September 16 - 20

If you know me at all, you know I tend to get ahead of myself during the edges of seasons.  I know it's technically still summer, but since it has been cooling off enough at night to sleep beautifully, I've been itching for fall.  Which is weird, because I'm a big big fan of summer.  But mentally I'm ready for lentils and soups and squashes.  (Which sounds fantastic when you wake up at 5:30 in the morning and it's 44 degrees outside, but not so much when you get home from work and it's sunny and almost 80.)

So I'm checking the weekly weather forecast before I make my food plan.  And just like my closet (which I worked on today, pulling out the MOST summery stuff, and beginning to add some of my cooler weather clothes), this week's menu is a mix and match of the seasons we're straddling.  See what you think.

Sunday
Homemade pizza (I've posted my crust recipe here, with a mix of equal parts whole wheat and white flour.)
We'll top it with some basics:  onion, red pepper, chicken sausage, mushrooms, and maybe a bit of broccoli for fun.  Some hunks from a ball of mozzarella, and we'll be good to go!

Some delicious Fat Tire (now available in Michigan!) to go with.

Because the Lions are playing on Sunday night -- so we NEED football food for dinner.

Monday
My tomatoes have done exceedingly well this year, so I'm still finding ways to use them all up.  I'll make tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms, parmesan and spinach.  I can't wait.

Tuesday
The weather forecast is saying it will be cool on Tuesday, and maybe even rainy, so we're making meatloaf.  I don't crave it very often, and so I don't even have a go-to recipe...  so much time passes between each time I make it, I can't remember how I made it last time.  The fun thing is that I get to look for a new recipe each time I want it.  I'm trying Alton Brown's (from the Food Network) recipe this time.  It has cayenne and cumin in it, which are two of my favorite spices in the whole world.

We'll probably do some boiled baby potatoes and broccoli with it -- just a pretty basic dinner.

Wednesday
It's supposed to be nice out, so we'll grill -- chicken breasts, salmon fillets, or turkey burgers (they're all in our freezer right now, so we'll pick on Tuesday or Wednesday).  Salad and bread to go with.

Thursday
One fall thing I love is stuffed acorn squash -- baking a squash, creating a filling, then putting the two together and baking some more.  There was a recipe in this month's Eating Well magazine for Curried Lentil Stuffed Squash that reminded me how much I liked this, and got me thinking about the stuffings I could make.  I think I'll steal the lentil idea, but I'll also add some turkey sausage, roasted and marinated red pepper, sauteed mushroom and onion, and some shredded parmesan cheese on top.  Or maybe feta.  Or goat cheese.  Thursday's still a long way off.  I have time to decide.

Have a great week!