jane's joint: list, shop, prep, eat

Here's how my weekly food planning goes.

By Saturday morning in the Holt household we are pretty much out of food. I like it that way.

Saturday mornings I get up, work out, come home, make coffee then make THE LISTS.

The shopping list.

Don't judge my handwriting. Lifelong malady.

and the week's menu

Translation:

Sunday - Chicken marbella, cous cous and veggies

Monday - Shrimp & spinach soup

Tuesday - Spaghetti wtih meat sauce and salad

Wednesday - burritos

Thursday - tuna noodle casserole.

The weekly menu decision is completely capricious. I peruse recipe books, my beloved blue binder, and my go-to notebook from my neighbor Maura that contains all of the above scraps of paper from the last couple years.

Then I hit the Jewel. This week's bonus was fresh-lime margarita tastings, with a complimentary Cointreau shaker. This is precisely how shopping should be done, with a margarita in hand.

Anyway, where was I? I never, ever cook on Friday or Saturday, but on Sunday I am loaded for bear and this week I prepped three meals. It was a glorious 60 degrees, my kitchen was sunny, I had music on - it was good.

I switched up the order and made Shrimp and Spinach soup with Udon noodles on Sunday.

The whole thing took 10 minutes and it was a delicious umami explosion of yumminess.

it was a pretty light meal, however, so I uncharacteristically made dessert. I did! Strawberry Shortcakes. Stupidly easy and yummy.

Before I cranked out the soup, however, I got the next night's chicken prepped. .

It's Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palatte Cookbook

It is SO GOOD and I forgot how delicious and easy this recipe is

in a bowl mix

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/4 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice
3 bay leaves
1/2 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
1/8 cup dried oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

The recipe calls for 2 cut-up chickens, I used 4 large bone-in breasts

Isn't this tool fabulous? My sister in law Sue gave it to me - props up your ziploc.

Place the chicken in a shallow baking dish or a ziploc and pour the marinade over. Let sit overnight.

Assemble chicken in a 9x13, spoon marinade over evenly and add

1/4 cup brown sugar and

1/2 cup white wine.

Cook at 350 until juice runs clear (breasts took about 45 minutes)

I served it over cous cous with a spinach salad on the side.

and last but not least, I whipped up a quick batch of my favorite tomato sauce and let that simmer for hours. Tonight's dinner is therefore done and I am therefore ecstatic.