What We're Eating 11/29-12/5 + Advent and Hannukah arrive

Hannukah and Advent kick off this week and while we don't celebrate Hannukah as a holiday, we do like to honor it with some food traditions. So as we lay out the best laid schemes this week I know one thing: There will be latkes!

On Monday I have this idea to cook up some ground turkey and chickpeas. I've never made that combination before, but this recipe seems like it might be worthwhile. For Tuesday night's dinner, I think I'm going to make Carbonara because Watts had been asking for it and because ever since I finished Stanley Tucci's book I've been thinking about his show and I've been thinking about Italy and the four pastas of Rome. On Wednesday we'll have our latke bar to Celebrate Hannukah. This was one of our favorite things to do last year. We make a bunch of latkes and then a bunch of toppings. For Thursday I'm thinking of making a Cauliflower Chickpea Curry and then for Friday night which will be tree decorating time I think I'll make this winter vegetable soup au pistou. Saturday will maybe be spinach artichoke pasta and then Sunday could potentially be a leftover kind of night or a lentil and pasta kind or night or maybe I'll finally bust out the veggie dogs and we'll grill them over an open fire. I think that's supposed to be one of the cold days this coming week. 

In addition, to cooking I think we have big Advent baking plans this week. A gingerbread house for starters. I've been thinking of mulled wine jam to make and gift for the holidays. I confess I am insanely and intensely jealous of all the places where there has been early season snow. We're entering into my favorite season in my least favorite place because the possibility of snow is so slim and the weather can fluctuate from properly cold to suddenly hot and sweaty. Sigh. I won't whine. I promise. I'll just be sweating in my kitchen on those warm days wishing I was someplace else.

I'll be back soon to see how things gang aft agley. Maybe they won't this week.....ha! 

It's Tuesday and I've already gone off course. I knew Watts wanted Bacon pasta and while I planned on Carbonara, I just didn't feel like an egg and so Pasta Amatriciana it was. I could have honestly eaten the whole damn pot of it, but I didn't. Sometimes I can show restraint.

Because of my New York Times addiction, Wednesday's Latke recipe came from there, of course. As far as toppings, we had: cucumber and yogurt, black beans, cheese and salsa, tahini and roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, sautéed apples, bacon and eggs. I think that was it. On Thursday we stuck with the cauliflower chickpea curry that I adapted from Chetna of former bake off fame. I also added eggplant and it's now one of my favorite Indian dishes ever. On Friday after school we did indeed go and grab the tree and I made the winter vegetable soup that Nuala's been requesting. Saturday found me whipping up a quick mini-lasagna because the ricotta in the fridge was about to go off and I didn't want it to go to waste. And now it's Sunday and I'm making spinach artichoke pasta as I write this. It was a good week of mostly sticking to the plan while feeding our bellies. We also made our first gingerbread house from scratch which I know isn't a big deal for a lot of people, but it was our first time. Usually, we just buy one. I don't think I ever will again. More on that in the next post and more on the rest of my plans for December projects.