Weekend Dinner Ideas

Friday comes around so quickly, time to get going on dinner plans. For tonight, since grilling looks possible, we'll opt for salmon on the grill, simply done with a squeeze of lemon on the side. Bearing in mind my post just below about the state of the wild salmon population, we'll go for the certified sustainable Alaskan coho on sale at Whole Foods for $12.99 a pound. If you can use lots of lemon, Whole Foods has two pound bags of organic ones for $2.99 each. With organic zucchini a good deal this week ($1.50 a pound at Lucky's, $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods, just $1.29 a pound for "Italian squash" at Sprouts), we'll include a favorite side from Bon Appetit, shaved zucchini salad with parmesan pine nuts. For tomorrow, we'll put one foot back into winter with a nice warming chowder inspired by the current sales on organic leeks and potatoes, making potato and root vegetable chowder with bacon from Bon Appetit. I'll trek north to Lucky's to stock up on organic leeks for just $1.50 a pound, and organic russets are on sale at good prices at both Sunflower and Whole Foods (russets work just fine instead of the Yukon Golds the recipe calls for). Tomorrow's farmers' market will surely give us some spring inspiration for the side salad, with baby spring greens, arugula, and spinach, plus there's also the organic lettuce sale at Sunflower for $2 a head (both leaf lettuce and romaine). For Sunday, we'll use more of those sale organic potatoes and leeks for a quick Sunday supper, experimenting with a new recipe from the current issue of Cooking Light, fingerling potato-leek hash with Swiss chard and eggs. Organic russets again should be a fine substitute. All Sprouts brand eggs are 20% off right now, and I'm hoping to find young Swiss chard at tomorrow's farmers' market (if not, organic is available at all our stores). And that will get us through the weekend plans, with the rest of the week still to come.