Ready for another week

We are keeping it simple this week:
Tonight's dinner is a basic burger seasoned with salt, pepper, worcestershire, paprika, onion and garlic powder (charcoal is heating up now) and corn on the cob rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrapped in foil. It will go on the grill, too. I will toss together a salad to go on the side.

I had company in the kitchen for just a few minutes as JC created a rub for some pork chops we will grill later in the week. He decided that dry wouldn't do, so he added some beer to the mix. I'm sure they are happy chops now! The rub was made of onion power, garlic powder, paprika, seasoned salt, pepper, worcestershire, and liquid smoke (yes - same seasonings for two meals! convenience is good). The recipe for Smoky Grilled Pork Chops can be found on allrecipes.com.

Then I was alone again for the remainder of my prep work. I put together some chicken kebobs with garlic herb seasoning on the chicken (I found the jar of seasoning in my cabinet); a marinade for salmon made of green pepper jelly and soy sauce called Peppery Jelly and Soy Glazed Salmon on myrecipes.com (I did not take a picture, but it looks like salmon soaking in a green sauce with sesame seeds); and a casserole I put together based on what I needed to use up in the kitchen: zucchini from Summer's garden, turkey sausage, some chicken that didn't fit on the kebabs, ricotta cheese, parmesan, a can of diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, green bell pepper, and mozarella. (I think that's all of it!) It looked delicious all mixed together in the casserole dishes, and smelled good, too. I topped it off with some bread crumbs that will hopefully soak up any extra juice.

Since Summer was out of town all last week, she still has some food stocked up in her freezer. I am sending over some kebobs and zucchini sausage casserole anyway.

Now let's hope the weather remains nice this week so we can enjoy some outdoor eating!
Time to get out to the BBQ!

All alone but back on track

School is back in session this week and it is time to get back on a regular schedule. After spending this summer season slacking off- well, maybe not exactly slacking off, but cooking day by day, I was ready to make a meal plan and execute it. There is such comfort in knowing we can have a home cooked meal for dinner, regardless of how tired I feel at the end of the day.

Since Kate is somewhere between chopped and dropped (I wish she would come back!), and Summer was out of town for the weekend, I had to cook alone. It was not nearly as much fun, but mission accomplished.

In about two hours I prepared a cheese lasagna (meatless, so I'm bracing for the grumbles), beef stir-fry, chicken tetrazzini for the slow cooker, and chipotle turkey burgers. The other two meals were deliberately chosen because they are so quick and easy.
Sides this week are a breeze, too. Salads, brown rice in microwaveable bags from Trader Joes, and a few other veggies.

With two dinners in the freezer and two in the fridge, this week should be smooth sailing. Food reviews to follow!