“Beef and Barley Stew with Mushrooms” from Simply Recipes. “Cauliflower with Mustard-Lemon Butter” from Epicurious.

Dinner tonight was a Real Dinner. Stew with melty-soft chunks of beef and roasted cauliflower so wonderful that I’m glad I had already packed away the rest of the dish, otherwise I might have gone back for seconds, thirds and possibly eaten the entire head.

I kept both recipes mostly the same, although I only casually measured the ingredients for the stew. It’s likely that I inadvertently increased all of the vegetables. In addition to turnip, I also added a fennel bulb as suggested by one of the recipe’s commenters. Really enjoyed this additional. I didn’t use sour cream.

Unfortunately, Real Dinners have become a little few and far between recently. I’ve lately been feeling a little uninspired when it comes to eating and then there’s this matter of going back to Real College: balancing 36-hour work weeks during the day with nine credits at night. Thankfully, this stew has not only fed me tonight but has also put a total of five additional meals into the fridge and freezer.

“Quick Beef Stew with Mushrooms and White Beans Recipe” from Simply Recipes. Eaten with brown rice.

This is good for a weeknight dinner and I would certainly make it again. However, it’s no substitute for a long, slow stew.

“Chard and White Bean Stew” from Smitten Kitchen with whole wheat ciabatta and two eggs.

“Braised Turkey Legs” from Simply Recipes. Rainbow carrots with shallots and tarragon. Leftover “Braised Rainbow Chard with Cranberries” from French Revolution.

Ribollita soup with grilled cheese.

I had completely different plans for dinner tonight, although I did too have plans to make this soup today and freeze it. But when I ran out of containers to put soup in (and I didn’t really feel like making dinner), it soon became apparent that it would be a soup and sandwich night.

Wild sockeye salmon with “Summer Vegetables and Soybean Miso In A Wok” from Hiroko Shimbo’s The Japanese Kitchen over rice.

An off-the-cuff lo mein-style dish with chicken, snow peas and carrot.

“Kamaboko and Mitsuba Cooked With Eggs” from Tokiko Suzuki’s Japanese Homestyle Cooking.

Continuing the slightly-under-the-weather and still-more-work-to-do trends from Monday night, I made a very quick dinner tonight. I had been wanting to try Suzuki’s kamaboko (Japanese fish paste) and egg dish for awhile and tonight was a good night for it. It comes together in minutes and requires minimal preparation. I got distracted and let my eggs cook a little longer than they should have but still: a good meal.

Something crunchy and pickled would have really put dinner tonight over the edge.

Leftover “Root Vegetables with Chicken” from Mihoko Yoshino’s Japanese Home Style Cooking over rice.

“Root Vegetables with Chicken” from Mihoko Yoshino’s Japanese Home Style Cooking. Rice. Miso soup with yellow miso, bunashimeji mushrooms and mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley).

The root vegetables are satoimo (taro), carrot, burdock root and lotus root. The twisted noodle-like shapes are konnyaku slices.

If only it would be cold outside.