You know what’s worse than knowing that the word “twerk” is now officially in the dictionary? Not many things, but I’d have to think that being a Mongolian baby would rank up there.

Here I sit on the 29th of September with the exterior of my house minimally, but mostly effectively, beautified for fall – hanging baskets of snapdragons, houndstooth welcome mat, display of bright gourds on the stairs – with a documentary playing (have I told you about how in to documentaries I am? I most recently realized how thankful I am to not be a Mongolian baby thanks mainly to the aptly titled documentary “Babies.” Have y’all tried to put yourself in a Mongolian baby’s shoes? No. Because, trick question, they don’t have shoes. Literally all they do all day is lay on a bed-type piece of furniture while dogs and roosters share that intimate space. Yeah. Google that ish), sweaty from a Sunday afternoon workout, and delighted by a glass of chardonnay-pinot grigio blend nestled beside me. I feel so prepared for the new autumnal season and even, yes, even relaxed.

September’s experiment with month long meal planning proved to be a resounding success. I learned that I don’t actually need to make that many meals since DTH is rarely home for dinner, and many of the recipes serve many more mouths than two, but what the planning and grocery shopping allowed was a flexibility and freedom to switch meals around per our preferences without an additional trip to the grocery store, such as the sriracha honey lime grilled chicken legs pictured below. I shopped weekly only, and unless I was stopping exclusively for a Diet Dr. Pepper (henceforth, “DDP’), I never needed to make a second trip before the next week. I’ll take that. And I am. For October.
Tuesday, October 1 – Chicken with creamy roasted poblanos
Wednesday, October 2 – Mini meatloaf muffins (I’m going to be using this pumpkin meatloaf recipe, but I’ll cook them in muffin tins to make individual servings for easy reheating, freezing and transporting)
Thursday, October 3 – Crawfish/shrimp etoufee (with a mom from Louisiana, we’re big fans of Cajun cooking around here, and while I wish I could get my hands on some great crawfish, I’ll make do with shrimp. DTH’s sister is staying with us for a couple of days, and I’m excited to make her sweet Maine heart a true Louisiana dish)… recipe to come
Friday, October 4 – Chicken tikka masala
Saturday, October 5 – Butternut squash apple soup (does anything sound more delightfully fall-inspired?)
Sunday, October 6 – Mediterranean baked salmon + drinking the pain away of no more Breaking Bad ever. We may seat lifesize cut outs of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul around the dinner table with us for a double date, BITCH (I do not approve this language unless it’s quoting Breaking Bad. Well just kidding, I do, but in this case, it’s a direct quote for those of you not up on your meth dealings).
Monday, October 7 – Tortellini “soup” (there really isn’t anything remotely soupy about this, but anything Davey requests specifically gets a big star in my book)
Tuesday, October 8 – Lemon tarragon chicken salad
Wednesday, October 9 – Black bean bowls
Thursday, October 10 – Indian spiced chicken burgers (with a sriracha mayo I like to whip together)
Friday, October 11 – Spicy sausage pasta
Saturday, October 12 – Buffalo chicken quinoa salad
Sunday, October 13 – Date night!
Monday, October 14 – Stuffed bell peppers
Tuesday, October 15 – Beef and mango quesadillas
Wednesday, October 16 – White bean cassoulet
Thursday, October 17 – Baked artichoke chicken
Friday, October 18 – Pesto ranch crockpot chicken
Saturday, October 19 – Salmon of some sort (I wanted to build in some days that allow us to just get creative)
Sunday, October 20 – Date night-in! I’m assuming/hoping we’ll order pizza and top it with many anchovies. Mmmm…
Monday, October 21 – Crockpot chicken vindaloo
Tuesday, October 22 – Farro butternut squash goat cheese salad
Wednesday, October 23 – Quinoa stuffed poblanos
Thursday, October 24 – Kale caesar salads with shrimp
Friday, October 25 – Brick chicken + roasted broccoli
Saturday, October 26 – Sweet potato pasta + kale pesto (I like to also add some fresh basil to the recipe)
Sunday, October 27 – Date night!
Monday, October 28 – Bison burgers (recipe to come… one of our favorites)
Tuesday, October 29 – Grilled lamb + roasted squash
Wednesday, October 30 – Carrabba’s chicken brian copycat
Thursday, October 31 – Skillet ravioli