Weekend Dinner Ideas

This is a sort of strange planning weekend for me, since I'll be here for most of it, then abandoning my family to head to a conference in Monterey (I know, it's tough). Influenced by that scenario, here's what I'm thinking.

For tonight, with my herb pots needing more whacking even now, with the glorious weather we've been having, I'll take advantage of our current chicken sales to do spicy roast chicken with tomatoes and marjoram from Bon Appetit. Since my herb pots don't actually contain marjoram, I'll use the herbs at hand: rosemary and oregano baked with the chicken, possibly with a sprinkling of basil ribbons when it's done. Whole Foods has their excellent air-chilled chicken breasts on sale for $2.99 a pound, and this can also be made with boneless skinless chicken breasts, which are $1.69 a pound for the family pack at Sunflower. This recipe can also be easily adjusted in quantity, and I'll probably make a little extra for the starving family to have available while I'm gone.

For tomorrow, we always do something big over the weekend that serves as an easy midweek reheat, which this week will be more convenient than ever, given that the chief cook won't be available. With today's one-day sale on Georgia shrimp at Whole Foods, I'm planning to do a big pot of smoky shrimp and halibut stew from Bon Appetit. I think using halibut in a stew like this is a waste of a very pricey fish, and making it with cod, which is on sale at Sprouts, is a perfectly good alternative, although it doesn't hang together quite as well as halibut. For the side salad, Whole Foods has organic leaf lettuce at the exceptional price of $1 a head.

By Sunday, the rest of the family will be on their own for dinner. Since I'm not the griller anyway, I'd recommend they check out the previously frozen Copper River salmon that's on sale at Sprouts for just $6.99 a pound (almost too low), and put that on the grill if it looks good. Sprouts also has organic yams and broccoli at pretty good prices.