Weekly Dish

When I first started blogging, I was oh so ambitious. I planned to post a menu on Saturday (every Saturday), and then write about every dish I made during the week, every single day. Any of you who have been hanging out here regularly know that it hasn’t quite turned out that way. It became more interesting to me to write about the new things I was making one recipe at a time, and I just do not have the time to post every day, especially not several recipes at once.

Still, though, my most frequent question from friends who know how much I love to cook is, “How do you decide what to make for dinner?” The answer hasn’t changed–I still make my menu plan on Saturday morning after a trip to the market–but I haven’t written about it much. So, with some time on my hands between semesters, I thought now might be a good time to start trying to record my menus for each week again–at least to show how I look at seasonal produce, decide what I else I need, and create a plan for 4 or 5 dinners. It should also be fun to see how two graduate students attempt to eat well on a less-than-extravagant budget!

Our weekly market trip yielded strawberries, tomatoes (started in a hothouse, but ripened in the field!), a bag of salad greens, new potatoes, Vidalia onions, and fresh catfish fillets. Here’s the menu:

• Monday: Paneed Catfish and Rosemary Potatoes
• Tuesday: Strawberry Salad with Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette and San Francisco Bread
• Wednesday: Catfish Tacos
• Thursday: Tomato-Basil-Onion Tart and Green Salad
• Friday: Strawberry Waffles and Crispy Hashbrowns

I must confess that I feel brave posting the week’s menu before I’ve actually made any of these things; who knows what will actually end up happening? Tune in to see how it all works out!

I’d love to hear from some of my fellow food bloggers: how do you plan dinners each week?