Category Archives: Monday Menu

Monday Menu & Recipe Review

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , , ,

First day of spring break, and it’s snowing. It has taken me nearly three hours, what with all the interruptions (“He stole my Zhu Zhu pets!” “When can I use the computer?” “I need help getting dressed!”) but I’ve finally planned meals for the rest of this week. This afternoon I will brave my list of errands with all three children in tow. Spring Break at home requires some planning, maybe more than a vacation away–certainly more than I want to plan. But if we are to avoid some nasty Lord of the Flies scenes, I’m going to have to face the music.

I’ve got an Easter craft planned that should occupy Miss Seven and Little Five for a little while and create a flurry of paper scraps to clean up. We’ll have lunch at Ikea one day (kids eat free all week!). I’m declaring this Smoothie Week, and we’re going to try some new variations. The weather is supposed to improve later in the week (sunny and mid-40s), and I vow that at least once we will get out the bikes and scooters and ride to the park. I’ll probably have to play some board games. (My board game aversion is legendary.) I’ll try to encourage some cooperative Lego building. Mr. 10’s closet needs to be reorganized and everything could use a good spring cleaning. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the tree guys will come and grind out all the stumps in our front yard–that will make for some good noisy entertainment.

Many plans. And it’s already time for lunch.

Last week

Wednesday: Creamy Spring Turnip Soup, mint limeade, scones (with multigrain flour, rosemary salt, and no cheese)

I finally discovered what to do with a turnip. This soup was lovely, green from the leeks and slightly sweet, creamy but not heavy, and everyone liked it. The bacon and greens made it feel more like a meal, but it would be a nice first course. As predicted, the limeade was a hit, too.

Thursday: Roast chicken, roasted vegetables

I defrosted that chicken for four days, and it was still icy in the middle, so it took far longer to roast than I planned. I still love Jamie Oliver’s method the best: high heat, stuff the bird with garlic and herbs and lemon, and roast a big pan of veggies (extra turnips!) and potatoes alongside. I need to remember that what looks like too many raw veggies is, in fact, not quite enough. I had visions of leftovers that were sadly disappointed.

Friday: Shrimp Scampi with angel hair pasta, tomato salad

Garlicky pasta with shrimp? We all had seconds.

This week

Monday: Crockpot Sesame Honey Chicken, (courtesy of Jen, my meal exchange buddy!), rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Passover Seder with friends (I’m bringing the charoset)

Wednesday: Gnocchi in Tomato Broth (Smitten Kitchen Cookbook), salad

Thursday: Baked Potato Bar with Sloppy Joe Sauce (Mr. 10 is having a friend over for a sleepover), salad

Friday: Black Bean Burgers, sweet potato oven fries, kale and radish salad (Smitten Kitchen Cookbook)

Saturday: Indian Butter Chicken Curry, green beans with almonds and mint

Sunday: Roast leg of lamb, Risotto with mushrooms, deviled eggs, Lemon-Drenched Lemon Cake with berries, more sides TBD

Monday Menu & Recipe Review

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu, Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thanks to all your helpful comments, I’m going to try reviewing last week’s menu in addition to planning this week’s. If you haven’t already noticed it, you can often click on the recipe title and it will take you to the recipe if it’s available somewhere online.

Last week…

Monday: Polenta with Fried Eggs and Swiss Chard

I love this recipe and will be making it again–for breakfast or dinner! I ran out of cornmeal (polenta), so I used quick grits instead, which worked out just fine. The kids weren’t huge fans of the chard, but they each tried some. You can use any greens you have–I think they really make the meal.

Tuesday: Pasta pesto

This pesto was a “use up the odds and ends” version, so it had artichoke hearts, arugula, garlic, olive oil and lemon. Whenever you have pesto, make sure you reserve some of the pasta cooking water to mix in at the end. This is a staple in our meal rotation–we all love it and it’s incredibly fast.

Wednesday: Turkey burgers, homemade macaroni & cheese

There’s a really great but complicated Cooks’ Illustrated recipe for turkey burgers. These weren’t it, but they were fine. I always mix the ground turkey with a beaten egg, some bread crumbs, and random seasoning–garlic powder, onion powder, Worcestershire or soy sauce. I made a big pot of mac and cheese over the weekend and this was its second appearance.

