What's Cooking: The Plan for Week of January 15

Feel free to cook along at home ...

Friday: Mustard-glazed flounder, sauteed arugula, steamed cauliflower.

Saturday: Pasta with meat sauce (frozen), salad and bread.

Sunday: Roast chicken, potatoes, green beans

Monday: Broccoli with tortellini

Tuesday: Moroccan chicken stew with couscous

Wednesday: Ginger chicken soup with vegetables

Thursday: Leftovers or something from the freezer

Meanwhile, here's a rundown of how last week's plan panned out:

Friday: Black Bean Soup (I ended up doing a mash-up between this recipe and Joy.  It was okay.)

Saturday: Halibut with Lentils in Mustard Sauce (Very yummy.  A family fave.)

Sunday: Homemade chicken fingers and broccoli (and probably leftover lentils from Saturday) (I had to move this because I had to use the shrimp sooner than I anticipated.  I could have frozen it but that kind of defeats the point of paying extra for fresh.  Since Preston won't eat curry -- don't ask -- I had to go with this yummy recipe instead.  Big hit and it's hysterical hearing Maddie ask for couscous.)

Monday: Curried Rice with Shrimp with steamed green beans (As mentioned, Preston won't do curry, so I have to save this one for a night he's not home.  So I moved up the black-eyed peas with spinach.)

Tuesday: Black-eyed peas with spinach over rice (From Moosewood Cooks at Home) (Moved to Monday, homemade chicken fingers went here instead.)

Then, basically these two flipped, with the lentils being the leftover for Wednesday:

Wednesday: Crabcakes (frozen from Trader Joe’s) with broccoli

Thursday: Leftovers or something from the freezer (currently have lots of pasta sauce, soups, etc.)

So here's the brilliance of my plan: it is flexible enough to move around when needed.

Meanwhile, the "waste less food" mantra seems to be working.  It has just changed how I approach everything.  Today I made homemade chicken stock with some random frozen chicken parts -- not enough to make a meal -- and leftover celery to keep from having to throw it out.  Will be yummy to use on Wednesday night's soup.