Arugula, Bacon, and Gruyère Bread Pudding

What can I say? I love bread puddings, sweet or savory. It’s like old-world food. Basic ingredients. Using leftover bread. A warm and rustic dish. Golden crust. The best of comfort food.

Here’s a lovely recipe from Gourmet magazine that I made a few days ago. Eating more leafy greens is, ahemm ahemm, one of my New Year’s resolutions. I love arugula and am always looking for new ways to use it. This bread pudding was quick and easy to make, and made a very nice dinner together with a salad (more leafy greens). If you have any leftovers take them for lunch at work the following day. It can be easily reheated in the microwave.
(For more bread puddings recipes, click here).

Oh, another good thing about bread puddings – they reheat very well (in the microwave, or in the oven covered with foil) or you can assemble them ahead. Assemble the whole thing (with or without the bread, depending on how many hours it is going to sit) but don’t bake. When you return home from work, pop it in the oven, bake, and voila – dinner!

Arugula, Bacon, and Gruyère Bread Pudding

Slightly adapted from Gourmet, December 2008
Makes 4-6 main course or 6-8 side dish servings

Active Time: 20 min

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 large eggs
6 bacon slices, sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
5 ounces baby arugula
6 cups cubed (1-inch) country-style bread (1 pound)
5 1/2 ounces Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated (1 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Butter a 2-qt (8*8 or 9*9-inch) baking dish.

Whisk together milk, cream, eggs, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Preheat 10-12 -inch heavy skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil and cook bacon in a, turning occasionally, until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet. Cook shallot and garlic, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Gradually add arugula and cook, stirring, until it wilts. Let cool a bit.
Stir arugula mixture, bacon, bread, and cheese into custard. Transfer to baking dish and cover with foil.*

Bake 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake until golden in spots, about 10 minutes more.

* Next time I’ll make it, I will let it sit for at least 30 minutes (or longer) in the refrigerator so the bread soaks the liquids more.

More bread pudding recipes:

Bread Pudding with Spiced Rum Sauce & Savory Bread Pudding with Cheese

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I love this dish with delicate lemon flavored pasta and beautiful orange colored shrimp sautéed in butter. Yum. This recipe makes a perfect weekday meal. It is so easy to make and you can have dinner on the table in 20 minutes or less. I think that I cook this meal every 4-6 weeks when I am looking for a tried and true recipe or when I’m at the grocery store and have no plans what to cook for dinner. This is always the first thing to come to my mind when I'm at the seafood section. It’s like the little black dress that saves you when you have no better option for example, when you stop by the grocery store on your way home from work with no grocery list.
And, adults love it and kids too.


Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook
Makes 4-6 servings

Kosher salt
1 box linguine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons good olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, zest grated
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
¼ lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds, optional
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, optional
Freshly grated parmesan for serving, optional

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Sauté for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, salt, and pepper and sauté until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve with parmesan.

Enjoy,
Nurit

Other ideas for dinner:

Fresh Wild Pacific Northwest Salmon

Grilling in the Rain

Thanksgiving-y Chicken Dinner

A simple yet delicious fall stew

Weekly Meal Plan – November

Dear blog readers and subscribers,
It's time for another weekly meal plan suggestion. As always, mix and match according to what you and your family like to eat.

A reminder - one day left to vote for your favorite animal – is it chicken/fish/lamb/beef/pork, so I know what kind of recipes you are looking for. The poll is on the right side column.

Also, I encourage you to subscribe to the blog to get updates (it’s FREE), and, to share it with your friends… (We have added a “ShareThis” button at the end of each post).

So what's on the menu?

Entrées:
Balsamic and sweet roasted chicken
Fresh Wild Pacific Northwest Salmon
Thanksgiving-y chicken dinner with carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes
A simple yet delicious fall stew beef with butternut squash, Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes
Grilling in the rain - Balsamic marinated lamb, Tomato and mint orzo salad, and Hummus

Side dishes:
Garlic & Thyme Roasted Brussels sprouts
Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes
Orange marmalade salad
For more side dishes, click here.

On the sweet side - NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
For snack - Pumpkins Seeds Roasted With Curry Seasoning

More weekly meal plans:

Weekly meal plan - October
Weekly menu plan - September

Have a wonderful wonderful week!

Nurit

Cooking and most of the people I know…

I love to read and buy cookbooks and food magazines (it’s my addiction), kitchen equipment and tools (no more room in the kitchen cabinets), and browse through food websites and blogs (it takes a lot of my time). But most of the people I personally know don’t care about these things and I guess that most of the people out there don’t care much either. Why do I say that? Well, for starters, because a best-selling cookbook in the US where more than 300 million people live, according to Wikipedia sells only about 1 million copies (for example, click here). That’s all?

