Week 5: Cate Be Jahmin'

Another week has FLOWN by and it's time to plan meals already... goodness! More menus are popping up on the posts - it's so great! I'm definitely dabbling in all your ideas. Thank you to all who have shared - keep it coming! :)


Yesterday we ate at Wahoo's in La Jolla (fast food Mexican place). They are famous for fish tacos, which I ordered. If you've never had a fish taco, you should. Especially in San Diego - there are some good ones in this town. The best I've had so far is an appetizer at "George's" in La Jolla. A bit pricier, but sooooooooooo good.

Cate was really feeling the music this week while we cooked dinner - it was like Dance Party USA around here. The Song of the Week is one that Cate danced like crazy to...King Without A Crown by Matisyahu. I know this is his song that everyone knows and I should pick something more unknown, but it's just so good and Cate loved it. If you haven't heard of Matisyahu, he is an orthodox jewish rapper/reggae dude. He's great!

I'm planning a few "special edition" posts... one on Snacks (inspired by Isa!) and one on Lunch ideas. If you have any ideas you'd like to share, please email me at weeklydinners@gmail.com - no deadline yet. I'll post a reminder when I get closer to publishing.

Have a great week and happy planning!

Week 5 Menu

MONDAY:
- Chicken Piccata
- Mashed Potatoes
- Veggie or Salad

TUESDAY:
- Chili
- Corn Cake Toppers


WEDNESDAY:
- Spaghetti Pomodoro
- Salad
- French Bread... or should that be Italian?

THURSDAY:
- Leftover Night

FRIDAY:
- Margherita Pizza
- Salad

SATURDAY:
- Hamburgers
- Grilled Fries
- Carrots and dip

SUNDAY:
- Beef Stroganoff & Egg Noodles
- Veggie
- Rolls

Mid-Week Thoughts: Round Brownies & More

I conducted a Brownie experiment this week. I cooked them in muffin tins (filled the cups about 1/3 full with batter and cooked for a shorter time at a little lower temp). If you like edges, you'll love 'em this way. They stayed moist and I thought they were good. Not worse, not better than a normal brownie... but it's a fun shape that would be cute if you were displaying them on a plate. Unfortunately I didn't take a cute picture of the cute brownies... but here's the batter, which is the best part anyway.

I made the Lime & Honey Salmon recipe tonight. Delicious. A few notes: I baked the salmon and that worked fine (thanks to Emily for the tip - I didn't have TWO skillets big enough to cook the salad & the salmon). The recipe made a LOT of salad. Just to warn you. BUT... there was a happy coincidence this week... we are having enchiladas tomorrow and the leftover salad will be an excellent side dish. Love it when that happens! (Yes, I'm mixing up the days a bit, but I'm sticking to the meal plans - promise!)

Lastly, thanks to everyone who is coming to the blog! I've received lots of positive feedback and I'm happy everyone is enjoying and using the blog! And thank you to everyone who has shared their menus (Athena - you were the first menu from someone I don't know - so fun!).

Week 4: Yum...

Last week's caprese salad was delicious. My friend Adrianne was saying that she and her mom add pasta to make it a pasta caprese salad (serve cold or warm - she said cold is better). That sounds awesome... something to try one day for sure!

Song of the Week: Let Go by Frou Frou. I'm sure other songs from the Garden State soundtrack will pop up... I just don't get sick of that CD. I really enjoyed this song this week... and it always reminds me of the last scene of that movie - the song was perfect.

Thanks to Emily and Margo for posting their menus last week!! You'll see I did some stealing, and will continue to do so!

Everyone else - please post your menus! You don't need to worry about recipes if you don't have time... just put up a quick post with your meals for each night. If you don't start sharing menus, I'll be forced to post fake menus associated with your names... for instance, I hear Adrianne is doing corn dogs every night this week... and we all thought she was such a good cook.

Quick Note: I've split up the recipes into 3 categories. Also, if I've posted a recipe for an item on the Repertoire, it will link to the Recipes page. Hopefully this is all helpful!

Week 4 Menu

MONDAY:
- Chicken Salad
- Potato Chips
- Fruit & Fruit Dip

TUESDAY:
- Leftovers (chicken salad or apricot chicken from Sunday)

WEDNESDAY:
- Lime & Honey Grilled Salmon w/Corn & Black Bean Salad
- Spinach & Grapefruit Salad
- Rolls

THURSDAY:
- Creamy Enchiladas

FRIDAY:
Breakfast Night
- Waffles
- Trader Joe's Frozen Roasted Potatoes w/Peppers & Onions (yummy as homefries w/breakfast, would be good with dinner too!)
- Fruit

SATURDAY:
- Leftovers or eat out

SUNDAY:
- Chicken Piccata
- Mashed Potatoes
- Veggie or Salad

Call for Menus!