Thursday: Pizza Margherita

I followed the recipe in the link for the pizza toppings, and I was underwhelmed. While I love the idea of an uncooked pizza sauce (just puree a can of tomatoes, add olive oil and salt), I found it pretty bland on the pizza and a little watery (I could have drained the tomatoes more). I used Jim Lahey’s pizza crust recipe, but forgot to heat the pizza stone, so I didn’t get a good crispy bottom crust. I still love this pizza dough, and I have two more balls of dough in the freezer for next time.

Friday: Crab & Shrimp Cakes, remoulade sauce, salad

We love these crab cakes, but I’ll admit that they’re a little fussy for a weeknight if you don’t prep them ahead of time. I made the sauce early in the day–10 minutes–and could have assembled and breaded the crab cakes, too, but didn’t. They don’t take long to fry. I’m going to share the recipe later in the week, despite the fact that I forgot to take any pictures. I just used canned crab (not the fancy kind) and frozen, precooked shrimp, but they were still wonderful. It’s a great recipe to get kids to start eating seafood.

Saturday: Korean short ribs, rice, Asian-style slaw

This is the second time I’ve made these ribs, but they weren’t quite as juicy as the first time. Maybe the boneless ribs were too lean? Maybe I had too many in the pot (I doubled the recipe)? Still, they were quite good and the sauce is delicious. The slaw was great, and I’m becoming a big fan of cabbage!

 

This week…

When I plan meals for the week, I look at the calendar first. Days with busy afternoons and evenings get assigned the easiest, quickest meals. Then I usually look at what’s already in the fridge or freezer that needs to be used up. We like to rotate things pretty quickly. This week, I already have a chicken and some shrimp in the freezer, so I won’t have to buy any meat. After that, I usually try at least one new recipe (sometimes more, especially if the Hub is planning the menu). Today the creamy turnip soup caught my eye. The kids are pretty good soup eaters, and this looks like a good candidate for trying a new vegetable. There’s bacon in the soup, and there’s a special drink on the menu to further excite them. And extra soup makes good lunches!

Monday: School Fundraiser

Tuesday: Leftover Korean short ribs–maybe shredded, mixed with sauce, and served in tacos

Wednesday: Creamy Spring Turnip Soup, mint limeade, bread

Thursday: Roast chicken, roasted vegetables

Friday: Shrimp Scampi with angel hair pasta

 

I’d love it if you shared one successful meal you made last week!

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu, thoughts and tagged with , , , , ,

Okay, Readers, I could use a little feedback here. I’ve been publishing these weekly Monday Menus for nearly a year now, in the hope that people would comment with some of their own meal ideas, and we could all make meal planning a little more fun. Making a commitment to posting the menu each Monday has been hugely valuable for me–it’s become a weekend habit to outline the week and often get the grocery shopping done, too.

But since people haven’t been moved to comment much, I’m considering changing Monday’s post in the future. I know we will continue to plan our menus, and maybe I’ll continue to share them some or all of the time, but I’m thinking instead about reviewing some of the recipes we try from our favorite magazines and cookbooks. We usually put new recipes on the slate and some are winners, and some are…not. What do you think?

Finally, in the next few weeks I’ll be working on a Recipe Index of all the recipes I’ve posted. It’s long overdue, but soon you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for without searching the archives.  I hope you’ll find it useful!

In the meantime, please do let me know whether you find these menus helpful, or if there’s something else you’d like to see instead. I always appreciate your comments!

But hey–here’s what we’re cooking this week!

Monday: Polenta with Fried Eggs and Swiss Chard

Tuesday: Pasta pesto

Wednesday: Turkey burgers, homemade macaroni & cheese

Thursday: Pizza Margherita

Friday: Crab & Shrimp Cakes, remoulade sauce, salad

Saturday: Korean short ribs, rice, Asian-style slaw

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu

This isn’t a week for innovation in the kitchen. It’s just one of those weeks when I’m grateful I did the thinking ahead of time, because without a plan, my brain wouldn’t be able to spit out much more than cereal and quesadillas. Every night.Some weeks are for trying new recipes, but this week is for relying on the veterans. I can usually count on everyone eating soup, most any kind of Asian-inspired chicken dish, and anything with sausage.

