136—Cooking for the ever-changing zoo

Mon – Tomato Quiche (still enjoying garden tomatoes!)

Tues – Beef Asado (this recipe is stunning. ADD THE OLIVES, even if just a few. I used kalamatas. Adds a really interesting richness to the dish. So good.)

Weds – Pancakes, by popular demand
Thurs – Out?
Fri – Pizza
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Alts – Chip plate; Chinese takeout if it looks like our student is starving to death

We have been in a state of constant human motion at our house lately. Visitors, family near and far, exchange students, kids, all in this stirry soup of changing beds, bedrooms, arrivals and departures, and middle-of-the-night adjustments. Less of a still pond, more of a gently flowing river that kicks up and threatens to slosh over the banks now and then.

So, meal planning this week is less about a solid plan, and more of a dip-your-toe-in-and-see-how-it-feels approach. After all, at almost any moment there might be 4 more people here. Happy cooking.

135—Retrospective

Mon – Lasagna (Von Hanson's)

Tues – Crock-pot beef roast

Weds – Tomato white bean soup and crusty bread; Sushi?
Thurs – Goulash (kid-requested)
Fri – Pizza
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Alts – Chip plate; Chinese takeout if it looks like our student is starving to death

Tried a Fast Chicken Soup recipe from allrecipes.com last week. It starts with chicken broth and a rotisserie chicken.  I'm not sure you can go wrong no matter how you make a chicken soup, and this was no exception.

My daughter started violin lessons a few days ago and was practicing a folk tune called "Boil the Cabbage Down." She said the song made her feel warm, but that she didn't like cabbage. I couldn't remember the last time I made it. Tempting to try this week, maybe as a wrapper in some Greek dish or something equally distracting from the very cabbage-ness of it. Or maybe we'll just hum the tune as we pass some lovely heads in the produce aisle.

Also just learned that Wednesdays are $5 sushi day at Lund's grocery store. Might grab some Weds to supplement the soup. Happy cooking.

134--Back to School

Mon – Grandma Barb's Spaghetti

Tues – Turkey kielbasa, potato, garden-veggie fry 

Weds – Hot dogs cooked over the fire, beans, s'mores
Thurs – Exchange family picnic
Fri – Pizza

Alts – Chicken stir-fry; cod & squash

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Love this week of getting back into some sort of sane routine. We have had more fun this summer than you can shake a stick at, and it's time for some serious normalcy to set in.

Monday was no school, enjoying-the-day-with-spouse-at-my-side cleaning like mad. And enjoying free breakfast at IKEA for the last time this summer. Ah.
Tuesday was the 1st grader's first day back and we picked up our Chinese exchange student from the airport.
Wednesday, Vince lights the fire and roasts hot dogs in the backyard fire pit. We learn he is NOT a fan of s'mores. Must not be American.
Thursday is the Kindergartener's first day of school.
Friday will be pizza and movie night, I think.

Happy cooking.

Week 133—Comforts of Home

Mon – Road food

Tues – Chili (Thanks, Mom)

Weds – Pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, salad, cornbread
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Chicken stir-fry

Alts – Enchiladas; Goulash

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Being on the road so much the past month is giving me a renewed appreciation for the ease of assembling a meal with a fridge, stove, oven, microwave, toaster, sink with hot and cold water, and a fresh supply of dishtowels and cloths at hand.

Not that smacking some Goober on a slice of bread from the front seat of the van was all bad either. Happy cooking.

Week 132—Brief stop at home

Mon – Beef-Stuffed Zucchini (Taste of Home)

Tues – Enchiladas

Weds – Grandma Barb's spaghetti
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Road food (Picnic sandwiches? Lots of eating out in the coming days so it might be nice.)
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Home for a few days, then we're road-tripping again. Texas, here we come! Happy cooking.

