Weekday Dinner Ideas

Time to get going thinking about really easy dinners to make during the week. By tomorrow we'll be in the mood for something vegetarian, and it will also be time for something based on pasta. With glorious tomatoes all around us at the Farmer's Market, the farmstands, my backyard, and with organic ones on sale at both Whole Foods and Sunflower for $1.99 a pound, that points to linguine with spicy leek and tomato sauce from Bon Appetit. There are also so many great pasta dishes incorporating corn that tempt me at this time of year, but we've already enjoyed Munson's corn Friday and yesterday, so we'll give it a rest for a day. In addition to a salad, one of the beautiful French baguettes that the Pearl Street Whole Foods is practically giving away through the 24th at 99 cents each would be great on the side.

I've already mentioned how the current Whole Foods sale is luring me away from my penchant for making everything from scratch by offering some great prepared foods, as we found with Friday's salmon burgers. For Tuesday we'll indulge in them again, this time with the Hatch green chile turkey burgers that are on sale at all our local Whole Foods stores for $3.99 a pound (beef chile burgers for the same price, too). I've had them before, and they're great. I'm not a burger bun fan, but they also have their own Bakehouse hamburger buns on sale, too. For a side, what could be better than corn on the cob from Munson's? To be even more decadent with the prepared foods, how about another Whole Foods side of either Hatch chile mac & cheese ($4.99 a pound at all our local stores through the 30th) or smoked mozzarella pasta salad ($5.99 a pound at the Pearl Street store through the 24th). Is that cheating too much?

It will be time to really cook something by Wednesday, and also time for something rice-based. With boneless skinless chicken breasts $1.99 a pound through that day at Sunflower ($2.99 a pound at Sprouts) and organic broccoli just $1 a pound at Sunflower ($1.29 a pound at Sprouts), that spells Kung Pao chicken from Cooking Light, served over brown rice. Steamed edamame from a package coming from the freezer makes an easy side.

To finish off our weekday dinners with another easy one for Thursday, I'll catch some center-cut pork loin chops from the 40% off pork sale at Sprouts by Wednesday to do an easy saute of pork chops with a bit of garlic, and a pan sauce made at the end by stirring in a touch of wine. Microwaved "baked" potatoes will go on the side, and Sunflower has organic russets at $1 a pound through Wednesday (and the last time I checked, Alfalfa's everyday price was even lower than that). For the veggie, I'm planning on catching the long stem globe artichokes that are just $1.50 each at the Pearl Street Whole Foods by Wednesday, to make a midweek dinner a little more festive. Mix some organic fresh parsley and a few capers into a lowfat mayonnaise for a quick dipping sauce.

And that will get us through to next Friday's planning, which is getting way too close to the end of August.