Meals for the Week: Countdown Edition

We're heading out on August 11 for a long visit with the extended family, so meal planning will go on hiatus for about a month after this post. Good for me, sad for you...

I made meatballs again this past Sunday. Ugh. I just can't seem to nail down a good recipe for Italian-flavored meatballs. I can make a decent meatball that's meatloaf-like and I can make nice dumpling-like soup meatballs, but it's hard to master making the sort you expect with spaghetti.

They should be solid enough to hold their round shape and offer a good bite, but still tender, not chewy. They should taste of lightly of garlic and parmesan, not ketchup.

I'm giving up. I liked those sacks of frozen meatballs I used to buy at Bratislava's Ikea. I'm going that route next time.

If you're interested, the recipe I attempted was the one that won the Throwdown episode on meatballs. Clearly this was a recipe scaled down from a commercial kitchen, as all the measurements were by weight.

I'm fine with using my kitchen scale, but I wasn't able to anticipate exactly how much of each ingredient that I usually measure volumetrically that I would need. Turns out that 2 ounces of chopped garlic is more than one full head -- I had to run up to the store for more.

I didn't bother getting the extra half-ounce each of basil and parsley called for, but I don't think that was the reason my meatballs turned out flat and loose compared to the ones I saw on TV. Again -- ugh.

Monday
Meatball subs
Corn on the cob
Tomato salad

Tuesday
Grilled pizzas
Salad

Wednesday
Beef fried rice
Salad

Thursday
Country-fried steaks
Mashed potatoes
Salad

Friday
Grilled sandwiches
Gazpacho

Saturday
Slow-cooked country-style pork ribs with pineapple and ginger
Baked beans
Mac and cheese
Salad

Sunday
Fettucine alfredo
Salad

Monday
Turkey burgers
Baked fries
Salad

Tuesday
Lasagna
Salad

Meals for the Week: Hot, Hot, Hot

Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It stopped to say hello in May, then abandoned us for two months, only to return with a vengeance now in late July.

We're expecting a week with highs in the 90s, so I am attempting to cut back on heating up the apartment with cooking a bit. I'm planning to use the toaster oven for tonight's dinner, and I cooked our rice in the microwave yesterday. If I can dig up the half-size muffin pan I think I have in the back of the cupboard, I should be able to make tomorrow's meal in the toaster, too.

Monday
Red beans and rice with smoked turkey sausage
Spinach and tomato salad

Tuesday
Overnight French toast casserole with sage sausage
Cantaloupe and cherries

Wednesday
Corndog muffins with smoked turkey sausage
Pea salad
Salad

Thursday
Grilled pizza
Salad

Friday
Sandwiches
Chips
Salad

Saturday
Bulgogi
Spicy green beans
Jasmine rice

Sunday
Spaghetti with meatballs and hot Italian sausage
Salad

Meals for the Week: Restarting the Week

Our meals got all shifted around all through last week, and we didn't end up sticking much to our schedule. Thus, this week's meals are largely what I'd planned for last week's meals! Since I didn't post meals for last week, it doesn't make much difference in the end.

Monday
Shells and meatballs with tomato sauce
Garlic bread
Spinach salad

Tuesday
Grilled kielbasa
Potato salad
Spinach salad

Wednesday
Beans and cornbread
Salad

Thursday
Turkey bake
Salad

Friday
Beef and bean tacos
Tortilla chips and salsa

Saturday
Pesto pasta with tomatoes and chicken
Rolls
Salad
(Merry Christmas in July!)

Sunday
Huevos rancheros

Meals for the Week: Sick in Bed Edition

Despite being sick, I did plan a full slate of meals this week. Ground beef was on sale, so I'm planning several upcoming meals around it. All this week's meals will be served with salad and bread of some sort for simplicity's sake.

