Week of September 9

What a strange weekend, weather-wise. On Saturday it was 95 hot and muggy degrees but as I write this on Sunday morning it's 65 and not expected to get much warmer than that. I am going to take advantage of this cooler weather and heat up the kitchen with the oven and pots of boiling water.

On Sunday I will:

• Make chili (some will go in the freezer)
• Bake shortbread
• Prep my "broccoli blend": this is equal portions of broccoli and broccoli rabe. I will cut up and blanch the vegetables. Then on Monday they will just need to be sauteed before serving.
  
• Make polenta
• Make pickled slaw
  
• Make macaroni and cheese (some will go in the freezer)
  
• Make Sunday dinner

This looks like an aggressive plan, but it's actually not so bad. The chili and macaroni and cheese are things I have made many times before, so I don't really have to puzzle over those. I use my food processor to do all the chopping and cheese grating; while I don't mind knife work, it is much faster (although my cuts aren't too clean) when the Cuisinart is used. I use an oven method to make the polenta and as a result it's almost completely hands-off. The hardest part of this plan is that I need my large pasta pot for three items (boiling macaroni, blanching broccolis and cooking up the chili).

Week of September 9
Sunday
Chicken rollatini with parmesan and swiss chard
Roasted potatoes & tomatoes
Lemon verbena shortbread with roasted figs and cantaloupe sorbet

Monday
Grilled sausage and broccoli blend over polenta

Tuesday
Dinner out

Wednesday
Chili
Pickled slaw

Thursday
Macaroni and cheese with swiss chard and cauliflower

Friday
Grilled hot dogs (I have found a good source for Pearl all-beef hot dogs, boy are they good)
Pickled slaw