And that’s perfectly alright with me.
Please note that “quiet” doesn’t mean “boring”. For me a quiet week is a productive week, and also a creative week. It means that I have time to cross the to-do’s off my list earlier in the day and have time leftover to play, either in the kitchen or on some project that I’ve postponed because of other demands on my time.
Sunday I made an effort to refine my recipe for Raspberry Chipotle Glazed Chicken Breast. I don’t generally care for sweet meat dishes, but this one has just enough kick to off-set the sweetness. I also took the time to stir up some Vegetable Risotto  with asparagus, peas, and Parmesan. It’s a side dish that I really like, but it does require quite a bit of hands on time. The reward is that it makes 6 generous servings and freezes well, so I now have 2 extra side dishes for later. While these two dishes are delicious on their own, they did not go together well at all. What was I thinking?

Meatless Monday truly was meatless. Quinoa Confetti Stuffed Zucchini got another test drive, and I think it’s a keeper. I’ll have to play with quinoa some more. The zucchini I bought to stuff were larger than I wanted, so I trimmed a chunk off of each end and saved it to perk up my meat sauce later in the week.
Tuesday’s dinner was a resounding success in Michael’s book. He’s such a fan of Mexican food. I served him Chicken Fajita Quesadillas with Green Chili and Sour Cream Rice and Simple Refried Beans on the side.  It’s a good thing the quesadilla is on the light side, because the rice is a caloric bomb!  Well, I just can’t be good all the time!

Remember last week’s Rib-Style Pork Tenderloin? I trimmed the tapered ends from the tenderloin to square it off and make it cook more evenly. The trimmed off ends became Pork Stir-Fry with Sugar Snap Peas on Wednesday.

Repurposing also came into play in Thursday’s meat sauce. Michael surprised me by suggesting we visit the DaVinci Exibit, so I just threw the cubed up zucchini end pieces saved from Monday and red bell pepper ends left from the quesadillas into a crock pot along with a package of meat sauce from the freezer. When we got home dinner was almost ready. All I had to do was make a House Salad and throw some of my new favorite pasta, Italian Gigli, on to boil.  Italian Gigle isn’t really high on the nutritional scale because it’s just white flour, but I love the way sauces nest into its little scoops.  Did I already mention that I just can’t be good all the time?
Friday presented me with a new section to include in this blog. I’m calling it “Lessons Learned“. These rolls are the initial page, Trust Your Nose.

Luckily, I did learn my lesson before baking these Blueberry Breakfast Rolls.
Actually, Friday night’s dinner also presented another Lesson Learned, Don’t Rush the Crust. In a rush to get dinner on the table, I ignored all the rules and the Crusted Sea Scallops were soon crustless. Ah well, live and learn.
Be thankful for what life gives you.