65 Shades of Dinner

Why yes, I am blatantly riffing off the name of an actual cookbook, brought to my actual Wine Club meeting by actual Wine Club member Amy S., and which was given to her by her actual mother, making the rest of our actual mothers look like nuns.

You know you want to click to look inside. Go to amazon, I can wait.

Aside - Yes, I know the cookbook is a riff off a ridiculously horrifically written book that I cannot believe my book club made me suffer through, biting my lip all the way out of agony for the English language and the lost art of editing. Note that Wine Club is capitalized in this post, but book club is not. They need to earn that status back.

Anyhoo, this post is for my friend Nicky, who happens to be in said book club and felt as I did about said ridiculous "book", and who upon hearing that I had an estimated 80 or so dinner menus in our regular family dinner rotation was in awe. And shock. And slight disbelief, although she is too nice to ever accuse me of out-and-out lying. So rather than making such an accusation outright, she kindly challenged me to write them all down for her,"So I can add some things to the mix." Since I love her,  and since I have already influenced her to make a weekly menu board like mine in her own kitchen so that her family gets off her back on Sunday evenings about what they will be eating for dinner on Wednesday like mine finally has done, I agreed to do so, and in doing so I hope to break her out of the 10-15 recycled dishes cycle she is currently in, and with which all of us who grew up in the 70s are well familiar. Say it with me now - "Tacos, spaghetti, hamburgers, chicken, mac and cheese - REPEAT!" Provided I did not have to also list the various sides I make along with the main dishes, I was good with it all. Actually I could use some help in the side dish department, but don't tell Nicky that. She thinks I am superhuman cook extraordinaire and I want her to continue to worship me.

Here we go, a list of everything I make more than twice a year, which turns out to be only 65, but in all fairness items with an ** could actually count as more than one as they are prepared slightly differently each time, which would bring me closer to my estimate.

1. Salmon with mustard wine sauce
2. Salmon with red wine sauce
3. Baked salmon with onions and capers
4. Grilled salmon with various marinades**
5. Grilled salmon on salad with feta and olives
6. Grilled Tuna
7. Grilled Shrimp kabobs
8. Shrimp and linguine with goat cheese and lemon sauce
9. Baked cod with various items to flavor it (thyme, lemon, shallots, wine)**
10. Mussels - basic steamed
11. Mussels - insanely good recipe involving coconut milk and spices
12. Lobster
13. Crab cakes
14. Fish tacos
15. Tilapia - baked with various flavoring items as cod**
16. Chicken parm
17. Whole chicken in the crockpot
18. Chicken roll ups with sundried tomatoes and pest
19. Grilled chicken with various marinades**
20. Chicken caesar salad
21. Cobb salad with chicken
22. Chicken fajitas
23. Chicken wraps (more veggie, less guac)
24. Chicken stir fry
25. Cheater fully cooked rotisserie chicken from any grocery store
26. Orange sesame chicken
27. Swiss Chicken Almondine casserole
28. Chicken salad over lettuce
29. Buffalo Chicken salad
30. Chicken cacciatore
31. Pork tenderloin grilled with various marinades**
32. Pork roast
33. Clean out the pantry crockpot ribs
34. Baby back ribs
35. Steak tornados with bacon and herbs
36. Pacific rim grilled flank steak
37. Steak fajitas
38. Steak wraps
39. Steak tips with various marinades**
40. Steak over green salad
41. Beef strogonoff
42. Hamburger strogonoff
43. Beef enchiladas in crockpot
44. Spaghetti and meatballs
45. Lasagna
46. Cheeseburger pie
47. Tacos
48. BBQ beef
49. Homemade pizza/Meat pie
50. Antipasto salad 
51. Macaroni and Cheese - homemade
52. Pasta Carbonara
53. Linguine Alfredo (only when husband not home as the meatlessness might kill him)
54. Baked Potato Soup
55. French Onion Soup
56. Tomato Basil Soup
57. Tortellini Soup
58. Chicken Noodle soup
59. Chicken Tortilla soup
60. Clam Chowder - Manhattan
61. Clam Chowder - New England
62. Cream of Asparagus S0up
63. Various quiches
64. Chili
65. Beef Stew

Feel free to print and keep as a reference for your own menu planning. You know you want to.

I also enjoy making a couple of new recipes each month. Some end up in the rotation, some are thrown out onto the street and eaten by neighborhood dogs. Tonight I am trying "Bobby Flay chicken", as you can see by the below photo of my handy dandy dry erase menu board. You can also see that Paige, my resident spelling non-genius, enjoys helping plan the menu.

So close on the word "chicken." And yet so far. So very, very far.

I'll let you know if it makes the cut.