• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Smart In The Kitchen

Dinner is done!

  • Smart Recipes
  • Meal Plans
  • Gift Cards
  • About
  • Cooking Classes
  • Kitchen School

Weekly Meal Plan // September 26-October 1

September 26, 2021 By msmart Leave a Comment

Looking for an easy dinner recipe? Try the Quick Lamb Ragu Recipe from Smart In The Kitchen.

What’s Hitting the Table This Week

October 1? What? Some days, I honestly don’t know what year it is. Are you worried about my mental health, or do you have the same sense of time lapse? Where did the past two years go, the past two months, the past two days? So many questions, I know.

Last week, I tried to cook and eat from what we already had in our fridge, freezer and pantry. I was stocked with an overflow of veggies and lots of odds and ends, so I gave you tons of ideas for how to use up vegetables. I’m working on another post about how to use up chicken and how to use up ground beef (two things that are always in my freezer). I spent zero American dollars on food for our dinners, and we still ended up with a fridge full of leftovers by Friday. Before you make your meal plan this week, take a look at what you have at home. Make use of what needs to be moved along. Transfer items from the freezer to the fridge that you can use in dinners. It feels good to use up what you already have.

Last week, I made a couple of super easy Trader Joe’s dinners from freezer staples. I have other ideas for what to do for easy dinners here and here. On to the week ahead.

SUNDAY

While it’s not quite chilly fall weather here, it’s only a high of 84 degrees today in Houston. That’s basically sweater weather! Let’s make a big batch of soup or stew or something braised and delicious. I love a pork roast or pork or lamb stew meat braised in tomatoes with fennel and onions, there’s a recipe on page 253 of The Vineyard Kitchen by Maria Helm Sinskey that I’ve made several times. Fennel can be found in fall through early spring and it’s one of my favorite vegetables either shaved with parmesan, lemon, and olive oil in a salad or roasted and caramelized. After seasoning the pork for this stew, everything gets thrown in the pot and simmered on low. Here’s how to make it:

Extra-virgin olive oil

3 pounds cubed pork shoulder

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 fennel bulb, root trim, cut in half, triangular core removed, and sliced thin

4 garlic cloves, smashed

3/4 cup white wine

24-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes and their juices

1 cup mixed olives, pitted or regular (just tell everyone to be careful of the pits)

1 bay leaf

Parsley and crunch sea salt

  1. Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large braising pan. Sear the pork in batches in very hot oil, browning on all sides. Don’t crowd too much meat in the pan, you will need to work in batches. Salt the meat as it cooks, and then remove cooked batches to a plate while you finish the rest.
  2. Drain any fat from the pan and add a couple tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions, fennel, garlic, about 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and sauté. Once softened, add white wine and scrape up any browned bits on the pan. Add tomatoes, olives, bay leaf and stir. Add meat back to pan and put in a 325 degree oven.
  3. Roast for 2-2.5 hours, until your whole house smells delicious and the meat is tender. You may need to add a cup of water about an hour into the cooking if the liquid has evaporated. You could also keep the pan covered and just remove the lid the last 30-45 mintues of cooking. Serve in shallow bowls sprinkled with chopped parsley and crunchy sea salt. Crunchy bread or flat bread is delicious here. You could make little bites of pork stew wrapped in pita and topped with a dollop of plain yogurt. Yum.

MONDAY

It’s one of those afternoons of ortho-tutor-volleyball game-scouts rotation. I have a Facebook live for my Smart Meal Plan Formula students at 12:30. I’ll teach them how to prep one of my favorite slow cooker dinners. Whole chicken in the slow cooker is a life-saver, but I prefer it with a tangy dry spice rub that melts into the chicken as it cooks. Adding some chopped potatoes and carrots during the last hour makes for easy clean-up.

TUESDAY

I’m making dinner for my recipe videographer who just had her first baby. I’ll make a big double batch of this ragu and then pick up garlic mashed potatoes from Trés Market in Houston and make her an extra batch of my super simple salad dressing for a simple salad. I love serving this ragu over buttery mashed potatoes or polenta with an extra grating of parmesan, but you can also serve it over your favorite pasta.

WEDNESDAY

My husband and I have an event to go to, so it’s something simple for the kids. I have some pesto in the freezer that needs to be used up. Paninis (basically just a fancy word for grilled cheese) with mozzarella and pesto it is! You could also put out a bunch of different sandwich fillings–ham, turkey, caramelized onions, cheese, tomatoes, olive tapenade, etc. Everyone can make their own panini. Carrot and celery sticks on the side to munch on.

THURSDAY

I have a cooking class tonight full of date-night-at-home favorites. If you want a yummy date night menu, do some pan-seared rib-eyes (I follow a similar method linked here but baste mine with butter, paprika, garlic, and rosemary) or slow-roasted salmon. A green sauce like chimichurri or chermoula would be yummy. Roasted broccolini and steak fries are a good call.

FRIDAY

It’s the homecoming football game at our high school tonight. Since kids will be coming and going, I’ll make a batch of chili early in the day. Everyone can grab a bowl before heading to the game. My family eats their chili over steamed rice (weird?) so I’ll have my rice cooker locked and loaded.

Filed Under: Uncategorised, Weekly Meal Plans Tagged With: dinner ideas, family dinner, meal plan, what to make for dinner

Previous Post: « How to Use Up Extra Vegetables
Next Post: Weekly Meal Plan // October 3-8 »

Reader Interactions

By Category

By Date

Search

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Primary Sidebar

Marcia Smart
Marcia Smart is a cooking instructor, recipe developer and food writer who wants to help you make good, simple meals for your family and friends. She craves food that's seasonal and delicious and wants to share it with you. A California girl living in a Houston world with her husband and three children.

FIND ME HERE

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

FOLLOW ME ON YOUTUBE

Recent Posts

  • Low Effort Dinners
  • Cinco de Mayo Favorites
  • Big Batch Jalapeño Margaritas
  • Weekly Meal Plan // March 27-April 1
  • Weekly Meal Plan // March 20-25

GET SMART IN THE KITCHEN RECIPES AND NEWS

Categories

  • All Recipes
  • Appetizers and Snacks
  • Basics
  • Breakfast and Brunch
  • Casseroles
  • Cocktails
  • Condiments
  • Dairy-Free
  • Dessert
  • Dinner
  • Entertaining
  • Fall
  • Freezer Friendly
  • Friday Love List
  • Gift + Product Guides
  • Gluten-free/Gluten-free adaptable
  • Grain-free
  • Grilling
  • Holidays
  • Instant Pot
  • Kitchen
  • Mains
  • Meat
  • Meatless Mains
  • Mediterranean
  • One-Pot Meals
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Retreats
  • Salad Dressings
  • Salads
  • Sauces and Salsas
  • Seafood
  • Sheet Pan Suppers
  • Slow Cooker
  • Smoothie
  • Soups
  • Spice Mix
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Thanksgiving
  • Travel
  • Uncategorised
  • Vegetable Side Dish
  • Weekly Meal Plans
  • Wellness
  • Whole 30
  • Wine
  • Winter

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • June 2015
  • April 2015

Copyright © 2022 · Smart In The Kitchen