Everyday cooking

I actually sat down and planned the week’s menus on Sunday morning, perusing the grocery ads for the loss leaders and planning around them. I knew I had a heavy work load this week, plus a few other “life” interruptions, like getting the fostered puppies neutered, taking delivery of the new washer and dryer (I swear those puppies wore out that old dryer!), lunch with a friend…

But I ended up cooking almost nothing new! So what to write? I do like having a record of sorts of what I fixed for company but if I’m not experimenting or trying something new, the daily meals get a bit boring to document. And if they’re boring to me to write, they must doubly boring to read!

I did make naan with the butter chicken this time. A basic bread dough with yogurt, rolled into small circles and baked quickly. They were okay. Not great. Nothing like in the Indian restaurants I enjoy so much. The butter chicken itself is always delicious and actually pretty easy and quick. The only trick these days is finding the blender parts as my kids are into making smoothies these days for an after school snack.

I decided to make a light soup after dinner so I could have some for lunch tomorrow with some leftover eggplant Parmesan. I eat at home most days and am usually trying to eat as quickly as possible so I can get my work done before the kids get home. I had some leftover stir-fried vegetables from dinner (carrots, yellow zucchini, green onions, and broccoli) and decided to just simmer those plus a diced white onion and an extra carrot, grated. (I just use the peeler rather than actually grating them and dirtying another thing!) I brought some water to boil, added the new vegetables and then the older ones, threw in some chopped fresh spinach, and, a la Jacques Pepin’s Fast Food My Way, some instant grits. (I’m not sure why I even had instant grits in the pantry, to be honest. Perhaps when I was exploring other breakfast grains for the child who loves corn meal mush.) A bit of salt and pepper and then simmer a few minutes. I’ll try to remember to post a review tomorrow. I took a few sips after dinner tonight and it tasted light, but good. A bit of cheese on it tomorrow and it should be just about right.