Week of April 28 - May 4

Saturday:

• Pizza from the Italian Pie Shoppe
  

Sunday:

• Baked Potatoes w/Green Chile-Cream Cheese Sauce, Jump Up & Kiss Me, p. 243*
• Shredded Brussels Sprouts salad
• Carrie: The sauce was quite good but I had two issues with it: (1) it was too thick - I'd keep some tomato juice (or veggie stock) on had to thin it, and (2) it didn't make enough for four potatoes - I'd double this recipe.
  

Monday:

• Pasta w/Cannelini Beans and Broccoli, Jump Up & Kiss Me, p. 95
• Tomato vinaigrette
• Carrie: This was an easy and tasty pasta recipe. It calls for steaming the broccoli beforehand, but I think the broccoli got a little overcooked, so I'd steam the broccoli for a shorter time. The tomato viaigrette that Benjamin whipped up was excellent: grape tomatoes, cilantro, and a homemade dressing - yum!
  

Tuesday:

• Vegetarian Gumbo
• Wild and brown rice
• Carrie: Benjamin had the great inspiration for using up some ingredients we had in the fridge and pantry: a vegetarian gumbo! We used Emeril's recipe as a guide, omitting the meat, using vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, and adding canned tomatoes and fresh zucchini that we had laying around. Boy, was it great! A nice kick but not too hot. The roux gave it a velvety texture. I had it for lunch several times and never got tired of it!
  

Wednesday:

• Indian!
  

Thursday:

• Veggie bratwurst
• Broccoli rabe
  

Friday:

• Black Eyed Peas w/Mustard Greens, Jump Up & Kiss Me, p. 143
• Rice
• Carrie: I haven't been too impressed with the recipes from our new cookbook, but this one was easy, hearty, and tasty - a perfect combination!
  

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* We recently purchased Jump Up and Kiss Me from a used book store and added it to our cookbooks library.

Week of April 21 - 27

Saturday:

• Leftovers
  

Sunday: Event: Dinner w/Renée, Mira, and Kathleen at Fasika

Monday:

• Gnocchi with Tomatoes, Pancetta, & Wilted Watercress -Eating Well, May/June 2007, p. 24
• Broccoli
• Carrie: Yum! The sauce was easy and lovely. The little splash of vinegar added at the end gives it a nice, fresh bite. The shelf-stable gnocchi isn't as good as home-made, of course, but a nice, quick dinner.
  

Tuesday:

• Grilled Trout with Lemon-Tarragon Bean Salad - Eating Well, May/June 2007, p. 24
  

Wednesday: Event: Benjamin returns

• Spaghettini with Walnuts and Parsley Pesto - Vegetarian Times
  
• Grilled asparagus
  

Thursday:

Friday:

Week of April 14 - 20

Saturday: Event: Benjamin to Mumbai

• Enchiladas - combination of a couple of recipes:
  
• Black Bean and Rice Enchiladas, all|recipes.com
• Potato and Bean Enchiladas, all|recipes.com
• Salad
• Carrie: This was excellent! I used the first recipe as the main recipe, but instead of the brown rice, I used the roasted, spiced potato cubes from the second recipe. I also substituted enchilada sauce for the picante sauce and salsa - some went into the filling, lots more went on top. Really flavorful and filling!
  

Sunday:

• Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus, Eatingwell.com
• A nice crusty bread
• A selection of cheese odds & ends
• Carrie: This was a nice, delicate soup. The flavors were almost too mild to my taste, but that is probably so as not to overwhelm the asparagus, which was lovely. I thought there were too many egg threads and it made the soup too bulky. Not sure I'll make this again, but I'll definitely seek out another asparagus soup recipe.
  

Monday:

• Slow-cooked Chili, all|recipes.com
• Carrie: This hit the spot! Sautéed the ground beef and onions the night before (no, this was not vegetarian) and put everything in the slow cooker pot to set overnight in the fridge. Put it on low in the morning for about 10 hours. Nathan's game would up going very long, so how fortuitous to have a hearty chili waiting for him. The two of us nearly cleaned the whole thing out (save one serving for lunch the next day).
  

Tuesday:

• Pizza
• Corn/Edamame mix
  
• Carrie: Yes, very unimaginative. Nothing more to say.
  

Wednesday:

• Indian!
• Carrie: Another unimaginative dinner, but I'm never disappointed in the Deep frozen Indian dishes. I ate this thinking of Benjamin having the real deal this week!
  

Thursday:

• Salmon Burgers
• Salad
• Carrie: Got home from work and checked our stock. We had some salmon burgers and buns in the freezer, a tomato, and an onion. Sounds like a meal to me!
  

Friday:

• Emily's Excellent Taco Casserole, all|recipes.com
• Carrie: I was about to leave work and I thought I'd skim all|recipes.com for dinner ideas. This recipe was exactly as promised: quick, easy, one pan. Well, I turned it into two pans by sautéing onion and green pepper with some cumin, but it sure was easy! The 6 cups of tortilla chips seems like a lot, but they do compress down and keep everything together nicely. Chili, cheese, onions, tomatoes, sour cream - what's not to like? It's not gourmet, but it hit the spot!

I didn't do much planning this week beyond Monday, and it shows. But there were a few winners in there. I hope to get back on track when Benjamin returns this week.

Week of April 7 - 13

Whoops!

We got so caught up with Spring Break, Easter, and our Anniversary that we've let this lapse. Let's start fresh with April 14!