Planning the Menu

School nights can be challenging with hungry children, homework and activities. Planning weekly menus is a great help to me in cooking for the kids. I think being even slightly organized, and believe me, slightly is a stretch for me but I am a work in progress, makes it all just a little bit easier. My menu planning doesn't involve exact ingredients, just a general idea of a type of meal I will prepare.

This week, I thought it out on Monday and wanted to slack off and order from Candle Cafe but for Tuesday to Friday I did have a plan. The plan was loose, polenta with vegetable sauce on Tuesday, vegetable stir fry with brown rice on Wednesday, mexican casserole with the leftover rice on Thursday and special roasted vegetables on Friday night. With this rough outline, I can incorporate any vegetable I come across during the week. Whatever looks fresh can be sauteed and added to diced tomatoes for a polenta sauce (like a pasta sauce) and I was cheating by using prepackaged polenta that we sliced. The vegetable stir fry for Wednesday again was whatever was fresh. It happend to be onions, cauliflower, bok choy, spinach and zucchini. We sauteed garlic and ginger that I had on hand and created a sauce of raw honey, soy sauce, dark vinegar and sesame oil. The stir fry went with hand crafted (not by me) tofu over rice (they actually thought it was fried rice but it wasn't). Then, Thursday's dinner was simple. The leftover plain brown rice, black beans and sauteed onions made a great casserole with fresh salsa and enchilada sauce. So, for tomorrow, I will see what is fresh that can be roasted. I am hoping for some root vegetables, brussels sprouts and some light fresh green vegetables. I will just douse it balsamic vinegar and olive oil and ignore it, whatever it happens to be...

pictured, Lake Placid, NY and Tadoussac, QC