Last week found me buying copious snacks and supplies for Hurricane Florence’s visit to the mountains, but by the time she got to our house she was just a regular old rainstorm. A very rainy and insistent storm, but not one that required any special supplies. Our power was out for about four hours yesterday, and we spent the time reading, playing Carcassonne and Say Anything and eating our hurricane snacks.
I’m grateful to be back to our regular, not-waiting-for-a-hurricane schedule this week. Here’s what we’ll be having for dinner:
This uses Gochujang sauce, which I’ve never used before. I’d never even heard of it until recently, and when I went to buy it for a recipe it was really expensive so I made something else instead. I guess it’s become more mainstream since then, though, because the price has come down considerably. Minimalist Baker says it’s really easy to make at home, but I bought a bottle before I learned that.
Pete has been playing Dungeons and Dragons on Wednesday nights, so we haven’t been together for Wednesday night dinner all that much lately. We generally pick up a cheeseburger and a Filet O’ Fish on the way there, but I think we may try something else this week. Poppy and Rockford, meanwhile, will be eating eggs at home.
Thursday: Honey soy pork tenderloin
I’m trying to make something in the CrockPot on Thursdays, because it’s our wackiest day, schedule-wise. This week we’re trying honey-soy pork tenderloin from Add A Pinch.
Friday: Frozen pizza
I don’t have much to say about frozen pizza except that I asked our local Publix if they’d start carrying Amy’s Vegan Margherita Pizza so I wouldn’t have to go to a competing grocery store for one solitary item, and they did. Thanks Publix!
Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.
As I do from time to time, I’ve been thinking about shutting Butterscotch Sundae down. And I still haven’t made a decision about that, but obviously it hasn’t been a priority. It’s been … a bit since I posted.
But here it is Monday, and I without much on the schedule for the day. So let’s see if we can dip back into this.
Obviously, a lot of eating has gone on here at Butterscotch Sundae headquarters even though I haven’t told you about it. You could infer this from the fact that we are all still alive, but here are a few things I’ve made recently, if you need further evidence.
I’ve had the Cúrate cookbook for a couple of years, but I hadn’t made anything with it because it’s a little intimidating. I finally decided that roasted potatoes couldn’t be that difficult, so I tried the patatas bravas recipe. Holy moly, you guys, it was delicious.
patatas bravas from the Curate cookbook
Pete wanted me to make some peanut butter cup ice cream, and I obliged. I think this may be the first ice cream I’ve made since I went dairy-free. I popped a Lactaid so I could try it, and it was very, very good.
peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cups
I had a hankering for bahn mi, and this Tofu Bahn Mi completely satisfied. I pickled a peach along with the veggies for a few minutes, and it made the whole thing soar. Now I just have to remember where I found the tofu marinade recipe.
Tofu bahn mi
Here’s what’ll be on our table this week.
Monday: Spaghetti and meatballs
I finally realized that without meatballs, I’m always hungry 30 minutes after I eat pasta. All hail the mighty protein.
Tuesday: Turkey sandwiches
Or maybe meatball sandwiches, if there are meatballs left over. And if I don’t eat those meatballs for breakfast.
Wednesday: Pepper, potatoes and sausages
I’m going to toss all of these with olive oil, salt and pepper and throw them in the oven.
Thursday: Festival of frozens
I’m not sure exactly what’s lurking in the freezer, but we’ll find out on Thursday. Hopefully it’s nothing gross.
Friday: A mystery
Not that there’s an epic surprise planned or anything. I just don’t have a plan yet.
So how’ve you been, and what’ve you been eating?
Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.
This is the third or fourth or fifth week that I’ve planned to have a rotisserie chicken and a salad for dinner one night, and after many hours of ferrying the children hither and yon, today I finally took my free-chicken-and-a-family-salad coupon over to Whole Foods.
The chicken part was pretty straightforward. I picked up a rotisserie chicken, and I put it in the cart. Done and done. The salad, though, I wasn’t sure about. Whole Foods has a vast array of salads and salad bars, and I wasn’t entirely sure what the coupon meant when it said “a free family salad.” So I asked one of the cute millennial people on staff.