So, this is a sort of a mission statement for this blog, dedicated to the people who…

Don’t like to cook
Don’t know how to cook
Whether they like to cook or not, they would be happy if they didn’t have to cook at all
Are fantasizing about having a personal chef
See cooking as a burden or a chore (I confess, sometimes I do too)
Don’t care much about food beyond for their survival
Order pizza, take-out, or eat out more than three times a week
Have only salt, pepper and maybe dried oregano or cumin in their spice rack
Will never own a chef knife
Have no more than 1-3 cookbooks
Don’t glance at a food magazine when standing in line at the grocery store
Don’t aspire to make more than mixing yogurt with muesli for dinner (I have a friend like that)
Are singles or families too busy to cook every day (I know plenty of those)
… in general, don’t claim to have an obsession with food
(Did I forget to mention anyone?)

Well, this blog is for you.

I will only post here recipes that work, are easy, taste good, use basic ingredients and techniques (well, at least I’ll try, but if I won’t, I’ll show you how to do it), or in 2 words – Unthreatening , Delicious.

I hope I’ll make you cook more and love it too. OK, at least like it.

With love, Nurit

PS – 1 Family. Friendly. Food. is entering its fourth month of existence! Yay!

I got some good feedback from readers so far, but I would love to hear anything you want to say so I can do a better job. E-mail me: chef AT wflavors DOT com, or post a comment (you can comment anonymously if you prefer that).

Grilling in the Rain

On the table tonight: Balsamic marinated lamb kebabs, Tomato and mint orzo salad, Hummus.

I was planning to try a new recipe for dinner – North African Lamb Kebabs by Emeril Lagasse that has the following ingredients:

(Tip: Read quickly. No need to memorize the list. Just get the general idea. Point to come.)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless leg or shoulder of lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes with...

But as reality stroke… (IT is always doing that), the following had happened:
I took the lamb and cubed it.
Started with the easy ingredients: salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, olive oil. Then, I was going to wash and chop the herbs…. And then… I was looking at the baby.

She was playing in the family room and giving me that cute little baby innocent but scary look that says “stay in the kitchen and cook if you want, just know that I am going to poop any second now, and this one will end with a bath”.

So, I have found myself reaching frantically for the balsamic vinegar while thinking – “but I never saw a recipe that uses balsamic vinegar with lamb, especially not with paprika and cumin! Does this combination work?????” I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and gave the lamb a big splash of vinegar, and hoped for the best.

2 hours later.

Husband returned home from work. I was making the hummus and orzo salad, and it was time to grill the lamb. Now, I’m not a fool. It was dark and cold outside, so I asked my husband if he doesn’t mind grilling the lamb in our outdoor grill, outside. “Sure”, he said. But as reality hit AGAIN, he got busy helping one kid with homework while entertaining the other one, so I found myself having to do the grilling myself.

And then it rained.


So there you have it – Grilling in the rain balsamic marinated lamb.
Makes 4-6 servings

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 2-bite-size cubes
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
Cumin
Paprika
Evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
Balsamic vinegar
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
½ red onion, diced big
Wooden*/metal skewers


Put cubed lamb in a bowl. Generously sprinkle with spices and drizzle evoo and balsamic vinegar. Mix well, cover with plastic wrap and marinate 1-2 hours in the fridge.
* If using wooden skewers, soak them in water so they don’t burn on the grill.
Prepare the kebabs: thread the lamb cubes and diced onion onto the skewers and grill over medium-high heat, turning once, about 5 minutes for each side.

Tomato and mint orzo salad
Makes 4-6 servings

½ box orzo pasta
Salt
Black pepper, ground
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo)1 big flavorful tomato, diced
Feta cheese, crumbled/diced small1 handful pine nuts, toasted*
½ lemon, juiced
Mint leaves, chopped

Cook pasta according to the instructions on the box.
Drain and season with salt, black pepper, and a splash of a good fruity evoo. Add all the other ingredients, and combine gently.

* toast the pine nuts in a 350F oven for a few minutes or in a skillet over low heat. Don’t burn them! Use a timer.

Hummus recipes are to be found all over the place and everyone likes it differently, so no recipe for hummus. Just combine your favorite ingredients in your preferred amounts.

I finally got it right for my husband’s taste (I knew he’d like it), although I personally would have preferred to add more lemon, garlic, and cumin. Oh, well, life is all about compromises, isn’t it?!