Monday
Pork fried rice with mixed veggies

Tuesday
Tamale pie

Wednesday
Chicken and Rice with Broccoli and Cheddar

Thursday
Cincinnati chili

Friday
Franks and beans

Saturday
Spanish tortilla

Sunday
Crispy Tofu with Sweet Soy-Garlic Sauce

Meals for the Week: Clearing the Cupboards

Sorry I'm a little late this week. I'm going a bit crazy and have lost track of time a bit. Summer kind of throws a wrench in the usual routines.

We're trying to eat down our reserves a bit this week. We've accumulated a few odd cans in the back of the pantry, a lot of extra buns and rolls on the counter, and sad-looking foods in the fridge. I had to do some salad surgery on Monday, tearing my way through the three romaine hearts we had to find the leaves unaffected by shrivel and browning. I salvaged three night's worth of salad for two, which we're eating in quick succession before it can go bad.

Monday
Pulled chicken sandwiches
Corn
Salad

Tuesday
Hamburgers stuffed with reduced-fat cheddar
Roasted potatoes
Salad

Wednesday
Rigatoni with meatballs (can)
Macaroni and cheese (box)
Leftover corn
Salad
(Happy Canada Day!)

Thursday
Spanish tortilla
Bagels
Salad

Friday
Lemon-butter chicken cutlets
Mixed veggies
Potato-leek soup (can)

Saturday
Turkey hot dogs
Chips
Salad
(Happy Fourth of July!)

Sunday
Barbecue Cornish hen
Baked beans
Muffins
Salad

Meals for the Week: Post Office A-Go-Go

I've been going to the post office every day for the past week or two due to the pull of a small, steady trickle of book sales via Half.com. My cookbook collection has been pared, and I've finally let go of some old textbooks from college that I had to admit I'll never read again. When we move again, maybe we'll have a box or two less than we might otherwise have to carry.

As far as cookbooks go, I've found there are only a few I use with regularity. For baking, I rely on King Arthur Flour's series of books and the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. For meals, I turn to other books from the editors of Cook's Illustrated, as well as The Joy of Cooking. Sometimes I refer to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, too.

But my celebrity chef books? My random, often bargain, cookbooks? They mostly gather dust.

Incidentally, Giada De Laurentiis's cookbook Everyday Italian has retained its value very well on the secondary market. Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse books are lucky to sell for 75 cents. Interpret that as you will.

Monday
Hot dogs
Baked beans
Coleslaw

Tuesday
Special anniversary dinner

Wednesday
Risotto with chicken and thyme
Salad

Thursday
Burritos
Tortilla chips and salsa
Slaw

Friday
Loaded baked potatoes
Biscuits
Salad

Saturday
Shells and spinach in cheese sauce
Salad

Sunday
Barbecue pulled chicken sandwiches
Corn
Baked beans
Salad

Meals for the Week: Hawaiian Vacation

Well, not a Hawaiian vacation for us. My brother is gone traveling for the week, so it's just the two of us eating dinner most days. Even with reducing the amount of food I make, I'm still ending up with more leftovers than I would have expected. At least I don't have to make a new salad every night.

Monday
Honey mustard chicken cutlets
Potato salad
Salad

Tuesday
Hot dogs
Baked beans
Salad

Wednesday
Pork chops with applesauce
Macaroni and cheese
Salad

Thursday
Chicken wraps
Corn on the cob
Cucumber salad

Friday
Hamburgers
Roasted potatoes
Coleslaw

Saturday
Grilled bone-in chicken
Mixed vegetables
Biscuits
Slaw

Sunday
Spaghetti with sausage sauce
Rolls
Salad

Meals for the Week: Grocery Score

On Sunday, Scott and I made out like bandits at Albertson's. I'd collected a store coupon good for $5 off a $40 purchase, plus there were more coupons in this past week's store flyer good for doubling manufacturer's coupons. Add in a huge sale on mostly Kraft products combined with Kraft giving away tons of coupons in the past month, and we achieved massive savings.

