April 24 - 29

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! This is my new attitude -- I'm going to pretend it's warm and springy and maybe it will be, eventually. So the electric blanket got put away, along with the tall boots and the thick black tights. I'm wearing open-toed sandals in 40-degree weather, but I'm sure that if I think warm thoughts, the weather will follow, right?

And I'm carrying that philosophy into dinner, too. Enough with the slow cooker and the soup for a while. (But I love soup, right? So I'll probably be back to it soon, craving heavy all-day-cooked stuff in, say, July. But oh well.)

So this is the plan:

Sunday

Dinner is mainly to recover from brunch. Oh, that damn dessert table!

Shrimp Cobb Salad

Monday

City Slicker Omelets: There's this little breakfast place up north in Alden, MI, that has these lovely omelets. They're called City Slicker omelets, but they're basically just filled with tomato, onion, and feta cheese. I get a little crazy and have them add mushrooms too. So tonight I'm having a City Slicker omelet. Can't speak for what Phil will choose to put in his, but I'm pretty sure tomatoes won't be there. :)

Tuesday

Grilled chicken breasts (maybe with barbecue sauce!)

Grilled green beans -- put them in foil with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Leave the top of the foil open so they don't just steam, then put on the grill for 10 minutes or so, tossing them from time to time so they can get sort of browned and lovely.

Salad

Wednesday

Sole with capers: Put a piece of sole on foil, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper (yes, just like yesterday's green beans -- it's my fall-back grilling method) and sprinkle capers all around it. Grill it on fairly high heat so the bottom gets a little brown and the edges a bit crispy. Drizzle fresh lemon juice at the end.

We'll have grilled zucchini and tomatoes to go with, and also salad.

Thursday

Probably a leftover night... nothing too exciting!

Friday

Don't usually post Friday night dinners, because it's often random take-out, but I'm planning this one already. I have my last really long training run (in preparation for the Bayshore Marathon) on Saturday, and my pre-race/pre-long run dinner is pizza... (as many carbs as spaghetti -- or so -- and more delicious!).

And I'm loving the crust that I make in my Kitchen Aid -- it's my best crust ever -- so I'll be making homemade pizza Friday night.

The crust is crazy easy: Dissolve 2 and 1/4 tsp. yeast in a cup of warm water, then add a half teaspoon of salt, 2 tsp. olive oil, and then 2 and 1/2 cups of flour (I do an even mix of white and whole wheat flour). Mix for about 4 or 5 minutes in the mixer with the bread hook, then put in a greased bowl to rise and cover for about an hour.

Punch it down and spread it on a baking stone (I put a bit of oil and cornmeal first) then add toppings:

• pizza sauce
• Italian chicken sausage
• red onion
• roasted red pepper
• mushrooms
• spinach
• any other available veggies (asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, etc.)
• mozzarella (my favorite is to get a ball of it -- someday I will learn to make this! -- and slice it in thin pieces and spread it all over.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

Have a great week!