Weekly Menu September 22-28, 2025

Screenshot
Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

Autumn soup and challah. 9/19/25

Challah

We did our celebrating of Rosh Hashanah on Friday night because on Monday, the actual date, it is supposed to be in the upper 90s and too hot for baking and making soup. Sarah made a lovely round challah in the morning and I made our usual Autumn soup and a plateful of symbolic foods. We toasted each other and hoped for a more compassionate and peaceful 5786.

Autumn soup, a combo of root vegetables, chicken or vegetable stock, and cream
Challah and symbolic foods

Posted in Baking, Holidays, soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New England clam chowder. 9/18/25

clam chowder

It has finally cooled off for a few days so I thought I’d make soup. This clam chowder is one of our favorites. Here’s the recipe from my blog entry last January.

Oops! I did not post the recipe in January so here it is instead—

Screenshot
Posted in American, pescatarian, Shellfish, soup, Vegetables | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Grilled NY strip steak. 9/17/25

Grilled NY strip steak, grilled potato, and salad

John grilled the steak, I made the potato, and Sarah assembled the salad. Fast, easy, delicious dinner for a hot night.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Hot weather meals, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Chicken ramen noodle salad – 9/16/25

Chicken ramen noodle salad

Sarah made her dinner a couple of days early since she was making a salad and it is very hot here this Tuesday. She found a recipe for a ramen noodle salad which reminded her of the days when I used to make something similar. I looked through my blog but I have not made it since I started this blog in 2011. So I think I made it as a kid friendly dish probably before we moved to California some 30+ years ago.

The ramen noodles are used straight from the package and they soften somewhat in the vinaigrette. She used cabbage and kale for her greens, leftover rotisserie chicken chunks, shredded carrot, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes. It is a fun crunchy salad to eat and we got to talk about “the old days” when she and her brother were kids.

I cannot find a digital version of the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens but here is the recipe that she used. https://www.budgetbytes.com/ramen-noodle-salad/

Posted in American, Easy, Hot weather meals, Pasta, Poultry, Recipes, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hot dogs, Birthday, Menu, Classic chicken. 9/15/25

I have gotten behind so I am using today’s post to catch up.

Saturday, September 13, 2025. Hot dogs, spicy pinto beans, and salad

Hot dogs, spicy pinto beans, and salad

Sunday, September 14, 2025. John’s birthday Lunch at Posada

John’s birthday lunch at Posada

Monday, September 15, 2025. Weekly Menu

Screenshot

Monday, September 15, 2025. Classic chicken dinner

Sliced chicken breast in gravy, mashed potatoes, and broccoli

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Greek fisherman’s stew. 9/12/25

Greek fisherman’s stew

I made this a couple of weeks ago and it turned out really tasting good so I decided to make it again. Still good! There is some chopping and you have to wait for the potatoes to cook through but the whole prep and cooking time shouldn’t be more than an hour. I cut up my veg earlier in the afternoon so everything was ready to go when it came time to cook it. This time I added one russet potato to the mix thinking that it might thicken the juice a bit but I really did not see any difference so I think I will stick with the small Yukon gold potatoes that I do not have to peel. I also added some fresh tarragon that we can get from the community garden.

Screenshot
Posted in Fish, Mediterranean, pescatarian, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chili using Muir Glen Chili starter. 9/11/25

Chili with Muir Glen chili starter and black beans

Sarah made this delicious chili using Muir Glen Chili Starter (medium spicy), browned ground beef, undrained black beans, and a little salt. That’s it and it was probably the best chili that we have had in a long time. Here’s a page from Muir Glen with info about their chili starter. https://www.muirglen.com/products/muir-glen-chili-starter

She found the 28 oz. can at Grocery Outlet for $.99 (yes, ninety-nine cents!) and bought two, one mild and one medium. She browned and drained the excess fat from the ground beef and added the tomatoes and beans. As extras on top she chopped up some onion and cilantro and served those separately with sour cream and tortilla chips. We just could not get over how good it was. We ate the whole pot!

Posted in Beef, Easy, Legumes, Southwest U.S., stew, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spaghetti with homemade pesto. 9/10/25

Spaghetti with pesto

Sarah’s community garden friend gave her bunches of basil . Rather than let it spoil I decided to make pesto. I used this recipe from loveandlemons.com. https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/
It is simple and the pesto turns out great. I would suggest, however, that you keep tasting it for salt level. I started with 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and kept adding from there.

Since pasta with pesto does not happen very frequently at our house I was rewarded with “yum” from Sarah and a suggestion that I make it again soon from John.

Posted in Italian, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Sicilian swordfish and zucchini 9/9/25

Sicilian swordfish with zucchini and rice

We have made this Sicilian dish a few times with both swordfish and tilapia. I think I like it better with tilapia. Cod would be a good choice too, especially Atlantic cod which is much more delicious than Pacific cod. The swordfish is harder to cook just right and last night’s was just a little over.

The sauce is delicious with whatever fish you cook and probably would be pretty tasty with chicken too. You can find the recipe here. https://www.seriouseats.com/agghiotta-di-pesce-spada-sicilian-braised-swordfish-with-tomatoes-and-olives-5212333

Posted in Fish, Italian, Mediterranean, pescatarian, Recipes, rice, Vegetables | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment