WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Hello, friends!  I am starting a new series today that I hope will inspire you in your menu planning.  Not that I am an expert by any means, but others have inspired me and I thought I would pass it on to you.  I have been making a weekly menu for only three weeks, but what a difference it has made.  So much easier to look at a list of 7 meals and know that I have everything in the house to make them and exactly what I need to buy if I don't.

So let's begin with Friday the 19th.  And it's a great day to begin because it was so hot I couldn't stand to be in the kitchen to cook.  It was over 90* in there and no air conditioning.  We ended up going to the Chinese Buffet.  It was a good choice.  We were seated in a corner window seat right under an air conditioning vent.  What a good seat!  I had two plates of food.  The first was chicken and broccoli, lo mein, and two pot stickers.  I didn't even think to take a picture of it.  But here is the second plate.

Two more pot stickers, fried rice, a fried chicken wing and an egg roll.  For dessert I had a brownie and half of an elephant ear.  (Joe split his with me.)

On Saturday even though it was very hot and I was feeling miserable in the heat, I bit the bullet and made dinner.  It was simple because neither of us felt like eating much.  I had spare ribs and my world famous homemade potato salad.  For dessert we had frozen fruit bars.  Mango for Joe and watermelon for me.

Sunday the 21st was also extremely hot.  I decided to cook something easy.  I had half a bag of spinach and cheese tortellini that I boiled.  At the same time I put the 6 meatballs I had left from another meal in the air fryer and threw a couple of slices of Texas Toast on the grill.  It didn't heat up the kitchen all that much because it took only 15 minutes to make dinner.  I put some basil on top of the tortellini and that was dinner.

On Monday, we had a bad thunderstorm with high winds which put an end to the very hot weather we've been having.  The rain was so heavy and the lightning lit up the sky so brightly.  It also hit a tree which fell on some wires and took out the electricity in a 2 mile radius.  I opened the doors because the awnings we have over them kept the rain from pouring into the house and let the fresh cool air in.  I wasn't feeling too good in the heat and Joe suggested we go to Wawa instead of me trying to cook in the dark.  Fortunately the electricity came back on after 90 minutes.  Hooray!  We still went out.  Joe got an Italian hoagie and I got Italian wrap pinwheels.  I used to eat them at least once a week when I was working.  They are a quick meal without being too filling.  They are made of a tortilla wrapped around hard salami, provolone cheese, pepperoni, lettuce, banana peppers, roasted red peppers, basil pesto aioli sauce and cream cheese spread.  I had forgotten how good they are.

Tuesday was cooler.  Yay! The thunderstorm was wicked but really helped.  Especially with the humidity.  So I felt more like cooking.  I made honey mustard chicken, rice and broccoli.  I knew I had a hit when Joe looked at it and said, "Oh boy!"  😊

Wednesday the 24th was a bad day for me.  All I did all day was sleep.  And at dinner I was still tired.  I have those days now and then.  I had a quick and easy dinner -- pork chops, baked potato and mixed vegetables.  I had a little bit in one bag and a little bit in another bag of veggies in the freezer.  I put them together and got enough for the two of us.

Thursday (yesterday) I had an appointment with my oncologist.  I told Joe that I wanted to go to Yamoto's for lunch and that's where he took me.  I had my favorite lunch -- mango sushi -- and Joe had a teriyaki chicken bento box.  I did take two spiced pork balls off of his plate.  So good!  The mango sushi is the only vegan sushi I have ever heard of.  We were so full we ended up having a ham sandwich for dinner about 8:30 p.m.

And that, friends, is what I had for dinner this week.  We don't usually eat out this much but it was a nice treat in this unusually hot weather.  I am not going to do these every week, but look for others in the future.  Next week it is off on vacation so you might see some of those dinners (or lunches).

Have a wonderful day!

Kathy