The Meal Plan | 12.03.14 | The Culmination of a Day

A day's worth of work.  Yesterday it was Chicken Stew.  Flat-roasting a chicken.  Blanching carrots.  Sauteeing onions.  Making Biscuits.  It was my version of Babette's Feast.  It felt like it took all day.  In actuality it took most of the day when you include the washing up.  I think this effort could be both criticized and praised.  Was it a poor use of time or was it a good use of time?  Please don't answer.  I remain disillusioned either way.  Today's goal will be to avoid the kitchen entirely.  Babette is fasting.

Monday:  The Weekly Lentil.  These with dijon mustard and red wine vinegar.

Tuesday:  Chicken Stew with Biscuits.  Cursedly comforting.

Wednesday:  Split Peas over Rice.  Not sure who's going to make that.  

Thursday:  Pumpkin Pasta from Simply in Season.  I still haven't shared that recipe, have I?

Friday:  Cauliflower Risotto.  Homemade Winter

xx

M

The Meal Plan | 08.11.14 | A Sketch

Today we made purple pesto!  For our reach moment we made the peach tart prepped for yesterday's non-specific feasting purposes.  

Tomorrow I'm hoping to make Barefoot Contessa's provencal potato salad.  I made this on Sunday with half of the ingredients it called for and I'd like to try it again.  First she makes a basic but stand-alone french potato salad and then adds to it haricots verts blanched, tuna, capers, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped red onion, black olives, hard-cooked eggs.    

Wednesday I might make a spicy ratatouille from the Home Made Summer cookbook that is now overdue. 

Thursday: On the same page of that cookbook is a recipe for large polenta pizza with ratatouille.  Then I'll return it.  

Unless I keep it around to try her crispy chickpeas on Friday.  

:)

The Meal Plan | 08.06.14

There hasn't been much meal-planning around these parts.  We've been loading up at farmer's markets and trying to keep the oven off.  Duh.  We've been eating lots of tomato sandwiches and lots of peaches.  I perfected corn on the cob!  Boil it for only four minutes, drain most of the water, put a lid on your pot and let the corn steam until you are ready to serve it.  The corn stays warm and the kernels are plump.  Thanks Aunt Rebecca.  

Last week I ate raw.  I can't really call it a cleanse because I was still drinking coffee.  I made smoothies, ate lots of cashews, splurged on a beet juice and drank lots of water.  It was good and I learned a few things.  One, I can survive a day without a full bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.  Good to know.  Two, it is possible for me, though I don't recommend it, to go a night without wine and or chocolate.  And three, it is really hard to sit down and eat something different than your family.  There are many questions: "Momma, why aren't you having any oatmeal?"  "Momma, why aren't you eating any pizza?"  "You see, Naomi, I'm not growing anymore so I can go without sometimes."  This is very true, but it's also true that eating together and eating the same thing is the real bonding experience.  I felt like an outsider.  But the other part of me was like, "deal with it and stop with the peer pressure!"

What have you been up to lately?

*Above is a picture of some posies I made for a wedding.  I keep meaning to tell you about my new job at a most becoming little flower shop!

The Meal Plan | 06.23.14 | A Little Bit of Everything

It's starting to click.  Oh yeah.  Summer is easier than I remember.  It's just that ornery New England Spring that confuses me.  But summer means effortless snacks of blueberries by the pint and strawberries for the picking.  Summer means pesto!  Praise God.  I love pesto.  I made it tonight and sliced and salted heirloom tomatoes to top.  It was a good moment.  

Today was one of those days that just worked.  I think it was anchored by thoughts of pesto.  We all have those days that unfold in ways you couldn't have foreseen.  A day when there is no one peak arriving approximately at 10 o'clock in the morning, but simply a day placed against a backdrop of contentment and emotion.  Or something like that.  Anytime when you can pass the 4 o'clock hour with short people underfoot and not question the meaning of life you are in the lead.  Gorgeous weather really does help.  So does beet juice.  The beet and carrot and apple and lemon juice that I u-turned for was well worth it.  I had more energy today at 4pm than I have had in a long while.    

I record this because sometimes my melancholy folk music mental state allows me to mostly write about the sullen.  

