I need to know because I am making a very long list. Let me explain.
Do you plan your meals a week ahead? Do you make a menu for the week then shop accordingly? What do you think about meal plans. I think about them a lot but I am a great thinker!
I kind of make a plan when I have a house full of people. I look to see what we have in the freezers and gardens and plan my dinner around that. At least a day ahead anyway. In the morning I write on my black board what we are eating that day, so if I get held up outside with the milk cow or something or if I am working down the back pretending I don’t know what time it is, anyone can begin the dinner because the menu is on the board and the recipe cards are on the bench.
But I am not consistent. And if I do NOT have a plan (which is most of the time) I always have this low moan clamour in my brain all day, a kind of white noise anxiety – ” What shall I make for dinner? What shall I make for dinner? What shall I make for dinner, what shall … then the moan comes up above my subconscious. “Who put me in charge?! Why do I have to be in charge?! WHAT WILL I MAKE FOR DINNER!” – then it drops back to the white noise clamour so I can try to ignore it again – well, you get the idea.
So I began to make a long list of all the meals I might make with the ingredients commonly found here. You know what they are – you have watched me grow them for years. Not fancy, but good. Later I will shuffle the list into menu’s organise then into seasonal weeks, add left over days, and create the flow (like a roast chicken today becomes tomorrows chicken and noodle soup, beef stew left overs become shepherds pie, etc ), then my decision is made and I can proceed and the white noise anxiety will go away.
So to the list –
I stood with chalk in hand and could only write three meals on the board. I wrote split pea soup because that was what John was making for dinner and I could smell it. Then pumpkin soup because I saw a butternut squash on the bench. Then gnocchi with sage and burnt butter because my daughter told me she had that for dinner last night but I can’t have sage as it is all frozen to the ground. Then I ran out of ideas again.
SO. What are you having for dinner? What shall I have for dinner? Any ideas for my list?
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
162 responses to “What are you having for dinner?”
In the winter, soup is always welcome at my house, with some lovely bread on the side, perhaps toasted with a bit of cheese. My favourite and the easiest soup is called Golden Harvest. In a nice large pot: Roughly chop a couple of onions, a couple of leeks (white only), sauté with butter (or oil) till soft. Add a medium-ish peeled and chopped butternut squash, a couple of roughly chopped potatoes, a couple of chopped or grated carrots. Then add enough chicken stock to just cover the veg, put on the lid, turn the heat down and let muddle along till everything is soft, maybe an hour. Use the stick blender till you have everything smooth, stir in a bit of cream if you wish and serve. Add a bit of salt and pepper to your taste, add a bit more stock if it’s too thick. Once the cream is in there, don’t let the soup boil. If you make a big batch, you can freeze individual servings (before cream) and they’ll heat up quickly for lunch or a supper on “one of those days”. Put a salad beside it if you’re extra hungry. You could probably do it in the crockpot too. It will taste a little different each time, because I never really measure and the veg are never the same sizes, but it’s still pretty darn good. you can fancy this up for company by putting a tiny dollop of sour cream or plain yoghurt on top, with a wee sprinkle of chopped chives or grated carrot.
My other simple soup is Fake Tuscan Bean. I cheat by using a couple tins of rinsed and drained beans (white beans, butter beans, kidney beans, whatever I have on the shelf), frozen meatballs (homemade if I have any), canned or boxed beef stock (or homemade if I have some), throw in some fresh (or dried) rosemary and thyme. Put it all in the crockpot on low for a couple hours, serve with bread, salad, whatever. You can speed this one up if you’re in a hurry – microwave the meatballs for a minute or two to thaw, throw all but the herbs in a pot on top of the stove, cover and bring to a boil, turn down and add the herbs, give it a few minutes on medium then serve. you could get fancy by putting a piece of toasted bread with garlic butter on the bottom of the bowl, then a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top. This is not something you would freeze – counter productive really since it pretty much comes off the shelf. I invented this one late on a Saturday night when I needed a soup for Sunday church lunch. It was apparently tasty enough that I didn’t get to bring any home.
I’ll send you by email another recipe for cauliflower soup, this comment is long enough already.
There have been some great sounding dinner ideas here, I’m looking forward to seeing the whole list.
Chris S in Canada
Sounds great! Thank you.. c
Wow, what a fantastic Farmy Fellowship feast of dinner ideas 🙂 What’s for dinner often depends on what was for dinner last night. So, yesterday I marinated in soy sauce, honey & Chinese black vinegar a small filet of pork and roasted it with a mix of chopped root veges -potato, pumpkin & white sweet potato- with a coleslaw side (Celi inspired). This morning before I cleaned up the breakfast dishes I chopped half a pumpkin & a big piece of garlic which I’ll stir fry with stock, fish sauce, chili & sesame oil. And I also chopped mushroom, red capsicum, green beans, snowpeas, eschallots and microwaved corn cobs (1 for dinner 2 for the freezer) to which I’ll add tofu & noodles and the leftover pork for a stir fry dinner and freezer leftovers. At lunch time I saw peanut butter & coconut milk in the pantry so decided to make peanut sauce to go with it.
