Weekday Dinner Ideas

With a little bit of snow on the ground this morning, it's a good day to have slow-cooked Tuscan pork with white beans from Cooking Light cruising along in the slow cooker on the counter. But there's still the rest of the week to contend with.

To celebrate the arrival of spring, for tomorrow we'll do a spring favorite, sausage risotto with spring greens from Bon Appetit, even though it's too early to be getting those beautiful mixed spring greens that Cure Organic Farm offers. In the meantime, the braising mix that the Pearl Street Whole Foods offers in bulk makes a suitable substitute.

Tuesday will be our easy reheat of a big weekend dish, which this week is the slow-cooked Tuscan pork currently underway in the slow cooker. I got a really handsome pork loin roast from the Lucky's Market in Longmont ($2.99 a pound through Wednesday and also that same price at Sprouts) for that one.

We'll be ready for something along the seafood lines by Wednesday, and having already had a pasta dish on the weekend and a rice one for Tuesday, we'll mix it up by doing smoky shrimp and grits from Food and Wine magazine. Sprouts has very large 21-25 count raw shrimp for $8.99 a pound through that day.

For Thursday? I just don't know yet. Salmon burgers from Whole Foods or some pork chops (good prices at both Sprouts and Longmont Lucky's through Wednesday) are our later in the week fall-backs, but you just never know. I'd planned on doing those salmon burgers this past Friday, but when I got to the Pearl Street Whole Foods to get them, they were sampling a Dover sole that was so delicious, I opted for that instead.

So enjoy our early spring day. Snow on the ground in the morning, mid-50s by afternoon. Lovely.