What's Cookin' This Week - 10/4 - 10/10

Looking at how last week's plan actually went - and my non-posted menu plans from the last month - I think a couple things are confirmed:

1.  I plan for too much food - I leave myself one non-cooking day a week, but the reality is that there are at least 2 days I needn't cook.. and often, that's more like 3 days.

2. Schedules shift often enough that it's becoming silly to plan which day I'll be making which meal.  Sometimes it's obvious, but not always, so I think I'm going to list what I plan to make and not necessarily when during the week I'm going to make it.

That seems like a step back and I don't know if it will work for me, or if I'll decide I want the most specific plan even if I do wind up needing to mod it a lot.  But that's what I'm going to try this month.

I spent most of my life cooking for a crowd - for a long while, mealtime mean a husband, four kids and whoever else showed up at the table.  Until five weeks ago, it included for adult-sized appetites, regular houseguests, and the youngest's boyfriend of the moment - so I never knew if i was cooking for 2, 4, or 6 and just got used to making a whole lot 'just in case'.

So, cooking for two is a new thing and it's not easy!  For the rest of this year, though, it will be my daughter and me and then when she heads to college, I'm moving back to the DC area where I think of as home and in with my extremely patient fiance, Michael. I haven't mentioned him... he is a saint putting up with long distance so that Deanna can finish high school here.

He comes out here as often as he can, and I go out there as often as I can, and that's how we deal with that.  When Deanna's out of school, she comes along - when she's in school, she goes to stay with a friend while I'm away.

And in fact, this next weekend, I'll be heading out there for a week - to what I am already regarding as my other home.  We've got a busy week planned that includes a lot of socializing with friends, a day at the Ren Faire, and other good fun.

So... dinner planning this week only involves a few days worth - and it turns out that this week, I DO know which days will be which, so I'll go list that too:

Monday Oct 4 (Meatless Monday)
Corn and Potato Chowder and Homemade Rolls
(UPDATE - Ooorr.. nothing.  Deanna had a last minute offer to go out with friends, and I kind of just forgot to eat)

Tuesday Oct 5
Chicken and Vegetable Crepes and Tossed Salad
(nope... low energy day and we both wanted easy comfort food....wound up making Cheeseburger Turnovers (roll out croissant dough filed with a mixture of cooked ground beef, onion, cheese, a bit of catsup and mustard and pickle relish.  Those were really good by the way.)

Wednesday Oct 6
Enchilada Casserole
(Flipping Wednesday and Thursday)

Thursday Oct 7
Smoked Sausage and Lentils Stew with Acorn Squash
OR
Clean out the fridge and use leftovers before leaving.

Friday Oct 8
Travel Day - Michael plans to cook something simple

Saturday Oct 9
Renaissance Faire!  We'll be eating out.  Possible turkey legs will be involved.

Sunday Oct 10
Not sure yet - we'll be menu planning and grocery shopping for the week today.

(this post is for Menu Plan Monday.)