Our receipt, which is about three feet long, rang up $107.90 in purchases (with every item except a small watermelon being on sale). After all our coupons, the total dropped to a mere $63.35. Between the sale savings and coupons, we knocked $152.94 off Albertson's regular (albeit inflated -- this is a regular grocery store, after all) prices.

I have more store coupons I can use at Albertson's, so I may visit again next week if I find another compelling sale. In general, I prefer Costco and Fred Meyer as they offer very good everyday prices in addition to good sales. It took me a few days to strategize the big Albertson's trip for taking maximum advantage of loss leaders, and I'm not keen on putting in so much effort regularly.

I am glad to have access to stores that don't play the typical grocer game of jacking up prices on most items while luring you in with a few huge sale items. I do feel envious of my relatives' access to Aldi, though, which hasn't made it to Seattle. The prices are rock-bottom, and it's just like shopping at the little grocery stores we frequented in East-Central European cities (which makes sense, as there are Aldi stores in Austria and Germany).

Monday
Spaghetti with sausage sauce
Garlic rolls
Salad

Tuesday
Barbecue grilled bone-in chicken breasts
Mixed veggies
Salad

Wednesday
Patty melts
Roasted potatoes
Salad

Thursday
Quesadillas
Corn on the cob
Cucumber salad

Friday
Pork chops and applesauce
Rolls
Salad

Saturday
Risotto with chicken
Salad

Sunday
Cincinnati chili
Spaghetti
Salad

Meals for the Week: Stocking Up

I'm doubling up on a couple meals this week to have extra in the freezer for later this month. I'm thinking I'll make twice as much burrito filling (also good for tacos) and double the chili (also good for hot dogs and eggs).

I have lots of boxed macaroni and cheese from a sale purchase at Costco, and I've been looking for ways to jazz it up. It's a little bland on its own. Hot sauce and mustard add zing; shredded cheese ups the flavor, too. This week, I'm trying to also make it healthier by stirring in frozen chopped spinach and replacing the skim milk and butter with evaporated milk.

By the way, assuming you're not a person who hates white, creamy sauces (you know who you are), you should definitely try fresh corn on the cob slathered with this artichoke sauce. I made it for artichokes initially, but having only prepared two 'chokes, we had a lot left over. Taking a cue from Mexican cuisine, we used it in place of butter on our corn later that week. Yum! Tangy and far superior to just butter and salt. It may be a bit lighter, too, as we use reduced-fat mayo and sour cream.

Monday
Asian-marinated pork chops (held over from last week)
Sesame noodles
Salad

Tuesday
Baked beans and smoked sausage
Mixed veggies
Garlic bread

Wednesday
Scrambled eggs and bacon
Cottage fries
Toasted English muffins
Salad

Thursday
Beef and bean burritos
Corn on the cob with mayo/sour cream/lemon sauce
Salad

Friday
Fried cheese
Potato salad
Salad

Saturday
Cincinnati chili
Spaghetti
Salad

Sunday
Grilled pork chops
Spinach macaroni and cheese
Salad

Meals for the Week: Happy Memorial Day!

Hope your holiday is going great!

Monday
Sloppy joes
Home fries
Salad

Tuesday
Pork chops milanese
Lemon farfalle
Salad

Wednesday
Black bean soup
Bread
Salad

Thursday
Strata
Salad

Friday
Dragon meatloaf
Mashed potatoes
Soup

Saturday
Buffalo chicken salad
Garlic toast

Sunday
Asian-marinated pork chops
Sesame noodles
Salad

Meals for the Week: Breakfast Love

Saturday we had Belgian waffles for dinner (sprinkling chocolate chips directly on the batter on the iron makes for a great treat, incidentally), and tonight we had biscuits and gravy. I have dozens of eggs in the fridge, too, so there's bound to be many breakfast-style meals on our menu.

