Monday

Chili relleno casserole (recipe in the comments from January 10, 2008)
Corn tortillas, red salsa
Canteloupe

Hot tea
Reaspberry lemon ice
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This was the perfect meal for tonight. It was pretty chilly today and by evening very rainy. The warm casserole was great, but the lighter even summer-y flavors were perfect for early fall. Also, this may very well be our last local melon for the year and it was AMAZING! This is also a great meal because it's so easy. There were no classes today (Yom Kippur), so I came home early to work and quickly made the casserole before I went to get T from daycare. M pulled the casserole out just as we got home. How easy is that?

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Scallions, grate cheese, melon
Time: 10 minutes to prep, 35-40 minutes to bake
Make ahead: I often will put the solid layers in the pan and whip the eggs and milk ahead, pouring the custard on just before baking.


Reaction:
"It's like a mix of summer and fall - just like our weather!"

The kid report:
T loved this and even was unusually excited about salsa tonight. We were so excited about watching him eat little burritos :)

Monday

Black bean burrito bake (recipe in the comments from November 5)
Avocado and tomato salad

Hot tea
Vanilla ice cream
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There's something about this dish. It's one of the easiest things we make and, yet, it's just incredible. It's flavorful, unusual, and comforting. How often does that happen??? Besides it gives us a chance to have an avocado salad - an experience we relish. T has started to like avocados more and so it's now universally exciting (for a long time he didn't like plain avocados, but loved guacamole - who knows what drives his tastes???). The countdown to the move has gotten very low (10 days!) so we're looking for easy and yummy. This was perfect. We spread the salsa more evenly over the burritos and thought the result was especially moist and good.

Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Chipotle chili, grating cheese, avocado, tomato
Time: 15 minutes to prep, 20 minutes to bake
Make ahead: It best to make this fresh.

Reaction
J: "More decadent than it should be."
M: "Spreading the salsa was the right thing to do. Very good tonight."