“Hi,” I said. “When this coupon says ‘family salad,’ what exactly does it mean?”
“One of those in the cooler under the ‘Good Stuff to Eat’ sign,” the Cute Millennial Gelato Girl said, gesturing in the general direction of the coolers. She didn’t say “Good Stuff to Eat,” exactly, because that isn’t what the sign said. But when I was there I remembered what she said and I found it.
Pixabay didn’t give me any results when I asked it for a free stock photo of a cute millennial, but it did give me this when I asked for a picture of gelato. // photo by Daria YakovlevaSo those directions narrowed it down from the 16,870 salads available at Whole Foods to about 3,457 salads. And I still wasn’t sure exactly which one the coupon was talking about. But I figured the Cute Millennial Gelato Girl wouldn’t steer me wrong, so I grabbed a pasta salad in a larger box instead of a pasta salad in a smaller box — because the “family salad” oughta be the bigger one, right? — and I went to the checkout.
“Are these vegan brownies good?” I asked the Cute Millennial Checkout Girl.
“They are so good,” said the Cute Millennial Vegan Checkout Girl. “That’ll be $10.79.”
I did have a box of 99-cent macaroni and cheese and, suddenly, a vegan brownie, so I wasn’t surprised that the whole order wasn’t free. But I was surprised that a vegan brownie and a 99-cent box of macaroni and cheese came to $10.79.
“Didn’t the coupon cover the chicken and the salad?” I asked.
“Oh no, not that salad,” she said. “It has to be a green salad. You can go ahead and check out and then just grab one of the green salads.”
This is what Pixabay offers up when you ask it for “vegan.” I’m going to go ahead and assume she doesn’t know much about brownies, either. // photo by Croisy.A green salad. OK. I finished checking out with my free chicken, my 99-cent macaroni and cheese and my vegan brownie, and I went back to the Good Stuff to Eat cooler. Armed with the new knowledge the Cute Millennial Vegan Checkout Girl had imparted unto me, I discovered that I now had only 145 salads from which to choose.
So I chose one, and I went to the express line.
“Hello,” I said to the Cute Millennial Checkout Guy. “I’ve already checked out, but I got the wrong salad for my coupon and I want to make sure I have the right salad because I don’t want to accidentally steal a salad.”
“Oh no,” he said, “not that salad. The one you want is about the same size, but it’s not round.”
Downtrodden but not yet defeated, I went back to the Good Things to Eat cooler. I was now faced with only two options: A green salad in a square container, and a green salad in a rectangular container.
And I — I took the one in the square plastic, and I don’t know if it made all the difference or any difference because I did not stop to ask.
But there are two things I do know:
I need the Cute Millennials of Whole Foods to understand that I am an old dotard who needs very specific instructions. Like maybe you could just hand me the right salad? Thanks.
That vegan brownie was not so good. I’m sorry to say it, Cute Millennial Vegan Checkout Girl, but I think you’ve forgotten what a brownie should taste like.
This was the first result Pixabay offered when I asked for ‘cash register.’ I’m beginning to think Ashton Kutcher is running Pixabay. // photo by annca
Anywho, here’s what we’re having for dinner this week:
Monday: Rotisserie chicken and a salad
This’ll be some combination of cheese, bread, ham and a saute pan.
This is a ridiculously easy recipe. It’s meant to be a copycat recipe for Cracker Barrel’s “grilled” chicken tenders, which are delicious and you can’t tell me different.
Wednesday: Korean BBQ tacos
I found a Korean BBQ slow cooker sauce at Aldi’s a few weeks ago. It sounded promising.
Thursday: BLAs
That’s a Bacon Lettuce and Avocado sandwich, because tomatoes are gross.
Friday: Grandma’s choice
Rockford and I will be embarking on our annual Weekend of 1,000 Films — in which we try to watch as many of the Best Picture nominees as we can squeeze in — so Grandma is in charge of dinner.
Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.
