January 13, 2024

WEEKLY MENU 01.14.24

The Plan for mid-January is on our Weekly Menu 01.14.24~ easy, fast meals that will get dinner on the table without fuss every night.

We’re leaning into comfort food during the Weekly Menu 01.14.24 because the weather here in Erieland is downright bizarre this winter season. We’ve had about 47 inches of snow so far, but based on averages, we should be at about 60 inches of snow. (Our all in season average is 101 inches.) The snow we have had has been super sporadic. Forty-Sven inches is the total for the entire season, so we’ve had dribs and drabs but nothing sustained.

What we have had is crazy wind, like the rest of the country. We didn’t lose power at our house, but a lot of places in beautiful Erieland did, including D’s workplace. It was a little “Covid-ish” to have him working at the kitchen table for a day and a half, and it was great having him here – I know I’m not the only one that enjoyed parts of the Covid lockdown. That was one.

It’s still gray outside, and it’s finally snowing a bit, but it’s not like the old days of total snow coverage for months.

I prefer the snow to the wind!

There is a fair amount of complaining about the snow in Erie, but we’re a hearty bunch, and it generally doesn’t affect our day to day living. Christmas 2017 we got over 65 inches of snow in two days (you read that right). Not gonna lie: THAT affected us. Crippled us, if I’m being honest. But just for a couple of days.

In general though, winter is a great time to do some hunkering down in front of the fire and enjoy early sunsets. We do a little light hibernating to combat the go-go-go of Erie summer.

Weekly Menu 01.14.24~

We’re having super warming Chicken Fra Diavolo as the base for an Italian dinner on Sunday. We’re starting with a super easy appetizer: Baked Pepperoni Balls. They’re an Erie thing, and we have some in the freezer from fund-raising that has gone on at work. But don’t despair! If you don’t live in Beautiful Erieland with easy Pepp-Ball Access, you can make your own using a tube of pizza dough. They aren’t quite as good as the pre-mades, but they are pretty delish.

We’re starting the week with a Monday standard growing up: Meatloaf.

We all appreciate a little diner-food leftover, so I’ll make plenty of meatloaf and we’ll have it for lunch all week. (Affiliate links follow – see Disclaimer Page for details.) We adore the Weeknight Mashed Spuds – they bake while the meatloaf does, and I scoop out the insides and “mash” with our handheld mixer. The part we adore most is the leftover skin of the potato: they are fabulous with a little sliver of butter and a sprinkle of kosher salt. I leave the skins on the chopping block after I scoop them out and everyone eats a little snack while we wait for the meatloaf to cool.

We’re leaning into comfort with two soups this week. We don’t call the Sausage Noodle Bowl “soup”, but, little secret here: it is. It’s a super simple recipe, and gets some much needed sausage into the ‘achine. (For those of you that haven’t been following along, the “‘achine” is Baby Boy. He’s a total sausage eating machine from way back. He just loves it that much.) We’re following up with classic Stuffed Pepper Soup on Friday night. And Sammies for a casual Saturday night.