Week 131—Short and sweet

Mon – Beef stir-fry

Tues – Chicken fingers + sweet potato fries

Weds – Tacos
Thurs – Out w/the Chilean
Fri – Road food

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Back from a trip to Iowa for RAGBRAI, leaving in 4 days for a trip to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota for a long weekend at my aunt and uncle's house on the lake. Traditional cultural experiences in 2 Midwestern states within the span of 2 weekends. The kids' heads will explode!

This week, we'll enjoy one last night out with our old exchange student who has been visiting. I'm guessing some good red meat and red wine is in order. Happy cooking.

Week 130—Midsummer Dream

Mon – Polynesian meatballs w/mashed sweet potatoes (Taste of Home)

Tues – Out

Weds – Tacos/burritos
Thurs – Lasagna and salad
Fri – Grill steaks, fingerling potatoes

Alts – Chicken something

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As for the "Midsummer Dream": that as I finish planning this menu, the groceries magically appear in the kitchen. I'll go downstairs now to see if it came true. Happy cooking.

Week 129—Simplicity Rules the Day

Mon – Extended family picnic/potluck

Tues – Turkey sausage grilled foil pack

Weds – Chicken stir-fry
Thurs – Burgers
Fri – Tortellini, salad, bread

Alts – pizza

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Someone asked me how to make a "foil pack."
1. Lay out a double-layer of foil. This is where you will combine your ingredients and cook them. You can assemble these either as individual servings so you'll have 4 or 6 or however many you're making pads of aluminum foil laid out on your work surface, or one or two large ones.
2. Take a ring of turkey sausage (or whatever you like). Cut 1/4-1/2 in rounds. Add onion, a green or red or yellow pepper, and some potatoes all chopped into bite-sized pieces. (The ingredients can vary widely, this is just a suggestion and what I typically have on hand).
3. drizzle olive or canola oil lightly over the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Wrap securely, in a flat shape so it cooks evenly on the grill/fire. Grill on high heat for approx 15 mins.


Of course, you can just fry it all up in a pan for a classic "American stir-fry" too.


Happy cooking.

Week 128—Grilled

Mon – Picnic sub-sandwich w/fruit and pita chips

Tues – Turkey sausage grilled foil pack

Weds – Fruit Grilled Pork Tenderloin (allrecipes.com)
Thurs – Rigatoni w/Sausage and Peas (Viva Italia)
Fri – Grandma Barb's Spaghetti

Alts – pizza; brats & beans

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The menu, in all its glory! Happy cooking.

Week 127—Now that the chicken is gone

Mon – Steak, corn on cob, fingerling potatoes

Tues – Sweet potato pancakes 

Weds – Chicken fingers and squash (never made last week)
Thurs – Grilled chicken and tabbouleh
Fri – Chicken or steak stir-fry

Alts – Spaghetti

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I feel ok about cooking chicken again, now that we are no longer chicken-sitting my son's preschool hen. Lots of it on the menu this week, as well as some left-over steak and possibly a breakfast-dinner to save myself a serious trip to the store this week. It's summer. Who wants to grocery shop anyway? Happy cooking.

Week 126—Does this mean I have to make lunch?

Mon – Picnic sub-sandwich w/fruit and pita chips

Tues – Chicken fingers and squash

Weds – Shrimp Monterey (Taste of Home)
Thurs – Rigatoni w/Sausage and Peas (Viva Italia)
Fri – Mac w/Ham and Cheese Deluxe (Allrecipes.com)

Alts – Burgers; spaghetti

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Just realized that my daughter, who loved school lunch all year long, will probably be expecting me to actually make something now that she's out of school for the summer. Hm. Our mainstay has been butter and honey sandwiches (hey, at least the bread was wheat!), yogurt w/oats, and a piece of fruit. We'll see how that flies tomorrow. Happy cooking.

Week 125—No more school, no more books

Mon – Lasagna Bolognese (New York Cooks)

Tues – Grill steaks from Von Hanson's

Weds – Grilled chicken kabobs
Thurs – Pasta-Somethingorother a la Buttera (New York Cooks)
Fri – Pizza party

Alts – Groupon to Greenmill

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This marks the last week of school for 2 of my kids. Wooo! Summer vacation is exciting, even in the minds of soon-to-be graduated preschoolers and kindergarteners. So, this week we make a nod to the fresh start that summer vacation brings by trying some new recipes.

