Yesterday I took a snow day. No, I didn’t have to shovel (my wonderful husband did that). But I felt lazy and just gave into it and basically did nothing after throwing a roast in the crock pot in the morning. Would it have been that hard to write up a meal plan while binge-watching Scandal on Hulu? Nope! Some days are just lazy ones though and need to be treated as such.

On this much sunnier Monday, however, I sit on my lunch break from work and make a plan for our food this week.

Monday – Leftover night! We did a lot of cooking over the past few days and we have a lot of leftovers stuffed in our fridge. Reducing our food waste is a big new goal in our household, so tonight we’ll be heating up leftover walleye cakes or pot roast or curry, alongside some coleslaw or roasted veggies or a green salad to relive the highlights of last week. The rest will serve as our lunches for the rest of the week.

Tuesday – Ginger lime chicken bowls with cauliflower rice. This is one of my favorite easy meals. A brightly marinated chicken breast gets slow roasted in the oven and then topped with a variety of yummy, crunchy toppings to create a great bowl-style meal. PLUS – this recipe will be shared tomorrow, so you can cook it along with me if you’d like.

Wednesday – Pasta Amatriciana with whole wheat pasta. To be perfectly frank, this will be a somewhat bastardized version of the truly delectable amatriciana sauce. Guanciale or even pancetta makes it what it truly is, a smoky, spicy thick tomato base. But we’re on a budget and we’re trying to make one grocery store run a week which often eliminates specialty stores, so I’ll be making mine with ground pork. It should still be good, but will likely taste closer to a pork bolognese than amatriciana. I’ve linked one recipe here that I may use as a starting place, but I’m also going to reference my Pasta Grannies cookbook to see if there’s something better to play with. We’re introducing a few more whole grains back into our diet, so I found an organic, whole wheat semolina pasta this weekend that I’m excited to try.

Thursday – Pan-fried chicken thighs with green beans inspired by Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music. Her quick salsa to garnish is delicious, but I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on some tomatoes (again, we’re limiting our grocery store runs). If not, the garlicky green beans I plan to make anyway should be equally as de-lish.

Friday – Slow roasted salmon with gingered rice. I like to make these little packets from parchment paper that wraps the salmon up with some citrus and some ginger or other bright flavors. The fish comes out juicy and steamed and dripping with flavor. I’m going to experiment with our rice cooker to see what flavor we can impart with some fresh ginger as well.

Saturday – Beef stew from Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten. I just (finally! long hold list!) got this cookbook from the library this weekend and it is delightful. The friend who recommended it highly recommended this recipe, and I can’t wait to try it.

Projects for the Week!

• I had a a ton of fun baking cinnamon rolls and sharing that in instagram this past week, so I think I’m going to do it again this Wednesday! Plus I bought some love and affection from family and friends who benefited from said cinnamon rolls. This week I think we’re going to tackle this awesome biscotti recipe that a friend shared with me a few years back. She used to make these cookies for our family at Christmas, but distance has now made that impossible. I miss these cookies and it’s time to bring them back! Tune in on Wednesday to see how it’s done, and I’ll link to the recipe then so you can try them at home.
• More bread! Baking bread is just my favorite winter-time work from home activity. With only a few minutes of work every hour/couple of hours, it’s a great excuse to stand up and stretch throughout the day and then have two nice, hot loaves by the end of the night. I almost exclusively use the Tartine Country Bread recipe because 1) it’s perfect and 2) it reminds me of my trip to SFO in 2019 that was just a blast (and included 3 visits to Tartine because I just. couldn’t. stop.). I bake from their Tartine Bread cookbook, though, so if I’m really feeling adventurous, I might try a different loaf this week. We’ll see what sort of variety my pantry can support. Offer still stands if you’re local and want a loaf for yourself – just let me know!

Happy cooking, friends!