School starts next week! That means that we are spending this week doing whatever we need to do to be prepared. It also means Paul gets lunch every day because of meetings. Which means I'm grateful for the extra padding in our food budget.

Paul has a formal this week that I've been invited to. But I have no child care. I've decided to invite another mom in the same predicament to the mall for dinner and indoor playtime.

I'm posting this in lieu of a Menu Plan for this week because I'm still waffling on the menu. We're expecting visitors, and I have been negotiating menus with Paul, but even this morning, I was changing my mind. Anyway, I just can't wait to share this recipe.

When I was working full time, we'd spend $5 a week at Costco for the Rosemary Olive Oil Bread. I'd have all kinds of sandwiches with it. Well, I don't have the slightest idea why I didn't figure it out before, but last week when Paul trimmed up the rosemary bush, I decided to try my hand at a rosemary bread recipe.

My menu plan for Monday night required me to feed 20 for a church function. The only stipulation when serving is that it needs to be vegan-friendly because of allergies of some of the participants. I prepared the soup a day in advance because I didn't expect much time between work and the serving time. I was able to purchase the bread, lettuce, and cucumbers across the street and next door to my office, respectively.

If you're planning on going out and taking advantage of the BOGO for Toufayan Pita Bread Pockets at Publix this week, keep this in mind. The Oat Bran kind of pocket has 1 gram more fiber and at least 5 calories less per serving than the Multigrain or Whole Wheat kinds. Stunned? I was. Just one more way reading the label (occasionally) pays off!

Here is the spinach pesto I made to serve on pizza with fresh tomatoes instead of a marinara sauce. The rosemary bread at $5 for two loaves from Costco makes the pizza easy and tasty because it adds lots of flavor leaving only a need for a little salt and pepper on the tomatoes.

Weekly Menu Planning

• Vegetarian Hot Dogs with Cole Slaw and Baked Beans
• Vegetarian Turkey Fajitas
• Vegetarian Hamburgers with Oven Baked Fries
• Vegetarian Skallops on Pasta with almond garlic recipe sauce from Gourmet magazine
• Black-eyed Peas, Cole Slaw and Corn Bread

Le Tango Du Chat

6, rue Saint Severin
75005 Paris
Tel: 01 43 54 69 69

The following is a copy of an email I sent to our most devoted house guest, Garrett Nudd, for which our "Gachett Suite" is named. (Those not in the know may not know how much fun I get out of calling Garrett this name. It originally came from Paul and Garrett's barber who has a hard time saying Garrett because of the language barrier. However, she's great at cutting hair, and that's most important.) Paul was reading over my shoulder and said I wrote a complete blog post to Garrett and was leaving out important information other readers may glean, too.

Don't let anyone ever tell you sandwiches are only for lunch and are not elegant. Sprouts and avocados can be quite elegant because they are "adult tastes". Sprouts are stringy and often odd to kids. Kids may eat guacamole, but without all the additional flavors, avocados can taste rough. When at peak season, with red tomatoes and fancy bread, such a meal can be very good. And let's face it, counselors on weight loss and proper digestion would recommend lighter compared to heavier dinners because people often get home late and generally have larger entree meals for lunch.