Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

Cooking on Sunday

Here’s my menu for next week.  You should be able to click on it to make it large enough to read.

At 11:00 a.m., I left to go to Wal-Mart, then to two different grocery stores to get things Wal-Mart didn’t have.  I don’t know what time I got back home, probably a little after noon.  Then I got started cooking and in about two hours, I have most of the hard work done for next week.

The two glass dishes have Flat Roasted Chicken.  One I’ll bake on Tuesday; one went into the freezer for another day.  The chicken is amost totally roasted already.  After it was roasted, I took it out of the pan, put the proscuitto, olives, garlic and green onions in the dish, put the chicken back on top, poured white wine over it and it’s ready to bake again.

The plastic dish in the front has tomato/mozarella salad.  In back, wrapped in plastic wrap are the two pork tenderloins.  I should be able to stick one of those in the freezer but we love this recipe and it will make some good sandwiches and leftovers for Saturday so I’ll cook them both at the same time this week.

In the little plastic bowl in the back is the marinade for the shrimp.  I won’t put the shrimp in there til a few hours before cooking them.

In the big blue bowl is eggplant.  I’m going to grill it tonight and then make salad with some and save some for Wednesday.  On Wednesday, I’ll brush a little more olive oil on it, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and stick it under the broiler for a minute or two.

In this picture are four containers of pizza sauce that I made today; all the “fixings” for the Caponata which I’ll make once I grill the eggplant, two small dishes of zucchini/jack casserole and bags of mozarella and pepper jack cheese.  I buy the big blocks and grate it myself in order to save a few pennies.

Here’s what I’ll have to do this week in the kitchen:

Monday – I’m gone

Tuesday – Take the chicken out of the fridge, bake it for about an hour, cook the brown rice in the rice cooker, tear some lettuce for the tomato/mozarella salad.  I’ll spend less than 15 minutes in the kitchen.

Wednesday – Grill the tenderloin, steam the broccoli in the steamer, heat up the eggplant that I’m grilling today.  I’ll be in the kitchen less than 10 minutes and will sit outside and read while the tenderloin cooks on the grill.

Thursday – Peel the shrimp, put them in the marinade for a few hours, load them on the skewers; stick one of the zucchini/jack casseroles in the oven, stir some dressing into the cole slaw.  Peeling the shrimp will take me a while so I’ll probably spend 35 – 40 minutes in the kitchen and just a few minutes at the grill.

Friday – Steaks on the grill, I’m going to try baking the potatoes in the crockpot.  I’ve been meaning to do that and keep forgetting to try it, make a salad.  Less than 15 minutes in the kitchen.

I spent about 2 hours in the kitchen today, including making bread and I’ll spend about 1-1/2 hours in the kitchen the rest of the week.  And, there are two dishes in the freezer for another week.  And, these are some darned good meals . . if I do say so myself! 🙂

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Comments

  1. OK, you knew at least one of us was going to ask about the flat roasted chicken. Prociutto, olives, etc.? mmmm, tell us more about it! Recipe please.

  2. Judy, I think it’s wonderful that you’re sharing your methods (and madness!).

    Have you visited Stephanie’s blog, A Year of CrockPotting? One slow cooker recipe every day for an entire year. Pretty inspiring! You can find it at
    http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

    My current favorite is the Apple, Cheddar and Turkey Meatballs recipe. No such thing as leftovers with that recipe!

  3. Make sure you wash and DRY the potatoes. I wash mine the day before and let them sit on the counter to dry. If they aren’t completely dry, they kind of turn a bit of a weird color. I LOVE making the potatoes in the crock pot….

  4. Wow, what a day!. My hUbby does all the cooking unless he is working on a deadline, then I cook. but we by food monthly and I get to figure out what to make each night. Thanks for all the ideas.
    Huggs,
    Cleary

  5. It’s amazing how much time you save by planning ahead. Seeing it all broken down into detail makes it so manageable. Thanks Judy

  6. You need to write another book……Quick Cooking While Quilting (or maybe Quick Quilting While Cooking??). You are the queen of organizing, nice, healthy meals that don’t keep cooks in the kitchen forever. Thanks for all the good ideas!!!

  7. I love baking potatoes in the crockpot! That is my all time fav way of doing it. Just wash them, and put them in the crock and let it cook on low all day! Fabulous taters in a few hours.
    I am going to have to do once a month cooking again, especially since we are opening up the quilt shop in less than a month–YIKES!
    Happy quilting and cooking. Are you going to be a Des Moines APQS this next week? Loved meeting you in CA at the Road!

  8. Judy…..My hats off to you!!! I tried doing this planning a week in advance thing about 4 years ago when I expanded my work hours….. It worked perfectly for about a week….on the second week the family started rearranging the food plan for the days based on when they would be there….by the 4th week I gave up planning anything more than a day in advance. What got to me was my DH coming home and saying “I thought we were having “this” for dinner tonight”, but one of the children decided we should do Thurday’s meal on Tuesday. My family just doesn’t want me to have things to easy!!!! Your meals look wonderful for the week, so tasty looking!!

    Karen L

  9. Judy, you need to share recipes for all of the yummy food. Your zucchini/jack casserole sounds interesting.

  10. Hi Judy, you said you cooked the brown rice in your rice cooker. I would love to have the recipe for that. I usually cook mine in the oven but it heats up the kitchen just for one dish. I have tried cooking it on the stove but can’t ever get it cooked right. Thanks, Terry

  12. I sure wish I could be as organized as you are Judy, when it comes to the weekly cooking. I think I’ve basically given up on trying to prepare meals. My hubby has weird hours with all his “after school activities”. LOL! I do like it when I do cook and have leftovers for lunch the next day! Sometimes leftover lunches taste better than the dinner the night before. Especially anthing with pasta!!!

  13. I so admire your organization. I wish I could be more like you, but planning and me just don’t get along. I am a spur of the moment type person. I too love to cook, but I like to whip up something on the fly, planning things tends to take the fun out of it for me, LOL

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