Hi there! It’s been too long, but what can you do. Rest assured I’ve been cooking four or five out of seven nights of the week since we last spoke. Nothing much has changed in that regard!

I did a lot of grilling this summer: beef burgers, lamb burgers, chicken sandwiches, sausages and of course hot dogs (what’s summer without hot dogs!). Even with air conditioning, it’s too hot to use the oven over the summer, and although our grill is janky at best (janky is being generous), it does the job. I’m glad we used it so much this summer.

I’ve also been on a steady rotation of Blue Apron for a while. I’ve written about this before, and reading over that entry just now I don’t sound too sold on Blue Apron. But I make it work for me by just getting two meals every other week. I still think it costs more than just planning ahead and grocery shopping accordingly, but for me the real value proposition in Blue Apron is that I don’t have to think about what we’re having for dinner. Plain and simple. We’ve also had some really, really good recipes and a couple of them we’ve even made again on our own. I do still hate the packaging, though.

Anyway, this is a non-Blue Apron week. In an effort to not go to the grocery store and spend $50 three different times during the week, I’ve been trying to plan and shop on Sunday or Monday the last couple of weeks. This week I’m making the following:

Monday: Pad Thai from this recipe (definitely not one-pot as advertised)
Tuesday: Roasted chicken drumsticks, side dishes TBD
Wednesday: Sausage and white bean gratin from Keepers
Thursday: Macaroni peas (but with Campanelle instead of elbows)
Friday: Carryout
Weekend day TBD: Lasagna

Yes, I do use the Allrecipes lasagna recipe. You can go ahead and make Tyler’s Ultimate version if you like. I will wait while you empty an entire bottle of Amarone into the sauce pot. (It says “red wine” now but it used to say Amarone. Come on Tyler!)

On Tuesday, I’ll probably use one of the frozen quinoa and vegetable sides I’ve been keeping around lately. You have to be careful cooking these and you have to punch them up a little bit – they can be awfully bland and yucky otherwise – but they’re really nice to have around if you’re feeling lazy or just need to put things together quickly

Finally, a shout-out for this recipe, which I made last week: sheet pan chicken with figs and bread salad. This was extremely easy to make and won universal raves in my house. Recommend!