Menu Plan: Week of September 15

Last Week

On Thursday we had our old regular tank water heater removed (it had started a leak) and replaced with a tankless water heater.  I don't really notice much of any difference with the water, but the low hum when it kicks in keeps tricking me into thinking I'm getting a call and my cell phone is vibrating.

One night during the week I roasted delicata squash with miso paste and butter, it was great.  I highly recommend it.  I hadn't had delicata squash before, but it's a sweeter squash, pretty similar to acorn squash, but without the stringiness.  I've had a hard time finding delicata squash, but I will buy it as often as I can and make this recipe.

miso-butter roasted delicata squash

I needed to make a treat for work so on Thursday night I baked up a pan of brownies from a mix and looking up recipes to use up the bananas I've got in the freezer and the huge jar of peanut butter that Husband Jeff doesn't like.  I ended up making these Dole banana peanut butter cookies and they were great.  They were great as-is (well, with the addition of a teaspoon of vanilla and a handful of chocolate chunks) but next time I would double the bananas and increase the peanut butter to 1/2 cup.

Peanut butter-banana cookie dough.

I took off Friday and headed to the big Half-Pint kids' resale event and bought $92 worth of clothes for Sonny D.  I had a hard time shopping because I had to finally buy clothes for him (we've always gotten hand-me-downs) and I had no idea how much to buy.  I ended up panicking after my volunteer shift and went out and bought a second small load of clothes. 

On Saturday evening we went to Husband Jeff's company's summer gathering.  One of the other employees invites everyone to his house and feeds us and we all hang out chatting.  There was a bonfire in the back yard, but it was too cold outside and I was too busy chatting to go out there.  We got home after Sonny D's bedtime so he didn't get enough sleep that night and then didn't take a nap the next day, so he had a total meltdown on Sunday afternoon at our friend's house.

On Sunday morning Sonny D and I took the wagon up to the farmers' market and hauled back a large load of produce.  We bought (L to R and top to bottom) - green beans, onion, celeriac, tomato, eggs, Roman beans, okra, bell peppers, potatoes, sweet corn, raspberries, delicata squash, eggplant, Gala apples, and kettle corn (most of it's already gone in this picture).  I rarely plan ahead what I'm going to buy, I just pick out whatever sounds good and can easily be incorporated into our weekly menu.  The celeriac and okra were total impulse purchases, I've never had them before and wanted to try them out.  I think I'm going to use the celeriac in my mom's chicken rice soup recipe and I'd like to grill the okra since I've heard that prevents it from getting slimy.

Our score at the Northside farmers' market.

This Week

• Monday - creamy butternut squash mac & cheese (totally winging this, might not work out) along with Roma beans and sweet corn from the farmers' market.
• Tuesday - Sonny D and I are taking the morning off and heading to the dentist.  His first visit went fine, so I'm hoping this one will too. For dinner we're having eggplant parmesan with pasta and sesame green beans.   In the evening I've got my awesome Zumba class.
• Wednesday - I want to make shakshuka (eggs cooked in tomato sauce) along with grilled okra and miso-roasted delicata squash. 
• Thursday - Sonny D's preschool is having a pizza social but I'm worried because it's going to be outdoors but there's no rain date.  The weather looks fine right now.  If the event is cancelled, we'll probably get pizza somewhere and bring it home.  
• Friday - baked fish with rice.  For Me & D night, I think we'll go to the open swim at the warm-water pool.  
• Saturday - Our friend John wants to go the Food for Thought festival and it was already on my list, so we'll probably head downtown for that.  Then for dinner we have plans to meet another family at Roman Candle Pizzeria mainly because they have a kid play space. 
• Sunday - I think we're going to the farmers' market with my friend Heather and her mom.  For dinner I want to make cheeseburger casserole with grilled new potatoes. 

And somewhere in here I want to make more of those peanut butter banana cookies.  Yum!