So obviously this is Thanksgiving week and prep will begin today! Last week, I will admit, we didn’t eat at home much which indicates the holidays are in full swing. I’m out all day and pick up a falafel sandwich on my way to somewhere else and Johnathan usually just eats pretzels for as long as possible if I’m not there to feed him. This week probably won’t be much different. Turkey prep and holiday shopping take a lot of time and hutzpah. We’re also gearing up for a week in the UK for a wedding, so there’s shoe repair and clutch searching to be done as well. That aside, I still have to think of some quick dishes for us this week. I still have cheese from last week as well as tomatoes and a good stock of canned goods. I see pizza in our near future, and the panzanella I didn’t make last week. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Monday - BLTs with Fontina

Tuesday - Panzanella with cornbread

Wednesday - homemade pizza with gruyere and pepperoni

Thursday - Thanksgiving - I”m making the bacon dijon turkey from Bon Appetit

Friday - Leftovers, and into next week. I saw Sunny Anderson make these fried stuffing balls - yes please!

This week’s food budget for us is smaller than usual - a good challenge I think. I also wanted to detox before the Thanksgiving hoopla. This week’s menu is going to be super simple, vegetarian (well, maybe there might be some bacon or pancetta) and I”m making as cheap as possible - while still being healthy (trust me, I know Ramen is cheap). I’ll make my own pasta - I have lots semolina flour around, do some hearty salads, maybe even make a pie crust for a quiche. So rather than selecting recipes before I venture out to the shops, I’ll spend as little as possible and make it up this week. When life gives you less money, make better food.

I bought two 5lb bags of apples last week, ambitious to make apple sauce. I didn’t get around to it, but I thought about how great apples are as a savory element to dinners. I don’t fancy myself a baker, so this week I’m making apple recipes without extra sugar. Apples pair really well with meats like pork and sausage and I think have a great fall flavor when they’re actually in season. Here’s what I”m thinking for this week:

Monday - Pork Loin stuffed with Apples and Red Bliss Mashed Potatoes - we’re having some dinner guests, I think this well be most impressive.

Tuesday - Chicken Normande with Mashed Apples and Potatoes

Wednesday - Apple Crepes with Calavados Butter Sauce - this has some apple brandy in it - I can’t wait to try this.

Thursday - Pan-grilled Sausages with Apples and Onions (two things apples love)

Friday - Cider-brined Cornish Hens with Pearl Onions and Apples - I picked up a couple hens on sale and froze them, they’ll be perfect - a Thanksgiving trial run!

I’m not going so Martha as to do a whole week of patriotic dishes, but I am trying to make things easy and comforting during this busy week. I am making a special election night dish, which will hopefully soak up the champagne as the election results roll in and we celebrate with our friends. I also went back to my Farm to Table cookbook and found some great seasonal dishes to match what’s at the farmer’s market. I also saw an episode of Tyler’s Ultimate this weekend, and the whole half hour I was glued to the TV, salivating, so his Sloppy Joe’s are on the menu this week. Here’s how the week looks:

Monday - Twice Baked Irish Potatoes with Stout Onions and Kale

Tuesday - Four Cheese and Tomato Bake

Wednesday - Zuppa di Faro - a hearty fall soup

Thursday - Tyler Florence’s Sloppy Joe’s with Butternut Squash Chips

Friday - Hot Wings with Butternut Squash Slaw

I probably won’t recommend making a whole week of pumpkin dishes, but by me doing this, you can pick and choose, and what better week to do this experiment. Johnathan’s enthusiasm might wane a bit by the end of the week, but I hope to make these dishes interesting enough that even if you did do a whole week of them you won’t hate pumpkins forever. Friday we’re having some close friends over for Halloween, as we all have an equal disinterest in Halloween celebrations. However I am making a festive dish using butternut squash and black fettuccine, and the pumpkin will be in the dessert. Here’s what I’m thinking for this week:

Monday - a Rachael Ray pasta I saw this weekend - Penne with a pumpkin cream sauce

Tuesday - Pumpkin Crab Cakes

Wednesday - Warm Pumpkin Salad with Polenta

Thursday - Pumpkin Risotto

Friday - Black Fettuccine with Shrimp and Butternut Squash with Pumpkin Crumb Cake for dessert.

I was again really inspired by what I saw at the Greenmarket this Saturday, and I had my favorite fuzzy friend Paddington to help. I want to continue to keep my meals simple as the season gets busier and busier. I’m also going to experiment a bit and possibly make a dish Rachael Ray would be really proud of. Here’s what’s on the menu for this week:

Monday - Pan-Seared Duck Breasts with Turnips

Tuesday - Butternut Squash Pizza

Wednesday - Mac&Cheese Lasagna

Thursday - Baked Potatoes, or Jacket Potatoes as Jamie Oliver calls them

Friday - Pappardelle with Sweet Tomato Sauce and Baked Ricotta

This week I was inspired by some pretty shiny magazines. I just got this month’s Food&Wine, and I also got the first issue of Food Network Magazine from the Wine & Food Festival. I also wanted to use the local duck and pork ribs I bought at the farmer’s market last week and wasn’t able to use. Luckily, Food&Wine had a special article/recipe section about butchers and I found a great duck recipe from the chef of our favorite San Francisco restaurant, Nopa. I’m also going to make the pork ribs for the first time without a super sticky BBQ sauce. Johnathan is skeptical of this method, but the butchers said if you’re getting really good, fresh local pork don’t drench it, make it simple. I was also craving some Italian, hence Giada’s Bolognese sauce. I also want to make some big fall salads, so I’ll figure out those dishes when I get to the farmer’s market tomorrow. Here’s how the week will look:

