Wednesday

Spaetzles with ham and gruyere
Haricot verts, wax beans, and baby carrots

Peppermint bark
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M and I are both fools for German food. We love sausage, German potato salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage, spicy mustard, and the like. Perhaps one of our favorites though is the humble spaetzle. This egg-y cross between a noodle and a tiny dumpling is something just this side of heaven. This casserole shows them off very well - perfect chewy texture with just a bit of ham and a light sauce accented with the wonderful aroma and taste of gruyere cheese (A personal favorite as well. No, it's not just more expensive Swiss!). Though this takes a while because you have to bake it, the prep is simple and you can get everything cleaned up and have a cocktail or a glass of wine while it finishes. What a relaxing way to spend the evening. Maybe I'll even get a few Christmas cards addressed. Probably not.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Moderate
Chopping: Ham, grate cheese
Time: 25 minutes to prep + 30 minutes to bake.
Make ahead: This is a great leftover.

Reaction
J: "A very spaetzle dinner!"
M: "If gruyere is wrong, I don't want to be right."

Tuesday

Curried fried rice
Cucumber salad

Peppermint bark
Hot tea
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This is a really unusual recipe that was inspired by the first Moosewood cookbook we got actually written by the collective, rather than by Molly Katzen, called Moosewood Cooks At Home. It focuses on smaller scale, less heavy, easier preparation meals. It's PERFECT for us! We don't cook out of it as much as we once did, but some real winners come from this book. That said, for years this particular recipe has not been a complete winner. Why? Well, because J LOVES this recipe and M always felt it was only so so. J begs to put it on the weekly menu plan, M eventually capitulates, but then J feels bad because he doesn't love it. Well, a culinary miracle has occurred. Tonight, due to an oversight in preparation (we forgot to add the curry powder, a central part of a curried fried rice), we have totally reinvented this recipe and now BOTH think it's out of this world. Check it out - this isn't your standard take out fried rice.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Tomato, cucumbers
Time: 25 minutes for rice (best done ahead) + 25 minutes for stir frying.
Make ahead: It's best to make the rice ahead so it can chill, but the frying should be done last minute.

Reaction
J: "A rice revolution!"
M: "Cool Asian fusion"

Monday - Delivery from Cottage Inn

Thin crust pizza with black olives, sweet red peppers, broccoli, and onion
Traditional crust pizza with Italian sausage, green olives, fresh tomatoes, onions, and extra sauce
Antipasto salad

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Well today was just one of those Monday's. I had even made rice ahead of time for our curried fried rice recipe (check back tomorrow!), but we just couldn't wrap our minds around cooking. So Cottage Inn delivery came to the rescue. It was good and exactly the rest we needed from an already long work week!

Prep Notes
I love delivery

Reaction
J: "This new topping combo is the ultimate interpretation of 'pizza' " (thin crust)
M: "Something is missing, but I don't know what."

Sunday

Turkey kielbasa and spicy mustard
Egg noodles
Red cabbage (from a jar)
Applesauce with cinnamon

Peppermint bark
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This is a dinner J grew up eating (though it was often with a mix of egg noodles and green cabbage). It is homey and wonderful and requires VERY little work (no recipe you'll note, just heat the kielbasa through, boil the noodles, drain and simmer the cabbage mixed with a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in the drained juice and 12 whole cloves, and spoon out the applesauce). Just the scent of these foods makes me think of home. M has adopted them as his own and T is a big fan. How copacetic.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: None!
Time: 20 minutes tops!
Make ahead: All but the egg noodles.

Reaction
J: "Takes me back."
M: "Oom pah pah."

