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Let's talk Menu's

C

Cook Chatty Cathy

New member
How many of you plan a week ahead for the meals of the week coming up? Or do you just "wing it" day by day?

I usually buy and then plan each days meals as they come. I thaw my meat in the morning and plan my meals around that. Today we baked a chicken and had all the trimmings....dressing, Italian Green Beans, Sour Dough biscuits and we have enough left over for Tues. nights dinner....tomorrow it will be homemade chili and crackers with sliced avacado wedges. By Wed. I will more that likely have a Roast Beef with mashed potatoes dinner....... But that is about as far out as I plan. I start "winging it" for the rest of the week. It just works best for me that way, I like to be organized, but I also like the freedom to just play it by ear and see what everyone is in the mood for.

How about you?
 
We usually plan our meals here after going to the grocery store and getting whatever is being sold at a decent price.
How come you didn't post the whole week Cathy? I woulda just copied yours. Wednesday sounds really good with that roast beast.
 
Well I am planning on at some point this week making homemade Sloppy Joe's and would also like to make some "Moroccan Fish Tagine" I will most likely make that on Fri...

Which reminds me have you ever gotten interested in Moroccan cusine? How about Middle Eastern Cusine?

And by the way my sour dough biscuits were a new recipe I made up today...I took some of my sour-dough starter from the fridge and used it as the liquid in my biscuit recipe and it made my biscuits taste like they were made with buttermilk only better 'cause they were nice and fluffy and not doughy tasting at all! Sometimes my buttermilk biscuits are a wee-tad doughy tasting and not as fluffy as the plain milk biscuits!

I like threads that discuss "What we are having for Dinner tonight" as it serves to give me some great ideas!:)
 
Cathy, do you use the standard 2 cups of self rising flour recipe for your biscuits? If so, did you add any baking soda to the dry mixture? You have to share this sour dough biscuit recipe, lol. Specially since you just came up with it.

I have several friends that live in India. They are all veggies and share many recipes. Whats a Moroccan? Isn't that one of them things you shake in Latin style music. Lol.
 
I stock my freezer full of meats once or twice a month. I usually figure out a couple days ahead what I want to make from what is in the freezer and then pick up what ever I need to finish out the dinner from the store. Jon is not big on side dishes so he never wants more than one side at the most. I like a couple sides and give me veggies which he wont eat lol. Tomorrow Im making a roasting hen, dressing and steamed broccoli.
 
I love sides. With a roaster I would want the works. Mashed potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce, stuffing and lots of gravy.
I grew up on a farm and had a very big family. The sides made the main dish go farther.
Like Chinese food. They add all the veggies and rice or noodles to the meat or protein to make it go farther.

If I made a menu in advance I would be in trouble now. I just now at this moment decided to make a chicken fried rice for dinner tonight.
 
I always like to plan my menus in advance for each week. This way I can go to the grocery store and know that I have everything I need to make dinners for the rest of the week. No worrying about not having that one ingredient. I also normally shop for meat about once a month so I do alot of planning around what I have. I got some barramundi for the first time last weekend. Has anyone else tried it? It's really good. To me it tastes a little like shellfish, YUM! Last night I cut some potatoes, kalamata olives and meyer lemons into thin slices, rolled them in olive oil, roasemary, garlic salt and pepper then layed them out in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. potatoes first then lemons and olives into two rectangles. I let them bake until the potates were golden and crispy at the edges then I layed the fish on top and baked it until the fish was cooked through. When it was done I could pick up each piece of fish with a perfect bed of potatoes and lemons underneath. It was delicious. Oh and Cathy I love Morrocan food too. I have a couple of good cook books for it.

This is what I have planned for this week

Monday
Spanish style black beans w/braised ham
Roasted tomatoes
Quinoa

Tuesday
Salad w/pomegranate seeds
Pasta w/walnuts & peas
Chicken sausages

Wednesday
Chicken breasts w/pomegranate syrup
& quina w/pom seeds

Thursday
Chicken breasts w/carrot ginger sauce
Quinoa

Friday
Quick Yellow fish curry
Cucumber raita
Brown rice
 
Wow Jfain a lovely menu for this week!!! I love it!

And the recipe you shared thanks! I am so sure it was out of this world delicious!:p

Yes Moroccan cusine "rocks"!!! I must include it at least every other week or so. I use the Ras-el-hanout seasoning even in every day affair and it gives a typical dish a bit of flare!
 
The Ironic Chef said:
Cathy, do you use the standard 2 cups of self rising flour recipe for your biscuits? If so, did you add any baking soda to the dry mixture? You have to share this sour dough biscuit recipe, lol. Specially since you just came up with it.

