Dining In, Dining Out

I am in love with the food section of the New York Times. Otherwise known as "Dining In, Dining Out," I have yet to find any other newspaper food section that compares.  All too many of them read like a press release (Chicago Sun Times, I am looking at you).

My love affair with the Times food section has been going on for a long time. When we first  moved to the midwest, back in 1997, the full food section wasn't printed (we'd get a shortened version). My sweet, OCD dad  saved it for me every week, and would mail me out about 12 at a time.

We now get the full section in all of its glory, and I get a thrill every Wednesday morning when I step out my front door and see that infamous blue bag.

Lately, the section has been better than ever. Last week featured an amazing article by Leslie Kaufman about how a working mom can feed her family great meals every night of the week. I plan to try out her program in the very near future and blog it.  (And I hope that Mamacita does the same.)

This week, Mark Bittman (he's brilliant, isn't he?) has a fabulous article on 101  summer meals that can be ready in 10 minutes or less. I think I want to incorporate at least two of these a week for the rest of the summer. Kaufman's article requires the cook to prepare simple meals two nights each week, so this will all work out perfectly.

Does anyone else have any brilliant ideas for getting through the work week well fed? (We've been terrible lately - lots of takeout and the kids are constantly eating Ikea meatballs dipped in ketchup - so embarrassing).