Whether you live as an expat with someone cooking your meals for you, or do all of the work yourself, you can't deny that having someone ELSE source the weekly list of recipes would be a huge help, right?
I have dabbled in my fair share of weekly menu planning ideas, processes, sources, but may have found the perfect combination of what our family will be using from here on out.
Enter Dining Diva Dinners.
The website is a bit difficult to navigate, but since I first found this blog, she has added archives, and the page on which the archives are located are the only thing you need to get started.
Archived weekly menus are listed to the right on THIS page.
What I like about what Susan has done ::
First, the recipes have been tried by her family. They aren't just collated from the many recipe websites.
Secondly, she does pretty much ALL of the work for you. With each week of recipes, she also creates a shopping list AND a prep calendar, showing what things need to be done the night before, etc.
Third, the majority of the recipes feature things that we can find here in Delhi, and the recipes are simple enough for Shanti to follow without much input from me.
Lastly, she includes some true comfort food recipes, as well as an "impress them" recipe each week ... perfect for when you're entertaining AND just need to feed those kids' bellies.
Here are some of our favorites so far ::
Blue Cheese Butter (topping for steak)
1/4 C butter
2 T chopped green onions (or chives)
2 T crumbled blue cheese
Combine all items, blending well. Just before serving, spread blue cheese topping on steak.
Grilled Salmon
Marinade:
1⁄2 c soy sauce
1T minced garlic
2T honey
1tsp ground ginger
Small onion diced or 1tsp onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
16-20oz salmon
16-20oz salmon
(Serves 4)
Mix together all ingredients for marinade. Put in a plastic bag and add salmon. Marinate for 30 minutes, 45 max. If you do much longer, it gets too strong.
Pesto Cream Sauce
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
1⁄4 c milk
2T pesto
Cook cream cheese and milk in saucepan on medium (2-3 min) or until cream cheese is completely melted and sauce is well blended, stirring constantly. Stir in pesto.
Take a look around ... and then start your printer to work! Her easy excel OR PDF downloads are easy as can be ...
What do you think? Do-able for your family, your kitchen, your time?