If you are feeling a little sullen listen to this song.  Follow it up with some pesto and we can be twins.  

This week we are headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We are going the long way.  There isn't a short way.  But we aren't racing is what I mean.  We aren't going to try to beat our record from last summer.  I have lots to do before then, mostly get excited.  But that will come once I see the hills and slip off the grid for a bit.  

The Meal Plan | 06.09.14 | Salad Week

The Meal Plan is back this week after the hiatus that a long weekend and out of town family afford.  The warm weather is finally curbing some appetites, particularly the youngest and roundest member of our family.  So with that in mind we are going to keep it light.  I hope to make a few salad dressings and put whatever we are planning to eat over some greens.  

For lunch today we brought egg salad sandwiches here to picnic.  Verity tried to get up and run around the block between every bite.  So there's that.  Otherwise it would have been really relaxing.  What's the saying?  Eat like a king in the morning.  Eat like a prince for lunch.  And eat like a pauper for dinner.  I'll at least be getting the last bit of that right.  :)

Tonight:  Black beans, avocado and tomatoes over salad greens with a vinegar dressing.

Tuesday:  The Weekly Lentil.  From 101 Cookbooks again.

Wednesday:  Roasted Vegetable Salad with Toasted Cheese Baguette Slices

Thursday: Grilled Shrimp and Potato Salad

Friday:  Pizza and a chopped salad for us.

Any holes will be filled with ice cream.  A little rusty getting back into it.  

The Meal Plan | 05.05.14 | Eat Local-er

Monday:  Black Bean Salad over Quinoa.  A Trader Joe's recipe.  Satisfying and pretty.  

Tuesday:  Pizza.  Recipe from Homemade Winter.    

Wednesday:  The Weekly Lentil. 

Thursday:  Crepes filled with roasted vegetables. 

Friday:  Vegetarian Tikka Masala.  My sister turned this into a vegetarian dish with cauliflower and chickpeas and it was delicious.

I thought of my grandfather today while I sliced corn off the cob.  In May.  He once watched me score an avocado and feed it to Verity in little cubes.  He seemed a little impressed and a little appalled.  Growing up in west Texas they didn't have avocados.  West Texas is a whole lot closer to avocado trees than where I live.  He went on to tell me that when corn was harvested, they ate corn every day.  Of course they preserved what they could and when that ran out, they cooked with cornmeal and when that ran out, they ate something else, I'm not sure what.
So last week when I bought corn on sale at Whole Foods I was glad he wasn't there to see me do it.  It didn't sit well with me.  They are harvesting corn somewhere very far away from where I sit.  I'm going to wait till August to buy it again.

  

The Meal Plan | 04.28.14

Spring is building confidence around here.  In fits and starts it comes and goes leaving us with a little hope that our corner of the world has not been forgotten.  The tree outside our window is filled with beautiful white blossoms.  They held on through the wind gusts of last week and through the colder temperatures and rains that followed.

Similarly, our meals are straddling the line.  There is plenty of time left for grilled cheeses and tomato soups but we also get to put mango salsa on our black beans and rice.  Yesterday I made an almond cake to see us through another cozy (read: dreary) afternoon.  What are you making lately?

Monday:  These lentils.  Scroll way down for the recipe, or like me, read her entry and wonder why you too haven't started your own granola business.  

Tuesday:  Black Bean Soup and Cornbread.  Not sure which version yet, but I have lots of beans.   Wednesday:  Ina Garten's Macaroni and Cheese.

Thursday:  Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie.  A smaller version of this. 

Friday: Leek Fritters and Pan-fried Potatoes.  #random  

The Meal Plan | Marathon Monday

Marathon Monday means stealing away for a morning run with my sis, turning day-old baguettes into french toast and eating a coconut cupcake with my second cup of coffee.
It also means heading to Coolidge Corner to watch the runners go by.

I like this picture because of the sun that is shinning, the serving tray I picked up at T.J.Maxx for next to nothing, and the one dollar bottles of Pellegrino I bought on sale.

On Easter Sunday I pull out the ironing board and I press the napkins.  I do it for both novelty and tradition, and to make sure the iron still works.  I place my coffee mug on the ironing board because we must not be parted during such a time.  I only spilled on one.

