Cul de sac

"Cul de sac" means "bottom of the bag" and that is what I have reached! I am nostalgic now that I have come to the end of my Grocery Bag.

That is the Grocery Bag from Martha Stewart Everyday Food, Nov. 2010.

Did this week fly or what? Here were these five dinners I was going to cook and now I have made them all. It was fun making them, I have to say. I did not have to search for what I was going to make! It was just the way my friend Art said, you come home and say, OK, what is for dinner tonight?

One thing, I was amazed by how good the dinners were. After I made each one I checked online to see what other people thought, I mean to see if I was imagining things. And no, everyone agreed with me. People were rating all the recipes five stars. It is like the first time I heard Leonard Pennario playing, I knew quality when I heard it. I have to learn to trust my instincts.

For the record, the recipes:

Monday: Roast Beef with Cabbage, Squash and Carrots.
Tuesday: Black Beans and Sausage. (Truly yummy. You would not think it would be special but it is.)
Wednesday: Herb-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables.
Thursday: Butternut Squash Baked Risotto. (Also delicious beyond what you would think.)
Friday: One-Pot Pasta With Broccoli Rabe and Bacon.

I left out the bacon for the Friday dinner because it is Friday. Also I have never seen broccoli rabe in a supermarket so I substituted collard greens. The one person who commented on that particular recipe, I just noticed, substituted spinach. Anyway, yum.

Another thing, Howard was not here for dinner on Wednesday but I made the roasted chicken anyway, for myself. I did not want to skip a recipe! Then the next day we had the rest of the roast chicken with the risotto. The risotto goes beautifully with the roast chicken.

Notice I did not post pictures of any of my dishes. Whenever you post a picture of food on your Web log it looks horrible. I notice that on other people's Web logs. Leave the food photography to the pros. I will just say that my efforts looked exactly like the pictures in the magazine. That was funny.

With this week gone a new week beckons. I am going through my back issues of Everyday Food trying to find a new Grocery Bag. It is going to be hard to top this one, is the trouble. I think I started out at the top with this one issue that had hearty fall one-pot dinners.

Oh well. I will let you know.

Forward into a new Grocery Bag!