Meal Planning Monday (or more like Make My Dinner)—8/11/08

Just getting this in under the wire...

I didn't make it to the farmer's market on Sunday and we haven't done the rest of the grocery shopping either.  I'm feeling a little thrown for a loop. There's a whole week wide open ahead of me and aack! What to cook?

I did take stock of some of the things in my freezer and I've got the raw ingredients for several meals.  I have:

• 4 salmon fillets to grill (from IKEA, seriously the cheapest place to buy salmon. $10 for all.)
• a bag of what we call baby or bay shrimp also from IKEA, I'm thinking lettuce wraps with those
• a pound of grass fed ground beef (could be chili, could be dirty rice, could be tacos, could be Persian meat patties)
• a pound of organic ground turkey (ditto the above)
• a bag of turkey meatballs
• several containers of frozen vegetable soup
• a couple of containers of Korean beef stew
• bags of frozen peas and corn

I also have a home-grown cucumber and a half-pint of cherry tomatoes from one of my patio plants.The hard thing about this week is that it's crazy-busy work-wise. I'm thinking about when I'll find time to shop and I just don't know. Aside from sending my husband out for milk and cereal tomorrow morning (we're totally out) we may not make it to the store until this weekend.

Might you inspire me this week?  What would you cook if you had these staples on hand? If I make your suggestions, I promise to take lots of pictures and write about it!

P.S. My Normal Green column this week is all about green school supplies.

Comments

[Karen]

I know what you mean - some weeks are just plain hectic. Salmon is one of my quickie fall backs. I pan fry, seasoned with salt & pepper. When it's almost finished I add a sauce made of 3T soy sauce, 3T brown sugar & 3T lemon juice. Finish the salmon and remove to a serving plate. Cook the sauce down a smidge, then pour over the fish. Hot rice, steamed veggies - boom. You know my suggestion for the ground meat :) - tho kotlet can be a bit time consuming. Now if you just had a bag of frozen green beans lurking in your freezer...then we could talk loubia polo! I also used to make a turkey version of picadillo that my daughter loved, until she stopped eating raisins. I am rummaging in the freezer this week too - trying to clean up the fridge before we go on vaca. good luck!

[tnrsmama]

How about salmon pasta with a creamy sauce and some capers? or, my favorite, salmon scramble for dinner with dill. You could serve that with rice on the side. I learned to love eggs and rice when I lived in Hawaii - such a good combo. That would be a quick dinner.

Meatball sandwiches with the turkey meatballs. Serve with a cup of vegetable soup if its not too hot out.

Got any bell peppers around? You could make stuffed bell peppers with the rice and ground beef.

How about a nice little 50s style shrimp salad with the bay shrimp, cucumbers and tomatoes?

We are working out way through our freezer too right now trying to make room for the 50 pounds of grass fed beef that will be arriving in a month or so.

Good luck getting through the week!

[LizP]

With the beef, turkey, or meatballs you could make greek sandwiches (or pita pockets); adding your cuke and tomatoes. When J. gets milk and cereal have him get feta and a red onion :-)

Peas + corn + tomatoes + cuke = salsa?

grilled salmon or bay shrimp over caesar salad.

If I list the stuff in my freezer will you give me ideas what to make??? :-) :-) :-)

[Asianmommy.com]

How about Sloppy Joe's?

[Green]

I always have frozen baby shrimp. Every so often I buy bay scallops, and once I toss pasta into boiling water, in a saucepan I fry up the scallops, tossing in some bacon salt and minced garlic. While that's going I have the shrimp in a strainer with water running over it to defrost it. Then I toss that into the scallops, drain the pasta, dump the seafood on top, sprinkle in some cheese, and consider it dinner.

[Karen]

yum!

[pamela Hornik]

Do you need me to pick anything up at WF for you, or TJs..I am there almost daily.

I have no advice, I am making a cobb salad from Real Simple tonight. I missed the farmers market too.

[Rick Bucich]

I've got to get to know Karen...salmon as a fall-back, that's impressive! Wow, I stress about salmon, always afraid I'll dry it out.

I usually bake in tin foil skin down with the meat basted with olive oil, sea salt, bread crumbs, garlic and a bunch of herbs.

Thanks for the Ikea tip! We have one nearby in Palo Alto.