A Man, A Plan, A Canal

Who has two thumbs, likes terrible puns, and has the love for history rhymes (and palindromes) only an English teacher could?
THIS GIRL!

The Man
Well, duh, it's The Husband.  Because he works four ten-hour days for his work week, there is always the possibility that ten-hour day will stretch into twelve or more, which generally means I use his absence as an excuse to not make anything for dinner except a stolen handful of HRH's Goldfish® crackers.  I justify it by telling myself I don't want to be in the kitchen and leave HRH to her own devices alone for that long.  Thus, I often go to bed less than thrilled with my mealtime decisions for the day.  Anyway, regardless of when The Husband comes home, I need to have something good in my belly, and he deserves the chance to be able to warm up something delicious and healthy.



The Plan
I actually made a meal plan for this week.  In true form, I wrote it out on A Legal Pad with A Blue Pen and posted it on the fridge.
Since it's the week before my first half marathon (EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!), I am trying to make sure I have a proper carb loading experience.  But I'm also not planning on any meat, except for one meal (more on that in a second).  I've really started to find that when I avoid meat before a race, I feel much lighter than when I forget that I have a 5K and hork down a rather large portion of Chino Bandido the night before.  But even more importantly than either of those points, I want to make sure we go through the veggies we get from our CSA so that I don't feel like I might as well just light my wallet on fire.
Since several of my blogging friends agree that The Internet is quite possibly the best way to keep a person honest since The Sacrament of Confession, I'm posting that menu not just on our overly-laden fridge door but also here.

• Monday - seared scallops with a mizuna-orange-fennel salad (from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express) - this is the only meal I have planned with meat in it, and I'm nervous because 1) I have a kind of fear of scallops and 2) I am terrified that I won't like the fennel, either (neither of us like licorice, so I am roasting it).  Talk about needing my Big Girl Panties.
• Tuesday - falafel with hummus and pita (falafel and hummus recipes from Sarah Matheny's Peas and Thank You)
• Wednesday - caldo verde (Portuguese kale-potato soup - I bookmarked a recipe online)
• Thursday - lentil "meatball" subs and roasted broccoli ("meatball" recipe from Peas and Thank You)
• Friday - spaghetti and (leftover) "meatballs" with spinach salad (and, to be honest, I'm sure I'll drown the salad in Peas and thank You's tahini lime dressing - it's quite possibly the most perfect salad dressing ever.

The Canal

OK, I'll be honest, I don't really have a very good tie-in, but I do run along the canal with Zooey.  It's great to keep away from the traffic (Zooey likes to bark at anything on wheels), and it's actually rather pretty, especially when we run past the llama rescue (in case you are looking for a llama, let me know - next time I run past it, I'll get the number).

Well, there we are.  If this good plan comes together, we will have used everything in our crisper except the radishes, the dill, and some of the parsley.  I think I'll probably end up drying the herbs, and I may add the radishes to tomorrow's dinner just in case the fennel terrifies me too much.  We'll just have to see how those Panties hold up.