Meal Planning Monday for 8/18/08

Last Friday we were gifted with a giant CSA bounty of beautiful vegetable from a local Twitterista who was going out of town for the weekend so I have plenty of raw (heh) ingredients for our menu this week. The bag included heads of lettuce as big as my head, huge, plum-sized radishes and the most glorious bunch of inky purple basil I've ever seen. I used up an entire box of those green bags putting everything away.  Given that I have so many fresh greens on hand, this week is going to be even more vegetarian that usual.  Here's what I'm thinking:

• Mexican Monday: Big, huge butter lettuce salad with chopped leftover grilled chicken, rice, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, and crumbled cotija.
• Tuesday: Raw summer pepper, garlic, basil, and tomato sauce (a luscious pureed sauce I learned from my beloved Roman aunt) over pasta, arugula and radish salad with chevre and lemony dressing
• Wednesday: Japanese vegetable curry, rice, sauteed rainbow chard
• Thursday: Grass-fed beef Kotlet-e-Gusht, broccoli, salad
• Friday Family Movie Night: Take out
• Saturday & Sunday: we'll be out of town for a last hurrah summer weekend before Bunny goes back to school. Sniff!

Do you love salads like I do? I have to eat some form of salad every day. What are your favorite salad combos? And, aside from that, what are you cooking this week?

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Comments

[Kristen]

My very favorite salad is a variation of what you're having -- crunchy lettuce, black beans, avocado (or guac, if I have it on hand), lots of chunky salsa, peppers, tomatoes, onions ... I'm salivating just thinking about it. Sometimes I crunch up some tortilla chips on top, like Mexican croutons. And, at the moment, I have some spicy tempeh taco filling that I made for tacos on Saturday, so I think I might throw that in the salad. Dinner is going to be DELISH!

[LizP]

I like a buh-zillion types of lettuce (except frisee) and basalmic vinagrette ... that's it :-)

[emily]

I recently made a yummy salad with beets from our garden (roasted), mandarin orange slices, feta, walnuts, and greens. Mmmm. I love the sweet earthy flavor of roasted beets.

Any chance you can show us the sauce you're making tomorrow?

[Mara]

I made a similar salad to emily tonight - roasted beets, feta, toasted pine nuts, softened onion - all topped with a dressing of mustard, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Later this week I'm going to try the Indonesian Rice salad from the original Moosewood cookbook for the first time - it's got crushed pineapple in it, so I'm thinking the kids will love it. I'm also going to make cold berry soup from the same cookbook. Yum!

[Angie in Texas]

my favorite salad: spinach, avocados, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts and roasted red bell peppers (sometimes with or without red onion). tossed lightly with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
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tonight: roasted pork in an apricot glaze (it was a hit!)

tomorrow: fried rice with leftover veggies and leftover chicken - i love leftovers and rice!

wednesday: pasta and beef

thursday: kids' night to cook - quiche and salad (but not the one i just listed) =(

friday: flank steaks with salsa verde marinade

saturday: soba and dumplings (maybe some fried tofu, too.)

[Kellie]

My kids are not the adventurous eaters that yours are! But we are trying all the time to encourage good habits and new foods.

Sunday - grilled peppercorn beef, grilled sweet corn, salad (spinach, tomatoes, cukes, celery, carrots)

Monday - I had good intentions but my kitchen sink backed up, so we had Chick-fil-a with fresh fruit.

Tuesday - Crockpot spaghetti sauce, pasta, salad (spinach and such), apples from our trees!

Wednesday - pot roast, roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, fresh apples

Thursday - baked tilapia, steamed veggies, brown rice, fruit (we'll see what's available that day)

Friday - school movie night (pizza)

[Lia]

I mentioned this to you already but my fav right now is lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, goat cheese and raspberry dressing. I can't get enough of it!