In today’s episode of “The Triumph of the Well-Stocked Kitchen,” our heroine runs out of bread and chicken broth, but is able to save the day on both occasions! Thank you, loaf-of-sandwich-bread-from-the-freezer, for this morning’s toast and lunch PBJs, and thank you, “Better Than Bouillon” for the butternut squash soup that we will be eating tonight. Also, a gold star for me (and I had better buy another loaf of bread to throw in the freezer, that was a great save).
This weekend, I’m excited to try Korean Grilled Beef Lettuce Wraps from The Times’s Cooking App. And it had better be good, because I’m making extra steak for lunches all week long. (Can I say, I like how you can just add things to your “recipe box” without even opening them. I’ve been throwing a bunch of stuff in mine to try.)
It’s the last week before the First Lego League competition (I help coach, and two of my children are on a team), and a normal week of hockey (which is to say a little crazy) so every meal has to have a strong made-in-advance component and be movable at a moment’s notice (no fish this week). Monday night will be fried rice with marinated tofu. Tuesday, slow cooker flank steak from the “100 Days of Real Food” cookbook. (I think recipes look less intimidating when they are not capitalized. I’m not making “Slow Cooker Flank Steak.” I’m using her awesome-looking recipe to put a flank steak and some peppers and maybe an onion in my slow cooker.)
Wednesday night, we will all definitely be able to sit down at the same time (the other nights may vary) so I will do the mushroom ragout with grits that everyone loved a few weeks ago. Grits or polenta from the recipe on the package, mushrooms here. I suspect they are a little less “healthful” with the grits, but they’re delicious.
Thursday will feature leftovers from tonight’s butternut squash soup (everything that sounded good from the fridge, leek and apple and celery and carrot and garlic, roasted with squash and curry powder and dumped into the slow cooker with a lot of chicken broth and a can of coconut milk) and Friday, slow-cooker chicken and dumplings.
That, plus some weekend cookie-baking and muffin-making, is my week. It’s looking a bit daunting, but everything except Sunday is tried and true (and none of it will go bad if I cook it a few days later). I love my slow cooker. Got any favorite slow-cooker recipes to share?