If you're in a reading kind of mood, check out my friend Julie's blog. She is an inspired and witty writer, no matter the topic. Her most recent post is about thank you notes -- her best and worst ever received. Good food for thought. Happy cooking.

Week 124 — Regrets from the Cookie Jar

Mon – Chicken and cheese quesadillas

Tues – Italian Meatloaf (Deceptively Delicious)

Weds – Steak, potatoes, peas
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Tacos/chip plate

Alts – Groupon to Greenmill; stir-fry

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We've been camping and eating outdoors a lot lately, and I've reached my hot dog/sausage limit. So for cookouts in the near-term, chicken and steaks will be featured more prominently.

Camping this past weekend, my 4-year-old hit the Cupcake Wall, having eaten cupcakes and orange soda almost continually over a 5 hour period at a party on Saturday. By the time we hit the campsite, he purged his overloaded tummy on the lawns of sweet Mother Nature herself, then went quickly to sleep. When we offered him a left-over cupcake 2 days later for dessert, he blanched and quietly said, "No thank you."

We all have an over-indulged-and-tossed-it story somewhere back there. My husband's was a box of Girl Scout cookies he ate entirely by himself in one 15-minute sitting. For me, it was a luxurious and enormous cold glass of orange juice drank immediately after I'd just gotten sick. Rinse, repeat.

I've been sick from food, mostly when traveling, other times when pregnant and morning sick, more times than I can count, but those weren't really from over-indulging. That's its own special nod to the ancient Romans. It does seem to be from the sweet and sugary (or alcoholic), doesn't it? Otherwise restaurants would probably be loathe to offer t-shirts and free meals to those who can eat the 48oz steak platter down to the gristle. Too many misfires requiring major clean-up before they get a real winner. On that note—happy cooking.

Week 123—Between camping trips

Mon – Chicken fingers

Tues – Spaghetti

Weds – Grilled brats
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Burgers

Alts – I don't have it in me. Cereal!

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Got as close as I could to "not cooking" this week. This means meals that require minimal inputs; certainly no recipes.

We haven't bothered unpacking our kitchen box from our trip 2 weeks ago. I can report with a mix of depression (have I really let it go that long?) and appreciation for the convenience of it all that it is still sitting in my living room, some 11 days later, and I'm now just preparing it for our next camping trip in Iowa this coming weekend. Happy cooking.

Week 122—Grocery Store Snacking

Mon – Pizza

Tues – Pasta a la carbonara

Weds – Beef stir fry (w/my new favorite Trader Joe's/ "Ming's" General Tsao Stir-Fry Sauce)
Thurs – Chicken fingers
Fri – Grilled brats

Alts – BLTs

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Went grocery shopping during the perfect storm of it being, on the one hand, lunchtime, and on the other hand, nearly nap time for the 2-year-old in the house. I prided myself on managing this insane feat by stuffing them with Pirate Booty I selected from the aisles, opened, and fed them until half the bag was gone.

I used to be slavish about not feeding my kids anything in the aisles until it had been paid for. One time I remember grabbing a drumstick from the deli, waiting in the checkout line, then going back through the store to make sure it was all done in the proper order.

Now, I'm much more in the "do what works" camp. Shoot looks at me if you will. I know I'll pay for it, and I also know you will thank me for not dragging screaming kids through the grocery store. Could I be better prepared to begin with? Definitely. But until perfection is attained, you'll have to work really hard to get my attention if I'm shopping at lunchtime with little kids--because I will not be making eye contact with anyone as we snack from the bag of Pirate Booty.

Happy cooking.

