January 17, 2026

WEEKLY MENU 01.18.26

We’re (birthday) partying our way through January with Baby Boy’s Birthday on the Weekly Menu 01.18.26 ~

Of course, we’ve got dinner covered for every night during the Weekly Menu 01.18.26, whether we’re eating in or heading out for a special birthday din-din.

A Birthday Dinner requires that the Birthday Boy choose his favorite meal. Baby Boy usually leans towards Italian, but this year, he has opted to eat at a funky, cool, incredibly delicious Japanese place in town called Bar Ronin. Mama still gets to make the cake while thoroughly enjoying a family dinner. Baby Boy has work commitments, so we’re all getting together on Saturday night instead of the actual birthday, which just means TWO celebratory meals.

I’m cheating a bit with the cake.

Baby Boy adores chocolate cake. I’m using a box mix that we’re bumping up and cooking in layers. I make the cake according to the box – but when I add the wet ingredients, I’ll add a tablespoon or so of instant coffee granules. You don’t taste coffee in the final result, but it somehow makes the cake richer. I also add about a cup of chocolate chips before pouring the cake into the pans.

I use THREE cake pans to make this dessert extra special. (Affiliate links follow – see disclaimer page for details.) Split the cake batter evenly between the cake pans, then bake according to the instructions on the box. These pans are ideal for your cupboard because they’re so versatile. I use them for setting up my breading station too. (Make sure to use a silicone whisk with these so you don’t scratch the pans.)

I’m not making scratch frosting either, so I’ll make the frosting extra tasty by adding a capful of vanilla and a half capful of almond extract. Plus, I use two cans – three layers is a LOT of cake to frost!

Spoiler Alert:

Baby Boy prefers the canned frosting to the more labor-intensive alternatives. And it IS his birthday. Don’t tell the food police.

I use my vegetable peeler to decorate the top of the cake by making chocolate curls on top of the whole frosted shebang. Check out how here:

Here’s a look at our darling Baby Boy – and his brothers – from a year or twenty ago:

Weekly Menu 01.17.21 — ^{The Birthday Boy is in the middle.}

Weekly Menu 01.18.26

There’s plenty of eating besides the big day. Sunday dinner is crazy simple because we’re having a beautiful smoked turkey breast gifted to us at Christmastime by dear friends. Since the oven will be on, I’m tossing in some potatoes and roasting them too. About half an hour before we eat, I’ll add some green beans. All these birthdays mean we have plenty of ice cream to choose from, so we’re having easy salted caramel sundaes for dessert.

That turkey is going to be doing double duty: we’ve planned a totally throwback diner meal for Tuesday. White bread (it’s pretty much required) and instant mashed potatoes under sliced turkey with plenty of Turkey gravy. I’m using packets for the gravy. I’ll zhush them up with a little bit of roasted chicken soup base (low-sodium, of course), some unsalted butter, and a little bit of cream. Yum. We’ll add all the greens we need with some peas.

Thursday is the actual birthday, so we’re going a little over and above with a pan-fried chicken cutlet that we’ll put on toasted garlic bread with Caesar-dressed salad. So tasty. All things in moderation, right? The big question is what to make for a little celebratory sweet. It could be anything: Maybe even cupcakes!