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!
  

____________
* 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!

Week of March 31 - April 6

Saturday:

• Green Lentils w/ Wine-Glazed Vegetables, Everyone, p. 301
• Cream Biscuits w/ Cheddar Cheese, Bakers Illustrated, p. 57
  

Sunday:

• Artichoke & Sun-Dried Tomato Filo, Fields of Greens, p. 242
• Sicilian Salad w/ Roasted Eggplant, Peppers & Garlic, Fields of Greens, p. 54
  

Monday:

• Palak Panir Sak, Krishna, p. 349
• Cauliflower crowned w/ Creamy Avocado, Krishna, p. 372
  

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

• Asparagus Omelet, Cook's Illustrated May/June 2007, p. 21
  

Thursday:

Friday:

Week of March 24 - 30

Saturday:

• Veggie bratwurst
• Grilled asparagus
  

Sunday:

• Black Bean & Pumpkin Soup w/ Cinnamon & Ginger, Once Upon a Tart, p. 57
• Tortilla Chips
• Avocado & Greens Salad
• Carrie: This was a simple and very tasty soup. The pumpkin added body, but did not overpower the flavor of the soup. I'm going to copy this recipe down before we return the cookbook.
  

Monday:

• Pasta w/our favorite sauce, Tomato Sauce III, Classic Italian, p. 95
• Broccolini
  

Tuesday:

• Mozzarella Sandwiches w/Oven-Roasted Tomatoes & Pesto, Once Upon a Tart, p. 91
• Chickpea & Carrot Salad w/ Cumin & Black Olives, Once Upon a Tart, p. 137
• Carrie: Wow - two winners! The oven-roasted tomatoes were so simple and very flavorful. I bought some of the mini Ciabatta loaves for these sandwiches as I did before and that worked out well. And the salad was a surprise sensation! The dressing (we used chili powder because we were out of cumin) was so tasty and actually clung to the veggies well. So many salads have runny, gloppy, or oily dressing, but this was really great. We're writing this one down for future use.
  

Wednesday:

• Mushroom Risotto with Leeks and Fennel, Fields of Greens, p. 164
• Edamame
• Carrie: We did the risotto in the pressure cooker, because we were pressed for time. The recipe called for 6 cups of broth -- too much for the rice to absorb in the pressure cooker, so we had to do a bit of stirring at high heat to evaporate the excess liquid. The resulting risotto was fine, but the taste sensation of this meal was the special cave aged Parmesan that Ben purchased. That was fantastic.
  

Thursday:

• Spicy Corn Cakes with Smoked Cheese and Chilies, Fields of Greens, p. 227
• Mixed Green Salad w/ Avocado
• Carrie: The corn cakes were super easy and quick to assemble and cook. I didn't realize it before hand, but these cook very much like a thick pancake. That also meant that, like pancakes, they improve with each batch. The first batch too longer to cook and didn't cook evenly. I should have waited for the pan to be hotter before I started. But the taste was great. This would be a good Summer meal since the cooking time is minimal and the prep is easy.

Friday: Event - Spring Break Begins

• Cincinnati Chili
• Salad
• Carrie: With the start of the kids' Spring Break, we wanted something easy. So Ben had the great idea of making what we had on Super Bowl Sunday. Mmm... Chili and spaghetti...
  

Week of March 17 - 23

Saturday:

• Palak Shorva (Curried Spinach Soup with Toasted Coconut), Fields of Greens, p. 90
• Cauliflower
• Carrie: This was a nice soup, but I thought a bit too mild.
  

Sunday:

• Garlic Potato Soup, Cooks Illustrated Mar/Apr 2007, p. 13
• Fall Salad with Warm Gorgonzola Croutons, Fields of Greens, p. 38
• Carrie: Yum! A hearty soup with a mix of Russet and red potatoes. The Russet become mushy and blend into the background of the soup while the red potato chunks stay intact. The salad was fabulous: golden beets, greens, apples and a bit of onion. I was never a big fan of beets, but we've made some great beet recipes recently, this one included.
  

Monday:

• Penne Pasta with Grilled Fennel & Roasted Eggplant, Once Upon a Tart, p. 147
• Broccoli
• Carrie: Fennel is another ingredient I hadn't been wild about, but we've tried several recipes with fennel and I've come around to being a fennel fan. The thinly sliced fennel and eggplant are roasted separately, then combined with the pasta. The roasting gives it a wonderful mellow flavor.
  

Tuesday:

• Goat Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Once Upon a Tart, p. 89
• Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Parmesan, Orangette
• Carrie: I'm so pleased how well this turned out! I found some fabulous mini ciabatta loves at Breadsmith - just the right size for a sandwich. The peppers were roasted over an open flame on our gas cooktop, then put in a paper bag, allowing the flavors to develop while we did other things. The goat cheese spread was super easy (pulse cheese with dried herbs and olive oil). The recipe also called for a olive dressing using tapenade, which we didn't have, but Ben did a marvelous job whipping up something. Everything was quite easy and quite good - we'll have this again!
  

Wednesday:

• Leftovers
  

Thursday:

• Buckwheat Noodles w/ Shitake, Bok Choy, Ginger & Scallions, Fields of Greens, p. 129
• Edamame
• Carrie: Mmm, this was a terrific Asian noodle dish. Nicely spiced and very satisfying. And I always love an excuse to steam up some edamame.
  

Friday:

• Eggs Italiano, Eating Well Apr 2007, p. 27
• Mixed green salad
• Carrie: This dish was a bit of a disappointment. The poached eggs turned out great, and the veggies were good, but it just didn't come together into an interesting dish. It left me wishing we'd done huevos rancheros instead.