For the first time in a long time, I don't think I'll be cooking at all this weekend! Too many plans and too much running around. But I will more than make up for it next weekend with a Super Bowl get together.

Keeping it simple this weekend--tonight I'm making some baked tofu with a spice rub and some red cabbage slaw. I'm thinking frittata (tomorrow lunch), fried rice (dinner), lentil soup (Sunday night).

Homemade pizza tonight. I'm probably going to use up some leftovers tomorrow - coconut rice and beef rendang - with freshly stir-fried bok choy, chiles and garlic. Sunday I'll be roasting a chicken and serving it with lentils and roasted carrots. (This makes me notice what a meat-heavy weekend this is going to be, because I generally cook primarily vegetarian food!)

Yesterday I made a fettuccine alfredo-like dish, using cannellini beans instead of cream for the sauce, it turned out so great I want to experiment with that further and get the proportion of beans:fat just right. With grated cheese the dish still looked and tasted like high fat alfredo, a real surprise.

My first attempt at pulled pork. Got a pork loin in the crockpot now, should be ready about noon tomorrow ...

Because I'm self-employed and need to watch every penny, I cook most of my meals but I like to make a couple of bigger dishes over the weekend that I can snack on for the next week. It keeps me from spending money on food and I can just reheat and eat. I will be making curry chicken with cashews, a lamb stew and roast a big pan of vegetables.

Just made a big loaf of gluten-free Russian bread today -- we're going to a Russian-themed pickle party tonight, and the bread is my contribution!

Here's the recipe:
http://operagirlcooks.com/2011/10/25/gluten-free-russian-bread-recipe/

Must be something in the air--I'll be firing up my great-grandmother's samovar for a Russian-themed gathering this weekend, too! I'll be serving a salmon kulybiaka, pickled herring, carrot salad and potato salad, and buckwheat cacao nibs cookies and glazed gingerbread cookies for afters. Hoping for lots of leftovers to get me through the week!

I got an early start and pumped out two batches of my favorite brownies today (the King Arthur Flour's fudgy ones). I took one plate to my former workplace, another plate is going to a birthday party, and a few (but only a few) are staying home.

Made stuff poblano peppers with quinoa, chicken sausage, mushroom and eggplant, grated cheddar on top. Didn't think they would taste as good as they looked. Delicious..washed them down with red velvet martini's. Going to be a good weekend.

Two pizzas tonight: one with pesto and roasted tomatoes from last summer's garden and a bit of fresh mozzarella, the other with red sauce, swiss chard, bacon, and caramelized onions. YUM. Tomorrow spanikopita, mujadara, and a damp almond lemon cake. Sunday, brunch with friends. Probably a fritatta.

I'll be making these Gluten-Free Walnut Date bars.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/date-walnut-bars/

Also, roasting some sweet potatoes. Love to eat them mashed up with cinnamon and topped with greek yogurt and maple syrup!

I might try these pistachio stuffed dates from Martha Stewart. http://www.wholeliving.com/151444/pistachio-stuffed-dates-coconut

Going to an afternoon hang out with the girls. The Bars and Stuffed Dates seem to be nice snack items for us.

we've cooked every night this week so tonight (saturday in Aus) we are having noodles, simple + easy. baked a chocolate cake too. tomorrow pasta!

Today I am "catering" lunch for a group of college kids as a donation to a friend's fledging non-profit: oven-baked macaroni and cheese, gigantic salad, brown butter rice krispy treats.

Tonight for us it will be the pork ragu and semolina dumplings featured on this site (or starting it, at least... takes two days). Plus some fennel and chickpea thing also from Kitchn. :)

It's Badger Pie for me and the husband this Sunday - that's cottage pie made with Badger Ale - my own recipe. Delicious, take my word for it! :D

Back to basics this weekend with chicken piccata, roasted cauliflower and kae Caesar salad last night; with It's-It's from desert. :-) Tonight will be prawns in some shape or form (roasted, grilled-undecided) and tomorrow will be a pork tenderloin.

