Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in August. It’s helpful if you can include your location and how many people you are feeding. Links to recipes are always appreciated, and sources help.
Are you hosting or attending end-of-summer pot lucks? What are your favorite dishes to take? My own August calendar has several meals out at restaurants planned for birthday celebrations. Home cooking is likely to feature local sweet corn and one-skillet mains. And end-of-month apple orchard visits (already!)
We all know plans can change, so it’s fine (practically expected) when your week gets rearranged from your posted plan. You may choose to report actuals for the prior week to share ideas with others.
Reminder – Please keep your comments menu / food related.
Went to the store over the weekend with a potential list of meal ideas in mind, and systematically reneged on each one. Went to Chinatown yesterday convinced it would perk up my meal planning, came home with nothing. So I’m struggling a bit.
Went down the various cook-along threads for inspiration because they’re all very appealing to me at the moment (Cuisine - South Indian, Cookbooks - Andrea Nguyen & Pati Jinich, Dish - Savory Tarts & Galettes) but it’s not been as helpful as otherwise.
Still, trying to come up with some ideas so I don’t end up staring at the fridge – or eating junk.
— Viet Roast Chicken Thighs + slaw + rice
— Salmon + leftover spinach rice / arroz verde
— Sushi bowls with shrimp or tuna
— Frozen, sauteed ground turkey → bulgogi bowls, kheema, pasta, shepherd’s pie
— Ven Pongal / Khichdi + tbd roasted veg + papad
— Zhoug-marinated chicken thighs + fattoush from leftover pita & fennel
— Curry chicken noodle soup (very weather-inappropriate, but I ate some yesterday and it was so good; note: add potatoes and fat noodles)
— Andhra-style egg curry + rice + salad or veg
Fingers crossed some of this appeals when it comes time to eat.
I bought a bag of brioche hot dog buns yesterday, which is one version of taking it a bit easy — lobster/Argentinian shrimp rolls, chicken salad, pimento cheese (also purchased) and whatever else I can stuff into a hot dog bun for a few days
One week left before our house-guests arrive. I will be doing a lot of advance prep in the meantime, and looking forward to the day it’s all over! For meals this week, we’ll be relying on standards from our rotation and what is coming in from the garden (ATM an avalanche of green beans, spuds, toms, onions, corn, and cukes).
Last week I bought a pound of ground pork at Aldi at made the barbeque meat ball on cheesy grits recipe from Budget Bytes that was popular a few seasons ago. Sorry no link. I always make all the meatballs and half the grits and use the extra meatballs in a hot dog roll … its a thing. I melt butter in a griddle and cut the meatballs in half and fry them in butter. The barbecue sauce left on the meatballs gets nice and gooey and my hot dog rolls are what we call New England style so I brown the sides in the same butter. Favorite lunch with DH.
Hi friends it is now quite hot out both at day and night and I am now ready to complain about winter! The last couple of weeks it have been hot out but cooled down nicely at night so I could get a decent night’s sleep but it warmed up a few days ago and just stayed hot The only outing I went on last week was to see the movie The Widow Cliquot. Mme. Cliquot was the widow of the founder of the Veuve Cliquot champagnes. She took over the business after his death at a time when very few women even had jobs let alone run their own businesses. This weekend is a long weekend in Ontario since our provincial holiday is on Monday and there is so much to do. There is a buskerfest on this weekend and I hope to take it in. A very entertaining busker from Australia comes to Ottawa every year so I look forward to taking in one of his shows. There is also another ribfest this weekend. We actually have two ribfests downtown every year - one in June and the other in August - so I go to both! It is also Colonel By weekend named after one of Ottawa’s founding fathers. One of the museums downtown, aptly named the Bytown Museum, has some events on in honour of the occasion however I didn’t see anything that caught my eye. Onto my menus for this week:
Today: Take out lunch is a meatball sandwich. Dinner tonight will be a Greek salad.
Saturday: Take out from ribfest. I will probably pick up some ribs for dinner and have some CSA veggies on the side. I got corn on the cob this week so I will probably have one of them with my ribs.
Monday: A statutory holiday! I will probably curl up on the sofa with a pot of tea and a book at some point today. No big plans. I will have a rice pilaf from one of my cookbooks (“The Seductions of Rice” by Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford.)
Tuesday: Chicken in a mushroom sauce, egg noodles, veggies tbd.
Wednesday: Ratatouille.
Thursday: Anchovy pasta with capers. I have a couple of anchovies in the fridge just waiting to be finished up. This recipe looks good but keeps getting bumped so I’ll try again to make it. Veggies tbd.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where I’m still spending more time than usual on the couch watching unusual sporting events I hope writing this menu will remind me to do some prep today like thaw pumpkin, freeze the ice cream canister, make pizza dough…
Breakfast: Pumpkin pancakes to use up some frozen leftovers
Saturday, August 3: Chilaquiles from Family; tomatoes with mango-miso dressing
Sunday: Lamb and dried apricot tagine from Around my French Table, couscous, prune and armagnac ice cream (Maida Heatter)
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Corn and arugula pizza from Cook’s Country
Wednesday: Cauliflower, bean, and feta salad
Thursday: Finish up leftovers
Friday: Off to California for a week to see the family!
Hope everyone is staying as cool as possible! Happy cooking!
It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another—it’s one damn thing over & over
This is how I feel about meal plans this summer. The heat and thunder storms being the damn thing. I plan to cook out and the sun goes in and it rains. Last Friday I planned grilled eggplant and zucchini planks but had to turn on the oven. The final casserole was good and lasted through the weekend. Monday it rained so instead of cheese burgers we had steak and cheese sandwiches. Tuesday was sausage stuffed zucchini and cole slaw… Wednesday spinach ravioli ala Smitten Kitchen. Thursday hamburg stroganoff and cole slaw. Tonight is cheeseburg night, a tradition going back to TGIF working days. But its going to rain so the burgers will be diner burgers grilled on the
stove.
