Week One: Mediterranean Herbs

The Week’s Dinners

• Mediterranean Chimichurri — make this first. It’s made once and shared across several of the week’s dinners.
• Chimichurri Chicken Thighs with Roasted Bell Peppers — sheet-pan dinner, mostly oven time, easy cleanup.
• Flank Steak with Grilled Zucchini & Chimichurri — charcoal-grilled, no stovetop, easy cleanup.
• French Country Herbed Chicken — bone-in thighs, portobello mushrooms, white wine & cream.
• White Bean & Avocado Table — herbed white beans, avocado, garlic compound butter, build-your-own.
• Pork with Apples & Onions — pictured above. Seared chops, caramelized apples, cream & mustard pan sauce.

The Desserts

• Chocolate Mousse with Crème Anglaise — a silky dark chocolate mousse paired with a poured vanilla custard.
• Blackberry Parfaits — honey yogurt, fresh blackberries, crunchy granola — build at the table.
• Apple Galette — rustic, ready-made or homemade crust, done in under an hour.

This week we kick off our Mediterranean Herbs recipe group with five dinner recipes and three desserts, as promised. Everything is flexible, and everything is adaptable—even the progressive web app the plan is written in. Download the “app” to your home screen on your phone and carry it with you to the grocery store to view groceries; check items off the list as you shop. You can download it to your tablet as well, and click completed steps as you cook. Our aim is truly to help you save money with tailored recipes and shopping lists, look ahead (hence the name, Sunday Forward) to the week, and enjoy the process of cooking in your home while feeling well prepared to do so.

About Mediterranean herbs: they are a delight. They are easily available at most supermarkets nowadays. Thyme, rosemary, oregano, and parsley are the basic four we’ve added to our shopping list this week. With lemons, fresh bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and Granny Smith apples, as well as loads of garlic and some onion thrown in here and there, the week will be truly aromatic around your kitchen. Breathe in the scents and awaken the part of you that wants to sail away to Sicily and lounge in some sunny resort for a week… maybe a month. If only!

Until then, enjoy that bottle of vino the night you cook your herbed chicken, and cocoon yourself in the lemon, honey, and tart blackberry flavors when you make your parfaits. Enjoy every drop of our Mediterranean version of chimichurri and every bit of that garlic compound butter on a few loaves of French bread and those savory puff pastries. If there’s anything we left off the list, it’s probably extra bread and wine. ;)