I have several things to talk about tonight, but first I want to tell you that Eric Clapton’s unplugged version of “Layla” from the Clapton Chronicles album is on right now, and it pretty much rocks my socks off. One of my all-time favorites, for sure.
And now it is Seal singing “Crazy.” Thank you, Pandora!
The second thing I want to share with you is my plan for dinner this week. I realize that since my last paycheck is 12 days away, I need to start cooking at home more so that we can cut back on our food budget. Over the weekend, I went through a bunch of old issues of Cooking Light, tore out all the pages with recipes that I’d like to try, and recycled the rest. I am kind of surprised at how thick my stack of “keepers” is! I found several delicious-sounding recipes for entrees, appetizers, desserts, AND – the part I’m probably most excited about – breads. I think I’m going to try baking my own this fall. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Anyway, back to this week’s dinners. With my new stack of recipes to try, I came up with a menu for dinners this week. I already have most of the ingredients on-hand! Tonight, we had a dish that’s as ancient as, well, Rome: cacio e pepe. It’s basically spaghetti noodles, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. It was so simple, and SO good. The best part, aside from the flavor, was the fact that it was done in about 12 minutes – pretty much the amount of time it took to cook the pasta, grind the pepper, and toss the noodles with the cheese. I served it with a simple salad: baby spinach, strawberries, chopped pecans, and poppyseed dressing.
Tomorrow night, we’re having chicken with leeks in a creamy white wine sauce, and risotto on the side. Can’t wait!
Okay, so the last thing I want to discuss is what I alluded to in the title of this post. During our date last night, Ben and I – but mostly Ben – came up with a plan for this fall. We’ll watch Monday Night Football every week (remember, this was his idea), and I’ll cook a new dish to try while we watch the game. I took it a step further and decided the meal should be representative of the city of one of the teams playing. Ben decided it should be the home team’s city. In the event there are two MNF games, we will be basing our cuisine on the home team from the first game. Ben also decided we should invite people over each week to eat food and watch with us. We’ll document the evening(s) with photos of the food and our company, and I’m going to be required to write a blurb for the blog to share it with the world.
The first game is Baltimore at the New York Jets on Monday, September 13. The food will have something to do with New York….
So, how ’bout it? Who’s in? Which week would you like to come over? (You can view the full football schedule here.)
The Seifipour Family 
First, I Clapton. How did he never make our office playlist?
Second, Kyle and I are in for football (and Dylan.) I am not personally a fan of the football, but I like to eat! 🙂
Third, I am glad you guys had a date night!
Sounds like an awesome challange!! I could go for some deep dish pizza on the 13th 😉
Cacio e pepe is my very favorite. I actually just had it on Friday. It’s one of my favorite carb loading pasta dishes before a long run. Like you said, it’s fast and delicious!
Your MNF idea sounds great! The people that come over for dinner and football are going to be lucky! What will you do for Denver? Denver Omelette? Rocky Mountain Oysters ( hope not)! Can’t wait to read the blog!
I am not sure what we’ll do for Denver…I may be back to soliciting ideas again!
I hate that I live so far away, but this is awesome!
Maybe you’ll be here on a Monday night! You never know….
Can you fly me there? We would be there in heartbeat. Rusty was gracious enough to let me watch Cake Boss rather than finish watching the Jets/Giants preseason game. There will be lots of football at our house also:)