Next week I hope to grill swordfish on the gas grill and make corn fritters plus corn on the cob. Rain is predicted so more stuffed zucchini baked in the oven and ratatuoille and some variety of mac and cheese.
This may not work if you need to grocery shop for main proteins. But when I was on my “use up what I have” spree a couple of years ago, I put main components on the calendar days and committed to just make what I’d listed , whether or not I “felt like it”. NOT giving myself permission to eat out or go off plan worked surprisingly well as a freezer-accumulation-clearing strategy. I did build in designated meals to use up leftovers and also 1 meal out every couple of weeks.
Breakfasts: Maybe just cereal this week. It does not get “hot” in coastal San Diego, but it’s still unpleasant to run the oven for long.
S: (tonight) Takeout - bbq chicken pizza for me, pepperoni and basil pizza for him. A repeat from a few weeks ago because it is simple, quick, comforting option.
Su: Pasta with Alfredo sauce, chicken, and spinach
M: Potstickers in broth with veggies - soup
T: TJs beef tamale topped with Hatch sauce and cheese, salad on the side
W: Cheese omelette with fruit and hash browns - vegetarian
Th: Salad topped with crab cake and sourdough croutons - seafood/salad
Actuals for end of July/first days of August. Cooking for 2 in MN, picnics (ham & cheese croissants, cut fruit, chips, chocolate chip cookies, blueberry muffin tops) and dining out in Decorah, IA for a few days of vacation.
Mon: Open faced grilled ham & provolone on naan. Easy Greek pasta salad w chicken. Cantaloupe, blueberries, red grapes
Tues: To Decorah on River Road. Picnic lunch at park in Red Wing, watched barges on the river.
Hiking stop at Great River Bluffs state park near Winona. Pizza Hut pizza in Decorah.
Wed: Hiking / walking – Dunning Springs Park waterfalls. Drove narrow road for picnic lunch at top of Palisades Bluff park. Walked briefly at Phelps park to appreciate fountain and stonework overlook wall – too hot for more hiking. Birthday Celebration steak dinner in a woodland-setting at Twin Springs supper club in Decorah. Dessert - chocolate brownie muffin with ice cream.
Thurs: Porter House Museum rock wall and garden wander. Garden exploration and walk at Seed Savers Exchange farm. Lunch at Don Jose Family Mexican restaurant, Chocolate malt stop at WhippyDip. Dinner - Toppling Goliath Brewery – he - burger & salad, me - salmon filet sandwich, fries, beer.
Fri: Driving day with a lunch stop family visit. Afternoon ice cream chocolate malt stop. Dinner - Chick Fil A chicken strips, salad.
Sat / Sun: home cooking. Lunches - Crab salad w Club crackers and croissant. Bag salad with added cucumber & tomato. Sliced fresh orange. Red grapes. Dinners - Rice/spaghetti pilaf w/ tarragon & sherry. Chicken thighs. Bag salad. Cottage cheese & blueberries.
Hi Everyone! Our small family is back together again, and now looking toward the fall and Lulu’s departure to college with excitement, nerves, and wistfulness. I focused on family favorites for our first full week at home together since mid June.
Mon: za’atar chicken with fattoush (Nigella)
Tues: broccoli and sausage rigatoni
Wed: suddenly felt sick, spent the afternoon and evening in bed; pizza was ordered
Family favorites sounds perfect for the countdown to college.
Those salt & pepper shrimp rolls sound really good, I love s&p shrimp! But I have regular (argentinian) shrimp in the freezer so I’m going to “make do” with faux lobster rolls.
As an aside, why do people prefer brioche buns for hot dogs and burgers these days when they are so sweet
I think of you whenever I make these shrimp sandwiches, because before you educated me, I would have automatically decided I wasn’t going to make them because I never fry at home. But you have shown me that I can easily do work-arounds on things like this (as I do with the frozen popcorn shrimp).
Faux lobster rolls sounds very good to me right now.
Totally agree on the whole brioche thing. Plus they get soggy SO quickly and disintegrate.
Today-made a cheese soufflé for the first time
Monday-Bang bang cauliflower, cilantro rice
Tues-grilled pork loin, grilled pineapple and peaches
We’d-out to dinner
Thurs-potato/zuke pizza
Fri-Meatloaf sandwiches, roasted broccoli and Yukon potatoes
Sat-family potluck (watermelon is the theme)
The last couple of weeks it have been hot out but cooled down nicely at night so I could get a decent night’s sleep but it warmed up a few days ago and just stayed hot 
The only outing I went on last week was to see the movie The Widow Cliquot. Mme. Cliquot was the widow of the founder of the Veuve Cliquot champagnes. She took over the business after his death at a time when very few women even had jobs let alone run their own businesses. This weekend is a long weekend in Ontario since our provincial holiday is on Monday and there is so much to do. There is a buskerfest on this weekend and I hope to take it in. A very entertaining busker from Australia comes to Ottawa every year so I look forward to taking in one of his shows. There is also another ribfest this weekend. We actually have two ribfests downtown every year - one in June and the other in August - so I go to both! It is also Colonel By weekend named after one of Ottawa’s founding fathers. One of the museums downtown, aptly named the Bytown Museum, has some events on in honour of the occasion however I didn’t see anything that caught my eye. Onto my menus for this week:
