Home - is where I want to be / But I guess I'm already there /I come home -
she lifted up her wings /
Guess that this must be the place...
- Talking Heads, "Naive Melody"

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Menu Planning for the New Year

The holidays seriously derailed my normal menu planning habit, resulting in last-minute decisions and a lot of after-work stops at the grocery store when I forgot to ask D* to pick something up. A hectic way of life, and unsatisfying for me as a cook. Today I sat down with some books and did a plan for the week after New Years, and it felt really, really good.

In the spirit of my fresh resolution to make more use of my cookbooks (I make and break this one every year), the book for this week is Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, which I picked up at Innisfree Bookshop over the summer. Those recipes are starred.
  • Saturday: Italian Wedding Soup*; Country Hearth Bread
  • Sunday: Bistro Chicken; Pan-Roasted Root Vegetables*
  • Monday: Stir-Fried Orange-Ginger Tofu
  • Tuesday: Three-Bean Tacos
  • Wednesday: Pork au Poivre; Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli*
  • Thursday: Salmon with Curried Chutney
  • Friday: Lasagna Rolls
I am not someone who can designate Tuesday as "pasta night" and observe it unfailingly, but I try to aim for a balance of different types of meal, including some vegetarian, some easy ones for nights that follow busy days, some that use up odds and ends from the pantry. 

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