Scott and I had "breakfast" for all three meals today, actually: cereal for our real breakfast, leftover waffles for lunch, and biscuits and gravy for dinner.

Lest you think we're packing on pounds just before swimsuit season, I made the sausage gravy with a mere half pound of sausage (for the three of us) and skim milk. I'm not nuts, after all.

It's a bit difficult to plan side dishes for breakfast meals. There's potatoes and fruit, of course, but beyond that it gets tricky. I'm open to suggestions.

I'd like to take a moment to direct you to my latest project, if you have an interest in old-fashioned, homestyle cooking: Grancook.com, the web site for the cookbook I'm producing with my in-laws that collects my husband's grandmother's favorite recipes. You can read more about the project there, plus you can sign up to be notified when the cookbook is published if you are interested in purchasing it. We have a blog over on the site, too, with one recipe published so far and more to come.

Monday
Biscuits and gravy
Fruit
Salad

Tuesday
Pork chops and applesauce
Mac and cheese
Slaw

Wednesday
Flat-iron steaks
Edamame and sugar snap peas with garlic pickle
Garlic mashed potatoes
Soup

Thursday
Cheese pizza
Salad

Friday
Macaroni and meat sauce
Rolls
Salad

Saturday
Cornish hens with bacon and onions
Ginger ale carrots
Bread
Salad

Sunday
Kielbasa in a blanket
Corn
Baked beans
Salad

Sandra’s Money Saving Meals

Sandra’s Money Saving Meals: "Sit down, Semi-Homemade haters -- you're in for a shock. Sandra Lee can cook from scratch! OK, not everything Sandra makes on her new show, Sandra's Money Saving Meals, is entirely from fresh, unprocessed ingredients -- it's Sandra Lee, after all -- but she aggressively declares independence from the 70/30 philosophy with ..."

I didn't really expect to like Sandra Lee's new show. Her old one has cheesy charm, but I could probably count on one hand the number of her recipes I've tried. That's not to say they're all wretched, though a few are (cough -- Chinese Chicken Salad). Rather:

1. They often require shortcut ingredients I don't normally stock in my pantry, like meatloaf seasoning packets or cream soups. I'm not entirely opposed to using these, but I feel like they add extra expense while bringing no extra flavor benefit. It's true that you can mimic things like cream of chicken soup by making homemade velouté sauce, but once you start unpacking all those convenience foods you start making a recipe that little resembles the original anyway.

2. She seems to love mushrooms. We don't.

3. One recipe every show is for a cocktail. We enjoy cocktails, but our bar is not nearly well-stocked enough to make Sandra Lee's concoctions. She must have every flavor of vodka under the sun.

I could probably think of more reasons eventually, but number one is the chief reason. Ironically enough, I find many of her recipes too tiring to contemplate because of the sheer number of substitutions I'd have to make.

As an aside, Rachael Ray's recipes have also gotten tiring over the years. Once she broke out of upstate New York, she discovered all sorts of weird or overly gourmet flavor combos, stuff that requires an ingredient list a mile long.

Maybe if you're Rachael you can make a dish requiring 15 ingredients in 30 minutes, but if you're human you're spending half the time digging out said ingredients plus all the bowls and pans to put them in. Even her Express Lane Meals book has astoundingly long ingredient lists; she gets away with it by establishing upfront that you have to maintain a sizable pantry of her faves that you restock weekly. It was the last Rachael Ray book I ever added to my library.

Anyway, Sandra Lee's new show gets away from her shortcut philosophy, so in the first episode at least we got simple recipes that don't require finding raspberry-walnut vinaigrette or canned chow mein vegetables.

While I was ahead of her on most of the money-saving tips (I regularly check the day-old bread rack and always go generic unless I have a huge coupon), a couple did enlighten even me. Most people aren't so well-informed on grocery shopping strategies (like me a few years ago), and they'll benefit from having someone not only give the info but make the case for following through.

