A Menu For Warmer Days

plus, our first ever (!!!) Restaurant Dropout Cooking Competition 🎉

Hi, Hello, and HAPPY ONE MONTH of Restaurant Dropout!!!!

I want to thank each and every one of you for being here - I am so thrilled about this community that we’re building and am excited for all that’s to come. That said, stick around ‘til the end of this newsletter because we’re doing our very first Restaurant Dropout cooking competition (must be a paid sub to participate)… 👀

This week’s menu is a reflection of how excited I am for warmer weather - it’s colorful, bright, and screams warmer days are ahead (aka produce is starting to POP OFF).

This is also the first week I’ve put steak on the menu and as I mentioned in previous newsletters, steak gets put on the menu when the occasion calls for it - and the occasion calls for it. So let’s dive right into it, shall we?

Day 1: Soy-Ginger Salmon with Coconut Rice

Elements:

• Soy-Ginger Poaching Liquid

• Salmon

• Coconut Rice

• Sauteed Cabbage

• Green Onions

• Cilantro

Day 2: Herbed Buttermilk-Brined Chicken with Spring Barley

Elements:

• Herbed Buttermilk-Brined Chicken Breast

• Barley

• Kale

• Asparagus

• Lemon Chimichurri

• Olive Oil

Day 3: Blackened Shrimp Tacos with Elote Pico

Elements:

• Blackened Shrimp

• Elote Pico

• Cilantro-Lime Cabbage Slaw

+ side of Coconut Rice & Black Beans

Day 4: Southwest Salad with Cotija Chicken Cutlets

Elements:

• Greens Blend

• Elote Pico

• Black Beans

• Cilantro-Lime Barley

• Zesty Ranch

• Tortilla Strips

• Cotija Chicken Cutlets

Day 5: Chimichurri Steak Kebabs with Corn Barley

Elements:

• Steak

• Shallot

• Bell Pepper

• Asparagus

• Lemon Chimichurri

• Fire-Roasted Corn

• Barley

FAQS

I’ve had quite a few of you reach out with questions regarding the topic of serving sizes, so I figured I’d do a little serving size FAQ, before diving into the shopping list:

Q: How many people are these ingredients feeding?

A: 2 people! All ingredient amounts and recipes (in the paid portion) that I include are written for 2 people with a decent appetite.

Q: How should I multiply the ingredient quantities if I am serving 6 people?

A: It will vary depending on the specific ingredient, as well as the types of people you’re cooking for. For instance, if you have kids under 10 years old, they’re probably not eating as much food, so you probably don’t need to triple the amount of ingredients you buy.

At the end of the day, you know your family’s appetite more than I do, so there will probably be some trial and error to get it down to an exact science. Thankfully, I will be repeating ingredients, so by weeks 6-8, you’ll know exactly how much you need based on previous weeks.

In terms of specific ingredients, if you have 6 people, you should probably buy 6 individual salmon fillet portions (or 1 half of a salmon, then portion it yourself). Whereas something like asparagus, you’d probably be fine with only buying 2 bunches instead of 3.

Q: Will I have leftover ingredients?

A: I aim to have zero leftover ingredients by the end of the week! Everything listed will hopefully be used throughout the week, or like last week’s cabbage, will carry into the following week.

One of my personal goals this year was to have less food waste, so that’s what we’re working towards each week of doing this ingredient prep!

Now for our grocery list…

This week’s total cost was around ~$48, not taking into account the proteins and some ingredients I already had on hand, which included:

• Barley

• Eggs

• Panko

• Greek Yogurt

• Buttermilk

Lucky for you, you might ALSO have these ingredients on hand, since they were all used in the last couple of weeks and you likely had some remaining.

Alright, here’s the list!

Grocery List

43.5KB ∙ PDF file

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