What to Cook for Dinner this Week

This weekly menu is designed to feed a houseful of people with easy dinners that won’t keep you in the kitchen all night. We have two waves of company coming for Thanksgiving week, and yet I’m still working Monday through Wednesday (not an issue since E is on vacation and there are plenty of sightseeing activities available – he’ll play the tour guide while I’m at home working). Anyway, I need dinners that are simple, delicious, and will feed four adults and three littles, including one who’s just a bit picky. So here’s my menu – hopefully it will give you some ideas if you’re going to have a houseful next week, too!

Monday: Chicken Soup with Thyme, White Wine, and Orzo and No-knead Bread. This is the night everyone arrives, and I have no idea when they’ll actually pull in, so I need something that’s easy to keep warm on the back of the stove and will freeze well if they end up running late and stopping somewhere else for dinner. This is the perfect meal for that scenario.

Tuesday: Quick & Easy Stuffed Shells. This has been one of the most popular recipes on the blog since I posted it a month ago, and for good reason. If everyone goes sightseeing all day, this is a great meal for them to come home to – it’s hearty, warming comfort food. I’ll make a salad to go with it.

Wednesday: Taco Ranch Chili with Maple Corn Bread. The second wave of company arrives on Wednesday, and we’ll all be at Ted and Jen’s in one big group for dinner and pie making. This chili is easily doubled, everyone loves it, and the Maple Corn Bread is a perfect sweet complement. It’s also a completely different flavor category from what we’ll be eating the next day.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! For details on our Thanksgiving menu and recipes, check out yesterday’s post.

Friday: Pizza. Friday is traditionally our girls’ shopping day. We hit a specified list of stores – not for Black Friday deals, but for the fun of shopping together in a big group when the stores are all decorated for the holidays. Chances are I’ll buy a couple of new Christmas decorations rather than Christmas presents. We’ll have lunch out, probably at The Cheesecake Factory, and when we get back to Jen’s, we’ll be too tired to cook. Our tradition is to order pizza and pick it up on the way home.

Saturday: Easiest Enchiladas. It’s likely everyone will pack into our little place for dinner on Saturday, and these Enchiladas will make it simple to feed them all. The recipe doubles easily, so I’ll probably make two pans. I’ll use leftover turkey instead of chicken. Easy!

Sunday: Turkey Pot Pie. Company will be gone, the house will be quiet, and I’ll make Dinner: A Love Story‘s Chicken Pot Pie for dinner, with leftover turkey instead of chicken. Meanwhile, I’ll have the turkey carcass on the stove in my big stock pot for most of the day, simmering away for homemade turkey stock, which will go in the freezer in zippered plastic bags. Yum!

Company Breakfast Ideas: Instead of one weekend breakfast idea, I’m going to give you a slew of things you can make for a houseful of folks without playing short order cook, flipping pancakes all morning. PW’s Monkey Bread is always a winner, and takes about 10 minutes to assemble. You can bake these awesome Banana Granola Muffins or Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins the day before guests arrive, so you have breakfast at the ready. Baked Oatmeal can be made ahead and warmed up in the oven, and you can use practically any fruit in it. PW’s Baked French Toast is another make-ahead winner.

Snacks: It’s always a good idea to have munchies around when you have company coming – the usual bags of chips, of course, but it’s nice to have something simple and homemade, too. Jen likes to make a batch of Homemade Salsa to serve with tortilla chips for snacking. Smitten Kitchen’s homemade granola bars are a great choice on the sweeter side, and easy to send along with people as they head out for a day of sightseeing. So are these Triple Chip Cookies, as well as the incomparable Oatmeal Crispies. Last year, I made a big pan of Pumpkin Bars, and they went faster than I could have imagined.

That’s it for me! Tomorrow, I’m grocery shopping, and it sure feels good to have my company menu all planned!

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Tweet