May 20 - 24

Oh, it's so wonderful and summery, isn't it?  Visited TWO different farmers' markets on Saturday, and so the fridge is overflowing with late spring veggies now.  The grill will be working overtime this week, as it rightly should when it's sunny and gorgeous out (and, frankly, in January as well.  I just love my grill.).

Here's our plan for the week!

Sunday
Farmers' market extravaganza!  Got some lovely little tenderloin steaks from the folks at Maitland Family Farms (it's all grass fed and quite yummy), but they're not quite enough for a whole meal, so we'll add a few grilled scallops as well.

My favorite part...  the sides.  We're grilling purple asparagus, tiny little baby carrots, and wild leeks (aka ramps) brushed in a bit of olive oil and salted and peppered.

A bunch of kale in a bit of olive oil and salt, wrapped in foil and tossed on the grill.

Oven-roasted sweet potato wedges.

Here it is:

At first I was worried that the picture was inserted sideways.  But it's a picture of a round plate.  There isn't actually a top, is there?

Monday

Turkey burgers with sauteed mushrooms and onions

Grilled veggies (more carrots!  more asparagus!)

Salad (maybe with some blue cheese, but maybe with feta.  It'll be a game-time decision.  But there will be balsamic vinegar for dressing.)

Tuesday

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers

Salad

Grilled veggies (you guessed it...  Carrots!  Asparagus!  But maybe also broccoli.  Or peppers.)

Wednesday

Blackened salmon with mango salsa

Salad

Thursday

Crab cakes (my recipe is sort of vague, but it involves canned crab, an egg, some chopped red onion, chopped red bell pepper, mustard, a bit of sriracha, maybe a bit of mayo if it still needs something to hold it together.  Form them into cakes, pat with a bit of panko on the outside.  Heat oil in a pan, cook the cakes for a few minutes on each side (4 or so?) until the outsides are crispy and they're warmed all the way through.) Since it's grilling weather, I might try to cook these on the grill instead.  Have to think about this...

Oven-roasted sweet potatoes

Salad

Yum.  Have a beautiful week.

May 5 - 9, 2013

Just spent my early Sunday morning drinking coffee, listening to birdies chirp, and plan recipes for the week. I started by checking the weather, which sounds absolutely perfect for most of the week: sunny and 72, pretty much. My initial instinct was to just pick a thing to grill each night and call it good, but I had to scan through some nearby recipes (Pinterest, magazines in the coffee table) and got a few other ideas. Besides, I wouldn't want to burn out on grilling too early in the year, right?

So here's our plan for the week!

Sunday:
Kebabs with meat and veggies (vague, I know). I know that in the freezer we have venison and chicken and shrimp and pork tenderloin... And I'm hoping when I go look, I might find some lamb as well. So the protein will be a mix of whatever appeals when I put on my flip flops in a few minutes and head to the garage. Veggies will definitely include mushrooms, chunks of Vidalia onion, bell pepper, and then whatever else we have: asparagus? Broccoli? Zucchini?

We'll marinate the meat in something pretty simple, involving garlic and basil and wine. The veggies will get a simple olive oil, vinegar (thinking red wine vinegar for this), salt and pepper seasoning.

We skewer the veggies together and the meat together. Mixing them is prettier, but they have different cooking times. Hate ending up with undercooked onions or black broccoli.

And then we'll grill! Green salad and maybe some roasted potatoes to go with.

Monday: Balsamic-Glazed venison rolls.
This is a straight-from-Pinterest recipe, but one that looks adaptable to whatever you have. So we'll use some thin-sliced venison steak, and then improvise the rest. The original recipe is here:
http://www.recipebyphoto.com/balsamic-glazed-steak-rolls/

Tuesday:
Grilled mahi-mahi and veggies.
Season the fish with a bit of oil, salt and pepper before grilling. When it's done, squeeze a bit of lemon juice and sprinkle some capers over it all. Grilled veggies on the side. We just got a new grilling basket in a clearance rack last weekend, so we'll be giving that thing a workout all week!

Wednesday:
BLT chopped salad with avocado and poached eggs. This is something that simply springs from my Sunday morning desire for bacon and eggs. We'll make a lovely salad that has some chopped tomato, crumbled bacon, sautéed red onions, avocado, and blue cheese. Put on individual plates, poach an egg for each and pop it on top! Not sure about dressing, but the lovely runny egg sort of makes its own dressing, so maybe just a little balsamic vinegar to tart it up.

Thursday:
Chicken lettuce wraps:
Make a filling with chopped chicken, diced bell pepper, onion, small-chopped mushrooms, and maybe zucchini (carrot? Whatever other veggies made it until Thursday night in the fridge?). Sauté it all together until cooked, then season with a bit of soy sauce, sriracha, and rice wine vinegar. Serve in Boston lettuce leaves.