The 2024 week 40 menu plan is complete. As happens so often in the past, several of my planned offerings from week 39 were never prepared. I have included those recipes once again.
Breakfast
Since I seldom eat breakfast the meals that I plan often feed the ‘Ole Buckeye for several days. In addition he often has yogurt and berries when he needs a quick breakfast or soft boiled eggs on mornings that he volunteers in order to get him through the early part of the day. I do have several new preparations planned this week…2 are carryovers from last week.
Lunch
Last week a number of our lunches consisted of left over dinners, making it a no fuss preparation for me. I just reheat and heat. The hearty soups planned for week 40 will go a long way.
Dinner
My dinner plans are varied between vegetarian offerings and new meat meals. The ‘Ole Buckeye requested burgers and I have been hungry for sloppy joes of all things.
Gourmet Pub Burgers
Bliss Burgers
Hits and Misses
Breakfast
I don’t make smoothies very often anymore because they do not satisfy the ‘Ole Buckeye. He needs to chew in order for him to feel like he has had a meal. On a whim, I did try this recipe and it was an epic fail. Neither of us liked the taste.
I haven’t made this breakfast cake in a very long time. it is full of protein and the ‘Ole Buckeye raved this morning. Not only is it delicious, but the aromas from the oven are amazing. I will need to include this on the rotation much more often.
Lunch
I have been having trouble with peeling my hard boiled eggs. I have researched a number of methods and have decided to give a few a try. This one seemed rather unconventional but it worked. With little effort I had perfectly cooked eggs that peeled easily and cleanly.
I am not a fan of egg salad, but I needed to use an abundance of eggs. Since the ‘Ole Buckeye likes egg salad I decided to give this recipe a try. Success. In fact even I like this recipe. I used dried dill in place of fresh, but next time I will use fresh and it will be that much better!
How easy is a dump and cook from cans lunch. Quick, easy and great for multiple lunches.
A family favorite soup that serves us several very hearty lunches. Always enjoyable!
Dinner
If I told you how long this skirt steak has been in the freezer…you would shake your head. I purchased it for a recipe of Emeril’s, but have not been able to relocate it. In an attempt to find a recipe to utilize this steak that we might enjoy…this happened. It was really good. I will admit that I doubled the peppers and onions and served it on low carb four tortillas. Very enjoyable.
This vegetarian dish went together quickly but was not worth the little effort. Not enough flavor and quite disappointing.
Vegetarian Sheet Pan Gnocchi *
This is one of my very favorite Greek dinners. Years ago when we enjoyed evenings at Periyali in Chicago, this is what I ordered. Thankfully I found this recipe and have recreated it over and over. This time after reading some of the reviews, I added kalamata olives and it was even better!
Both the ‘Ole Buckeye and I found this preparation for salmon intriguing. We loved the crunch, however next time I will make several changes. I will use less topping on each filet and and I will add more horseradish to the topping. This is definitely worth another try.
This is a repeat of a meatless pasta that we enjoy. I had bucatini in the pantry and decided to repeat. We concluded this time that the sauce is outstanding…the pasta too heavy. In the future I will use different pasta…or spaghetti squash.
Sun Dried Tomato, Basil Balsamic Bucatini
Recap
So there you have it. It was a light cooking week due to cooking once and eating again. I continue exploring new recipes often forgetting how much we enjoyed previous meals. As I plan ahead I need to review some of the favorites that have been enjoyed but never repeated. The journey continues. Bon Appetit!