Meals for the Week: Hectic Supermarkets

I've been to the supermarket too often in the last week, and I think I'm going to throw tomatoes at the next set of people who park their carts side by side in the aisle to chat. Or who walk right into my path looking aimless. Or who tailgate me through produce.

And while I'm at it, I think I'll go drip dirty water from my tomato plants onto the balcony below that belongs to the smoker currently polluting my window draft.

Monday
Sausage quiche
Strawberries and bananas
Salad

Tuesday
Lemon pepper pork chops
Corn
Biscuits
Pea salad

Wednesday
Orange fried chicken salad with edamame

Thursday
Spaghetti carbonara
Garlic bread
Salad

Friday
Fresh mozzarella and pesto pizza
Salad

Saturday
Waffles and bacon
Pineapple
Toasted English muffins and jam

Sunday
Crunchy Asian-style pasta salad
Soup

Meals for the Week: Holding Pattern

I had to skip the grocery store today, which mostly means I'm rationing salads until I can make it to Costco again. I've been testing out replacing some salads with canned soup lately anyway. It's pretty positive so far: The cost is similar or less than salad, and it's actually a little more filling.

The only problem, as pointed out by my husband, is that the weather is warming and soon soup might seem less appetizing. Still, there's always cold soup.

I haven't done many soup courses up until now because I've been avoiding canned soup. It tends to be mushy and overly salty. Tonight's condensed alphabet soup fell into that category, and I don't see myself getting that one again soon. On the other hand, Andersen's pea soup with bacon was delicious, even when stretched with some extra water. On the downside, it's significantly pricier than condensed soup.

Monday
Macaroni and cheese and ham casserole
Baked beans
Vegetable alphabet soup

Tuesday
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Beef chimichangas
Taco salad

Wednesday
Pizza with banana peppers and onions
Salad

Thursday
Ham and cheese paninis
Chili

Friday
Cheeseburger potatoes
Biscuits
Salad

Saturday
Baked wagon wheels
Bread
Salad

Sunday
Roasted chicken breasts
Baked beans
Bread
Salad

Meals for the Week: Abbreviated for Travel

We're leaving tomorrow afternoon for about a week, so the only meal I had planned out was . . . today's. We had my attempt to copy Stouffer's vegetable lasagna, which turned out pretty well except for a salt deficiency.

I thought I had accounted for seasoning all right, adding several pinches of kosher salt to my veggies and breadcrumbs, as well as generously seasoning my cream sauce. I tasted the sauce, and it was delicious on its own, but somehow the flavors became muted when combined into the lasagna.

I blame the noodles in part. Clearly I need to overseason the sauce to make up for the no-boil noodles not having sucked in any of their own salt. Probably the veggies needed more garlic and salt, too.

At any rate, a heavy sprinkle of California-style garlic salt over the top added the missing element for a decent meal. We ate it alongside a tossed salad and the last homemade baguette, which we dipped in delicious seasoned oil.

Incidentally, that oil was seasoned using a mix from the company Herbs for Healthful Living. I can find the whole line of mixes (including the perfect icebox dill pickle mix) at local farmstand/craftsy stores when I'm visiting my family in Pennsylvania, but alas, they apparently have no web site for me to order more from.

I'll have to rely on the old-fashioned method of asking my mom to mail them to me when I need to restock!

Meals for the Week: Ham, Ham, and More Ham

Though I purchased the smallest spiral-sliced ham on offer at Fred Meyer, we still came out of Easter with two big tubs of leftovers. Scott's been enjoying ham sandwiches ever since, but I know I have to work some ham into our dinner plans to help make a dent. Some leftovers may still have to migrate to the freezer nonetheless.

On another note, I discovered the perfect tool for filling deviled eggs on Sunday: a small, "teaspoon" cookie scoop
. True, you can spoon the filling into a zip-top bag, snip off a corner, and pipe the yolk mix into the whites, but I was making four different egg fillings and didn't want to muck up four different bags. A mounded scoop from the smallest of my cookie scoops was just the right size to fill each egg, plus it left a smooth, evenly rounded top. I'll post a picture later.