YES! This is great. I love to have my meals prepared by late morning – it makes the whole day so much better! c
Oh, and about tortillas-wraps. We always keep some in the pantry / freezer. They are filled with any leftovers & toasted in a frypan (like a toasted sandwich) or filled with any leftover veges/meat/savoury-bolognaise mince & rolled, placed in a baking dish and topped with homemade/tinned tomatoes, cheese and baked ie enchlladas. Or if in a hurry they can be filled with grated cheese. rolled & microwaved for a side to soup 🙂
Darn! I’m late popping in. This is such a good one. I have the same problem ALL the time. I often ask friends because, frankly, I get so bored with the whole what-to-make-for-dinner thing. And like you, part of my brain always chimes in with a “why me??” even though my husband cooks a lot. He’s much better than I am! I also have lost passion for cooking because everyone in the family likes or needs something different. I feel like I run a restaurant instead of a house. It’s worse than American politics. Impossible to make everyone happy and comfortable. Italian traditionalist vs. gluten and lactose free vs. just-fill-me-up-please. Argh.
Thankfully I am married to a man who cooks seldom but eats everything put in front of him. I am sure he could not tell me the next day what he ate, but he never complains.. In the winter though when he is not working (this has not come about yet though) but in the times off work he cooks every other night.. Thai or soup. Works for me!! c
I love Thai…but my husband doesn’t do Thai. Oh well.
When my bipolar symptoms are in full swing, I can’t cook. It makes me really anxious. I can’t even think about it. So I have to stock a lot of frozen, ready-made, microwave meals. When I’m better, I like to cook, but I can’t count on that enough to shop ahead of time. It’s sort of a nightmare.
It does sound like a nightmare however it also sounds like you have systems in place which allows you to manage the nightmare as much as you can. Good for you! You are doing well today then I think? c
I plan as far as what to eat the next day, not much beyond that because some days we want meat and potatoes and gravy and veg, and other days we want something lighter like soup. I made soup yesterday from leftover (frozen) Christmas ham, leftover boiled potatoes, white beans, carrots, celery, one leek, and some shredded (nearly limp) cabbage at the end. It’s more like clearing out the fridge than cooking. 🙂
Soup is good for clearing out the fridge.. I am presently clearing out the hateful pantry – it is making for VERY boring eating.. c
Winter can stretch the imagination, that’s for sure.
You are amazing Celi! Menu cards .. I want to live with you! I’m so lucky .. Hubby and his dad are doing most of the cooking at the mo. I know spoilt aren’t I! 😃
Garlic Spagetti – big salad with lots of grapefruit, dates celery onions and walnuts-with all the grapefruit no need for a dressing- and a home baked loaf of bread…maybe some cookies or a tangerine for dessert. I like your idea for recipe cards.! I am sure John’s soup was delicious! Cheers!
Well, we had “out” for dinner. We tend to eat out so much now. Hubby has decided he no longer likes my cooking….. He prefers candy, ice cream and crap (sorry for the language) to my balance meals that is low on beef and higher on vegetables. He has always been a beef and potatoes man – but I just don’t feel good when I eat that way. And he hates left overs.
So we had blackened Red Fish at our local seafood joint. And since he is balking at all my cooking my grocery run yesterday was to the local farm stand (that isn’t really a farm stand in that they sell DOLE and other commercial fruits and veggies) so my week will be variations of vegetarian with some soups mixed in. He can fin for himself.
Wow – you certainly had an amazing response!! Here’s my suggestion – ‘Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes’. You don’t need a tagine – you can simmer it on top of the stove. I’ve gotten a lot of hits on this – it’s delicious, easy and healthy! The ingredients include chicken thighs, sweet potatoes and dates – and a few lovely spices such as cardamom. On the same page is a link to my ‘Never Fail, Always Delicious Armenian Rice’. And, if you if wanted to get really into it, I have a recipe for ‘Khobz’ a flattish sort of Arabic bread which only has to rise once. Here’s the link to for the Moroccan Chicken Tagine. http://myyellowfarmhouse.com/2015/02/03/moroccan-chicken-tangine-with-sweet-potatoes/ ++ I get a lot of dinner ideas from my rather large collection of cookbooks. But, now that I live alone, I don’t have that White Noise in my head anymore. And I don’t cook nearly as much as I used to when I had a family to feed – and I do miss it. ; o )
I’m pretty late to the table here C. Pun intended! 🙂 We always have rice and pasta in the house so with both you can really use up your leftover veggies and meats. Even a can of tuna, sauteed in some olive oil, garlic, onions, olives and or a can of diced tomatoes when not in season make a great quick pasta sauce. Shred some nice parmesan on top and Yum! And of course a few seasonings. all those little bits of leftovers in the fridge? Throw them in a wok or large frying pan…stir fry and pop over rice. If there’s meat involved in that, we usually marinate it in a little soy sauce and sesame oil or whatever you have and like. Quick and easy. Even frozen peas works good to if you’re doing fried rice. We’re not very good at fresh green salads in the winter months, so we often roast root veggies to go along with whatever we’re having. Beets being our favorite roast veggie!
Roast chicken on Sunday becomes a meal or two the following days. We are lucky that we are near Puget Sound, so we crab, clam and oyster so those lovelies are in rotation too, in season. One thing we don’t know much about are curries and your John’s Tai recipes that I would love to have. Do you think he would share it?
You have inspired me to be more organised with the meal thing!
I have my own weekly meal planner and a white board in my kitchen to ensure smooth functioning on weekdays and a special menu for weekends.Good to know so many people do the same thing .Loved your post.