Weekday Dinner Ideas

Well, the Rapture has come and gone, and I'm still here, so I guess the drumbeat of dinner planning resumes, darn. To start tomorrow's weekday dinners off, we'll go with a spring favorite, risotto with sausage and spring greens from Bon Appetit. I bought a bag of Cure Organic Farm's fabulous braising mix at yesterday's Boulder Farmer's Market, and it's perfect for this recipe. I prefer chicken for the sausage, and all sausage is on sale for $2.99 a pound at Sprouts, but is pretty cheap everywhere.

Tuesday is usually our reheat of something big made over the weekend, and this week that's New England seafood chowder from Bon Appetit, with fresh bread and salad on the side. And I'm hoping to find a little time to research the history of curry in New England food, to see if all those commenters crying heresy are right. Sure, curry isn't found in contemporary classic New England chowder. However, with New England's time as a British colony and history of whaling around the world, I wonder if curry might have an authentic culinary place. Regardless, it's delicious.

On to Wednesday, we'll need something vegetarian by then, and a pasta dish should be on deck by then also. With organic roma tomatoes just $1.49 a pound at Alfalfa's, I'm going for linguine with spicy leek and tomato sauce from Bon Appetit. Instead of one of the leeks, mine will have glorious Egyptian walking onions bought yesterday from Red Wagon Organic Farm at the Farmer's Market.

By Thursday, we'll want something rice-based, and stir-fried beef, broccoli, and yams over brown rice should fit the bill. That's yet another recipe from Bon Appetit, so I seem to be on a Bon Appetit roll this week. Sunflower has both organic broccoli and organic yams on sale for the excellent price of 99 cents a pound through Wednesday. And don't forget Sprout's fantastic gluten-free sale also running through Wednesday, which includes packages of Lundberg rice (stock up!). For the beef, I shortcut by using pre-cut stew beef, which is never very expensive anywhere.

And that will get us through to Friday's planning. I guess the next end of the world isn't expected until next year, so I better keep going on the dinner plans, darn.