Weekly Menu #2 for October!

Well, here's my second menu plan for October, and it's actually on time today! (Sort of. In future, I'd like to have these posted in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. Still, progress is progress! ;))

So here's what I'm planning to make this week....

Monday – Greek lemon soup (The Silver Palate Cookbook, p. 55) with flatbread

This is one of the meals I “sprung” on my unsuspecting husband one evening when we were newly married. His tastes are very—shall we say, American—and he doesn't always appreciate new foods! “Lemon soup” sounded pretty suspicious. Edit: OK, so I started out bragging about how much Andrew enjoyed this soup against his own will, but I have to admit he wasn't too enthusiastic about it last night. *Sigh* But honestly, it's almost a crime to dislike this soup. The flavor--oh my goodness, the flavor is out of this world! Not to mention this soup is very easy—and very inexpensive—to make. Check out the recipe here.

Tuesday – chicken cobb salad (Against All Grain, p. 136) with flatbread

I'm using the recipe from Danielle Walker's Against All Grain, a cookbook I own and wholeheartedly recommend. There's a similar (but not identical) recipe posted on her website, which you can find here. (The online version calls for marinating the chicken a longer period of time; in the book, she marinates it for only 30 min. It's probably great either way! In fact...I may not marinate it at all...)

I love “hearty” salads—with meat, cheese, nuts, etc. Something that fills you up and offers a wide variety of flavors and textures that compliment each other. I love the flexibility, too; you can dress it up or down anyway you want. This recipe calls for avocado, bacon, chicken, boiled eggs, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts; I'll take away the avocado and replace the bacon with ham (a crying shame, but I don't have either on hand), and add some cheese and kalamata olives. Can't waaaaaiiit!

Wednesday - Thai pad see ew (Against All Grain, p. 148)

Another recipe from Against All Grain. Again, pretty easy, not much to it, but delicious! One of the few "foreign" foods that my hubby will eat. Click here to view the recipe. 

Thursday – lemon chicken (The Silver Palate Cookbook, p. 55) with wild rice and green veggie

I haven't made this one before, but wow...I am really looking forward to it! This recipe looks amazing. I'll probably make a few tweaks, since I avoid using sugar or white flour in my meals whenever possible. Maybe I'll coat the chicken with Parmesan instead...mmm. I'll let you know how it goes!

The chicken recipe is posted here. 

Friday – salisbury steak (Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison, p. 174), steamed veggie, mashed potatoes (for Andrew & Dean)

Definitely a keeper—very satisfying, very flavorful.

Saturday – pizza

Gotta have Saturday night pizza! SO easy when you make the dough ahead of time (thispizza dough recipe is amazing). And it's fun to experiment with the toppings. Usually I just do sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni, but last week I ran out of sauce. It was just as good without it, honestly. I covered one half of the pizza with pepperoni and the other half with sliced jalapenos and kalamata olives...gosh, that was amazing.

Sunday – leftover pizza

Note: If you were wondering, the Parmesan-coated fish sticks from last week turned out great. The Parmesan worked well as a replacement for the white flour. :)