Weekly Menu Plan 131 serves up simple dinners with a flair for Fall, along with a couple of fun and festive cookie recipes!
Happy Fall, y’all! I’ve been waiting for weeks to say that. It’s officially cooling down, the days are shorter, and the leaves are beginning to change here Up North. This is the first year in the last seven that we don’t have a Varsity soccer player, so we’re not doing the whirlwind of States and National soccer tournaments that usually devours our Octobers. Next year, we’ll be sucked back into the tournament vortex when Son #3 moves up to Varsity, but until then? Well, I’m just enjoying having the time to meal prep on the weekends so that we can eat proper dinners.
The Weekly Menu Plan 131 is a great place to start, with simple dinners with Fall Flair. Not to be confused with Office Space flair. (“You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?”) Am I the only one that thinks of that movie when hearing the word flair?
Take a look at the week ahead:
I start the week off with my super easy Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken and Root Vegetables. All of the root vegetables of fall make a tasty base for roasting a whole chicken upon low and slow in the crock pot. Your house will smell ah-maz-ing when you come home and smell this complete dinner waiting for you. For an added bonus, there are usually enough leftovers to re-work into another meal. (See Friday this week.)
Jenni/Pastry Chef Online warms us up on Tuesday with her hearty Ballymaloe Irish Stew. Named for the Balleymaloe House Hotel in Ireland, Jenni follows their principal of use what you have on hand, get the rest locally, and let the ingredients shine. I recommend serving this stew with a fat slab of No Knead Herb Batter Bread.
Dinner on Wednesday is done if a flash with the help of an Instant Pot with Erin/The Speckled Palate’s Instant Pot Apple Cider Pulled Pork with Apple Cabbage Slaw. Whew! The name might be a mouthful, but it’s a delicious mouthful with the tender apple cider spiced pork. The apples in the slaw carry the apple theme throughout. I plan to serve this juicy pork on Cornmeal Rolls.
Cheryl/Pook’s Pantry keeps with the easy-breezy preparation theme with her mouthwatering Garlic Butter Langostino recipe. I have it on good authority that you may substitute shrimp, lobster, or scallops if you can’t find langostinos in your neck of the woods. However you make it, be sure to serve it up with a slice of crusty no knead artisan bread to sop up all of that buttery goodness.
I make dinner on Friday a snap by using leftover chicken from Monday night and work it into these Mango Chicken Quesadillas with Brie. If ripe mangoes are in short supply, then substitute thinly sliced Granny Smith apples for a nice sweet-tart finish.
The weekend never tasted as sweet as it does with Jenni’s festive take on Black and White Cookies all dressed up for Halloween. I mean, seriously! How cute are these buttery cookies?!
The Halloween treat theme continues with Erin’s Halloween Funfetti Cookies. These cookies are so easy and fun to make with little helpers. I know that my boys are always eager to find a reason to decorate anything with candy eyeballs! Because boys.
That’s it for this week, Friends!
Tell me: what’s your favorite recipe from the Weekly Menu Plan 131?
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