Monday - Cassoulet with Duck

Tuesday - Pork Ribs with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday - Fall Salad w/ Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Thursday - Homemade Pasta with Simple Bolognese

Friday - Fall Veg Pizza/Salad Pizza

An appropriate symbol of my afternoon

On this Saturday afternoon I suddenly find myself at LaGuardia Airport staring at the overpriced gourmet snack stand waiting for a flight to Atlanta. I was finishing up my farmer’s market shopping for the week - and I had planned to buy everything from the farmer’s (sorry TJ’s and WF) - a new experiment and challenge. Well, I got a call from my Dad, asking if I’d come down to Atlanta for a few days and help my Mom, who hurt her back this week while he was at a large business conference. So here I am, stuffing kale, broccoli rabe, red bell peppers, and NY State apples into my luggage so I can continue to bring you the best recipes, and no food goes to waste. However, I did leave behind the duck legs and fresh baby back pork ribs in the freezer, as well as fresh butter and cheese, and hopefully my awesome parents will contribute to this weeks groceries once I get to the ATL. I wasn’t planning on this week’s menu being as structured as every other week, and wanted to get inspired by what I saw at the Saturday Greenmarket, have a set ($80) budget, and see what I could make of what I bought when I got home. I had a little bit of time to collect my culinary thoughts, and once I pick up a few things in Atlanta, I’ll have a budget total for the week, minus what I left in Brooklyn in the freezer (I’ll add the value of those items next week when I use them). Here’s what we have so far:

Monday: Kale, and hopefully a duck cut of some sort. Johnathan and I have started a group circuit training class with some friends, and our homework this week from the trainer is to eat kale.

Tuesday: Eggplant, maybe roasted?

Wednesday: Tagliatelle with Broccoli Rabe in a cheesy cream sauce (A staple in our house, and I was inspired to make this again when I saw the beautiful broccoli rabe at the market)

Thursday: Something SUPER easy - I fly back to NYC at 3pm, and go to the Food Network Wine and Food Festival at 8pm that night.

Friday: Curried Butternut Squash Soup - I was invited to a wheat free/gluten free/dairy free dinner party, and my contribution is the soup course. I’m a bit skeptical, but I know my friends will cook some amazing food - I’m just so thankful I don’t have those dietary restrictions!

Saturday: (!!!! - hopefully a good extra meal, making 12 meals instead of 10) Stuffed acorn squash - I think I need to try Quinoa as a stuffing.

I can’t believe September is already over. The past few days have been cloudy, cool, and gray in NYC, so it gives a great taste of what’s to come this winter…. Johnathan requested a couple comfort foods this week, and I also went back to my favorite, Jamie Oliver. There’s also a sub theme of bacon - can’t wait. I also wanted to buy up the last of the summer tomatoes, which will probably include some pretty tomato and mozzarella salads. Here’s what’s cookin’ this week:

Monday: White fish wrapped in Smoked Bacon with lemon Mayonnaise and Asparagus

Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf

Wednesday: Roasted Sausages (hopefully local) with stuffed fingerling potatoes

Thursday: Mini Calzones

Friday: Butternut Squash and Bacon Stuffed Crepes

Astor Center Instructor, Mark Bello

If you live in the NYC area, I would highly recommend taking a class at The Astor Center. You can know a lot or a little, it doesn’t matter. It’s not fussy, and the people at the center, including the instructors are great and friendly. I was really pleasantly surprised. The class was full, but put a bunch of people in a kitchen who love food and wine and it made for a great afternoon of homemade pasta, wine, and conversation. We exchanged restaurant favorites, tips, and of course Mark (our fearless instructor) taught us basic pasta making, with some simple, truly Italian dishes. So as my first foray into the world of “formal” cooking, I give it two thumbs up, and this is what’s going to inspire me, and the menu this week.

The first part of the class was touring the Farmer’s Market in Union Square, on a Saturday…. cue scary music. But the amount of choices and volume of produce was awesome. I had not been to the Saturday market in a long time, and was jarred by the amount of people, but realized how much I was missing going on Mondays. I’m missing a lot of the dairy - fresh, local cheeses, butters (which we used in the class - phenomenal), and family raised meats. Next week, I’m going to change the shopping day, and go either on Friday or Saturday, and attempt to do a budget week of food just from the Farmer’s Market - time to take a hike Whole Foods.

Ok, on to the menu. I’m doing a couple African dishes this week, for something different, and for Jamati.com. I”m also going to use my new pasta skills, and only buy produce from the Farmer’s Market and make my own sauces and dishes based on the veggies. Here’s a rough outline:

Monday: French Pumpkin Soup

Tuesday: Some sort of Baby Artichoke dish, probably with pasta

Wednesday: South African Spiced Chicken Skewers

Thursday: Swiss Chard something - I’ve never used it, so we’ll see….

Friday: Peanut Butter Stew - Senegal