  Yesterday Eric grilled Lamb Sliders, and I took a page from Bon Appetite and made Cod with Potatoes and Preserved Lemon Relish.  With some accompaniments and accomplices it was a delightful spread and celebration.*

Tonight we ate leftovers.  Monday.
Tuesday:  I have marinara sauce in the refrigerator.  Fill in the Blank.  I'm so tired.
Wednesday:  Black Bean and Rice Bowl
Thursday:  Lentil Soup and Arugula Salad
Friday:  Pizza.  I've been topping everything with arugula lately.  No exception here.

*For the first time (ever?) the white was gone before the red.

The Meal Plan | 04.13.14

When I was growing up our kitchen was closed on Sunday night.  I don't remember when this policy began but it was not awesome.  My sister and brother and I would lurk around the kitchen, obviously finding "nothing to eat" and being told that there was plenty to eat if we were "really hungry".  

This evening we closed up our own kitchen and pulled out this and that from the fridge to see what we could come up with -a baked sweet potato, leftover lentils and rice, roasted eggplant nearing expiration, the last of the arugula and some pine nuts.  I made the grown-ups a satisfying salad and a deconstructed version of it for the short ones. 

 I'm hoping this week's dinners will look like tonight's -a satisfying afterthought.  With Holy Week to think about and Easter feasting to anticipate, I'm ready for this week to look a little ...less.  

Monday:  Lentil Soup.  Made with yellow split peas and lemon and feta.  From Homemade Winter

Tuesday:  Mushroom Galette.  A way simplified version from BA this month.  

Wednesday:  Curried Red Lentil Burgers.  From Moosewood Restaurant Favorites.  Okay, not an afterthought.  

Thursday:  Pasta Night.  

Friday:  Potato and Leek Frittata 

The Meal Plan | 04.07.14

Monday:  Lebanese Lentils (lentils cooked with rice served with a heavily dressed salad on top)

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice

Wednesday:  Fish Stew with Fennel and Baby Potatoes -new recipe to try this week

Thursday:  Hot Dogs with Sweet Potato Oven Fries.  Yes.  

Friday:  Flatbread of some sort.  I'm hoping it will be without cheese, topped with olive oil, sauteed mushrooms and arugula.  

I'm always exhausted when I plan my meals and shop for them on the same day.  I'm bent over the counter, hunting for recipes, writing down the ingredients I need, having told the girls we are leaving in ten minutes for the grocery store.  Ten minutes turns into twenty minutes and I'm kicking myself for having mentioned a stop at the playground on the way home.  We get back, lunch is rushed, groceries and couch cushions are everywhere.   Enter exhaustion.  I hope this ramshackle meal-plan will survive and carry us through another week.  

If you care to join me, here is the recipe I'm going to try from this month's Bon Appetit.  

Fish Stew with Fennel and Baby Potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil 

8 oz. small waxy potatoes, scrubbed, sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 medium fennel bulb, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt, ground pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup creme fraiche

1 1/2 lb. skinless flounder or fluke fillet, cut into 2" pieces 

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

lemon wedges (for serving)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Cook potatoes, tossing occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.  Add fennel and garlic; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until fennel is soft, about 2 minutes.  Add wine, bring to boil, and cook until almost completely evaporated, about 4 minutes.  

Add 2 cups water to pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.  Stir in creme fraiche.  Add flounder, cover pot, and reduce heat.  Simmer until fish is cooked through, about 4 minutes.  

Stir dill into stew; season with salt and pepper.  Serve with lemon wedges.  

I already have a list of substitues:  I'm using haddock instead of flounder, cilantro instead of dill.  And I'm going to salt at the beginning instead of at the end.  :)  

The Meal Plan | 03.30.14

On this second to last day in March..

Monday:  Chicken Tikka Masala.  My new recipe to try.  

Tuesday:  Chickpea Saute from Plenty. Did I wait long enough to make this again?  

Wednesday:  Lentil Soup

Thursday:  Black bean and Rice Skillet

Friday: Pizza.  Are you asleep yet?  