I’ll be trying my very best to spend 45 minutes every morning emptying the dishwasher, prepping dinner as far as possible, and doing a load of laundry (I don’t want to relive the laundry pile I just worked my way through). This morning I’ve already finished two out of three, but I still need to get the last few groceries before I can prep dinner (apparently Al Roker said to get your errands done today, before the next wave of snow sweeps in–thankfully, he’s not using groundhogs to predict the weather).

I have a secret weapon, too: a frozen pizza stashed in the garage freezer just in case one day’s schedule (or my sanity) derails and I decide to give up on cooking. It could happen.

Monday: Pasta with Caramelized Cabbage, salad

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes, broccoli

Wednesday: Baked Sausages with Apples and Potatoes, salad

Thursday: Sesame Chicken (scroll down to the end of the comments), sugar snap peas

Friday: White Bean and Tomato Soup, bread

 

What are cooking and eating this week?

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Kids, Monday Menu and tagged with , , ,

I dropped Little Five off at preschool this morning and went straight to the grocery, feeling so prepared with my list and my reusable bags. But alas, not my wallet. I’m just thankful I realized how light my purse was while I was still sitting in the parking lot, and not at check out with a cart full of groceries! So I came home to write my morning blog post and empty the dishwasher, and I’ll do the shopping on the way to preschool pick up.

A comment on someone else’s blog reminded me of this great Skillet Lasagna recipe from Cooks’ Illustrated. I made it once or twice more than five years ago, and then forgot all about it. I think the kids will like it. They’re also beginning to come around to salad, which is such a relief (well, not Little Five–he’s deep into a veggie-hating phase). Mr. Ten used to say, “Salad just isn’t my thing,” but he’s progressed from eating just the tomatoes to adding a few leaves on his plate. Miss Seven doesn’t like the tomatoes, but at the Band Spaghetti Dinner last week, she asked for a bowl of salad. And then she ate it. It must be time to teach them how to make salad dressing!

Other vegetables still aren’t very successful, but I keep making them. I doubt they’ll eat any roasted cauliflower or more than a couple of bites of zucchini (I just don’t understand why they don’t like squash, but they’ll eat broccoli), but at least they always eat raw carrots and ranch dressing. Maybe in another ten years they’ll like zucchini, too.

Monday: Skillet Lasagna, salad

Tuesday: Garlicky pork chops, roasted cauliflower salad

Wednesday: Turkey Tetrazzini (from the freezer), Zucchini with Lemony Crumbs

Thursday: Olympic Seoul Chicken, rice, green beans

Friday: Fish tacos, refried beans, cabbage slaw

For lunches: Chicken noodle soup (the broth, chicken and noodles are all left from Sunday’s chicken dinner); barley with roasted peppers and feta

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , ,

It’s President’s Day today, so the kids are home from school. At 7 a.m. I thought, foolishly, that I could slip out of bed and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and maybe a quarter of an hour to write. Instead, two out of three hungry children were already downstairs watching tv and waiting for some breakfast. I have been banished to the living room with my laptop while Curious George and Honey Nut Cheerios have taken over the kitchen. Fortunately, Mr. Ten, the late riser, is willing and able to gather his own breakfast.

The Hub spent the better part of the weekend in the kitchen, turning out two full dinners, a cake and a pie. He also made pesto from the herbs withering the crisper drawer. So in addition to eating well all weekend, we’re covered for a couple more nights while I run off to extra chorus rehearsals this week. I thought I might finish painting the bathroom today, but I’ve scaled back my ambitions to catching up on the laundry, some general tidying up, and nagging (I mean encouraging) people to do their homework and practice their instruments. Tomorrow when they’re back in school, I’ll paint in peace.

Monday: Pasta Pesto, salad

Tuesday: Mushroom Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Celery Root Mashed Potatoes (left over from the weekend)

Wednesday: Middle Eastern meatballs (loosely seasoned like these, but with ground beef), pita, tzatziki, hummus

Thursday: Split pea soup

Friday: Spanish tortilla, salad

 

Share what you’re cooking and eating this week!

