Weekday Dinner Ideas

Monday will be upon us shortly, and since I'm expecting it to be a busy one, dinner will need to be quick and easy. Since the current Whole Foods sale ends this Tuesday, I'm going to have to grab some of their fabulous Maryland style blue crab cakes while they're still on sale, which couldn't make for an easier dinner. Some rice will go on the side, and I like to dress it up by using Lundberg's "Black Japonica" rice, which makes for an exotic-looking side. The veggie will be something quickly steamed, and Sunflower is offering us two options, with great sales on both asparagus and organic broccoli through Wednesday.

For Tuesday, we'll do our customary reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is the corn and fingerling potato chowder with applewood-smoked bacon from Cooking Light. A side salad (Lucky's has organic spring mix for just $2.99 a pound through Wednesday, if you happen to be in that neighborhood), some fresh bread, and that's dinner.

For Wednesday's dinner, we'll hope to catch more of that $1.77 a pound asparagus at Sunflower by the end of the sale to do a favorite rice dish, risotto with asparagus and prosciutto from Bon Appetit. For cooking purposes, I buy the chunks of prosciutto that Whole Foods sells for much less than the freshly sliced stuff at the deli counter. And with the current sales on Imagine's wonderful organic broths and cooking stock (through Tuesday at Whole Foods, all the way through October 29th at Vitamin Cottage), the risotto will be flavored with rich chicken stock.

By Thursday, we'll want something simple, a little meaty, and more like comfort food, which spells baked potatoes with spiced beef chili from Bon Appetit. Both Sprouts and Sunflower have ground beef on sale through Wednesday, and I also like to make this with stew beef instead, which is on sale at Sunflower. Sprouts also has five pound bags of organic russet potatoes for $4.99 through Wednesday.

And that will get us through to next Friday's planning.