A Few Dinner Ideas

Another good cold and slightly snowy morning, Boulder, after yesterday's freak mini-blizzard with its 104 car pileup on I-25. Let's hope for a better day today. Tonight we have the Oscars, and instead of munching all evening on finger food from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or made via the recipe guides I previously posted, we'll be optimizing efficiency in this household, already looking forward to Mardi Gras on Tuesday.

Since Mardi Gras by definition falls midweek, my plan for tonight is to make something big that will also serve as a suitable easy reheat on Tuesday, not having a full day available in the middle of the week to be concocting authentic Cajun/Creole creations (think I did a post on the difference between those cuisines a year or so ago). I looked at the gumbo recipes in my fun Junior League cookbook bought long ago while in New Orleans, and also the ones in James Villas' Town & Country Cookbook, and although I've made some of them before very successfully, at this point they struck me as just too time-consuming and perhaps a bit heavy. Looking around for alternatives, I settled on chicken sausage jambalaya with shrimp from Whole Foods' website, adjusting the portions downwards as it makes a ton as written. Mardi Gras, convenience, and a perceived healthier approach are driving this choice, rather than any particular sale of the week.

The runner in the family will be wanting pasta by tomorrow, and it seems we've had rather an unusual amount of meat lately, so we'll be looking for something vegetarian as well. I'm looking at pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella from Bon Appetit, using part of a one pound log of Belgioioso mozz that are $6.99 each at Whole Foods this week, and adding in some arugula left from Friday's fish tacos. My only hesitation and possible reason for rethinking is that while tomorrow is supposed to be considerably warmer, an uncooked pasta sauce just doesn't sound that appealing on a day as cold as today.

Fat Tuesday is obvious, since I've already said it will be a quick reheat of tonight's chicken sausage jambalaya with shrimp from Whole Foods' website. Husband was googling what goes with jambalaya as I cooked dinner last night, and per some great advice from Chowhound, evidently cornbread is not a good choice, as that makes for too much starch given the rice in the dish, but any green on the side seems to be viewed favorably.

I might need to do more work on Wednesday and Thursday's plans, as they are too meat-centered for us, although if I add lots of veggies and cut out the carbs, I guess I could call it Atkins. The current sale at the Lucky's Market in Longmont (and not at least in the flyer for Boulder) through Wednesday is pushing me in this direction, as they not only have boneless pork loin chops for $2.99 a pound, but also boneless New York strip steaks for $7.99 a pound, both with Lucky's great "never ever" standards. Guess I'll need to get creative with light, generously-sized veggies for the sides to balance things a bit.

Stay warm and enjoy the Oscars.