I completely burnt myself out last week.  I was in a tizzy about casting aside my winter routines and forging ahead to lighter meals for spring.  The ramifications: pizza was ordered on Thursday night.  And Friday became an easy frittata with potatoes and the leeks i hadn't used yet.  But it also meant I was eating a wonderful roasted vegetable salad for lunch each day.  I'm beginning to see Tamar Adler's approach to cooking as much less revolutionary and much more commonsensical.  Prep work pays off.  I don't know that I'll roast all my vegetables every Monday.  But I will sometimes.  In the same vein, I'm doing more prep today that usual for the week ahead.  I soaked all the beans I plan to use, and I'm prepping my chicken for tomorrow night and making the sauce as well.  This is all happening mostly because it is a dreary, easy Sunday afternoon.

I enjoyed reading this article this weekend.  I hope you had a nice one.

The Meal Plan | 03.24.14 | Learning to Stride Ahead

I'm in the middle of reading An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler and her chapter on vegetables, Learning to Stride Ahead, is teaching me a thing or two.  This week I'm doing things her way.  She says, 

"Each week I buy whole bunches of the leafiest, stemmiest vegetables I can find.  Then I scrub off their dirt, trim off their leaves, cut off their stems, peel what needs peeling, and cook them all at once.  

By the time I've finished, I've drawn a map of the week's meals and created the beginnings of a succession of them.  Then each day I pick up where I left off."

I'm a little out of my element, but since I have a bad track record with making the transition to Spring in the kitchen I'm hoping this might be just the thing, even if a little less structured.

Monday:  (giant) lemon fennel beans over rice.  I don't love the word giant, but I can't wait to try this recipe tonight.  

Tuesday:  Vegetable Stir-Fry to be eaten before ice-cream

Wednesday: Greens Gratin -from An Everlasting Meal

Thursday: Heirloom Beans with Leeks from Simply in Season

Friday: End of the Week Vegetable Curry -An Everlasting Meal 

p.s. Anyone have a good recipe for fava beans?  I've got'em.  Now what. 

The Meal Plan 03.17.14

How are you fairing this week?  I know it's only Monday, but still.  Feeling a little stifled in our corner of the world.  Wish I had been more patient with N this morning before I realized she wasn't as well as she first lead us to believe.  I probably could have saved my "I'm not your servant, I'm your mom" speech for a healthier moment.  

Butternut Squash has been my faithful companion this long winter.  Tonight I will sauteed it in olive oil with a garlic clove crushed.  If you do this in a heavy saucepan and leave the lid on it turns into a delicious mash.  I will serve it over white rice.  I will douse mine with hot sauce.  

Monday:  Sauteed Butternut Squash over Rice.  Sorry, I just said that.  

Tuesday:  Lentil Soup.  We've missed you.  

Wednesday:  Leftover Sweet Potato Blintzes from last week. 

Thursday:  hmmm.  That may mean pasta.  

Friday:  Pizza.  I just made that up.  I'm good till Wednesday at least.  

The Meal Plan 03.09.14

It's rice week.  My eyes are on the elephants.  A couple of weeks ago I bought this twenty-five pound bag of rice on a whim after I saw it in the cart of a friend walking down the rice isle.  I was always buying these puny little bags of rice and running out, mostly because I once cooked old rice and I payed for it.  Rice does go bad.  Not this time.  Now I'm even measuring with my fingers when i cook it.   Gone are the 2:1 days.  Up to the knuckle or just below for 1 cup of dry rice -this tip from the same friend who sold me on the bag of rice.  

Monday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes.  Already in the works so there's no looking back.  

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice.  

Wednesday:  Otsu  My new recipe to try.  Thank you, KM!

Thursday: Gnocchi.  Rest night.  

Friday:  Shrimp Fried Rice.  BA March 2013.  If I can't get shrimp, I'll just use the sauce and substitute some veggies or chicken.  

:)

What about you?

The Meal Plan 3.03.14

There comes a day when only pizza will do.  Today is one of those days.  We need something to look forward to for dinner.  We need this most days of the week, but especially today since we are all tired.  I'm tired because I stayed up to watch Cate Blanchett win Best Actress for Blue Jasmine.  I didn't want to find out who won at 6:30 the next morning before my first cup of coffee.  I wanted her to win and I wanted to know if she would mention Woody Allen.   She wasn't supposed to because of the charges facing him right now.  But she did thank him for casting her, of course she did, and it seemed fitting no matter the circumstances.  After that it was a Women Power speech, and though initially I thought to myself, "Are you really going there right now?" it's nice to hear some of that from time to time.  Considering we really have overcome a lot over the years, damn it.  

