What a week! Â In this unpredictable world, food is always there for you, consistent and unifying. Â Let’s get cooking!
This is a big week for organizing for Thanksgiving and keeping the meals simple. Â November is my busiest work month and frankly, I am toast. Â So I am really keeping it easy! Â Here’s your dinner planner for the week:
The first week with our Korean exchange student has gone very well, especially in the food department.  He has pretty much eaten nothing but Korean food his entire life, so when I ask him, “Have you ever eaten X?”  He always responds, “No, but I’ll try it!”  And he does.  Love this kid.  Mr. Picky is feeling shamed into eating everything I put in front of him. Ha!  The bigger question is, why did I not host an exchange student years ago????
Here’s your dinner planner for the week:
Meatless Monday: Â Sweet potato and black bean tacos, Mexican chopped salad with red cabbage, radishes, avocado and pumpkin seeds
Tuesday: Orange and rosemary-glazed chicken (I’m doing to add some carrots to the pan, too), millet-cauliflower mash
Wednesday: Â Roasted green beans with lemon and thyme, simple slow roasted salmon, brown rice cooked with a little garlic and olive oil
Thursday: Â Rustic butternut squash and fennel soup, avocado toast
Friday:  Turkey and pinto bean sloppy joes, cole slaw
Saturday lunch: Red lentil dalÂ
Sunday:  Turkey roulade with wild rice filling, green salad with persimmons and pomegranates + everyday salad dressing #2
Here’s what you can do ahead of time if it helps you:
Sunday
Soak and cook black beans and pinto beans
Wash salad greens for Monday
Prep red cabbage and cauliflower (wash, dry and cut)
Make dressing for Monday
Make stock for Thursday (vegetable stock recipe here, chicken stock recipe here)
Monday
Marinate chicken
Prep green beans and butternut squash
Thursday
Prep cabbage for coleslaw
Make everyday salad dressing for Sunday
Wash salad greens for Sunday
Saturday
Make rice filling for turkey
Here is a link to all my previous dinner planners.
I will admit, I was a lazy bones about dinner last week. Â My husband was out of town the entire week, I had two birthday celebrations and I taught a class one evening. Â So, Mr. Picky ate a few leftovers and random dinners like pasta with meat sauce one night. Â But yesterday the South Korean exchange student we are hosting for the next three weeks arrived and I need to get back into the groove so I can make a good impression ;). Â And uphold my reputation because apparently he and his family watched my Youtube videos before he arrived LOL!
I had a great 2 days visiting my daughters in Dallas and I was also able to teach a class at my friend Lisa’s house for her and her lovely friends.  So fun!  I’m off to Palm Springs today to meet my husband and Mr. Picky for Modernism Preview Weekend.  It’s just a quickie in PS since I have get back to teaching classes in LA on Monday.  LA fall has finally arrived, as opposed to normal fall which is actually cool weather.  LA fall means you may need a sweater when you walk out the door in the morning or when the sun goes down, but it’s still 72 (or warmer) and sunny the rest of the day.  It’s all I need to start making soups!
I am feeling a little holiday-ed out today, and I am grateful for a short break before Halloween comes around.  Do you have your costume yet?  I just put mine together.  Stay tuned!
I am going to Dallas this week to teach a class and the bonus is I get to see my daughters, too.  My eating the last few weeks has not been what I like it to be so I will try to refrain from hitting the typical BBQ joints while I’m there. 😉  Have  great week!
Happy weekend! Â I’m in Palm Springs this weekend with my family and my sister-in-law and her family. Â We are attending Desert Trip, also known as “OldChella,” a three-day concert with “vintage” artists like The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters and others. Â It has been very fun and very civilized watching music with other AARP members (and almost-members.) Â Palm Springs is hot as you know what right now, so as soon as I get back home, I am going to make the biggest acai bowl ever!!
For those of you celebrating the Jewish holidays, Happy New year to you! I hope it is a sweet one (but not too sweet, hee hee.) When I put together last week’s dinner planner, I completely forgot Sunday was the first night of Rosh Hashana! It’s not one of my holidays to do, so it wasn’t on my radar. My mother-in-law takes care of that dinner and I cook the lunch on the first day of Rosh Hashana. Basically, a lot of eating happens in a 24 hour period of time! Have a great week!
Bar mitzvah weekend is under way over here and I barely have time to talk to you today. Hope you’re doing well! I am having the best time with my family and friends and Mr. Picky has definitely risen to the occasion. Ok, let’s get organized for dinners this week!