I also made a pan of Laurie Colwin's gingerbread, it makes the house smell wonderful in Winter (also makes great bread pudding), and I'm baking a pan of the Starbucks gingerbread loaf today to compare the two side-by-side. And last night I was so lazy I took a homemade fidget pie (potatoes, apples, onions, sage, nutmeg, and mushroom 'bacon' in lieu of ham) from the freezer and baked that for dinner.

it's Chinese take away again (not that I mind too much...) as the kitchen reno is STILL in process. Hope everyone enjoys their cooking :)

Friday night: fish chowder (using some of the rock cod I caught)
Saturday day: Sourdough prep
Saturday night: Roast with cabbage, carrots and baby reds (just like grandpa used to make)
Sunday morning: Scones
Sunday day: Sourdough bake-a-thon
Sunday night: Homemade pizza

Oh man...I just had a Full Day of Kitchen Fail. Haven't had a run of that in months. Awful. I was trying out some new-to-me Japanese recipes. The cabbage pancake (my veggie riff on okonomiyako) was pretty good, actually, but everything else? Ugh. Even the cupcakes were AWFUL! How often are cupcakes bad!?

Japanese food just makes me psycho. I would give up but my successes make the (1/2 Japanese) family very happy.

Following my quest for yummy, but really (REALLY) light recipes;
Madhur Jaffrey's Grilled Eggplant Slices with Yogurt Sauce (here http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1717590).
My version only used 1 cup of yogurt to 2 eggplants, but the tastes are amazing anyway.

It was my birthday last week, so Saturday I made from-scratch pancakes (old Joy of Cooking recipe) and bacon with real maple syrup. It was SO GOOD. Haven't had those pancakes in forever. Should have made double, because they are amazing leftover cold.

Today I'm making my belated birthday cake - grapefruit yogurt cake with section grapefruit in it. We'll see how it turns out. If I get really ambitious I'll make bread and soak more beans for dinner.

Nothing! After a busy week with lots of cooking, I'm taking it easy this weekend. Dinner last night was tomato-basil veggie burgers (store-bought) with cheese and red pepper spread (also store-bought) and carrot sticks.

I did make blueberry liqueur to take to my sister's birthday open house today. First, I infused vodka for several days with frozen blueberries, then strained them out. With strawberries, this works beautifully with some plain simple syrup added, but the blueberry flavor was a little flat, so I made blueberry syrup: sugar and a splash of water brought to a boil, then added plenty of frozen blueberries and simmered until everything was deep purple, richly scented, and thickened a bit.

The strained syrup added to the liqueur makes a deeply colored, fantastically fragrant liqueur. I'm also bringing a bottle of grapefruit-juice soda as a mixer.

Friday - Homemade pizza and a big salad
Saturday - Lightly fried shrimp, boiled potatoes and baked beans, also a giant chocolate cake.
Sunday - Risi e bisi and a big salad.

Making lots of the homemade balsamic salad dressing posted here a few days back. It's delicious!

I'm making the Twice Baked Potatoes from the recipe in the Not Your Mother's Cassarole book. :) Looks pretty tasty! Also make homemade butterscotch pudding

On Saturday, we had our usual Full English Breakfast, then for dinner I made Meatball Sandwiches (part of my evil plan to fill the boyfriend full of veg--I replace half the meat with chopped shrooms and fill the sauce with all kinds of other veg). Today I made banana bread with some leftover mini chocolate chips, tried a recipe for pizza bianca from Serious Eats, and made bacon and avocado sandwiches for lunch (new recipe from Epicurious and really enjoyed it). I thawed T-bones for a dinner at my mother's that got cancelled, so now we're going to be eating steak for three days; not a calamity, but not exactly the veg-heavy meals I had in mind. Maybe I'll slice it and serve it on a salad. :)

Smoked turkey, crock pot mac & cheese, wedge salad with homemade spicy jalapeno ranch dressing, and finally homemade roasted banana ice cream and homemade hot fudge sauce!