So anyway, I'm tired and Naomi asked me at lunch if we were having pizza or french fries for dinner tonight.  I laughed and then she didn't.

Really quick, last Monday's Chickpea Saute with Greek Yogurt was the most interesting dish I've made in recent memory.  If you don't own Plenty put a hold on it at the library or borrow it from a friend.  And buy some caraway seeds.  I didn't end up making sweet potato blintzes or burritos.  Those sweet potatoes ended up as oven fries on Friday night.  And when Thursday rolled around I subbed out my lentil soup for Rebecca's Lebanese Lentils -a wonderful recipe I rescued from the abyss of my inbox.  I will share that with you another time.    

Up Next:

Monday:  Pizza with a side of roasted brussel sprouts.  Those have been lurking in my fridge since last week.
Shrove Tuesday:  These buttermilk pancakes! with bacon I think.  

Wednesday:  Baked Potatoes, those still need to be eaten, with sauteed mushrooms.  Or flavor sponges as a friend titled them.    

Thursday:  Black Bean Rice Bowl with avocado and homemade salsa (hopefully).  

Friday:  Lentil Soup.  Sometimes Fridays are like Mondays in my kitchen.  Hold on for dear life.

The Meal Plan 2.24.14

I didn't tell you too much about the new series I began last week.  I just threw it at you and hoped it was mildly intriguing.  Is there anything intriguing about weekday meals?  

Last week started off strong.  The pizza dough turned out really well.  I followed Yvette's recipe from Homemade Winter.  She called for part semolina flour which could have been the reason it was so good.  Or, it could have been that I just put more effort into making it.  I set the timer and kneaded the dough with Naomi's help for the full ten minutes.  Tuesday we were away and Wednesday was lentil soup.  Fine.  Thursday we were without Eric for dinner.  He's our risotto guy, but I stuck with the plan and made the cauliflower risotto anyway.  Verity ate it.  I counted four bites for Naomi, and the fifth was not so sneakily  spit into her napkin.  By Friday I was done.  I started making dinner, realized I could not complete the task and called Eric with this update.  We ended up ordering some pasta from Basta Pasta -that is the very short version of that decision making process.  

This week I'm going to try to keep it simple.  I'm trying one new recipe and the rest will be reruns.  

Monday:  I didn't use any chickpea credits last week so we are going to try again.  This time with a recipe that looks more interesting to me.  Still from Plenty, which I am borrowing from my neighbor.  Chickpea Saute with Greek yogurt.  It calls for caraway seeds and lots of carrots and swiss chard.  And lemon juice.  Lemons help February.   

Tuesday:  Off night!

Wednesday:  Lentil Soup.  We have this one night every week.  

Thursday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes which are pretty labor intensive but the girls gobble them up and make great leftovers.  I'll make black bean sweet potato "burritos" if I'm not up for it.  

Friday:  Pizza.  I think.  I don't have any more semolina flour, but will hopefully be kneading for the full ten minutes again.  

Are you making anything mildly intriguing this week?  :)     

The Meal Plan 2.16.14

I'm happy to say you will be able to count on me for at least one small something moving forward.
The Meal Plan.  My meal plan for dinners each week.  I've been at it since the fall and I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It's really a sketch, written in pencil.  The meals get moved around, bumped back, replaced.  But I can say that it adds an element of peace to my week when originally I thought it would only add constraint with no flavor.  And since I always want to know what my friends are making for dinner, I'll start by sharing what's on my table!

1. pizza: oof's basic recipe -Homemade Winter by Yyette Van Boven
2.  Lentil Soup -duh
3.  Chickpea, tomato and bread soup, Plenty by Ottolenghi
4.  Swiss Chard, Tomato and Garlic over Polenta -friend's recipe archive
5.  Baked Risotto with Cauliflower -Homemade Winter
6.  Baked potatoes with sauteed mushrooms -back-up meal idea from Bon Appetite because there appears to be strong tomato overtones throughout. :)

I'll report back.