I was chatting with a friend recently about the frustrations of planning meals for our families. Once the carefree days of summer pass and school and activities impose so many demands, planning dinners for the week can help to reduce the chaos. Planning ahead sounds so good, but it’s hard to do–it usually only lasts a couple days at my house! However, I found a great website that I thought you might find helpful. The weekly menu planner on Epicurious is a good place to get ideas and maybe even a couple recipes. Epicurious also had some great back to school ideas, check it out. Enjoy.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/weeklydinnerplanners

If you haven’t seen today’s New York Times, ask a friend for their copy of the food section from July 18th or click on:  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?incamp=article_popular.  Mark Bittman offers up 101 ideas for quick, simple summer meals.  You’ll be glad to have this list handy as the temperatures climb and your patience for cooking wears out.  I haven’t gone through all of them, but I did see a couple that I’ll be trying (for example, #82 looks good: tuna, olives, tomatoes, mint, lemon zest and red pepper flakes with pasta  or #41 raita on broiled fish).  It’s not that these are fabulous recipes, it’s just that when you feel desperate to make SOMETHING, all you really need are a few good suggestions to get you started.

Another place I always find ideas for things to make is the food and cooking blog:  http://www.elise.com/recipes/  (Simply Recipes).  This blog has received very good reviews and several awards.  I have found a broad range of creative recipes here and all have been reliable and reproducible.  Many are vegetarian, too.

No meal kits next week, so try a few of the NYT suggestions and let us know if you find some good ones!

Have a great week.