Thursday

Spinach kugel (recipe in the comments from November 3, 2007)
Pickled beets and hearts of palm

Hot tea
Halloween Oreos (Thanks Grammie!)
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We haven't had kugel in WAY too long - especially since this is right up T's alley. This is a spinach casserole with eggs and cottage cheese as bulk. It bakes up fluffy and savory with nutmeg, garlic, and lemon juice for zing. Pickled beets and sliced hearts of palm is one of my favorite fall/winter side dishes. Nothing can be easier, it's colorful, and always in season. T also downs HUGE amounts of both. I think he's definitely related to me :)

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Garlic
Time: 25 minutes to prep, 45 minutes to bake
Make ahead: Yes - this saves perfectly.

Reaction:
"Still amazing after all these years"

The kid report:
A definite winner.

Wednesday

Twice baked Tex-Mex potatoes (recipe in the comments)
Corn and pimento salad
Green salad with salsa verde dressing

Hot tea
Peanut butter cookies
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We LOVE our salmon stuff potatoes, so when saw this recipe I thought, "We have to try this!". It turned out a bit bland, but the additions we made were amazing. This is going to be a regular in the repertoire. The two sides were great with it too, though you could do one or the other and have plenty of food. The corn salad is very simple (1 1/4 cup corn kernels (defrosted, if necessary) + 1 2 oz jar chopped pimentos (drained) + 1 t oil, 2 t red wine vinegar, and cumin, salt, and cayenne to taste) and a great, colorful addition.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Potatoes, scallions
Time: 1 hour to bake, 30 minutes to finish
Make ahead: I bet these will re-heat well

Reaction:
"Another fantastic twice baked potato."

The kid report:
He ate an whole potato (yes, two halves!). Woah.

Tuesday - Out to dinner at Gin Gin

M and I were going to see Avenue Q (the musical with puppets) tonight, but didn't have our sitter until 7, so we decided to go out with t and were looking for somewhere near campus. We'd been wanting to try a Chinese place near UB, called Gin Gin for a while, so we gave it a whirl. The food is supposed to be more authentic than our current favorite Golden Duck. The results were mixed. I think M liked it a lot, but while I found some parts excellent, much of it was very greasy and overly sweet to my taste. Also vegetables were virtually non-existent - always a downside for me. So, maybe we'll have to give it another try before we get a final verdict.

Appetizers:
Steamed dumplings (dumplings = some of the best ever, sauce = VERY sweet)
Hot and sour soup (AMAZING)

Entrees:
T - Shrimp lo mein (good, but a bit greasy)
J - Mongolian beef (really sweet, sticky and greasy)
M - Special marinated duck over rice (M reports this was great, but it looked VERY heavy)

Monday

Slow cooker Italian sausage agrodolce (recipe in the comments)
Egg noodles
Salad with balsamic vinegar

Hot tea
Raisinettes
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Yet another Wegman's Menu magazine recipe that's totally amazing. This is very Italian, but unlike anything else we make - hard to imagine. The sweetness of the sauce, cut with the acidic vinegar and slightly bitter cabbage is AMAZING. Served over egg noodles with a bit of butter you could take over small nations with this recipe. And the house smells wonderful all day! Fantastic :)

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Cabbage, onions
Time: 20 minutes to prep, 10 hours to cook
Make ahead: Yep.

Reaction:
"Really, this would work better than WMDs."

The kid report:
Totally enthralled - especially with the sausage and the raisins, but in general very positive responses.

Sunday

Sesame maple tofu (recipe in the comments from November 23, 2007)
Rice
Cucumber salad

Hot tea
Raisinettes
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The weird set of ingredients in the title makes this a surprisingly amazing dish. There's nothing else we make or eat that is anything like this. It's both rich and light. The whole thing is super yummy. We like feeding it to people and watching their reactions :) It was a good Sunday dinner because it's beautiful and feels festive. The clean up is easy too, which is good ebcause we prepped a crock pot dinner for tomorrow as well. That already smells fantastic!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Tofu cubes, sliced onions, cucumbers
Time: 35 minutes
Make ahead: Best right out of the oven.

Reaction:
"Simple, elegant,and delicious!"

The kid report:
As usual with tofu dinners, T picked out all the tofu to eat first, ate a few bites of rice, and was coaxed into a couple cucumbers. Tofu really may be his favorite food.

Saturday

Late harvest veggie pasta (recipe in the comments)
Grilled peppers

Hot tea
Apple mash with orange crumbles and vanilla ice cream
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This is another Wegman's Menu magazine recipe and another home run. We used very few actual Wegman's products for this one, other than their amazing fresh lasagne sheets. The cool thing is you cut those into thick noodles for the pasta here, making a truly homestyle noodle dish. That and the rich blend of veggies and the strong garlic and oregano flavors made this truly outstanding. This will definitely be featured again!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy (bordering on moderate)
Chopping: Zucchini,squash, onion, garlic, oregano, peppers
Time: 45 minutes
Make ahead: I would do this last minute if possible

Reaction:
"Outstanding - noodle should always be huge!"

The kid report:
T was verbally enthusiastic about liking this, but petered out pretty quickly. Hard to tell.

Friday

Quick tomato soup (recipe in the comments from February 10, 2009)
Local "meckt" cheese
Sourdough bread
Yellow fleshed melon (like watermelon)

Hot tea
Oreos
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This is an amazing easy meal. We have made this a couple times right before travel as an easy meal with no leftovers. This makes it great for Friday nights as well! Theo was thrilled with the soup and cheese. None of us were thrilled with the yellow fleshed melon, so that probably won't be featured again. Otherwise it was a great meal. Happy weekend!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Garlic, parsley, melon
Time: 25 minutes
Make ahead: I think this would save fine.

Reaction:
"Really I had never experienced tomato soup until this recipe."

The kid report:
T said this was "super!" I wonder if he meant "Soup-er!"