I am making my food shopping list and need ideas

[Quiver0f10]

I need inspiration and I am sick of the same old things every week. What are you making this week? :)

[Anne/Ankara]

Last week in the New York Times there was a list of recipes for quick picnic ideas, and I typed up a few that looked good to me... perhaps these might inspire you!

 

101 Fast Recipes for Inspired Picnics

 

1. Cornflake chicken bits. Cut boneless chicken breasts into small pieces. Dip in milke, then dredged in seasoned crushed cornflakes. Pan fry in oil, drain and cool. Eat with cold celery sticks, ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping.

 

2. Cold peanut noodles. Cook thin spaghetti, drain, toss with sesame oil, peanut butter, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, pepper. Add shredded cucumber, cooked shrimp, chopped scallions.

 

3. Grape tomatoes and feta. Mix feta chunks and grape tomatoes, add mint, salt, pepper, olive oil, parsley.

 

4. Tomatoes and peaches. Toss together sliced tomatoes, peaches, red onion, cilantro. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

 

5. Pesto chicken rolls. Season and grill chicken cutlets, brush wraps with pesto, layer with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula. Roll up and cut.

 

6. Beet salad. Peel beets, grate them, add pistachios or hazelnuts, dress with orange zest and juice, and olive oil. Add bits of goat cheese and chopped parsley.

 

7. Cold gazpacho soup. Combine ripe tomatoes, cucumber, slice of bread, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in blender. Chill and serve.

 

8. Grated carrots. Mix grated carrots with chopped dates, cumin, lemon juice, mint or cilantro.

 

9. Guacasalsa. Mash an avocado into some salsa, serve with chips.

 

10. Savoy cabbage salad. Thinly slice cabbage, toss with red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

 

11. Cherry tomato salad. Halve cherry tomatoes, toss with cubed tofu, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar.

 

12. Couscous salad. Toss cooked couscous with oil, parsley, chopped black olives, capers, red onion. Stuff into medium ripe tomatoes.

 

13. Process cashews or hazelnuts, add garlic, soy sauces, cilantro, chives. Fill celery sticks and chill.

 

14. Green cold salad. Poach leafy greens, drain, cool, squeeze dry and chop. Toss with olive oil, salt, lemon juice.

 

15. Corn salad. Brown fresh corn in hot oil with garlic. Toss with cilantro and lime juice.

 

16. Eggplant spead. Cook whole unpeeled eggplant in hot dry skillet until collapsed and soft. Whisk together tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley. Chop the eggplant flesh (no peel) and roughly mash in bowl. Serve with pita.

 

17. Lentil spread. Mix cooked red lentils with carmelized onions, add vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon. Serve with pita.

 

18. Salmon salad. Mix can of salmon with cannelloni beans, chopped tomato, shallots, black olives, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve on toasted bread.

 

19. Tuna salad. Mix can of tuna with mashed anchovies, grated parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil.

 

20. Shrimp appetizer. Cook little shrimp, toss with pesto, put on small rolls.

 

21. Cold pasta salad. Cook and rinse pasta, combine with seeded tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, chopped basil, olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped olives. Serve cold.

[Quiver0f10]

Last week in the New York Times there was a list of recipes for quick picnic ideas, and I typed up a few that looked good to me... perhaps these might inspire you!

 

101 Fast Recipes for Inspired Picnics

 

Wow, thank you!!

[TammyinTN]

Anne..your menu sounds awesome!:)

[farmgirlinwv]

We've had chicken tenders (homemade) w/ baked potatoes and salad. Yesterday was taco salad. Today will be salmon patties and fries and corn. Tomorrow will be steak sandwiches like you get at Steak Escape. Friday is homemade pizza day. Saturday is poor mans steaks, made from ground beef, green beans and some type of potato. We stay pretty simple in the summer. I don't like heating up the kitchen! Grill out!