More recipes for orzo and lamb:
Orzo salad

Lamb with chickpeas, yogurt and pan-roasted veg

Grilled potatoes, corn, and lamb with yogurt-mint sauce

Weekly meal plan - October

Cumin chicken breast with mango sauce and cilantro mashed potatoes.
(Yes, it’s green).

Hi dear family, friends, blog readers and subscribers,

Below you will find a suggestion for a weekly meal plan.
Of course, mix and match according to what you and your family like to eat.

PS. – Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog to get updates, and, if you like my ideas do forward and share with your friends… (Did you see the little envelope icon below to “Email Post to a Friend”?)
It feels nice to know that people are visiting here.

Day 1:

Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots

Day 2:

Cold Sesame Noodles & Chicken wrap, In: Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Day 3:

Beef Goulash Nurit’s savory bread pudding with cheese, In : A cake for the weekend & Leftovers: Bread (There’s a recipe for dessert too.

Day 4:

A little bit of this and a little bit of that chicken breasts, ginger-scented rice, haricot vert, In: A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Day 5:

Lamb with chickpeas, yogurt and pan-roasted veg, In: jamie’s dinners by Jamie Oliver

Have a wonderful wonderful week!
Nurit

Work & Cook: How to cook a dinner party for 6+5+2 on a conference day?

A week ago I invited friends to come over for dinner on Saturday. A few days later I found out there is a going to be a bloggers’ conference that day. Hmmm, what to do? I want to see my friends. I want to go to the conference. How can I have a cake and eat it too? I needed a plan.

Here is how I did it.

The guests:
I invited two families with kids to come over. That meant I had to cook for (including us) 6 adults, 5 kids, and 2 babies who eat small-cut finger food. That is about 10 adult portions.
Some people like beef, some like fish, some like lamb, but everyone likes chicken. Each one has his/her own likes and dislikes, so I wanted some variety with the side dishes to cover everyone’s preferences.

The menu:
In general, I like to make one flavorful entrée and two simple side dishes so the flavors of the different dishes don’t compete with each other or overwhelm the palate.
Another helpful thing is the cooking technique. In this case – roasting. If you want to make your life easy when cooking for a dinner party and be able to spend time with your friends instead of cooking while they entertain themselves or watch you slave in the kitchen, “roasting” is the key word. I decided on:

Roasted Moroccan-inspired marinated chicken
Roasted carrots
Roasted root vegetable
Roasted potatoes
Roasted beets with balsamic vinaigrette
Couscous with dried fruits and pine nuts
Vegetables salad
Pine nuts cake served with Rose water custard

Again, you can get by honorably with one entrée and two side dishes, but I wanted to impress and have plenty.

The plan:
The conference is on Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. We wanted dinner to start at 6:30 pm. That meant I needed to do some cooking on Friday, or to be more precise, baking.

Friday
Make dessert. Bake the cake and make the custard.
Since the oven was already warm and working I scrubbed the beets and baked them for 1 hour.
Also, I toasted the pine nuts for the couscous.
Salad is a last minute item because you want it to be fresh and crisp, so I asked my friend to bring the salad. But if you want to do it yourself, you can use mixed greens and throw in some cherry tomatoes, croutons, if you want, and such ingredients. There’s no washing, slicing or dicing to do. Make a quick vinaigrette or use bottled one.

Saturday
Morning, 8-9 am:
Still in my PJ and drinking my coffee, I prepared the marinade for the chicken, covered and refrigerated it.
Diced the dried fruit for the couscous.
Asked the husband to set the table during the day between activities with the kiddies

Afternoon, 4 – 5 pm:
Prepare carrots and root vegetables.

Place potatoes and chicken on a large baking sheet.

5 pm: Put everything in a 350 F degree oven 1 - 1 ½ hours before dinner time. It is almost impossible to overcook vegetables and chicken thighs in a 350 F oven.

Peel and slice the beets and make quick vinaigrette for them.

Prepare couscous 5 minutes before dinner time. Add and mix with fruits and pine nuts.

Serve. Time to eat.

I like to serve family style. This way there is a lot of interaction around the table, plates and dishes are moving around, guests help each other and the kids, talk about the food, I try to convince people to taste food they claim they don’t like. There’s a lot of action.
Then it gets quiet as people start to eat…
Then it is action-discussion time again and a lot of fun.

I love having leftovers.
I love having leftovers because it means a day without cooking.
So Saturday’s leftover is going to be a wonderful Sunday lunch (see photo above), and I have some cake and custard for our game night with friends tonight.

