Weekend Dinner Ideas

Looks like we have a great weekend ahead, a bit of a chance of afternoon showers, but that won't stop us from heading out to the grill, starting with tonight. With fresh wild salmon all around us, that will certainly have to go on the grill again. I haven't seen all the prices around town, but among the advertised ones, King Soopers is taking the lead with Alaskan sockeye for $8.99 a pound (with card), followed by Sprouts at $9.99 a pound, and it goes up from there. Ours will go simply on the grill, finished with just a squeeze of lemon. Buttermilk mashed potatoes will go on the side, and for a veggie, I'm thinking about grilled corn succotash from Cooking Light, using edamame instead of the lima beans called for. It's still too early for our local corn, but I can't wait, so I'll take what's in the stores.

For tomorrow, with temperatures not expected higher than 80 and the chance of storms increasing, we'll stay inside to do one more casserole from the oven, baked rigatoni with ricotta and collard greens. I made this quite recently, but my seasonal spin using braising mix and spinach from the Farmer's Market instead of the collards was so successful that I just have to do it again while I have the chance (plus it will make enough for a later reheat as well). The side veggie will also be inspired by whatever I find tomorrow at the Farmer's Market or at Cure Organic Farm's store.

For Sunday, we'll be back on the grill with some sort of beef suitable for Father's Day. It will either be the Harris Ranch New York strip steaks on sale at Sunflower ($4.99 a pound bone-in, $6.99 a pound boneless), or possibly the beef brochettes on sale at Whole Foods ($5.99 a pound). Either way, we'll start by grilling some of Whole Foods' $1.50 shrimp skewers as appetizers. We'll probably do diced organic sweet potatoes wrapped in foil and grilled on the side, and for a veggie, it will be our favorite tomato and corn salad with marjoram from Bon Appetit, so delicious. Both Alfalfa's and Sunflower have organic tomatoes for $1.99 a pound this week, and I've seen corn (even organic) around town at decent prices.

And that will get us through the weekend, with more to come.

Friday pm update: this weekend's forecast keeps changing at a head-spinning rate, and Channel 9 weather just reported that Sunday bbqs will probably want to "move inside" by 2 or 3 pm. Now what?