DAY 15

Tuscan White Bean Soup with Shrimp

Grade: B+
Source: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, copyright 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
Pots: 1 blender (or hand blender), 1 stockpot, 1 frying pan
Planning suggestion: There's not much you can do to save time.
Notes: The goal here was to replicate a Tuscan white bean soup that I used to eat at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. So I decided to base it on a simple White Bean Soup from Marcella Hazan, then add sautéed shrimp (which I also set aside for the kids) and swiss chard. It was good, but not as mindblowing as her recipes usually are, which I blame entirely on myself (I should know not to mess with a Marcella recipe!). Both the girls tried it but didn't like it, so they ended up eating a small pile of steamed shrimp for dinner.
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DAY 16

Mustard Pork Chops with Gnocchi

Grade: B+
Source: Nigella Express Copyright 2007 Nigella Lawson. Printed in the United States of America.
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: No planning necessary
Notes: This was so fast and easy that I would make it again based only on that. But the fact that it was actually good made it a shoe-in for a weeknight meal. It literally took 15 minutes! I bought the gnocchi at Trader Joe's. The kids liked this without the mustard sauce. All in all, a success.
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DAY 17

Pasta with Arugula, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan

Grade: B+
Source: Me
Pots: 1
Planning suggestion: None whatsoever.
Notes: I deliberately came home from work without a plan, knowing I had a ton of vegetables and leftovers in the refrigerator. Nothing groundbreaking here; I boiled some penne (always good for Abby) and mixed in an arugula, tomato, and Parmesan salad (in a basic oil, red wine, and mustard vinaigrette) that I had eaten for lunch. I roasted some pine nuts in the toaster oven, tossed them in, and called it dinner. I wouldn't say I won any awards for originality, but I would have been proud to serve it to company. The little critics ate it in their own picky ways, too.
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DAY 18

Salad with "Magic Ingredient" Dressing

Grade: B
Source: How to Eat Supper: The Splendid Table Cookbook by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift. Copyright (c) 2008 by America Public Media. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.
Pots: 1
Planning suggestion: Buy a rotisserie chicken.
Notes: We often have this salad at the end of the week as a way to get rid of all the vegetables, meat, and cheese that won't last another day. But the dressing was new. The recipe for it praised the 1/8 teaspoon of nuoc nam (fish sauce) that makes a simple vinaigrette multidimensional, saying the sauce "elevates the flavors as if by magic. You won't really taste it, but it will bring all the flavors into sharper focus. Be sure not to tell. Most people associate fish sauce with smelly socks." The change was subtle and good, but not amazing enough to convince me to give up my old-standby favorite vinaigrette. (That's one rut I don't mind being stuck in.)
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DAY 19

Trout with Beans and Almonds

Grade: A
Source: Bouchon (Artisan Books) Copyright 2004 by Thomas Keller and Epicurious
Pots: 3 (2 if you choose not to grill bread)
Planning suggestion: Toast the almonds ahead of time.
Notes: This was amazing. I forgot how sweet trout is (and therefore how easy a sell it is for the kids). This recipe calls for a lot of butter (10 tablespoons), but we used only four or five, and it was still satisfying. Also, we just used trout filets (instead of whole fish) to make it simpler.
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DAY 20

Pork with Cranberries

Grade: B+
Source: Epicurious
Pots: 3
Planning suggestion: Chop the onion before work.
Notes: I love recipes with only six ingredients that turn out this good. We are huge pork-tenderloin fans in our house (even Abby will eat it if we serve it with enough ketchup), and so it's always fun to find a seasonal and inspiring way to prepare it. I had never tried the girls on potato gratin before, and they loved it—no surprise there.
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DAY 21

"Two-Tone" Panfried Pizza

Grade: A-
Source: Inspired by Mark Bittman's recipe in the New York Times
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: Chop the onions and 'shrooms the night before.
Notes: This dinner was more for me than the girls. We make our own pizza all the time with Trader Joe's fresh refrigerated pizza dough—it's one of the few meals Abby eats with real enthusiasm. But this panfried version intrigued me. When I read it, it sounded so much easier, but it was harder to control the doughiness of the crust, which is, of course, key. The resulting crust was crispy but dense. Not perfect. I'd use less dough next time. As always, we made half the pizza for them (marinara and mozzarella) and the other half for us (asiago and chopped cremini mushrooms sautéed in garlic, olive oil, and tossed with parsley.) Yum.
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DAY 22

Fish Stew

Grade: A
Source: Hugh Garvey from Gastrokid
Pots: 1
Planning suggestion: If you're using frozen fish, transfer it from freezer to fridge in the morning. To cut time, Trader Joe's sells a mirepoix (a mixture of chopped celery, onions, carrots) that costs some bucks, but saves so much time for soups.
Notes: I didn't have a dinner plan as of 5 p.m., and I started to panic. I had a vague idea to try fish soup on the girls but wasn't sure where to start. I e-mailed my friend Hugh Garvey (who also happens to be the founder of Gastrokid) for help. He went in the tomato direction—which I wouldn't have thought of—and gave me what he called a "riff on cioppino." My husband riffed on his riff and came up with a winner. I'll never forget the sight of Phoebe inhaling it like a milkshake. It was easy, with a multidimensional flavor that can be hard to achieve with only a 15-minute simmer time. It has since become Phoebe's most regular request.
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Next Page: Week Four Meal Plan