PS – I did not post recipes as I believe you have your own or can find them in so many places on the web and your cookbooks.
If you do want a recipe, e-mail me at: nurit AT familyfriendlyfood DOT com

More dinner ideas:
Weekly menu plan
Pork schnitzel, potato-yam mash, roasted cauliflower
How to spend more time with your kids AND have a daily home-made meal
Roasted chicken with orange-mustard marinade, yellow jasmine rice, steamed broccoli
Rib-eye steak, grits, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce salad
Grilled potatoes, corn, and lamb with yogurt-mint sauce

A little bit of this, a little bit of that - Improvising dinner

And there you have it. A photo of raw chicken breasts on an indoor grill…




Some days I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner. Most nights I hardly have any time to cook.
Dinner tonight was just like this. But we ended with a nice dinner with the help of some leftovers, pantry items, and a quick stop at the grocery store to buy chicken.

Using an indoor grill, as fall is seriously here to stay and winter is quickly approaching, and it is raining tonight, also made things quick and easy. I just hate cleaning that thing. I wish they will invent one you can out in the dishwasher.
Also, after reading the recipes’ please vote – what kind of recipes do you prefer – with precise instructions or general ones (see poll at the top of the page on the right side).

A little bit of this and a little bit of that chicken breasts, ginger-scented rice, haricot vert*


* Haricot vert are French thin green beans
Makes 4-6 servings

For the chicken:
I had no idea whatsoever how to prepare the chicken. I looked in the fridge and grabed the following:

3 chicken breasts, about 2 lb., cut lengthwise to thin portions
Big splash of extra virgin olive oil (evoo), or about 3 tablespoons
Salt, ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon mustard
Big splash of soy
1 handful parsley and cilantro, chopped small
3 cloves garlic, minced


Mix all ingredients together and marinate at least one hour (I did for 2 hours), and up to overnight.
Grill outdoor/indoor, or pan fry.

For the rice:
1 tablespoon evoo
½ of small onion, dices small
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup jasmine rice
Ginger, peeled and sliced thin (1 teaspoon if you want it “scented” or more for a stronger gingery flavor)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups boiling water

Sauté the onion in evoo over low heat until translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add rice, ginger, salt, and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, about 5-10 minutes.
Fluff gently with a fork and it is ready to serve.


For the haricot vert:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon evoo
½ medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced/thinly sliced
About 4-5 cups haricot vert, cleaned and steamed for 3-4 minutes
Salt, black pepper


Sauté the onion in evoo and butter over medium heat until browned. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the beans. Season with salt and pepper.

Additional "dinner tonight" ideas:

Weekly menu plan

Pork schnitzel, potato-yam mash, roasted cauliflower

How to spend more time with your kids AND have a daily home-made meal

Roasted chicken with orange-mustard marinade, yellow jasmine rice, steamed broccoli

Rib-eye steak, grits, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce salad

Grilled potatoes, corn, and lamb with yogurt-mint sauce

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

(Yes, that's purple potato.)

(And, yes, I know it’s a scary photo. My husband says to remove the photo from the post, but I think this is the whole idea - it is a leftover picture and that's what leftovers look like, right?!).

People sometimes ask me for ideas on what to do with leftovers. Some have asked me to post the ideas on the blog. So here is the first post in a series to come. This one will focus on chicken.

An important point is: if you want to have dinner at home with your family every night without working too hard and driving yourself nuts, leftovers is the key word. For me too. As much as love to cook, bake, and food in general, when I have to cook everyday sometimes it feels like a chore and then I don’t enjoy it as much. It feels more like a burden. So, leftovers, here we go…

The point of start is with a roasted chicken, potatoes (from the farm), and carrots we had on Friday.
See recipe here Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots
So here are a few options:

Chicken wrap
This is more a list of ingredients than a recipe and you can mix and match ingredients to make your favorite wrap:

Leftover chicken, shredded, reheated
Pita/flatbread, warmed
Sour cream/Tzaziki /thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt)
Cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion – diced/sliced/chopped
Avocado – sliced/mashed
Cilantro, or any fresh herb that you like and have available
Leftover grated cheese


Another way to go is make a soup. A-ha!

Leftover chicken soup

First, look in your fridge for other leftovers you can use.

For example, in addition to the chicken and its roasted vegetables, I had:
½ onion, 2 celery sticks, ½ bag baby carrots, and 1 sweet potato in the pantry. Put all in a big pot, add salt and black pepper, use the chicken carcass too! and the cold gelatin-y jus as well for more flavor.
Cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for 20-30 minutes (gentle simmer), or longer if you added any fresh vegetables that need to be cooked more.
Towards the end of the cooking, add parsley if you have any.

