>Assistant: I can’t believe you’re making an entire show out of meal planning. This is not dramatic or funny.
Director: If TLC can make a half hour episode of Kate Gosselin grocery shopping, we can make something out of meal planning.

First step: Inventory. Thawed a whole chicken Saturday night using the dying coals of the grill so it’ll taste smoky. Red peppers roasted on the grill Saturday as well; we made good use of the grill time. Sweet corn (among other goodies) from the farmers’ market, tomatoes from the garden, and the everpresent early autumn zucchini. Using those items as starting points, here goes.

Assistant: Do people really plan an entire week? I’m being devil’s advocate here to help make things interesting, understand. Where’s the video here? The grill? The dying or dead coals?
Director: Whatever. Knock yourself out. Go ahead. Make my day.

Monday: Rotisserie chicken, sweet corn, banana bread, salad (including cherry tomatoes, of course). This is a meal full of planned overs. Chuck works late on Mondays, so it’s just Amigo and me eating supper at home. There will be lots of chicken left over and I’ll make chicken stock with the carcass. See Wednesday for more.

Tuesday: stuffed meatloaf. Ground beef and ground turkey, with all the additions of my usual meatloaf, but in two layers with roasted red peppers squashed in between. Cook it up in the oven as usual and serve with…hidden zucchini orzo and a vegetable or maybe baked apples (farmers’ market, of course).
Wednesday: here comes the reference to Monday. Chicken soup in the crockpot! Leftover corn, a few other veggies (did somebody say zucchini?), and maybe egg noodles. Mmm.

Director: did you plan this soup all along?
Me: Sort of. I have a longer meeting after school, Grandma will be here with Amigo, so an easy supper is in order. She’ll add noodles as needed when she gets here. I’ll be home by 5, I think, and I’ll make grilled cheese or something simple very simple to go with the soup.

Director: Okay, what’s next?
Me: No idea. I usually just plan a few days, not the whole week. I don’t have a meeting on Thursday, so I’ll actually have time to cook. Maybe I’ll grill something.
Assistant: The grill needs cleaning.
Me: Then again, maybe not.