This week I mostly followed the plan. Well, at least I kind of followed the plan with minor changes to just about every meal. At least I cooked! (Well I actually cooked as little as possible, but we did eat at home most nights)
What was planned:
1. Leftover pasta, salad of some sort
2. Meatloaf, squash, sliced tomatoes, cornbread?
3. Smoked trout toast, broccoli, stewed apples
4. Out to eat
5. Pesto chicken salad over mixed greens
6. Roast tomato grilled cheese casserole, some sort of salad
7. Big salad meal TBD
I did try a couple of new to me recipes this week, along with playing with food to recreate an old school lunchroom memory. (More on that in another post, but it was from a time when schools could actually have peanut butter in the cafeteria)
Monday: I knew I was planning for us to have the remaining pasta, but had forgotten I bought peppers at Trader Joe's. When I was looking for salad fixings I saw them and decided to have that with dinner instead.
Leftover pasta, shishito peppers, Brazilian cheese bread*, lunchroom peanut butter sheet cake.***
Tuesday: The night was hot and I just did not have it in me to really cook.
Pesto chicken salad** over iceberg, black olives, dinner roll
Wednesday: When I made the menu I forgot TheHub had a dinner meeting. I had dinner ready when he called to remind me he would not be there, so I stuck it in the fridge and just ate bit and bobs of cold food. I do not cook just for me.
Whatever was left over in the fridge eaten cold while watching a movie
Thursday: We had plans to eat out with friends, so I knew there would be no cooking this day.
Crab cake, small caesar salad (me) Grouper Oscar (TheHub)
Friday: The return of the previously cooked Wednesday dinner.
Meatloaf****, Spanish rice, tossed salad
Saturday: Two tomatoes were on the verge of being over-ripe. They had to be used
Tomato topped grilled cheese casserole**, okra
Sunday: We went to Costco in the late morning. Oops! I could not resist the smell.
Rotisserie chicken, cole slaw
Possibilities for the week:
Because of the size of the Costco rotisserie chicken, this week is going to have several chicken meals to use the leftover chicken
1. Squash casserole, butter peas, coleslaw, cornbread
2. Chicken Divan, dinner rolls
3. PF Changish lettuce wraps
4. Whatever (TheHub will be out of town and I am not cooking just for me)
5. Eggroll in a bowl
6. Chicken salad on greens
7. Out to eat
* Impulse buy from Trader Joe's. Very tasty but not really worth the price so I will not be buying it again.
** New to me
*** experiment
**** I wrapped the cooked meatloaf in foil when I stuck it in the fridge Wednesday. Friday night I just plunked it (wrapped) in the air fryer to reheat it. It stayed perfectly moist, I did not have to turn the oven on, and the kitchen stayed cool.
Yummy.
ReplyDeleteRegine
The best part of the week was how little actual cooking I did!
DeleteIt's not supposed to hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit here, so I'm putting a pork loin in the slow cooker, for a Sunday-Roast-on-Monday. Our region, with the exception of windstorms, tends to escape extreme weather. It actually rained this morning, which is great, because we need the rain. (It doesn't rain much here, we only say that to keep out the "riff raff.")
DeleteGoing forward, I have no ideas--last week I made your Peruvian chicken, and have some leftover, so those might become nachos or enchiladas. A kid came home with some high end cocoa on clearance, so I'm probably going to bake something with that--or else just make peanut butter cookies. Beyond that, no clue. I just can't get in the swing of things. I think it's because I've been spending so much time trying to get the yard (5 acres) to look like something this year. (We moved in August of last year.)
Funny: About 10 years ago, the kids came back with a U.S.A. sheet cake pan they found in the clearance bin of the local grocery store when I had sent our first new driver out on an errand. (Of course, they all had to go with him!) In any case, I made THIS recipe in it, and I just had a request for it earlier today. (I used Hershey's chocolate frosting recipe on this, as I thought the marshmallow frosting would make it tooth achingly sweet.) Can't wait to see your peanut butter sheet cake recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/69826/peanut-butter-sheet-cake/
DeleteMeg, just go ahead and rub it in. Nothing like hearing about fall temperatures when we are in suffocatingly humid hot weather.
DeleteI am not feeling the cooking thing either but I think June travels/houseguests/cooking took it out of me. With just the two of us here, cooking is not as high a priority for me as reading is.
It was hot this weekend, and our agreement is that I turn on the AC when I cook. We are largely able to keep our house cool without it, unless we have a stretch of high 80s/90s days in a row. I made PF Changs lettuce wraps yesterday & they were delicious! Sam asked me to add them to the regular menu rotation. Because I'm lazy, I served that with Trader Joes veggie fried rice.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to imagine not having the a/c on all day here. From May through September the house is just too hot to do without it.
ReplyDeleteHooray for recipes that keep the kitchen cool. And a big hooray for the air fryer.
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed using the air fryer as a small convection oven, which is almost the only way I use it.
DeleteThis house ac in the kitchen is a miracle. The ac vent blows across in front of the oven, so I can only feel heat when very close to stove, ready to open the oven. I actually stand in front, cooking on the eyes. Yet, when I have I still can barely feel the heat of an eye or pot of food. Amazing. I have to turn on the ac earlier than you because of allergies. But, I will never apologize for ac/electric use. The grill actually makes me hotter.
ReplyDeleteAs long as I can keep chicken baked, dinner is incredible easy.
I cannot imagine what my son would have eaten if pb was banned. He would decide at the last minute he did not want the school lunch and I made a pbj quickly for him.
You are fortunate the kitchen stays cool
DeleteI laughed about you not wanting to cook for just yourself. If I did that, I wouldn't be eating much! Hm, maybe I should do that - I'd probably lose a few pounds! :D
ReplyDeleteIf it were just me here I definitely would cook just for myself or eat popcorn every night!
DeleteYou can't beat the cost of a Costco chicken. It's a loss leader for them, and I've heard that they have their own chicken farms because they sell so many.
ReplyDeleteI had never bought one of the chickens before, but I will start getting them. We do not go to Costco often but I think I will add one to the five other things we get when we go.
DeleteWe've had cool weather for almost a week (highs in the low 70's and lows around 45F overnight), that will end this weekend, so I've actually done some cooking. Tomorrow I'll put together some burgers and a couple of salads, pasta and potato so with smokies I'll have the weekend covered.Heaven knows what I'll do for the next 10 days or so. Something on the grill likely, the air fryer maybe.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Your temps sound wonderful!
DeleteBTW I have been following your blog, but can't comment on it. I hope to find how to fix whatever glitch is happening with my Google account.
Our summer here is really mild...I actually miss sunshine. Rotisserie chicken sounds really great.
ReplyDeleteI love the sunshine and I am not terribly bothered when it is just hot, but this humidity has been oppressive.
DeleteChanges again in my household so meals are going to be simple for my daughter and I. She made a huge rice, bean, and corn salad that's lacking something, but warmed with a bit more pepper and a little cheese it was good. I found a lurking pepper to so I think stuffing peppers with it will be good. Air fryer of course to avoid the oven.
ReplyDeleteAn air fryer is my all time favorite small appliance
DeleteI wouldn’t cook for just myself either. I would much rather be reading too.Using the air fryer for the meatloaf was a great way to keep the kitchen cool. Like you, we have to have some ac on during these hot summer months or the house would be in the high 80s inside, no thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love living in the south, but the summer heat is definitely a downside.
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