Grape Tomatoes ripening in my garden
This week’s Menu-Swap is being hosted by Natalie at Gluten Free Mommy. (Be sure to check out her page for a round-up of lots of great menus!) She chose peaches as the ingredient for the week. Both peaches and nectarines are in season right now, and when you walk into the grocery store or into the farmers’ market, you are assaulted by their wonderful aroma. You can’t help but take some home with you. I actually have nectarines, not peaches, this week, but I’m sure Natalie will forgive me.
Last week I made a great nectarine salsa/relish for pork chops. It involved grilled nectarines, red onions, basil, honey, and balsamic vinegar. Yum! I highly recommend it. This week, I might try making nectarine tarts, as I have some extra pastry dough in the freezer.
Here’s my menu for the week:
Sunday:
Natalie’s Sesame Chicken (Chinese)
Snap Peas
(I didn’t get to make this last week)
This was really good. Since I never get Chinese out in restaurants any more, it’s nice to have some easy recipes to make at home. And it was great to have as leftovers.
Monday:
Lemony Shrimp Salad (Mediterranean?)
I love this salad. It’s bright and crisp, yet filling enough for dinner. It’s also easy and quick.
Tuesday:
Sandwich on my way to cooking class
(more on that later)
Cooking class got cancelled (I’ve rescheduled for later in the month). I still didn’t feel like cooking, so dinner was leftover sesame chicken with vegetables.
Wednesday:
Beef Satays over Thai Salad (Thai)
This is getting moved to Thursday for when my husband gets back into town. Tonight I’m having pasta with fresh tomatoes from the garden with fresh herbs. yum!
Thursday:
Out to Dinner
We had the Thai Salad with grilled beef. I stuck to the recipe from Food & Wine. I was a little dubious of the dressing when I first made it because the fish sauce has such a strong flavor. However, once it was tossed with the lettuce and veggies, it was really good.
Friday:
Chicken in Tarragon-Mustard Cream Sauce (French)
(I have a lot of tarragon in the garden that I need to use)
I altered this recipe a bit, but not much. It was interesting — my husband thought it tasted a little bit like a Thai green curry. The tarragon provided a really strong flavor to the sauce. It’s not a flavor that I’m used to (a little bit like licorice), but I liked it.
Our local cook shop has cooking classes on a regular basis (nothing GF, unfortunately), and on Tuesday, and am volunteering I’m volunteering later in the month. That means I get to go for free and help out with prep work, clean up, etc. Tuesday’s class is on French Cooking, and they are making Coq au Vin, Vichyssois, and Creme Brulee. The class is going to focus on seafood of all kinds. While I might not be able to eat much, I will get to watch and learn the technique for use at home. So I’m quite excited about it.
Filed under: gluten free, menu-plan | Tagged: menu-plan
Melanie – for some reason, tarragon seems to grow well in my garden, so I need to find new ways to use it. But since I’ve been experimenting with more French cooking, I have more reason for it.
Kay – so far, it’s just the grape tomatoes that are ripe. The regular ones still have a while to go. Unless you want fried green tomatoes.
I’m so envious of your ripe tomatoes! I’m still waiting, waiting, waiting.
The classes sound fun! Also, the chicken tarragon sounds good. I’ve been experimenting with tarragon.