Puzzles Lovers' Delight

Remember those logic games in the back of Yankee magazine? "Mr. Black does not live next door to Mr. Green.  The man with a pet skunk does not ride a bicycle to work.  Mr. Blue has only one neighbor, who takes public transportation.  Mr. White does not own a dog. Etc... " And you have to figure out who lives next door to whom, what kind of pet they have, and how they get to work? Well, that's kind of how my menu planning is going for tomorrow. 

My husband's new band mates are coming over for a rehearsal tomorrow. Now, normally, I don't really feed the band. They can have chips and beer. But these are new bandmates, who are making a two hour trek to our house for rehearsal. And one of them is female. I need to feed them, don't you think?

So I was thinking of making something that can be ready whenever everyone is ready to eat. I mean, they might play for two hours, then break for food. Or they may play straight through until evening. Or they may decide to eat when they get out of the car after their two-hour drive. So pot roast works! I can make an oven pot roast with garlic and onions and make oven roasted potatoes and carrots on the side. Everything stays warm in the oven until they are ready for grub. I can't eat the potatoes, but I can have pot roast and make some roasted zucchini as well for me. Right?

No, not right, because I just remembered the guitar player is a vegetarian. 

Okay. Start over. I can still make the pot roast, but instead of the potatoes and carrots, I'll make a vegetarian side dish that works with pot roast, and works as a main dish. How about grilled veggies with warm bulgur salad? Eggplant works as a main course layered with the bulgur and tomatoes and zucchini, and the bulgur will soak up the juices of the pot roast and make a nice bed for the meat. Yum. Except for one thing. I can't eat bulgur. It's a grain. So I'm back to just pot roast and zucchini for me.

Okay, how about a side dish I can eat, that the guitar player (we'll call him Dave) can eat as well? It will still act as a main course, but as a side dish for the rest of the band.  Ooh! Got it! Lentils layered with zucchini and tomatoes and baked like a lasagna with mozzarella on top. Yum, yum, double yum.  Imagine that with the juicy pot roast layered on top. Then I can just make a green salad as side.  Dave and I get a decent meal with lentils and cheesy deliciousness full of veggies and herbs. The other guys get pot roast layered over a lentil bake. And everyone gets a salad. 

What? The singer is a vegan? Oh. Okay.

Well, faux-lentil-lasagna will not be good without cheese. It won't be lasagna at all. And without a cheese topper, it will dry out if the band isn't ready to eat when it's done.So, how about a lentil salad with shallots, plum tomatoes and a vinaigrette as a main course? And two veggie sides.  (The vinaigrette will have to be on the side, because I can't have it.)

And I still have an entire drawer full of carrots and beets from my winter CSA shares from the farm. And two huge bowls of potatoes, which I can't eat and my kids won't eat. 

Enough with minimizing the dishes. Let's just making a little of everything so everybody's full and happy. We're starting over...Here's the menu. Stop me when you're full.

• Oven pot roast cooked with onions and garlic in a coffee-based brown sauce. 

• Lentil salad with vinaigrette on the side.

• Potatoes roasted in oil and herbs. 

• Carrot and beet gratin using vegetable broth and soy cheese.

• Zucchini and summer squash saute.  

• And just in case I don't feel like cooking on another day ( I can't imagine why), while the oven is on, I'll make a meatloaf stuffed with zucchini and spinach to save for another day. 

Oh, that's right. We're having chili tonight, better get started on that. I need run to the store to pick up some peppers.