[Anne/Ankara]

Glad you liked the recipe ideas! I see now that there is a link to all 101 of the recipes, at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/dining/02mlis-001.html?pagewanted=all

[Anne/Ankara]

Hmmm, that's weird... now the link doesn't work unless you register, but it worked fine a minute ago. Maybe you can only access it once? Oh well...:)

[Jen in PA]

This week we are having lots of salad and corn on the cob, a salmon loaf that will be dinner for two nights, and a giant pot of curried yellow split peas. and various types of pasta to pair with a big batch of meat and mushroom pasta sauce. It's too hot and humid to cook more than necessary this week, so it will be baked potatoes from the microwave to round out any meals that need it. The kids seem to want mostly banana smoothies and pbj anyway this week, which certainly takes the pressure off:001_smile: I made a big batch of pumpkin muffins this morning before it warmed up, and I have those and a big bowl of plums and nectarines available for snacking.

[Once]

Carrot salad - Grate carrots and apple together at the last minute so the apples don't turn brown. Add OJ (and small amout of sugar if you want). That's all and it is good and cheap.

 

Cuccumber salad - Slice cuccumber and add 3 Tbs rice wine vinegar and 1 Tbs water. Add sliced gingerroot and 1 teaspoon sugar. Marinade in fridge for an hour. Remove ginger when serving. Sprinkle with salt if you want. This is very refreshing in the summer.

 

I have to say Mamagistra's lamb patties were VERY good. I'd rep you Debra but I can't.:sad:

 

 

We like white bean chilli but it would heat up you house a little too much.

 

Ree has a yummy looking salad with cilantro and noodles on her site. I would not know how to link it if my life depended on it. Just found her site last night when someone else posted about it. There is some yummy stuff there. :drool:

[Robymomof3]

We had fresh vegetables one evening: squash casserole, purple hull peas, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cornbread.

 

Roast with carrots and potatoes.

 

Baked chicken and veggies.

 

Sometimes I'll make a huge pot of vegetable soup with the leftovers from the week and serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches.

[Amira]

This week we're having/had kichree, plov, spaghetti, sweet and spicy noodles, khachapuri, salmon cooked with garlic, and potatoes simmered with tomatoes. Unless we do laghman with homemade noodles instead of the sweet and spicy noodles, and I might do koshary instead of kichree.

 

I almost never bake anything for dinner in the summer, but my son LOVES khachapuri, so I make an exception for that once a month.

 

If I want something simple with lots of vegetables, I like to make bibimbap.

 

Most weeks my husband wishes for normal American food.

[Quiver0f10]

Thanks for all the ideas. Now I am hungry :)

[Jenny in Florida]

We're doing:

 

Black bean burritos

Baked potatoes with assorted fixings, corn on the cob on the side

Vegan Italian-style subs

Spaghetti

 

Last night, we had Indian-style curried chickpeas with potato samosas. The night before, we did home-made calzones.

 

We're so bored that one night we had chocolate fondue for dinner. We had planned to do it as a dessert or snack, but it was getting late in the day and we decided there just wasn't enough time to eat a real meal and still do the fondue. So, we skipped the meal.

 

Mind you, we did dip lots of fruit and two different kinds of nuts. So, I tried to pretend it was healthy . . .

[Laurel]

We are trying to eat locally, and this week's menu is almost 100% local (with the exception of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper). Here are our lunches (lunch is our main meal, rather than dinner):

 

Zucchini Orzo (sauteed shredded zucchini and onions, mixed in with cooked orzo and some grated cheese), with Tomato and Feta salad

 

Lamb marinated in Pesto, Potato salad with green beans and tomatoes

 

Boiled potatoes and cut up fresh veggies with yogurt cheese dip

 

Hot Dogs, oven fries, coleslaw

 

Eggplant Parmesan

[littleleadvillelady]

This is a very easy but yummy bean soup that you can have ready for your table in about 20 minutes!

 

6-8 pieces of bacon cut up

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 can rotel tomatoes ( i use mild or the little ones complain)

1 can beef broth

3 cans black eyed peas

 

Sautee onions, bacon, & garlic. add rest. simmer 10 mins. Done ........Voila dinner served. Hubby even likes this one!

Amy