I have several friends that live in India. They are all veggies and share many recipes. Whats a Moroccan? Isn't that one of them things you shake in Latin style music. Lol.
Click to expand...


My biscuits are the most easy thing in this world to make I do it in a matter of minutes, I do not roll them out with a rolling pen and cutter.. I form them by hand. I have posted my recipe here and will pull it up for you. All I did basically was omitted the milk and used the sourdough starter to make the dough! And it worked. I did let them sit in the pan a while after I formed and put them into the pan, although it would be totally unnecessary as they would rise just fine without that step next time I will not let them sit at room temp. I will just pop them into the hot oven. I did feel they could have used a little additional salt.
 
Thank you Cathy. I was just over on your other thread.
I usually bring my sour dough starter up to room temp before I use it.
Almost all my recipes, I triple the salt when using the sour dough starter. If I'm not wrong, each cup of self rising flour only has a half teaspoon of salt. For 1 loaf of bread I use a tablespoon of salt with the sour dough starter. Only a teaspoon with a yeast dough. I would say for the biscuits, calculating........2 teaspoons-1 that's all ready already in the self rising=1 more teaspoon of salt. How did I do?
I'm making some one night this week. Thanks again.
 
Dinner!

Hi everyone, I made tuna noodle casserole today. It has been cold here in Chicago, :eek: I made chili over the weekend. I always try to plan what we are going to have a couple of days in advance. I always try to buy a few things you can just put together fast toward the end of the week example: Frozen Pizza. ;) I'm making a lot more stir-fry lately, it can be done in minutes!! Here is a recipe for: Tuna Noodle Bake.

1 Can Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup petite frozen peas
12 oz. can of tuna in water (PUT ALL 4 INGREDIANTS IN PAN AND COOK ON STOVE TOP) Pour over pasta

1 lb box of whole wheat rigatoni
2 T seasoned bread crumbs
1 T butter
1 cup shredded mozzarella, 2T parmesan cheese
1 t onion powder, 1 t garlic powder
BAKE 400 FOR 1O MIN IN OVEN. This is so Good on a COLD DAY!! Cookie :)
 
Thanks Cathy, as you can see I'm trying to use up the last of our pomegranates this week. My husband loves them so when they are in season he brings home a few too many for me to work into the rotation.
 
It's really good for a lot of things. I've used it to make salad dressing, cocktails, pour over desserts or to glaze meats or carrots like veggies. It's a very useful condiment.
 
You know there was a web-site I came across one time that had lots of recipes for pomegranate, I just have to go look it up and get some terrific ideas!
 
The only thing I really plan-ahead Cathy is when I'm cooking for a group, or having a special dinner-party.

Other than that, since I only cook for myself, I don't get to elaborate.

I shop at Aldi's (a cheapo discount chain where u bag your own) about once a month to stock-up on basic staples, then I buy one bag of protein and produce usually 1-2 times per week...
 
My youngest daughters school lunch menu for the week.

Monday
Spaghetti W/Meatballs, Chilled fruit and fresh vegetable.

Tuesday
French Bread Pizza, tossed Salad, Fresh Fruit.

Wednesday
Sloppy Joe, Seasoned ground beef on a roll,Chilled fruit, fresh vegetable.

Thursday
Chicken Patty, on a bun, Chilled Fruit, Fresh Vegetable.

Friday
Big Daddy Pizza, Tossed Salad, Fresh Fruit.

School lunches sure have changed through the years.
 
No that sounds about like what I had but the quality of those items was just terrible. They cooked the pasta till it was like big mushy worms, the chilled fruit was never fresh fruit, the chicken patty had the texture of a dish sponge and the flavor too. Even the pizza was awful. It had puddles of grease on top. My favorite was the salisbury steak but even that was only ok. I hope the quality of the food at your daughters school was better than mine. I eventually ended up just pocketing my lunch money for spending money and told my Mom I ate the school lunch. It was that terrible.
 
In elementary school we had a dish everyone hated called "Texas Hash". But I loved it! It was basically Spanish Rice with ground meat, rice, tomatoes, & onions/green peppers. I thought it was yummy while it made all the other kids barf!
 
Jfain,

Like you I abhored school lunches, they were truly disgusting! They are better these days. My hubby attends my 9 yr. olds school regularly and has lunch with her, he says it is not bad at all. I even went once and was pleasantly surprised! Thank goodness for that fact. She refuses to eat their breakfasts though...for that I am glad as I enjoy fixing her breakfast and having the satisfaction of knowing she has started the day out with a nice healthy nutritious and satisfying breakfast! She tried the school breakfast once and that was all it took to turn her totally against it:D
 
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