Nothing - it's my 50th birthday weekend and I'm only going to eat stuff that someone else cooks!

I've got a beef stew cooking in the crock pot, and am baking some bread to go with. Been snowed in all week, so we're definitely in need of some warm meals! Hopefully the snow melts so we can actually eat out this weekend - I miss the outside world...

Happy Birthday NYKATE!

Tonight is some roasted garlic and caramelized onion soup, tomorrow is vegetarian pho (for the fiance - I'll be adding thinly sliced beef), and Sunday will be something with dry fried tofu, probably a stir fry.

Though beef stew sounds pretty good ...

Rainy weekend here in San Francisco, so I spent the afternoon cooking up some ham-less split pea soup! Enlivened with some umami paste a friend gave me. Nom nom.

Okonomiyaki tonight with some leftover cabbage and leeks from earlier this week, blueberry cobbler quinoa oatmeal tomorrow morning, and on Sunday morning, lavender stuffed french toast, from a recipe here on the Kitchn! Can't wait...

I have book club tomorrow and then a fund raiser tomorrow evening. Not much kitchen time on Saturday, but definitely, I'll make an oven braised brisket on Sunday....

We shoveled lots of inches, so we determined that we deserved some honey Bock, a giant pan of nachos and some ridiculously rich hot chocolate with a bit of whiskey. I know the rest of the week will involve some leeks, mushrooms, and heirloom tomatoes, but I'm not totally sure of specific applications yet. I tend to wing it.

Happy Birthday, NYKATE! :)

I've got a pot of butternut squash soup on the stove right now (11:30ish Friday night) because I couldn't go another day without cooking - it's been weeks and now that the semester has begun I need to replenish my fridge so I can still eat well running between the office and class.

On the agenda for tomorrow and Sunday, then: veggie chili (Anna's from Door Sixteen, I love it so incredibly much), whole wheat muffins from here, a batch of sourdough, overnight oatmeal for next week and hopefully a real dinner at home w/ the boy. Have a great weekend all!

Rainy weather so tonight was fondue - and - I'm trying to perfect my own version of the now discontinued Celestial Seasonings Almond Tea (a tisane and terrific with a shot of Frangelico in it).

Happy Birthday NYKATE, good plan!

Monday is the Lunar New Year (happy Year of the Dragon, everybody!) and we've been invited to friends' on Sunday to make dumplings. I'm bringing the dessert, which means 2 dozen cupcakes (there are kids involved or I'd make the vegan vanilla sand cookies with almonds). Red velvet with vanilla frosting for the auspicious colors. But on this snowy Saturday, I think a nice risotto would be perfect.

Quinoa cakes with aioli and blood orange, fennel salad last night. Snowy day in Boston today so I'm thinking a wild mushroom barley soup and dried fruit compote over riccota.

Spending a snowy day cleaning house, and making bread and chicken stock. Cooking plans for the week include chile verde, roast chicken, and beans and rice. Kind of tempted to sear some steaks and make chimichurri sauce too...

Happy birthday NYKATE--enjoy your weekend.

We attended a soup dinner at friends' house last night, so no cooking. Probably some quinoa something for us this weekend. Maybe a pear/blue cheese tart. Oh, and these muffins from chocolate and zucchini:

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2011/06/chocolate_coconut_muffins_gluten-free_dairy-free.php#more

Hmm, maybe breakfast for dinner?

Was going to have a younger friend over and teach her to cook spaghetti with homemade meat sauce, pear and walnut salad, and banana bread. However, the beautiful snow is preventing her from visiting us. :(

So I'll still probably make all of that for dinner tonight. Lol. Probably will also do a pot of beans tomorrow and some steel cut oats so I can have dinners all week because not only has school started again, but I finally got a job! Which means less time for cooking. And shopping. Which means more planning and leftovers. Lol. It'll be weird to be getting up before 8 am again and being away from home all day, but it's a really cool job in my field, so I'm excited!

