This is the first post, and oh boy is this exciting! I already know that it will be difficult to hold myself back. Here me now, “I shall not upload more than one post a day.” Lucky for me I have a lot to share; maybe this post is a preview of what is to come?!

Today is a Friday. On Fridays I will be posting the weekly menu. More specifically, every Friday I will provide a post that includes the menu for the following week. Since we do our grocery shopping over the weekend, I normally plan for 5-6 days, leaving room for spontaneous meals out and leftovers. At the end of the weekend I will also add the cost for the weekly groceries. I will not post the grocery list for obvious reasons – that would be totally boring and super tedious. One of the main goals of this website is to educate others on the necessary meal planning techniques one may use to fulfill their dietary values (whatever they may be.)

All of these things said, I am very, very excited about this week’s menu! Because a) I get to cook with lamb for the first time in months and b) I am using three nice looking recipes from the food folks at The New York Times. (When necessary I will footnote a recipe with a link otherwise I’ll be providing a simple idea of my own.) The menu for next week (Sept. 7-11th) will consist of the following:

• ceylon curry of oysters
• arepas with black beans and greens
• house dinner (lamb kebobs with corn pudding and sauteed kale followed by grilled peaches with ice cream)
• ratatouille
• roasted tomato and basil soup with “gluten-free quesadillas” (corn tortilla with melted cheddar cheese)

Now you may be wondering about the title of the post (or maybe not.) Since two of the recipes are from the food section of the NYT magazine and the third from my hero, Mark Bittman, I thought I ought to make reference in my post title. Anyways, the oyster curry, lamb kebobs and arepas are all recipes from The New York Times. The ratatouille is from The Gourmet Cookbook (a good one to own), the soup Splendid Soups and everything else is me. To be honest (and I’m not ashamed,) I rely on other people’s recipe most of the time. I still consider myself a beginner in the world of food as my palate is weak and my fear of improvisation is strong. I have two handfuls of cookbooks that I have collected over the last several years, access to the internet and library, and the desire to plan. I know how many meals to consider (5-6), what ingredients are in the freezer, fridge and cupboard, and how much money I have to spend ($60.) Thus, I like to plan all this out. I can hope that maybe someone will read these menus and try some of these recipes or write menus of their own (and post em’ too.)

So that’s the menu.

(Due to the blogger’s learning curve this is being published a day late.)
* 9/11 – I meant to post this follow-up note on Monday. The total cost for groceries this week was exactly $60 – hitting our weekly budget right on the nose.

Related posts:

1. Where have all the simple meals gone? (weekly menu 12)
2. Walking the Talk (weekly menu 16)
3. Between the Holidays (weekly menu 14)
4. A simple menu (weekly menu 2)
5. Expectations (weekly menu 22)

Tags: Mark Bittman, Recipes