Week 16 Dinner Menu

Week 16? Wow. That's four months, right?  I can't believe I'm already a quarter through my commitment. My how time flies!!!

Now, I know I still owe you a recipe from last week, and I have not forgotten. I will write a separate post for that, tonight, I hope.

Week 16. Where shall I begin?  I guess it starts with the complete brain freeze I had last week trying to come up with my menu. I actually had a conversation with the huz about it. Here's a question I'm throwing out to the universe - Do you feel compelled to keep your weekly menu interesting?

Now some of you are saying, "Weekly what?" Or, "I don't know what I'm eating tonight, let alone Wednesday." And I hear ya'.

I don't know why, but whenever I am working on my menu I try to mix things up. For example, if I'm cooking pasta on Sunday, I'm not cooking pasta on Monday. If I'm grilling chicken on Tuesday, I'm not baking chicken on Wednesday. The huz and I were talking about this, because I started thinking, "You know people in Japan eat rice everyday." Or, "People in Mexico probably eat tortillas everyday." Why can't I?

This propelled our discussion even further. Why not have a theme week? Let's take a tour of the globe one week at a time. Ironically we agreed to go with an Italian inspiration this week, and I'm not doing pasta everyday. I know there is more to the Italian diet than pasta, and I planned my menu as such...although we probably will be eating more pasta this week, than we normally do.  I'm actually a little excited, and it did make my meal planning a little bit easier this week. Fortunately it looks like we have a dry week ahead, and the grill will definitely come in handy.

Sunday: Tortellini Soup with Three Cheese Sourdough Bread and Cannelini Bean Spread.  We picked up this great artisan bread yesterday, and need to consume it ASAP. I'm going to toast it, and make a bean spread to enjoy with our tortellini soup. I feel like I'm already in Italy just thinking about it.

Monday: Grilled Italian "Sausages" with Peppers and Onions. I'm guessing this will help us consume the last of the bread. I'm thinking open faced sandwiches?? I have a tomato pesto (jarred) that I received as a gift, and I think this will be a nice accompaniment as well.

Tuesday: Orzo Salad with Grilled Chicken and Vegetables. I have to make some salads for a potluck and I'm going to save some for our dinner. To me this is quintessential Italian - spinach, sundried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, grilled meat and vegetables. Fresh. Flavorful.  Yum.  You can find the recipe here.

Orzo Salad

Wednesday: Green Salad with Grilled Salmon. I'm going to do a nice balsamic vinaigrette, and maybe use some of that tomato pesto on the salmon.

Thursday: Black Bean Lasagna. Realistically this is probably an Americanized recipe, but it's lasagna so it counts. This is actually one of the first dishes I ever made for the huz, when we were dating, and he loved it. Considering what a bacon/salami/hamburger fan he is, for him to LOVE...seriously, LOVE this lasagna, you know it's good.

Friday: Wild Card. I think we are going to go out for pizza Friday night. What's more Italian than pizza? We haven't gone out to dinner in almost two weeks. I think it's time.

Saturday: "Chicken" Parmesan" I made this recipe Week 3, and it is a tried and true favorite for us. I have not made it for a while, because really the huz would have had it every week if he could. Does this look familiar?

"Chicken" Parmesan

 

Just seeing this makes me ready to do some cooking. I think I need to get in the kitchen.