Weekend Dinner Ideas

Sort of, since they're not quite as elaborate as my usual plans, which are pretty simple to begin with. It's hot, it's humid, the halibut fillets I was so excited about turned out to be thinner than I like, and the family has hit a wall on grilled salmon; we're just burned out. So this will be a weekend of informal, hot weather plans, and for that, I usually turn to the guidance of Mark Bittman.

Bittman recently reminded us of the beauty of grilled veggies in his NYT article, Throw Another Melon on the Barbie. Since we're burned out on fish and don't eat lots of meat, his idea about a grilled portobello mushroom burger sounds perfect for tonight, provided the rain stays reasonably away. I'm not sure about his idea of grilling cabbage, but organic is 69 cents a pound this week at Sunflower. We frequently grill organic yam spears as a side dish, and maybe we'll grill some fruit to finish it off. Don't forget about Whole Foods' fantastic one-day sale today on organic cherries at $2.99 a pound. I wonder what they'd taste like grilled, obviously in a grilling basket, or they'd all wind up in the coals. Maybe a topping for vanilla frozen yogurt?

With it expected to be even hotter tomorrow, we'll turn to Bittman's 101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics for easy and cooling ideas. I'm liking the idea of number five, an upscale roast beef sandwich. Sprouts has Rondele herb cheese (similar to Boursin) at an excellent price this week, and it pairs beautifully with roast beef, if you don't care for blue cheese, as I don't. A simple caprese salad of organic tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil from my herb garden will go on the side. Sprouts has eight ounces of fresh mozzarella for $3 this week, and it was in stock yesterday. Whole Foods also has one pound logs of delicious Crave Brothers fresh mozzarella on sale for $5.99, but the Pearl Street store was out of stock when I looked for it a couple of days ago.

Continuing to keep it cool for Sunday, we'll turn back to the grill, and chicken kabobs sound good. I'll either make my own using the chicken tenders on sale at Sprouts for the great price of $1.88 a pound, or buy their pre-made ones at $2.88 a pound. With organic spinach just $1.50 a bunch at Whole Foods through Tuesday, a spinach salad will go on the side. Since the grill will be going and organic red onions are 99 cents a pound at Sunflower, it might be spinach salad with grilled red onion and tahini vinaigrette from Bon Appetit.

And that will keep us cool through the entire weekend, as it looks like we won't be using the stove (or heaven forbid, the oven) at all!