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. 

Week Weary

It's going to be a crawl to the finish, but it's looking like I will live to tell the tale of this week behind us.  I always wondered what it would be like to take care of two sick babies.  I no longer wonder.  It wasn't that bad, and oh yes it was.  The pendulum was a careless thing for all of us -swinging about without the least regard for people standing in its path.  Moods changed as quickly as a gust of wind.  One minute we were up, the next we were down.  When I'm in a valley like the one we were in this week -it doesn't help (at all) to try to relay the facts and the nuances of the day to my partner.  It happened and you had to be there.  The only witnesses are people of the Age of Innocence.  They are short and they can't testify.  We were a little island -looking for the rescue of warm weather, looking for a bird to visit our bird-feeder, looking for an open table sit at and eat our honey sticks.  Alas. 

I know I can be dramatic.  I can brag some serious self-awareness and I know where I fell short this week, as a parent, as a person.  But it is a week like this one where it doesn't do much good to analyze every ounce of your existance.  It was one week.  And we weren't feeling really well -in Naomi's words.  Fine.  Let it go.  Let it be.  Save your droning for a warmer, sunnier, spring day.  

Have a great weekend.  :)

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.  

Cinnamon Swirl Recovery

Lately I've been checking out back issues of Cook's Illustrated.  If you turn to page 29 in March-April 2012 you can find out which canned whole tomatoes to buy and which to avoid.  Hunt's Whole Peeled, they recommend.  San Marzano, they recommend with reservation.  These are grown domestically with seeds from Italy.  (You still can't beat their packaging.) 

Today I tackled The Best Cinnamon Swirl Bread from the same issue.  Rewind to Friday morning when our bus outing takes everything out of me.  I didn't think twice because they always do, but I took my temperature and it was a smidge high.  Finally a documented reason to feel crummy and call in!  Eric came home early and the weekend commenced.  With no children to chase I took my shuffling to the kitchen and made some chicken soup.  This feat thanks to Tamar Adler's, An Everlasting Meal, explaining how simply this can happen.  By Saturday morning the fun of being sick had worn off.  Naomi spearheaded the birthday festivities for her dad and Verity thundered around the house.  I stayed in bed and watched Sense and Sensibility.

And here we are on a beautifully sunny Sunday.  It's Naomi's turn to feel a little crummy, sadly.  My big cinnamon bread moment had arrived.  You can't win if you don't play.  Am I right?  

I followed the recipe step by step -down to the 32 pieces of butter tossed in flour.

To folding the dough in thirds like a business letter only to roll it out again.

Six hours later..

I don't know if it was the best ever, but it was the best I'd ever made.    

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.