Week 121—Birthday and Pre-Wedding Week

Mon – Grilled chicken, salad, peas/corn

Tues – Corn chowder w/biscuits, fried turkey sausage

Weds – Goulash
Thurs – Road food
Fri – rehearsal dinner (A time to privately toast the fact that we will never have to go through the hell of being the bride and groom again! Joy!)

Alts – Sunday hot dog roast and birthday cake

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I like to celebrate people's birthdays on their actual birthdays, even if it's inconveniently located in the middle of a busy week. So it is with some foot-dragging on my part that we've decided NOT to celebrate my son's 2nd birthday in the van en route to Iowa this coming Thursday. Instead, we will celebrate with a proper weenie roast (as he has chosen) in our backyard on Sunday evening.

Happy birthday to you, though it's in a day or two...

It's going to be a busy week! At least the menu is planned. Just heard my husband come home with the groceries. Praise the Lord. Happy cooking.

Week 120—Grilled Rigatoni Wild Rice Salmon Pizza

Mon – Mixed grill (chicken, hot dogs, steak) w/snow peas and Indian side

Tues – Salmon w/sweet potato fries and salad

Weds – Rigatoni Isabella
Thurs – Wild rice soup from cooking exchange w/bread and salad
Fri – Spaghetti w/tarted up jar sauce

Alts – Pizza

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This weeks' menu is closely related to last week's menu because a) I am lacking mealtime creativity this week and b) everyone really liked what we ate last week. Thursday is a repeat on the cooking exchange meal since both people made a different wild rice recipe. I'll feel like a State Fair judge that night, weighing texture, flavor, and...whatever else they do. Happy cooking.

Week 119—Plan in the Trash

Mon – Spaghetti (shells picked by kids; hamburger added to jar sauce)

Tues – IKEA (kids eat free Tuesdays, and parents don't have to clean the kitchen/dining room)

Weds – Rigatoni Isabella
Thurs – Wild rice soup from cooking exchange w/bread and salad
Fri – Road food (Mom, can we get a Happy Meal???????? A greater expression of joy and hopefulness is not to be found.)

Alts – Chicken stir-fry

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I put a meal plan together for the week and got groceries early Saturday AM. Then the list got thrown away, and I'm trying to piece together what it is I had planned to make. This week's plan is my best recollection, aided by the fact that we're eating out at least 2x this week.

Regarding the cooking exchange soup on Thursday. A couple friends and I have met a few times now to exchange entrees. We pick something to make, freeze it, and bring it for a meal swap. I've really enjoyed this. I get to try foods that are inevitably prepared differently than I cook, which is sort of like eating out at home. Different flavors, recipes I haven't had before, or variations on how I have made them. Really fun, and such a gift to have meals ready to go in the freezer. It's always a little bit of a scramble to cook in quantity ahead (ok, even if it is only the night before...) but has been so worthwhile in the end. Happy cooking.

Week 118--Barking Dogs

Mon – Cube Steak Parmesan (from AllRecipes.com)

Tues – Brats and dogs on the grill, asparagus

Weds – Broccoli cheese quiche
Thurs – Rotisserie chicken for something from "Simply Mexican"
Fri – Road Food 

Alts – pizza

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Now that summer is here, I hear what feels like incessant barking through my open windows. 2 neighbors, 4 dogs that all love to bark. Me bitter? Annoyed? Ready to have some fun with some high-pitched sonic device that will make the four-legged furries as crazy as I am? Possibly.

But when it's dinnertime, here's what's happening in the kitchen this week. Happy cooking.

Week 117—Spring has sprung

Mon – Pizza

Tues – Chicken stir-fry

Weds – Hot dog and asparagus cook-out
Thurs – Beef and Noodles (canned beef from my mom—SO good)
Fri – Fish fry out, or at home TBD

Alts – left-overs from the weekend

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Can you say 70˚ anyone? Crazy warm weather this week, so we're enjoying picnic lunches and a mid-week cook-out. It's great to be outside without coats, boots, mittens, scarves, hand warmers, ear muffs, leg warmers, double socks, and hats. Happy cooking.