin got much crispier than it did when roasted.  Served with grilled corn and a tomato-peach caprese salad, this was an ultimate summer dinner off the grill.

Tuesday: Black bean tacos with feta and cabbage slaw.  One of our all-time favorites.

Wednesday: I knew we’d have dinner guests this night, so I grilled three chicken breasts on Monday and reserved the third and saved the rest of my breast from Monday.  I cut the meat from the bones, diced it, and tossed it with hardboiled egg, tomato, cucumbers, avocado, blue cheese, a bit of crumbled bacon, mixed greens and a Dijon vinaigrette.  Poof!  Cobb salads!

Thursday: Foil packet fish with heirloom potatoes, squash, carrots, tomatoes, lemon and dill.  Worked late, so this totally did not happen.

Friday: Christa and Dave’s rehearsal dinner in Little Italy!  Fantastico!

We had a pretty great, pretty normal summer weekend with lots of sunshine, family and friends.  I’m really grateful for that!  My mom and I hit the Green City Market super early on Saturday, hoping to beat the heat (little did we know that would actually be thehottestpart of the day).  I’ve planned dinners around my GCM haul!

Monday: A variation on Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk roasted chicken - I skipped the paprika, opting to just use buttermilk, garlic, salt, sugar and black pepper in the brine.  I’m going to try grilling it instead (the temperature has come down but it’s still too hot to have the oven on that long).  To be served with grilled corn on the cob and a tomato-peach caprese salad.  If you haven’t tried adding a diced peach to your tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and torn basil, you’re missing out. 

Tuesday: Black bean tacos with feta and cabbage slaw.  One of our all-time favorites.

Wednesday: Cobb salads with Monday’s leftover chicken, shredded.

Thursday: Foil packet fish (fish TBD) with heirloom potatoes, squash, carrots, tomatoes, lemon and dill.

Friday: Christa and Dave’s rehearsal dinner in Little Italy!

Have a great week!

I haven’t cooked much the last few weeks. 

(I’m actually somewhat mortified at the amount of pizza we’ve eaten.)

I haven’t done much at work.  I haven’t gotten to the gym at all.  I haven’t been taking very good care of myself.

(shamrock shuffle is now less than 8 weeks away.  argh.)

So.  This week.  Back to a routine.  Back into the kitchen.  Here’s what we WILL be eating this week:

Tonight: Cod en persellaine (basically cod with some breadcrumbs on top) from Ad Hoc at Home, asparagus coins (also from the book), and the leftover peas from last night’s Family Meal No. 22.

Tuesday: Crispy black bean tacos with feta and broccoli slaw.  An S house fave.

Wednesday: Greek quinoa salad with the leftover chicken from Family Meal No. 22, feta, kalamata olives, tomatoes, cukes and pine nuts.

Thursday: Korean rice bowls with tofu and kimchi, based on this recipe.

Friday: either dinner out or butternut squash risotto with chicken apple sausage.