Come Sit At Our Table

I'm back from the mountain trip with the girlfriends, and we had a great time!  Recap post coming soon, but today I will share what we ate over the past week at our home.  Pull up a chair to our table, won't you?

Monday

Last Monday, I cooked a meal that Ian raved over.  For years now I've been loving a recipe from the Whole Foods website circa 2004/2005 called Italian Caper Chicken (I've searched all over to find if it still lives online with no success).  It's similar to Chicken Piccata -- minus lemon, plus lots of capers.  I served this with Mom's recipe for Painless Spinach (thawed frozen chopped spinach with 1 T. butter, garlic, lemon juice, s&p) and halved fresh okra from the farmer's market that I coated lightly in olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and cumin.  Just roast that at 400* until crispy, and even a non-okra fan will fall in love with them.  Ian said they were like "okra fries."

Tuesday

Tuesday I have my late workout class, so I prepared the salmon patties ahead of time and stuck them in the fridge (similar recipe).  I also prepared my homemade pepperjack squash casserole 90% of the way so that all I had to do when I got home was add shredded cheese to the top and broil it.  The salmon patties just needed to be pan-sauteed.  I also put together salads that contained romaine lettuce, avocado, pine nuts, blue cheese, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Ian's a "sauce guy" ... so at the last minute, I whipped together a tasty topping for our salmon patties from spicy deli mustard mixed with some mayonnaise.

Wednesday

Ian had Wing Night with the guys; I grabbed a cobb salad (my favorite) from Dean & Deluca after hitting the gym.

Thursday

This was our last meal at home together before I left for the mountains.  We had grilled andouille chicken sausage, grilled balsamic squash, grilled avocados with hot sauce and cheese (recipe here), and cheesy roasted onions.

I can't describe how amazing the grilled avocados were.  We used mozzarella cheese and Texas Pete.  I didn't have a lime on hand so I omitted that step; however, next time we'll give that a go.  I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, and it is one I can't wait to make again.  This week.

Ya'll, you eat it with a spoon. 

With a spoon.

Hungry yet?

Sunday

After returning home from the weekend trip, I had all intentions of going out to the store to get dinner items.  Not so much.  Ian and I were working on a little painting project, and then we got caught into the downward spiral that is the Sunday showing of Office Space on TV. 

It ended up being one of those "hmmmm, what's already in my fridge/freezer/pantry" nights.

We had buttermilk ranch grilled chicken tenders (I bought the rub from Williams Sonoma and mixed it with breadcrumbs), fries from the freezer (I mixed the bag of Alexia sweet potato fries with some Checkers frozen fries), and baked beans.

I also made us fried okra as an appetizer.  :)  We weren't healthy yesterday, but we ate well!

I am linking up with Rachel for her Menu Monday series.