Monday
Salad bar
Biscuits

Tuesday
Omelets
Home fries
Strawberries
Toast

Wednesday
Pasta caprese
French bread
Salad

Thursday
Fried chicken
Baked beans
Biscuits
Slaw

Friday
Baked chili-hoisin tofu
Garlic pickle broccoli
Light sesame noodles
Salad

Saturday
Spaghetti with meat sauce
Garlic toast
Salad

Sunday
Black bean and chicken enchiladas
Tortilla chips
Salad

Meals for the Week: Beans and More Beans

Over the next few days, I'm helping us undo the damage of a week of vacation followed by a week of our building's fitness room being closed. We actually didn't gain much weight - I was up maybe a pound, and that's easily within the realm of daily fluctuations - but we do need to get our digestive and muscular systems back on track.

Exercise is so "use it or lose it." I ached terribly after returning to a full 30-minute strength-training routine after getting back to California.

Anyway, this week's meals lean heavily on beans. I stocked up on beans at Costco and Fred Meyer last week, plus I just so happen to LOVE beans. They have a comforting starchy texture and fill your stomach nicely, all without a load of calories or an empty wallet.

Monday
Taco salad with beef and black beans (inspired by Kalyn's Kitchen)
Cornmeal muffins (I might be making this recipe wrong, but I love how the Hillbilly Housewife's recipe turns out muffins that taste like rich disks of polenta)

Tuesday
Whole-wheat macaroni and cheese with chicken and broccoli
Whole-wheat breadsticks
Salad

Wednesday
Baked beans with spicy smoked sausage
Broccoli with cheese sauce
Whole-wheat breadsticks
Coleslaw

Thursday
Chicken lo mein
Asian slaw

Friday
Pizza with pesto, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella on whole-wheat crust
Salad

Saturday
Spaghetti with meat sauce (from last week's massive batch!)
Garlic breadsticks
Salad

Sunday - Easter!
Spiral-sliced ham
Roasted potatoes
Asparagus (I think)
Deviled eggs
Biscuits
Salad

Meals for the Week: Back in the Kitchen

We have returned from California, and I've thrown myself right back into kitchen work. I have a double pot of meat sauce simmering away on the stove right now, which will go to stock the freezer for later this month, and I have meals all planned out for the week ahead. Let's eat!

Monday
Bacon and eggs
Crepes
Strawberries and grapes

Tuesday
Chicken cutlet club sandwiches
Green beans
Fries
Salad

Wednesday
Turkey pepperoni pizza
Salad

Thursday
Buffalo chicken sausages with onions on rolls
Green beans
Salad

Friday
Bean bowls with toppers: Sour cream, avocado, salsa, tomatoes, onions, cheese, hot sauce, green onions, etc.
Cornbread muffins
Salad

Saturday
Shepherd’s pie
Muffins or rolls
Salad

Sunday
Rice and chili beans with smoked sausage
Broccoli with cheese sauce
Salad

Meals for the Week: Bringing on the Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Though it was never a tradition in my Irish-American family to eat corned beef and cabbage on March 17, my English- and Scottish-American husband had it every year growing up.

This was my second year giving it a try, and while I still can't get excited for cooked cabbage, I did think this year's corned beef was much improved. While Scott wasn't so sure about the sweet molasses glaze, he loved how tender the meat turned out. My brother and I both enjoyed the glaze -- having not grown up with corned beef, we don't have such entrenched notions of how salty it should taste, I suppose.

I'll provide the recipe below. Grab some corned beef before it's gone and try it!

