What’s for supper? Vol. 30: Lasagnis Laetitia

Well, I didn’t read 290 pages this morning, and neither did you. Out of sheer honesty, we’ll just have to be relieved, outraged, disappointed, baffled, miffed, vindicated, smug, and deliberately misleading about the food we had this week.

SATURDAY

Lasagna with sausage, garlic bread, salad, root beer floats

Birthday! We have a nice new seven-year-old in the house, and this meal was her heart’s desire. She said, “We’ve been having a lot of meatball birthdays lately, so I think I’d like lasagna. And . . . would root beer floods be too much?” Not for you, my dear.

The lasagna was pretty tasty! I added fresh parsley and nutmeg to the cheese mixture, which gave it an extra depth of flavor.

I don’t remember which recipe I used — nothing unusual, something with egg in the cheese mixture.

***

SUNDAY

Chicken tortilla soup, cornbread, strawberries and ice cream

Pioneer woman’s recipe for tortilla soup. It’s good soup.

I served it with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and avocados.

***

MONDAY

Pizza

My lovely assistant assisted lovelily:

***

TUESDAY

Pork chops, polenta, pineapple

This is the meal we should have had on March 14, Pi Day. Because “pi” isn’t pronounced like “pie,” it’s pronounced like “pee.” But what do I care? Eat your pies and spit on classical languages.

I meant to make rice, but was foiled by not having any. So I went for polenta, which I’ve never made, eaten, or seen before. I used this recipe for baked polenta with garlic because you can make it ahead of time. Not bad at all! It had a firm crust with a creamy inside.

My husband came home later, when it had been refrigerated, and he sliced it up and fried it, and he liked it. He suggested making it with chorizo at some point, which sounds good.

The pork chops . . . bleh. Pork chops always defeat me. They were really too thin to be much fun. I drowned them in some kind of all-purpose marinade called Goya Mojo Criollo and then cooked them until they were dry and fibrous.

***

WEDNESDAY

Honey mustard drum sticks, french fries, acorn squash, store-bought cupcakes

Another birthday! And a birthday kid who was a really good sport about a lackluster meal (she’s going out to eat with her friends later).

The chicken is a good make-ahead dish, which I got from the NYT’s Mark Bittman’s 101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics: “toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and grill or roast until crisp and golden. Whisk together mustard, honey and lemon juice, and toss with warm chicken.”
***

THURSDAY

Chicken nuggets, chips, salad, carrots and hummus

Nothing to report.  12-year-old son made the chicken, 10-year-old daughter made the salad.

***

FRIDAY

Tuna noodle casserole