 

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

This week marks the beginning of Lent, and in our house, that means being more deliberate about planning meatless meals. Is giving up meat really a sacrifice in this day and age? Not usually–and replacing it with fish often feels like more of a splurge for a seafood lover like me. But I view the tradition as an opportunity to be mindful about how we consume our food resources, as well as a weekly reminder of the season. The kids made Lenten promises in religious ed on Sunday, and I was pleased to hear that they didn’t give up candy or dessert. The eldest gave up Nintendo (a real sacrifice, I assure you), and the youngest promised to “help Dad take out the trash.” Miss Seven hasn’t divulged her promise yet–she’s still thinking about it. I’m still thinking about it, too.

In the meantime, I’ve planned two meatless meals this week, both quick and easy for busy weeknights.

Monday: Hamburgers and oven fries

Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu, rice pilaf with thyme, green beans

Wednesday: Pasta with tuna sauce, salad

Thursday: Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyere and Egg (and some variation for the kids)

Friday: Black bean crispy tacos, guacamole, salad

 

Do you regularly plan meatless meals in your house?

 

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , ,

Super Bowl Sunday is apparently the best time to go to Costco. It wasn’t empty, but there were an awful lot of empty spaces in the parking lot and the check out lines were short. We made a family outing of it, and the kids ate samples while we crossed items off our list. We rewarded the kids with a big box of Pirate’s Booty for school day snacks, and congratulated ourselves for only buying what was on the list–exciting things like pasta, rice and canned tomatoes. It felt good to go home, unpack the car, fill the pantry and know that once again, we’ve got the building blocks for some good meals without having to dash out to the store.

Monday: Pasta pesto (this one with a mix of herbs, basil and arugula)

Tuesday: Pot roast with pickles, noodles, steamed carrots

Wednesday: Soup & Salad Bar: Baked potato soup, salad, focaccia, hummus and veggies

Thursday: Sesame noodles, potstickers, edamame

Friday: Hamburgers

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , ,

It’s 11 degrees outside right now (-7 windchill), and I have no desire to set foot outside the door today until I absolutely have to. The kids are home from school today on this Martin Luther King Jr./Inauguration Day. My big plans for the day include a little laundry and swabbing down the kitchen while I watch the inauguration festivities on tv. So my meal plan for the week is based completely on what food we already have in the house. We have enough milk to get us through the week, and if I get crazy and make a big batch of banana bread, maybe the kids won’t notice that we’re nearly out of cereal.

Monday: Potato soup (best soup on a cold day EVER)

Tuesday: Lasagna (that one I put in the freezer a few weeks ago); Brussels sprout slaw (the one I didn’t make last week)

Wednesday: Herb-rubbed top sirloin steak (maybe broiled instead of grilled) with roasted tomato and garlic relish; oven fries; asparagus

Thursday: Egg salad on Seven-grain bread

Friday: Beef ragu (made from a portion of pot roast in the freezer) with spätzle; green salad

Saturday: Roast turkey dinner

 

What meals can you make this week without a run to the store for ingredients?

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , ,

I’m shivering in front of my computer, despite my quilted slippers and fleece scarf. Still no snow, but winter temperatures have finally arrived, so I’m especially grateful that we got all our grocery shopping done over the weekend and I don’t need to venture out again this morning. We huddled inside on Sunday, planning the menu, supervising homework, wiping runny noses, doing a few chores and working through several games and puzzles that were unearthed during the game cupboard reorganization. The Hub and Miss Seven baked a carrot cake, dark with cinnamon and dusted with powdered sugar, and we all sat down to tea. We’re looking forward to more cake next weekend, as Mr. Nine becomes Mr. Ten (!!!).

We shopped first, buying what was on sale or looked appealing, and then planned our menu. I usually work the other way around, but it can be a fun challenge to search for recipes based on ingredients you have on hand. Today I got even more organizationally inspired, and wrote on my week’s to-do lists when to defrost the chicken and when to soak the beans. The best laid plans can all come to naught if you forget to soak the beans.

Monday: Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and feta, fennel salad

Tuesday: Cauliflower frittata, Brussels sprout slaw

Wednesday: Thai-style ground beef, coconut rice, stir-fried broccoli

Thursday: BBQ chicken pizza, green salad

Friday: Red beans and rice, pan-roasted asparagus

Saturday: Dinner with friends

Sunday: Indian Butter Chicken Curry, rice, naan, birthday cake

 

What are you cooking to keep you warm?