Hmm... I'll be roasting sweet potatoes! But, that is nothing new... I roast them all the time. So delicious! I like to mash them up, top with cinnamon, little kosher salt, drizzle of maple syrup and a small dollop of Greek yogurt. Mmmm!

Might also make some brown rice black bean burgers for my husband. Do they freeze well?

I am going to a scrap booking party tomorrow afternoon so I might make some biscotti or something to share and leave for the hostess. Any good ideas on what to bring? It's for online scrap booking so messy fingers aren't a real concern. ;-)

Happy birthday, NYKATE!

As always, I'm using the weekend to prep food ahead. We're having The Fella's all-day birthday party extravaganza on Thursday, which means prepping 12 hours' worth of finger food that doesn't require much work on the day of the party.

This weekend, I'm going to prep and freeze:
- a giant spinach, caramelized onion, and parmesan galette; a giant broccoli and cheddar galette. (These can be frozen unbaked, then popped into a hot oven like a frozen pizza. So easy and glamorous!)
- hummus (which we'll serve with plenty of crudites and pita). I'll cook the beans today using the Paupered Chef's 90-minute no-soak method.
- black bean empanadas. Spicy black beans with onions, garlic, and sherry in a cornmeal-flour dough. I'm winging it, but it seems like they'll also bake up nicely straight from the freezer. I'm making a big batch today and we'll test a few empanadas for dinner (with leftover sour cream and salsa and a side of broccoli or greens; for the party I'll serve them with salsa and guacamole.

Its rainy an cold in southern Germany, so I opt for comfort food. Homemade pizza and a side of salad followed by tiramisu. I have friends over, so we share dinner. The food I read in this thread sounds fingerlicking, too!

and: happy birthday nykate!

It is our wedding anniversary weekend so cooking a lot. My husband asked me to recreate part of our reception feast. Last night I made ceviche, jerk chicken, coco rice and green beans (we were married on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica). Today we are going to make an easy croquembouche (like we did for our wedding). Beyond that we will chow on leftovers including a soup I modified from your Wild Rice and Mushroom soup recipe this week (I used wheat berries) and left out cream but started everything with a bit of bacon thus bacon fat).

Happy Birthday NYKATE!

Last night was our Friday night standard: homemade pizza with pancetta, mushrooms, onions, peppers and asiago. Hubby made chocolate mousse for desert. Tonight is bone in pork chops, roasted brussels and a bulgur, almond and cranberry pilaf. Tomorrow we will be roasting a pork shoulder for carnitas that night while we root on the Niners and with leftovers incorporated into workweek meals.

GO NINERS!!

It's been a hard week here--my father died Tuesday--so I've been cooking a lot to comfort myself. Made a couple of different pastas, then pepperoni/sausage/mozz/ricotta rolls so we can carb up. Tonight for dinner I'm making Indian food: butter chicken, roasted curried cauliflower, and brown rice. Also made shortbread with miniature chocolate chips, which is already gone. :) Tomorrow, I think I might make some of my favorite pizza: whole wheat crust, pesto, tomatoes, and shrooms.

Happy B'day NYKate!
Welcome to 50!

To STH....My condolences to you and your family.

STH so sorry for your loss.

Feijoada on Friday, a vegetable-only stir fry on Saturday laden with chard, mushrooms, onions, ginger, carrots, peppers, green beans, you-name-it.

Friday was tomato, chickpea and spinach curry with brown rice. Saturday was wholemeal pizza with gruyere, caramelised onions and wild boar salami. Today was rice, veg and bean taco bake for lunch and leftovers and chicken and leek risotto for dinner.

Thank you, miabica and lucylew; that was very kind.

STH, I'm so sorry for your loss. How good that you can turn to the kitchen and make your own comfort. Those dishes all sound very heartwarming and sustaining.

NY Kate, revel in your weekend. Welcome to the 50's, (which I like to think of as the decade of fruition!)

STH, sending you imaginary hugs and cups of hot tea.

Easy food here; waffles with blueberry sauce, pita bread pesto mushroom pizza, spinach salad and lots of fresh citrus for snacking.