I thought I’d start a new thing and try and do this on Fridays when I can. It’s going to be called, “What I’m making for dinner this week.”
You can see what I am making in case you’re stuck on what to make for dinner this week and don’t have time to really think about or plan. Maybe this will help. So, are you ready?
Editors note: False advertising! I am showing a dinner with Pasta Shells. Well, I didn’t have a picture of the Ziti because I haven’t made it yet. It is a pretty picture though. You get the point!
These are the five dinners:
Salmon
Flank Steak
BBQ Chicken
Baked Ziti
Tamales
Salmon with butternut squash and couscous. We’re are going to put the Salmon on the grill. We’re going to use a little lemon, butter, and dill, make it pretty simply, and then just grill it. The butternut squash is going to get cut up and cubed. Luckily, Mick (honey), will be peeling it, cutting it up and cubing it because it’s hard to do. We take some olive oil and we put some little bit of a mixture I invented called Cajun seasoning. It’s got just a pinch of spice and a little bit of salt. Then a little bit of a cinnamon mix, because butternut squash kind of needs that. Just a little bit of spice, not too much, not too salty. So, we tossed that with olive oil, and then we put it on a sheet pan and we roast it in the oven. Let me see, probably about 375 – 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Check it, you know, put a fork in it and see if it’s done. Perhaps toss it in the pan midway to brown more evenly.
Then we’re going to make some couscous because Honey likes to have that occasionally. You know, you want a grain and it’s just a little box mix you can find by the rice in the grocery store.
Okay next, Flank Steak with Cheesy Potatoes. Flank steak, which I’d never had until about 15 years ago, when my brother-in-law made it. You put it on the grill and slice it on the bias. I love it far better than a tri-tip. We marinate it for a couple of days. This time we’re marinating with a pre-bought marinade from Lawry’s instead of homemade.
Then I’m making cheesy potatoes with it. And we’re inviting our friends, Pat and Mary, for dinner.
Cheesy potatoes are made with frozen hash browns, one can of cream of chicken soup, one eight-ounce sour cream and a half a cube of butter. And then about 16 ounces of cheese. What you do is, (you don’t have to thaw the hash browns, but you can), and then you put the hash browns in the bowl with the cheese and kind of toss it. And then you melt the butter and then mix it with the cream of chicken soup, and then you take it off the burner once it’s mixed, and then put in the eight ounces of sour cream. And then you blend that with the potatoes, cook it at 375 for about 45 minutes. Oh, yeah, you put it in a glass 13 x 9 pan. I don’t usually have to grease it because there’s so much grease in there from all the butter and cheese.
I’m going to probably do sliced tomatoes, ranch style beans, and tortillas. And that’s our beautiful dinner.
Next it’s barbecue chicken pieces since we bought a ton of chicken pieces at Costco. I don’t think honey pre-bakes them anymore because he usually can watch them on the BBQ. He puts on the barbecue sauce at the end and then we’re probably just going to have leftover cheesy potatoes from the night before.
Mick’s favorite is to make chicken Rice-A-Roni with barbecue chicken. I don’t know why. And then we’ll have Coleslaw and he wants to have corn on the cob.
After that, Baked Ziti. Ziti with sausage and meatballs because I found some homemade meatballs in the freezer. They’re delicious beef meatballs and I kept going, “do I want meatball sandwiches?” No, let’s put in a pasta!
I bought some really good, different kinds of pasta from Italy. So, I hope one of them is a Ziti. Then I have some leftover sauce from Mick that he made. And I thought he wouldn’t be happy with just a little meatballs in them. I was going to cut them in half. I bought some hot Italian sausage and then I’m going to take it out of the casing and cook it up. The Sausage is really not hot when it’s distributed in the casserole. You need the flavor to be more intense because it gets diluted.
I’ll cook the ziti, then I’ll have the sauce, then I’ll have the sausage and meatballs. I’ll sauté up a little mushroom to put in there, and then I’ll toss it all together. I have some fresh Buffalo mozzarella and some good pizza cheese from Trader Joe’s. Pop it in the oven, in a greased corning ware casserole dish, at 375 degrees for about 35-45 until it bubbles in the middle! And I’ll just have a nice baked ziti. Yum! I’ll make two, freeze one. I’m not a big fan of freezing, freezing macaroni, but if I do it within a sauce it’s usually fine. Oh, I may make a salad and garlic bread with it.
My fifth and last dinner is Tamales. Now I made a bunch of tamales at Christmas, and I’ve been eating a few here and there. But I haven’t made them for dinner yet and its already April. So this is the last of the Christmas tamales. I have some beautiful ranchero sauce to put over the top of them and I’m going to have beans and rice.
So, that’s what I’m having for dinner this week. I hope this was a help!
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