We have a week coming up with the possibility of incorporating three celebrations: Chinese New Year (Sunday), Mardi Gras (Tuesday), and Valentine's Day (Thursday). But I'm looking to back down on the cooking obligations (I actually think writing this blog for fun has influenced me towards attempting too much cooking in my own busy life), so my plans for the weekend are aimed at making my life a little easier, which seems like a good thing.
For tonight, Sprouts' 72 hour sale starting today is driving my thinking because it includes an extraordinary price on grass-fed organic ground beef for $3.99 a pound. Not being big beef eaters, I'm thinking of using it in simmered cabbage with beef, Shan style from Cooking Light. We might not be big beef eaters, but I definitely do this with more than the quarter pound of burger called for in the recipe. I'll cheat further by making the heretical declaration that this is all I'll be able to muster in celebration of Chinese New Year this weekend, making a dish hailing from Thailand and Myanmar for it, and on the wrong date, too boot, so wrong on all fronts.
We usually do something large over the weekend that also serves as an easy midweek reheat, and in my drive to simplify the home cooking scene, this week I'm going to opt for two. Seeing organic collard greens on sale for $1.99 a bunch at the Pearl Street Whole Foods recently reminded me of the big comfort winter casserole I plan for tomorrow night, baked rigatoni with ricotta and collard greens. The web says it's from MyRecipes.com, but I could have sworn I first saw it in Cooking Light.
Sunday's dinner will be a big gumbo, done with an eye for an easy reheat on Mardi Gras Tuesday, when nobody but those crazy partiers in New Orleans has much time to cook. (And the partiers in New Orleans are probably too busy partying to cook, too.) Mine will be Mom's shrimp gumbo from a cookbook acquired in New Orleans long ago, but look to the post a few below for the one I did on Mardi Gras guides for further ideas.
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