What are you eating out there?! This is a call for your weekly menus! Share your ideas... and don't worry if it isn't fancy. It's all about getting different ideas - easy, classic, gourmet, anything! :) And please pass the blog on to others so we can get their ideas too!

Quick note on posting... anyone can post now, you do NOT have to have a google account. To post, click on the
"# Comments" link at the bottom
of the post. Looking forward
to your menus and recipes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Week 3 and we're on a roll...

Happy Week 3! Don't forget to check the "Recipes" page for new additions!

by Ben Harper,

Song of the Week: "Picture Of Jesus" by Ben Harper. I love Ben, it's no secret. And this song is so beautiful. Features Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and who doesn't love a little Ladysmith thrown into a song? The other day I was playing a song with LBM & Sarah McLachlan for Nate, who replied, "You know, if you like this song, you may want to check out an album called Graceland. Don't know if you've heard of it." Ha ha, real funny.

I've started baking with Cate. It is so fun! Last week we made cookies and she talked about it all week. Yesterday we made some muffins. We had so much fun and the result was quite tasty too - everybody wins! Nate says Cate's a better baker than me... hmmmm...

Okay, confession time... I'm carrying over TWO meals from last week because I forgot we had date night on Saturday, and I was too lazy to cook on Friday. But I'll add a bonus recipe this week to make up... The BEST Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes EVER... a great Valentine's Day treat. They are not hard to make and definite restaurant quality. Enjoy and Happy V-Day!

Week 3 Menu

MONDAY:
- Pot Roast
- Mashed potatoes
- Carrots
- Rolls

TUESDAY:
- Quiche (broccoli, cheese, mushrooms)
- Baguette
- Fresh Fruit

WEDNESDAY:
Happy Valentine's Day!
- Caprese Salad
- Baguette
- Whole Grain Pasta w/cream tomato sauce, mushrooms & sausage
- Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

THURSDAY:
- Leftover Night

FRIDAY:
- Pat's Oriental Chicken Salad
- Dumplings (Trader Joe's Chicken Shu Mai are good)

SATURDAY:
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Il Fornaio bread (if you live in San Diego, they have it at TJs and it's the BEST!)

SUNDAY:
- Easy Apricot Chicken
- Rice
- Spinach Salad

Welcome to Week 2!

This is a good sign... I'm actually getting my menu up on Sunday! Can't wait to see what others are doing... I'm already stealing a meal idea from Margo on this week's menu. :) Thanks to everyone who sent me excited and supportive emails about the blog... I think it's going to be very helpful and lots of fun!

There is a VERY interesting article on New York Times called "Unhappy Meals" by Michael Pollan. It's LONG but great - I've been reading it in installments when I get a minute. Really makes you think about what "healthy" means. Go whole foods! (The foods, not the store.) You can't access it anymore on the NYT site, so if you would like a copy of the article, email weeklydinners@gmail.com

Last week I made a spinach salad with rio red grapefruit (peeled and pith removed by hand - the BEST way to eat grapefruit) and Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette. It was DELICIOUS. So simple, so good. I was loving it, then Nate mentioned on his own how good it was. Just thought I'd share!

Now that I have a computer in my kitchen, iTunes is becoming a big part of cooking. I am LOVING having music playing while I cook. As I was listening and really enjoying some of the songs this week, I thought it would be fun to share those with you as well as my menus. So, here's the "Song of the Week"...drumroll..."The Wind", by Cat Stevens. It's on the Rushmore soundtrack, which is quite quirky and has a few good oldies on there. "The Wind" is just good. Nuf said.

Thank you to those that have posted and I look forward to more and more posts! Please pass the site on to others - the more the merrier!

PS - I noticed that Trader Joe made a lot of appearances in my posts last week... sorry to those who don't have a TJs nearby... I promise to try to rely less heavily on TJs, although it's bound to creep in...

Week 2 Menu

MONDAY:
I didn't end up doing this today (Superbowl!), so carrying over... love that!
- Pork Chops
- Long grain rice
- Asparagus
- Rolls

TUESDAY:
- Texas Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Pasta Salad

WEDNESDAY:
- Leftover Night

THURSDAY:
- Orange Chicken
- Carrots
- Rice

FRIDAY:
- Tacos
- Guacamole & Chips

SATURDAY:
- Quiche
- Baguette
- Fresh Fruit

SUNDAY:
- Pot Roast
- Mashed potatoes
- Fresh vegetable (TBD)