Last week, we knew we were going to be away from home Friday night and most of Saturday. I planned to do some cooking while we were off visiting relatives, in between shopping at farmer's markets and other fun stuff, but we didn't know when we were going to get back. Thus, we had to leave some of that week's cooking unplanned, and fill it in as we went. We also had to make what plans we could based around the travel, which would necessitate some things that were pretty quick to make and wouldn't require a lot of shopping.
As I considered what to make in the coming week, the basic plan was pretty clear: I was going to cook something on Thursday; we'd eat out before getting on the road on Friday; I'd make some cookies on Friday night or Saturday AM, planning to take some of them to my work's pot luck lunch the next Wednesday; on the way home on Saturday we'd figure what to make for dinner based on our expected time back home; Sunday I'd make something a bit more elaborate; and Monday I'd make something pretty quick, and that way also have time to make something else to take to the pot luck.
The cooking selections that I could plan ahead - everything but Saturday - started to fall into place pretty quickly. I had already decided to make one of the new main dish recipes I'd been designing for awhile for Sunday's dinner, and I'd make the 30-Minute Meatloaf recipe for dinner on Monday, since that was fairly quick and Juli and I had both loved it when I'd made it before. Picking where we were going to eat on Friday was also a no-brainer, since we hadn't been to our favorite Indian restaurant in awhile. So, on Monday, I already had some of the blanks filled in for the next week, as so:
Thursday, Oct. 21 - Dinner - ?
Friday, Oct 22 - Dinner - Eat Out/India Star
Fri nite/Sat AM - make cookies ?
Saturday, October 23 - Dinner - ?
Sunday, October 24 - Dinner - Chicken Breasts Stuffed with
Apples, Cranberries and Goat Cheese
- served with?
Monday, October 25 - Dinner - 30-Minute Meatloaf
- served with?
- plus ? for potluck
From there, I started looking at my various cooking resources for ideas. I looked through some of my first-line cookbooks, the recent episodes of my various cooking magazines, the Cook's Illustrated
website and various cooking blogs and recipe sites I follow, plus I flipped through some less-used cookbooks and files, envelopes and binders full of miscellaneous recipes. I quickly decided on a recipe from ATK's 30-Minute Suppers - Parmesan Chicken Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salad - for Thursday night, as a quick read of the recipe confirmed it would be fast as well as tasty. Saturday's dinner would still have to wait until we knew when we'd be home, so I would have to pack some of my more reliable resources to consult during the trip home. Since our garden was still giving us some late - and quite tasty - cherry and grape tomatoes, I decided I'd make something with those to go with Sunday's dinner. Flipping through cookbooks, I saw a couple recipes featuring snow peas and sugar snap peas, which gave me the idea to pick up either some fresh or frozen of one or the other of those, depending on what was available at the store. I knew the store we usually shop at reliably carried frozen sugar snap peas, so one way or another I'd have what I needed. Add some herbs, salt and pepper and toss with olive oil and the snow peas or sugar snap peas would make a salad.
website and various cooking blogs and recipe sites I follow, plus I flipped through some less-used cookbooks and files, envelopes and binders full of miscellaneous recipes. I quickly decided on a recipe from ATK's 30-Minute Suppers - Parmesan Chicken Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salad - for Thursday night, as a quick read of the recipe confirmed it would be fast as well as tasty. Saturday's dinner would still have to wait until we knew when we'd be home, so I would have to pack some of my more reliable resources to consult during the trip home. Since our garden was still giving us some late - and quite tasty - cherry and grape tomatoes, I decided I'd make something with those to go with Sunday's dinner. Flipping through cookbooks, I saw a couple recipes featuring snow peas and sugar snap peas, which gave me the idea to pick up either some fresh or frozen of one or the other of those, depending on what was available at the store. I knew the store we usually shop at reliably carried frozen sugar snap peas, so one way or another I'd have what I needed. Add some herbs, salt and pepper and toss with olive oil and the snow peas or sugar snap peas would make a salad. I still needed some sides to go with the 30-Minute Meatloaves. Potatoes are a natural companion to the meatloaf, and I knew the same book that had that recipe also had a variety of potato recipes, as I'd made several of them already. I'd been considering making the Roasted Garlic Potatoes for awhile now, and figured Monday would be as good a time as any, but I still needed a vegetable dish. I knew we were going to a farmer's market over the weekend, though, so I decided to wait and see what we bought there before deciding what else to make to round off the meatloaf dinner.
That left me needing to decide what sorts of cookies to make, and what else I might make for the pot luck. (Not that the cookies wouldn't be enough on their own, but since I started on my cooking craze, I've rather enjoyed pot lucks as a way to show off what I've been doing.) The Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies Juli loves so much were a given. I'd also been giving some thought to the Chewy Sugar Cookies recipe in the latest issue of Cook's Illustrated
, and especially the Coconut-Lime variant of that recipe, so I decided to try that out. I also had been working on some cookie and muffin recipes, and decided that on Monday evening, I'd make some muffins to go with the cookies.
, and especially the Coconut-Lime variant of that recipe, so I decided to try that out. I also had been working on some cookie and muffin recipes, and decided that on Monday evening, I'd make some muffins to go with the cookies. 
That filled out most of the week's menu, save for one a couple things I had decided to fill in on the way back from our trip. So, on Thursday I was able to do some of the shopping for the upcoming week. I also knew I'd be packing some of my kitchen tools and a few ingredients to take along, and that I'd be doing some grocery shopping for other needed ingredients once we got there, then do some more shopping for the rest of the week's cooking once we got back home. At that point, the menu was as follows:
Thursday, Oct. 21 - Dinner - Parmesan Chicken Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salad
Friday, Oct 22 - Dinner - Eat Out/India Star
Fri nite/Sat AM - make cookies - Thin and Crispy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies and
Chewy Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies
Saturday, October 23 - Dinner - ?
Sunday, October 24 - Dinner - Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Apples, Cranberries and Goat Cheese
- served with Sugar Snap Pea and Cherry Tomato Salad.
Monday, October 25 - Dinner - 30-Minute Meatloaf
- served with Roasted Garlic Potatoes and ?
- plus Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins for potluck
As it turns out, we did indeed find something at the farmer's market that gave me an idea what to make with the meatloaves and potatoes on Monday, and on the way home I decided to try out my own spin on Chili Mac. That completed my menu plan for the week, as follows:
Thursday, Oct. 21 - Dinner - Parmesan Chicken Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salad
Friday, Oct 22 - Dinner - Eat Out/India Star
Fri nite/Sat AM - make cookies - Thin and Crispy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies and
Chewy Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies
Saturday, October 23 - Dinner - Spicy Chili Mac
Sunday, October 24 - Dinner - Chicken Breasts Stuffed with
Apples, Cranberries and Goat Cheese- served with Sugar Snap Pea and Cherry Tomato Salad.
Monday, October 25 - Dinner - 30-Minute Meatloaf
- served with Roasted Garlic Potatoes and
Green Beans with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- plus Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins for potluck
It didn't quite work out that way, though...
(to be continued)
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