Week Plan Wednesday

Do people care about how I never actually follow my meal plans?  Last week we ended up having corned beef and cabbage for both lunch and dinner on Sunday (due to totally not understanding what was on the menu for dinner with friends), so I had no interest in Ruben sandwiches until today.  Combine that with the library story time theme of "pizza," and well, you can guess where that went.

Wednesday- Rubens. Coleslaw.  "This hits the spot," says The Gibbon.

Thursday- Cream of Broccoli Soup.  Stromboli.

Friday- Grandma is bringing dinner

Saturday- Roasted chicken, garlic potatoes, oven roasted beets, sweet potatoes.

Sunday- Winter pesto (use whatever pesto recipe you like, but replace the basil with parsley and the pine nuts with walnuts). Chicken salad.

Monday- We're doing dinner with friends, but haven't decided who's hosting.  If we are, I'll do Chicken noodle soup from scratch, loaded with vegetables, fresh bread with butter, and broccoli salad.

Tuesday- German ptotato salad (which is served warm, so it's ok).  Either scalloped cabbage or broccoli salad, depending on what happens Monday.

You want my broccoli salad recipe?  Yes!
Chop up your broccoli into bite sized pieces.  Seriously.  No huge three-bite chunks.  It's better this way.
Juice a lemon into a bowl.  It helps if you roll it on the counter before you cut it open.  Microwaving it for 15 seconds also helps.
Crush some garlic.  I like a lot, maybe 3 or 4 big cloves.  But it's your deal.  Just chop it up a little, generously sprinkle it with salt, and smush it it paste with whatever's handy: the back of a spoon, the side of a knife, a nice clean rock, whatever.  Throw it in with the lemon juice.
Add a glug of olive oil, if you want.  It won't hurt to skip it if you've got fat somewhere else in your meal, but a little fat helps you to absorb the nutrients from the vegetables.  Also grind in a bunch of black pepper.
Use a piece of broccoli to taste the dressing.  If it's good, good.  Otherwise, add more salt or garlic or pepper or lemon.
When it's perfect, toss the dressing over the broccoli.
This is best if left to sit for an hour or more before you eat it (the acid takes some of the "raw" flavor out of the broccoli), but you can totally chow down whenever.  Yum.