Week 72—Storytime

Mon – Beef and noodles, cornbread (we were supposed to have fish, but it was bad after forgetting about it all weekend)
Tues – Pepper lime chicken, green beans, couscous/rice*
Weds – Pasta puttanesca, salad, crusty bread (Viva Italia)
Thurs –  Pork kebabs w/grilled plums and couscous (Real Simple)
Fri – Chili
Extras – steak & potatoes*; pancakes & smoothies*
---
It happens sometimes, when you get into a really interesting book (Book Thief—thanks, Colleen). You somehow manage to carve out all kinds of time in your day to read it. So much time, in fact, that you forget about feeding people until 10 minutes before dinnertime. This week's menu, therefore, is centered around prioritizing reading time. And I've modified my fast meals to be 20 min. or less. We'll see if it helps increase my list. Happy cooking. 
* indicates a meal that can ideally be made in 20 minutes or less

Menu-plan breakdown

Went to cook this evening. No steaks. No seafood. No anchovies for the pasta dish. Nearly had to go out to eat (tragedy!), but tacos saved the day. Menu plan ≠ shopping list this week. Other than losing the hamster, thank goodness this is the greatest crisis we faced today.

Jumbo Broccoli

Just read a research finding in Parents mag that when kids were served larger portions of veggies, they ate more veggies. Maybe that's why a jumbo portion of broccoli went over so well in my house recently.

I had cut off small portions for each of my kids. Then they saw the gigantic piece left on the serving plate. My son asked for it. I thought, why not? Looks fun. And it was. Both kids ended up eating giant pieces of broccoli, and ate more than I've ever seen them eat before. Cool!

Pasta Party

You know you need a night out when your Freudian eyeballs read "party pack" on the side of a box of dried pasta when what it really says is "pantry pack."

Week 71—From the Archives

Mon – Pasta Puttanesca w/crusty bread (Viva Italia)
Tues – Chinese cashew chicken (Crock Pot Book)
Weds – Steak and mashed w/corn on cob
Thurs – Chicken fingers (Epicurious)
Fri – Tilapia fillets w/spinach salad & cornbread
Alt – Ham & barley stew

Remember Week 20, anyone? Neither did I, but it looked tasty so I'm reusing it with a little modification for this week's menu.

Every now and then you get into a food groove. I went through a time when I bought hummus every time I went to the store. Then it was Pirate Booty. Sun Chips. Avocados. My current food groove, going strong through most of the summer, has been spinach salad with strawberries, sunflower nuts and poppyseed dressing. They're not always that healthy. Hope it lasts! Happy cooking.