The Monday Menu: June 15, 2009

You know it’s your birthday when:

A. A new immersion blender shows up at your house
B. Your mom shows up with a sewing machine and a car full of FREE plants to plant all around your house and diagram plans from a landscaper as to where to place them
C. A growler of beer from a microbrewery in Chicago appears with your sister at 8:00 at night
D. You receive email after email informing you that “X wrote on your wall”
E. All of the above

I’m down one kid this week. Kiwi is spending the entire week at horseback riding camp about two hours away. At some point during the week I’ll lose Kola Nut to an overnight with his cousins. This is when your parenting is tested: when the kids are miles away with other people and you’re not there to course correct when they wander off the path. How they act will reflect my parenting abilities. Be good, you guys. Or else. Or else I’ll eat all the PEZ while you’re gone.

The menu is going to be based on only leftover ingredients this week because of the limited number of people on any given day. It feels odd to only walk out of the supermarket with fruit and milk, but it’s also nice to see the total ring up so low. I don’t know that it’s ever been under $50 for a week’s worth of groceries, even before there were all these kids involved. When I am looking for recipes online for specific ingredients that are handing around, I type the ingredients I want to pair together into my Google search bar and wait to see what it reveals. You never know what you’re going to get, but it gives me a direction and some ideas as to where I might want to start.

Monday – Ginger steak salad and croissant rolls (I’ve been on a steak salad kick, and I happen to have a similar shriveled piece of ginger in my fridge left from the ginger garlic green beans)

Tuesday – Asparagus, goat cheese and lemon pasta with asparagus from last week’s neighborhood BBQ, goat cheese leftover from Mediterranean pasta and burgers and lemons that we have taking up space

Wednesday – Lemon and dill salmon, spinach Parmesan rice bake, steamed broccoli

Thursday – Roast grilled chicken with herbs from the garden, grilled potatoes and vegetables

Friday – Mankato special. I have no idea what or where we’re eating, but we’ll be traveling down to pick up Kiwi from her horseback riding adventure. Maybe one of Ole’s relatives wants to feed us while we’re there.