Saturday, September 27, 2008

Week of September 28, 2008


I'm proud to say we had some success with our menu last week! I was on the ball for once and actually made everything. The Sour Cream Noodle Bake was delicious - we all gobbled it up (except for Thing 1, who literally eats nothing most nights . . . he is our uber-picky child). It was not hard to make and I doubled the recipe, which afforded me the luxury of putting several containers of it in my freezer. We will definitely be having this again.

The Spicy Chickpeas and Beef were another hit - delicious and simple. If I make it again (which I will) I may double up on the spices since the husband and I are real lovers of hot, spicy food. I served it with warm pita bread because it was mentioned on the blog I got the recipe from - and was all I had lying around that day. When we have some of the freezer stash, I'll likely try it over rice or something like that. Not being an expert meal planner yet, I probably wouldn't plan two heavy ground beef meals in the same week again. But a good and tasty learning experience, nonetheless.

My downside this week was that the weather was unseasonable warm and sunny. I pick up Thing 1 from the school bus every afternoon at 3:15, then we have a quick snack and drink and we head to the park across the street at about 3:45. We often stay until 5:15 or so, because the other neighbourhood kids are also there after school and Thing 1 and Thing 2 have really taken to playing with them. Plus, there is always some young girl there who falls in love with Thing 3 and insists on pushing her in the swing for most of the afternoon. OK by me, I get to relax and potentially chat with another grown up human. The problem lies in the fact that when I get home so late, it's hard to throw together dinner. I've been good about making it early in the morning, or when Thing 1 is at school, but I found this week I was tired and out of time most days, so side dishes were non-existent. No side dishes usually meant little or no veggies. Ugggh. That is not good news. One of my short term goals is to find quick and easy recipes for veggies and salads that all four of us will like.

The Chicken with Goat Cheese and Arugula was so easy and tasty that we're having it again this week. Mostly because I received arugula in my organic delivery basket on Friday, so I want to use it up and we loved this last week. We also received what I assume might be one of the last rounds of fresh, local corn, so we need to use this up too.

Sunday: Corn on the Cob, Crispy Mashed Potato Pancakes (we received a lot of potatoes this week, too, so I may give these pancakes a try to zest up our usual potato fare)
Monday: Chicken with Goat Cheese and Arugula
Tuesday: Savoury Waffles
Wednesday: Eggplant Con Queso
Thursday: Hurried Goulash with Egg Noodles
Friday: Spaghetti with meat sauce (from our freezer)
Saturday: Take-out or pizza

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been having the exact same problem getting dinner ready!

We end up eating late most nights, which is fine except then I have to wake the baby up in the morning for the school run. I guess the problem will solve itself when it starts getting dark at 4pm :(

Lynn said...

Your menu looks great. I make something like your crispy mashed potatoes. I love them that way.

Bonnie said...

I just popped over here from Chick In The Kitchen ... I like the look of your menu !!

Thought you might like to know about our foods of the world series that we are starting this month ... each month we will focus on a different country ... come check it out ... you might like to participate !!

Foods Of The World