My family is Belgian and I like to keep the traditions alive so this weekend I will be making traditional Belgian Carbonnade for my boyfriend to try. It will be accompanied by the chedder leek biscuits i saw here. My Belgian family loves leek so it seemed like the perfect pairing! :)

I made Ragu this afternoon; thinking of leftovers for the weekend. I had a small bowl just after making it and then left it out to cool before putting it in the fridge. *sigh* unfortunately the lid wasn't on tightly and the counter-surfing dog ate the entire thing. Soooo, we're making homemade chicken noodle soup tonight. :)

@mdevans bummer! I once had such a dog who ate an entire pumpkin pie in under 1 minute on Thanksgiving day while my back was turned.

I came home from a visit to my parents laden with the final yield from their garden: lots of leeks, butternut squash, green peppers, armloads of sage and mint, shallots, and salad greens. So, today, I made potato and leek soup and roasted the butternut squash. Tomorrow, I'll probably make some butternut squash muffins and think about what to do with all that mint!

I have a London Broil (flank steak) resting right now, side of wine-braised cabbage (a recipe I adore from this site) and baked grits. It always feels good after a long week to come home, spend 30 minutes raking leaves, and then settle into "business" in the kitchen. I love this time of year.

We are going to continue on our pre-thanksgiving recipe testing rampage! So far we have come to be completely happy with our recipes for the turkey, rubbed in garlicky herb butter and cooked in an oven bag (http://theweekendgourmande.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/the-easy-way-to-roast-a-moist-flavorful-turkey/) and our new recipe for a savory stuffing strata (http://theweekendgourmande.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/savory-stuffing-strata/). I think I'm set for life with these two!

caramelized onion and mushroom pizza, double-chocolate brownies, banana bread and roasted vegetables

gingerbread cake with whipped cream. Mmmmmm.

Using the last couple tomatoes from my garden for Farro w/Tomatoes and Herbs (Everyday Italian Cookbook).

Not sure what else yet....

Homemade pizza! Some friends are coming over for a night of scary movies, and pizza is the only thing that we all like, is easy, and that I can make a gluten free alternative for. I also promised to make one of them sweet potato fries...

For Sunday, we'll probably just make it easy on ourselves and eat a salad or sandwich. :)

Jamaican Cod Run-down - a test run for a dinner next week.
No Thanksgiving test/prep - my family likes to keep it traditional no matter how much I suggest mixing it up. Chinese five spice in the sweet potato pie has been the one concession, though it was a winner.
Also: the credit card will be heating up. Some early Xmas shopping at the first of the sales and some vintage shops.

Thin crust pizza with roasted garlic and red pepper, pepperoni, portabello mushrooms and mozzarella is for lunch today.

Churned some vanilla with raspberry swirl ice cream last night, and am in the middle of making two cookies for friends/family this weekend: chocolate chip with walnut and choco-chewy meringues (to use the leftover egg whites from ice cream.)

I was thinking of doing some pasties with some colorful carrots and potatoes from the co-op. Maybe do a mushroom gravy to top it off...

Pork ragu with tagliatelle....a Mario Batali recipe, a simple green salad and apple slices with cinnamon and caramel sauce drizzled over.

we're making guinness beef stew tomorrow while we watch football! found the recipe on tasty kitchen and the photos were what sold me. a nice dark, rich stew.

Broccoli cheddar soup from scratch - first attempt, so we'll see how it turns out. Is it sad that I'm trying to replicate a version of Quizno's broccoli cheese soup? Lol...

Also, apple sauce, rice pudding, and some kind of pie, probably with pears and black grapes are all on the docket. We'll see how far I get...

Pumpkin-orange pie and cherry-jalapeno pie, but these are for a charity pie-tasting and only the pumpkin had enough filling left for me to taste it myself.

Chicken corn chowder with andouille sausage came out edible... not sure what else, if anything, I want to tackle this weekend.

I baked biscotti this morning, and then made a very satisfying lunch of soup - dried mushrooms, a couple of small red peppers (one sweet, one hot), garlic in chicken broth.

Tonight we're doing cauliflower soup, and I think the menu for tomorrow is ginger cilantro jalapeno baked tilapia with bok choy!

I'm trying a creme brulee for the first time. After realizing how long it would be til I could eat it, I decided to make a quick chocolate caramel apple w/ white chocolate drizzle to tide me over.

I also decided to try a poached egg for the first time while I was making brunch-bacon,eggs & hash browns- earlier. Good yolk, but I prefer my whites a little more well done.

@ wormfood & vintagejenta, the stew and soup sound awesome! It finally cooled down here after a week of yucky warm, humid weather. I'm so ready for nice cold weather food! Care to share the recipes?

@ HeyNowTex, we just did creme brulee for the first time a couple of weeks ago. You will be rewarded! And I'd urge you to try poaching eggs again-- I make one every single day for breakfast but it can take a while to get the balance of yolk/white doneness.

Tonight will probably a red wine and popcorn for dinner kind of night. Tomorrow? I'm trying out souffle for the first time as part of my Terrifying Things to Cook project

Good luck, all!

@vintagejenta, I am not a broccoli cheese soup fan myself, but I have heard more than one person say that Quizno's is their favorite. If it goes well, will you share your recipe? I know my boyfriend would be totally excited to eat it.

Normally I'm a homebody but this weekend has been a social one, lunch out with a friend on Friday at a Thai place; last night pizza & beer with a friend here for a couple of days from Europe; tonight Turkish with a long lost childhood neighbor who is in town touting her latest novel! But I still made my soup for the week (spicy cauliflower from Alice Waters) and today will make a huge batch of stuffed cabbage for dinners all week.

fall breakfast favorite:

http://exclusivegenerator.blogspot.com/2010/11/fall-breakfast.html

I made tacos with shahi paneer, gaucamole and home made yogurt. You can find recipes here for the paneer and yogurt:

http://abcdsofcooking.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-i-served-for-lunch-on-sunday.html
http://abcdsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-make-yogurt-two-ways.html