Next week is our visit to California, so no meal plan. To tide yourself over, check out my articles for Well Fed:

Eliminations Ice the Cake Competition on Food Network

Spiced-Up Healthy Recipe Contest

Monday
Turkey, sausage, and cornbread croquettes
Salad

Tuesday
Molasses and whiskey-glazed corned beef
Beer-braised cabbage
Boiled potatoes
Irish brown soda bread
Salad

Wednesday
Guinness beef stew
Mashed potatoes
Irish brown soda bread

Thursday
French toast with sausage or leftover beef stew

Friday
Grilled cheese
Caesar salad

Saturday
California

And the corned beef! I had a 2.5 pound point-cut brisket, so I reduced the amount of glaze for our dinner. I still ended up with tons of glaze, so I kept basting the meat. With heat, the glaze thickened, making it easier to stick to the meat. I served the meat on the baking sheet with the basting brush available for slathering on extra glaze.

Corned Beef with Molasses-Bourbon Glaze
Source: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

Cooker: Medium oval or large round or oval
Setting and Cook Time: LOW for 9 to 11 hours; baked in the oven for 15 minutes to finish

Ingredients:
One 3- to 4-pound corned beef brisket with seasoning packet, rinsed
2 bay leaves
8 black peppercorns
2 allspice berries
1 small cinnamon stick (I used a teaspoon of cinnamon)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
2 dried chiles de arbol (I used a spoonful of Asian chili-garlic paste)

Glaze:
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
1 tablespoon dry mustard or Dijon mustard
1/4 cup light molasses
1/3 cup bourbon (I used Irish whiskey)

1. Put the corned beef in the slow cooker. If the meat is too big to lie flat in your cooker, cut it in half and stack the pieces one atop the other. Add water to just cover the brisket. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon, mustard seeds, and chiles (I also added the seasoning packet). Cover and cook on LOW for 9 to 11 hours.

2. Meanwhile, make the glaze by mixing together the brown sugar, mustard, molasses, and bourbon in a medium-size bowl. Cover and refrigerator until needed.

3. When the brisket is tender, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with oil. Lift the brisket out of its cooking liquid and transfer to the baking sheet. Spoon the glaze over the beef to coat the entire surface on both sides. Bake, basting with any leftover glaze, for 15 minutes to set the glaze.

Make sure to slice the meat across the grain. You need a gentle touch and a sharp knife because it does want to fall apart!

Meals for the Week: Favorites and Flashbacks

This week, I included a few well-liked dishes from my days traveling in Europe on our menu. A week or so ago, we found a whole section of Polish foods at a grocery store we don't often frequent, and wonder of wonders, they had a white barszcz mix.

For those who haven't traveled to Poland, it's . . . well, it's hard to say exactly, as I've had trouble finding out how to make it myself. It involves smoked sausage (kielbasa, if you will - but every sausage is "kielbasa" in Eastern/Central Europe) and I think a fermented rye base. Sometimes it comes with a halved hard-cooked egg in it. It's unusual and surprisingly delicious.

We're also having butter chicken. I discovered my love for Indian food in Europe, too, where they're way ahead of the curve compared to us when it comes to appreciating ethnic foods. The slaw I'm making alongside uses garlic pickle, a condiment found with the Indian foods in the store that adds strong and delectable flavor to any veggie.

Friday we'll enjoy a vegetarian version of the traditional English breakfast for dinner. We tucked into something similar every morning when we visited Ireland just after I finished college. It keeps you going for a long, long time . . .

Monday
Enchiladas
Refried black beans
Mexican rice
Salad

Tuesday
Hamburgers
Fries
Thousand island slaw

Wednesday
Butter chicken
Rice
Garlic pickle slaw

Thursday
White barszcz with smoked sausage
Whole-wheat rolls
Salad

Friday
Cheesy eggs
Baked beans
Toast triangles
Sliced tomatoes

Saturday
Turkey breast with gravy
Cranberry sauce
Mixed veggies
Mashed potatoes
Cornbread
Salad

Sunday
Chili
Cornbread
Salad