weekend review: thyme three ways

Fresh herbs can be expensive, so sometimes I plan my weekend meals so they all use similar herb profiles. This weekend, I bought a package of fresh organic local thyme and chose my recipes carefully. Thyme in the asparagus on Friday, thyme in the gratin on Saturday, and thyme in the chicken on Sunday. But, no thyme in the granola - that would be weird.

Figure 1. Friday night's dinner: salmon paprika (one of my standing favorites) served alongside black rice with cashews, and lemon-thyme asparagus.

 Figure 2. Out of the oven: tomato, squash, and red pepper gratin. Made with Gruyere cheese (also in the cordon bleu!), thyme, quinoa, and fresh summer vegetables.

Figure 3. Saturday night's dinner: tomato, squash, and red pepper gratin with an arugula salad with cashews, golden raisins, and this homemade lemon vinaigrette. 

Figure 4. Saturday afternoon baking: healthy peanut butter honey granola.

I've now made three delicious variations on this (my new favorite granola):

1) using All-Bran, brown rice crispies, and no protein powder

2) using All-Bran, Cheerios, protein powder, and almond butter instead of peanut butter

3) using All-Bran, puffed wheat, protein powder, and peanut butter

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: chicken cordon bleu (delicious!), wild rice (Near East), and sauteed spinach with shallots and red pepper flakes.