Ten on Tuesday

I am combining my two lists this week. Ten things I'm making this week, posted on a (almost) Tuesday haha. It is actually because I'm not sure if I'll finish this tonight- Monday- or tomorrow...so I can't decide what to call it. Anyway, here are my 10 things to make:

1. The roasted cabbage recipe I had listed for last week. I never made it because on that night I hadn't read ahead to know it takes awhile to cook. It was a getting off work, cooking, hungering, timing issue. So I'm making it tonight with roasted turkey (no not a whole one).

2. Roasted spaghetti squash on Tuesday. Inspired by my mama and the delicious dinner I took on the plane with me. It will go with...

3. Garlicky scallops and shrimp from the previously mentioned seafood market. It was a great success! Cheap but quality stuff all brought in from the NC coast. The men working there were so nice and helpful.

4. I am repeating the socca bread/chickpea crepes on Wednesday because they were the best thing I've eaten in weeks. This time instead of pizza style I'm going to have them as a scooper/side with...

5. Indian spinach. One of the best things that's ever happened to my kitchen repertoire was finally venturing into the world of Indian food at home. I highly recommend it. The spice names can be daunting but the flavors are so worth the 10 extra minutes hunting them down.

6. Sweet potato and carrot soup on Thursday.

7. This bread for Kevin to dunk in the soup and have throughout the week. I'm on the hunt for the perfect bread recipe that is a little bit healthy, a little bit sandwichy, but good enough to eat on its own. The Eat Live Run recipe was a success but the loaf wasn't that big. The second recipe I made last week was a loaf shaped hockey puck. It could be on one of those "pinterest fail" blogs!

8. Homemade chicken stock to use in the soup and have on hand. I froze the bones and such from that chicken I made not too long ago. I have finally made time to turn it into stock!

9. I am going to attempt to make my own coconut milk. Remember my $2 project from a few weeks ago? Well I still have the meat from half the coconut. Supposedly it's easy, we shall see.

10. These muffins because we have some comedians staying with us tonight and tomorrow night (no really) and I wanted to offer a breakfast treat. I googled "oatmeal muffins" because I have oatmeal. I may add some blueberries or strawberries, we'll see. The comedians are these guys and some good friends of John's. We will be going to their Carrboro show tomorrow night, featuring special guest John Thornton! How did it come to this, that I'm making muffins for a bunch of stand up comedians? I have no idea.

And since posts without pictures are ugly, here's what I did this weekend:

The beautiful birthday girl blowing out her candle

Love to snuggle this guy! (Even when he really wants down)

So that's my list and meal plan for this week! Are you trying any new recipes? Is there a food genre that you shy away from, like I used to Indian?

Meal Planning Mondays

I am going to loosely say that I may try to blog about my meal plans. I make them every week but I hate to over commit myself by promising to blog them. Realistically I'll probably do a meal plan OR Ten on Tuesday blog each week. And someday I will find my camera and do another yoga post. Also, if posting my weekly meal plans starts to make me look really boring and uncreative, I'll quit immediately.

So here's what we're having:

Monday: This recipe for roasted chicken and veggies is so simple and sounds bland but somehow the oven works magic and it is delicious! I made it a few weeks ago and this time I'm adapting it for a whole chicken because I want to make broth from the bones.

Tuesday: I am going to make this crepe recipe and attempt to crisp it up in the oven and turn it into pizza crust. If it fails then we're having savory crepes filled with tomato sauce, mushrooms and artichoke hearts (cheese for Kev). Oh oh, or maybe crepe-adillas. I just made up that word when the idea hit me. Like a quesadilla but with crepes instead of tortillas? That would make a fun food truck. DIBS on the idea.

Wednesday: Our 1.5 year anniversary! Our new friend Russ told us about an awesome fish market he found so I am going to go scout it out and determine if we are having lobster/crab made at home (something fancy) or going out to this oyster bar we've been wanting to try. Either way it will be followed by a drink at this whiskey bar that Kevin has been drooling over since we got here!

Thursday: Two first time recipes; Chickpea Sweet Potato Burgers and Roasted Cabbage. I love cabbage and I get on kicks with it. I am currently in the throws of one of those kicks. It's intense.

Friday: Roasted Beet and Kale Salad from a magazine Hayley gets. Thankfully she knows I am a big fan of beets and sent me a pic of the page. It took some digging to find that recipe online. Apparently gluten free does not equal google-able. I will probably add roasted chickpeas to bulk up the salad and because roasted chickpeas are the BOMB. Seriously. Make them today.

Saturday/Sunday: I only plan one meal for the weekend to allow for leftovers, decisions to go out with friends, etc. This weekend it is Collard Greens and White Bean soup that I have in the freezer from when I made a huge batch a few weeks ago. I can't find the recipe anymore, what the heck interwebs, why you removing all my favorite things?

So that's our week of dinners. For breakfast we are so boring. I have a smoothie ev.ery.day. and Kevin has oatmeal, eggs, or the bagel I brought home for him from work the night before. For lunch we have leftovers.

What are you having this week? Is this interesting to anyone?

Meal Planning for the Week

I'm working on our meal plan today so thought I'd share. It's a good week because I just got Eating Well and Southern Living in the mail plus there are some special events happening so that means baking!

Breakfasts: Ever the same, kefir and eggs for Kevin. Yogurt with fruit or eggs for Caitlin. 

Lunches: Leftovers, salads, peanut butter sandwiches (major pb kick lately!)

Dinners: 

Lentil Burgers from Eating Well on Monday

French Onion Soup and Caesar Salad w/ Chicken (both homemade) on Tuesday

Beef and Broccoli- a loose interpretation of Eating Well's recipe on Wednesday (Loose interpretation because I'll use some steak we have in our freezer that's not flank. Plus I don't have all the special Asian sauces it calls for nor the desire to buy them.) 

Roasted veggies, whatever's cheap to take to life group on Thursday

Friday is the big opening reception for Kate's show! So we'll eat there. 

Baking:

Champagne Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream for Kate's show

Frosting the Applesauce Spice Cupcakes for Kate's show with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese

And last but not least, next weekend is Kevin's BIRTHDAY! Kevin's not a huge dessert fan but in my house, it's not a birthday if there's no cake. So he requested a german chocolate cake. Well fancy that, there's a recipe in my new Southern Living! Plus, I'm going to make the pumpkin, cinnamony, sugary bread that he somehow stumbled upon and emailed me a link to (with the subject, "just a suggestion"). Subtlety has always been his strong suit. If there's one kind of sweet Kevin will go nuts over it is breakfast sweets. If it has cinnamon, sugar and a glaze, he's there. Cinnamon rolls in lieu of grooms' cake anyone? So after I recovered from the shock that Kevin apparently reads food blogs, I decided to oblige and whip this up for his birthday breakfast. I'll do my best to document the process when it happens!

So what are you making this week? Do you meal plan? Or are you feeling good if it's not cereal for dinner? :)