What's for Dinner

Right now I am resting with my chicken. Roast chicken is probably my favorite food and we are having it tonight. I think that I have over a dozen different variations on roasting a chicken, but tonight is the most basic: I rubbed the chicken with a little olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Now I'm letting it come close to room temperature so it will roast reasonably quickly.

I'm also making Pad Thai this week. Pad Thai is probably my favorite ethnic food. The summer before my senior year of high school I spent 4 weeks at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. There was (and maybe still is) this wonderful Thai restaurant that we used to go to. That was my first time having Thai food and also the restaurant where I finally mastered the use of chop sticks. That summer was one of the best ever, so maybe that's why I like Pad Thai so much. I doubt that my recipe is very authentic--I don't think that a lot of Thai people are using peanut butter in the recipe. I'm not sure where the original recipe came from, but I've made a few adaptations and I call it "White Girl Pad Thai," as a nod to the lack of authenticity.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday
Roast Chicken
Roast Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts*

Monday
Meat Loaf from the Slow Cooker (recipe from Healthy Cooking Magazine, Feb-March 2009)
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans

Tuesday
Cobb Salads with left over roast chicken

Wednesday
Meat Loaf Sandwiches, based loosely on the Meat Loaf Sandwiches at the Cap City Diner in Columbus
Green Salad

Thursday
Tomato and Spinach Quiche
Green Salad

Friday
White Girl Pad Thai
Stir Fried Vegetables

Saturday
Spinach and Black Bean Egg Rolls**
Something that goes with that


*In case anyone thinks that I'm a Mean Mommy for serving Brussels Sprouts, they are actually one of Abby's favorite foods. She requested them for her birthday dinner. I feel like Brussels Sprouts are a very misunderstood vegetable--they are really quite lovely, as long as they aren't boiled and cooked into a bitter mush. I drizzle them with a little olive oil, season with some salt and pepper and roast them along with the potatoes and the chicken. They take about 30 minutes at 400.

**I just discovered that our grocery store carries the egg roll wraps. They've probably carried them for years, I just never knew where they were. Now it's like a whole world of egg roll making has been opened up for me.