Other ingredients you can add:
Pasta, beans, leafy greens, cauliflower, root vegetables, the list is endless…
Serve with some leftover grated cheese on top and cubes of leftover bread (or even better, toast the bread before to make crunchy croutons)

A third option can be Thai style salad.
OK, I had soba noodles and a jarred Peanut Satay sauce. I usually don’t like prepared jarred condiments and other pantry items and sauces of that sort, but from time to time I think “let’s give it a try”. I always end up with the same conclusion – anything home-made will taste better than any of the canned or jarred stuff.

Here’s a recipe I tried and like from the Food Network by Tyler Florence (good looking, ha?!). If you don’t have all these ingredients, a few tablespoons of peanut butter will be nice too. It will sure taste better then the jarred sauce.

Cold Sesame Noodles

1 pound Chinese egg noodles or spaghetti

Kosher salt

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, smashed

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon red chili sauce (recommended: Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

6 tablespoons water

2 scallions, sliced thin

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cool. Drain the noodles well and transfer to a wide bowl.

In a blender, add the ginger, garlic, sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, and water. Process until the mixture is smooth. Put the blender jar into the refrigerator and let it chill for about 1/2 hour. Pour the peanut sauce over the noodles and toss until well coated. Serve garnished with the scallions, sesame seeds, and cilantro.

And of course, add your chicken to it.

Now, doesn’t this make cooking life easier?!

Check out this post: A cake for the weekend & Leftovers: Bread

Have fun.
Nurit

Weekly Menu Plan - September

I thought that in addition to posting recipes on the blog, I will collect a few to create a weekly menu for you. This way you can have a meal plan for the week. How easy is that? It sure does;

* Save time on planning and thinking what to cook (that’s the part that takes most of my time, going through recipes and cookbooks and trying to choose what to prepare)

* Make a grocery list through copying & pasting the ingredients in the recipes

* Print the recipes to make a collection

* All recipes are easy and/or quick to make

There are a lot of chicken recipes since this is a kids’ favorite ingredient. I always have a success with chicken.
So, your weekly menu plan can look like this:

Monday – Grilled potatoes, corn, and lamb with yogurt-mint sauce

Tuesday – Chicken thighs, Israeli couscous, steamed cauliflower, and salad with feta

Wednesday – Rib-eye steak, grits, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce salad

Thursday – Pork schnitzel, potato-yam mash, roasted cauliflower

Friday – Roasted chicken with orange-mustard marinade, yellow jasmine rice, steamed broccoli

Vegetarian meal – Artichokes, Brussels sprouts, Eggplants, Simplest vegetable salad/Love-ly Heirloom tomatoes salad, Easiest corn on the cob ever, with good bread, cheeses, etc.

Let me know if you like this idea and would like to have more weekly menu plan ideas.
E-mail me: chef@wflavors.com, Post a comment below, or forward this to a friend (click on the little envelope icon below).

Have a wonderful week!
Nurit

How to spend more time with your kids AND have a daily home-made meal

It all starts with having a weekly meal plan.
Choose recipes with no more than 20 minutes of prep time. That is, the time you have to be active and actually prepare the recipe, unlike the cooking time which is usually inactive and allows you to do other things while the food cooks.

Here is an example for a weekday meal plan. These meals don’t take more than 30 minutes to prepare. If you keep it simple, like in the example below, you will find that you have more time to do fun stuff like go to the park with the kids, because dinner is almost ready and all you need to do is 1-2 quick side dishes!

In the summer it is especially easy because you can grill the food and have fun outside in your backyard, deck or porch and play with your kids while the food cooks.

Monday
Grilled Salmon
Grilled baby potatoes
Grilled asparagus
* Do ahead – cook Bolognese sauce for Thursday on Monday/Tuesday night

Tuesday
Grilled steaks
Mashed sweet potatoes
Steamed broccoli

Wednesday
Grilled lamb chops
Israeli couscous
Cinnamon glazed carrots

Thursday
Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce (reheat)
Pasta
Small salad

Friday
Buffet OR Pizza party = take all the leftovers out and “clean” your fridge before Sunday’s grocery shopping (put it all on flatbread and make “pizza”), OR Light dinner of fried eggs, cheeses, deli meat, veggies, tuna salad, etc

* Do the grocery shopping on Sunday and you are good for the week.
* Do ahead the prep or cooking is best to do in the evening after the kids are in bed. I know it might be the last thing you feel like doing at the end of the day when you can finally rest, but he next day you will be happy you did it. You will feel so wonderful when you know you don’t have the pressure of cooking dinner fast and can do something “funner” instead.
* If you have leftovers, that is the best. Pack everything and have a picnic dinner in the park, or the backyard.

Make your life and easy, keep cooking simple, and you’ll see that having a home-made dinner everyday can be easy. It just takes some practice (or a cooking class, see World Flavors).

Enjoy summer.
Nurit