Saturday

Sweet potato pancakes (recipe in the comments)
Sour cream and applesauce (toppings)
Lemon asparagus

Clementines
Hot tea
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Here is another recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook (You can read about the significance of Moosewood for M & I here). It took us a while to get brave enough to make pancakes, but it's easier than you think. These are sweet and savory all at once and make a wonderful fall or winter meal. They're more filling than you'd think, but not heavy like a deep fried potato pancake. The toppings are essential for added depth of flavor and additional moistness, but not everyone likes both. I think they turn out best when you grate in a food processor (faster for you too) because the product is less wet. If you hand grate, drain the potato and onion well, even adding the salt to them to leech out extra liquid.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Moderate
Chopping: Parsley, sweet potato, onion
Time: 30 minutes
Make ahead: They're best fresh, but we have been known to snack on them cold right out of the refrigerator.

Reaction
J: "Not exactly latkes, but in the Hanukkah spirit."
M: "A whole latke fun!"

It's winter here. I know it won't technically be winter for another couple weeks, but in Michigan there's snow and ice and it's cold. We've since noticed the annual change in our grocery store's produce section - less variety, higher prices, lower quality. What's a foodie to do? Well, we have two approaches: 1) Embracing root vegetables and 2) Frozen food. Yes, both are mainstays of the vegetable universe at our house during the late fall - early spring season. Roots are good, plentiful, and cheap all through the winter. They're hearty and add bulk to meals on cold winter evenings. If you're only really familiar with potatoes and carrots, I strongly urge you to experiment with turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips. Beets can be good in winter, but are usually best (and least expensive) in the fall.

The other route is the frozen aisle. For some of you this may seem to go against much that we stand for (prepackaged, not fresh, not local), but if you think about the choices we face at this time of year, frozen makes a lot of sense. I cannot get around the fact that frozen vegetables are prepackaged. That's going to be a downside. However, in terms of freshness, frozen vegetables have as many or more nutrients as fresh vegetables, as they are frozen at the peak of ripeness. Most produce that you buy in stores is picked early to allow for ripening in transit (and to prevent bruising). Frozen vegetables are left on the vine (or plant or tree) for much longer and flash frozen pretty much immediately, trapping all those nutritional goodies inside. Frozen vegetables are not local, but no local produce is available in Michigan in December. Unless we quit eating vegetables (or take up canning!), buying veggies frozen in Des Moines is probably a better choice than fresh ones from Australia. The variety of frozen vegetables now available is amazing and allows us to eat some vegetables we don't usually buy, even at their peak, due to cost (witness tonight's wax beans and haricot verts). The last benefit from frozen vegetables is that you often get bonuses in terms of convenience - no chopping, blending done for you, and no slime in pre-sliced okra! I recommend individually quick frozen vegetables (IQF) over their "block" counterparts (if they come in a bag that when shaken sounds like a rattle it's likely IQF), but we certainly have used both.

Careful readers will note we do eat some long-transit fresh veggies (salad, cilantro, and parsley being notable offenders) in winter, but the root and frozen strategy takes us a long way!

Friday

Cheddar, corn and potato chowder (recipe in the comments)
Baguette
Steamed haricot vert, wax beans, and baby carrots in Dijon vinaigrette

Soft mints
Gingerbread spice tea
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This was one of the first recipes we made from Whole Foods' "Meals for 4 Under $15". It was fantastic and I say that as someone who made it with a four month old! We love chowders, as regular readers may be noticing (just wait for the Plum Island clam chowder - holy god!), and this is no exception. It's filling and homey, without making you feel like you've eaten a large stone. This is also a favorite of T's and makes enough leftovers for him to have several meals even if M and I have it for lunch one day. Thus, it's become a great Friday dinner, so we don't have to think about lunch plans for Saturday or Sunday. It also freezes quite well. Keep it chunky (don't immersion blend to maintain a very nice rustic texture and don't omit the parsley. Even though it's only a garnish, the flavor infuses the whole soup.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Moderate
Chopping: Onion, potato, parsley
Time: 40 minutes (not all active)
Make ahead: Absolutely.

Reaction
J: "Chowder, Chowder, Chowder!" - (chant like you would "Toro, Toro, Toro!"
M: "Hearty goodness."