I can always count on the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living for simple yet delicious recipes that my whole family will love. So when it comes to meal planning tools, I knew I had to try "Grocery Bag" meal plans by Everyday Food.

In each month of Everyday Food and online at www.marthastewart.com, there is a feature called Grocery Bag. Grocery Bag is a set of five weeknight menus with a ready to print or tear grocery list. The Grocery Bag meal plan promises one trip to the grocery store at the start of the week resulting in a week's worth of dinners. I've seen meal plans like this before, but never have I followed one so faithfully as I done had last week. I decided I would follow the meal plan exactly as it appeared, using the shopping list and recipes to help me "sail through dinner from Monday all the way to Friday with our editors' time-tested strategies for ease." So was it smooth sailing?

Is there anything better than BBQ chicken on the grill in the summer? The more napkins the better, right? Gotta love leftover cold chicken for a picnic the next day (or breakfast in some cases - ahem). There's usually a bottle of store-bought BBQ sauce in our house for emergencies. But I recently decided to test two very different BBQ chicken recipes from two of my favorite chefs: David Chang and Martha Stewart.

So join me in my fantasy "East meets West" BBQ Chicken Throwdown between David Chang of Momofuku fame and Martha Stewart, domestic goddess. Who will prevail? Read on to find out.




Spicy Korean BBQ Chicken
Adapted from David Chang, Men's Health

INGREDIENTS:
8 skinless chicken thighs
1 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil, plus more for cooking
1/2 cup apple juice
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Japanese shiro (white) miso
1 tsp minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped scallions

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag. In a medium bowl, mix together the sriracha, oil, apple juice, honey, miso, ginger, garlic, and salt. Add 1 cup of water and mix thoroughly; mix in the onion and scallions.


Pour half the marinade mixture into the plastic bag with the chicken, seal, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a day. Refrigerate the remaining marinade in a small covered saucepan.

2. When you're ready to eat, remove the chicken from the fridge. Place the saucepan with the reserved marinade on medium heat and simmer until the mixture is thickened and saucelike, about 20 minutes.

3. Brush a grill or grill pan with grapeseed oil and set the heat to medium high. When the grill is ready, cook the thighs until the undersides have charred grill marks and release easily from the grill, about 8 minutes.

4. Flip the thighs and cook until a meat thermometer inserted in the middle reads 165°F, about 8-10 minutes more. Let them rest for 2 to 3 minutes, and serve with white rice and grilled vegetables like scallions, mushrooms, or bok choy. Makes 4 servings

The Good: Unique combination of flavors - sweet, spicy, earthy, salty - makes this stand out. Easy to whip up.

The Bad: Went light on the sirarcha sauce since I wanted to make sure this was not too spicy for the boys. The end result was good if not a little tame. Will dial up the heat next time.

Grade: A-. This was a big hit at our backyard BBQ. Serve with grilled scallions and this is a knockout dish.

Brown-Sugar BBQ Chicken
Adapted from Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS:

The Good: Essentially there are only five ingredients to this dish. So simple yet so delicious.

The Bad: Even with the oiled grates, left such a mess on the grill.

Grade: A. A HUGE hit with all my boys. And even better the next day. Never buying store-bought sauce again.

Here is a typical weeknight evening at our house around 5pm:

umdaddy: what's for dinner tonight?

me (nose buried in my computer): Huh? Ummm... there was a new recipe I wanted to try.

umdaddy (looking at the recipe): Did you take out [protein] from the freezer yet? And it says it needs to cook for [many] hours?! (Sigh). I guess I'll whip something up.

me (sheepishly): Thanks.

I try to menu plan and start cooking around 5pm most nights. Really I do. Except lately I've been consumed with work, so much that I barely have time to take a pee. That's when Martha has often come to my rescue with her Dinner Tonight from Everyday Food daily emails.



If you haven't signed up for these daily morsels delivered to your inbox, do it. The recipes are usually simple to make using everyday ingredients (duh - it's called Everyday Food). And the food photography alone will inspire you to plan ahead and put together a dish rather than pop a frozen pizza in the oven (not that there is anything wrong with that... Trader Joe's is my BFF).

Here is a recipe we tried recently that was delicious and pretty easy to make. But I'd be lying to you if I said I did the actual cooking. Filed under Quick Pasta Recipes, this was one of those typical 5pm "what's for dinner" nights. At least I remembered to make sure there was chicken defrosted.



Chicken, Edamame, and Noodle Stir Fry
Click here for the recipe

The Good: Takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. Great flavors and feels healthy.

The Bad: We used bone-in chicken thighs instead of chicken breast. So there was some added prep time to prep the chicken.

Grade: A-. The boys loved this. I loved this. Great weeknight dinner.

I'm always looking for new and delicious recipes loaded with veggies that my kids will devour. So when I came across this recipe from the kitchens of Martha, I had to give it a try. My boys love baby bok choy and will sometimes eat a carrot or two. And who doesn't love apples? This makes a great summer side dish to a BBQ or picnic. And much lighter than your traditional mayo-laden cole slaw.

Baby Bok Choy, Carrot and Apple Slaw
Inspired by Everyday Food, Great Food Fast

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound baby bok choy (4 to 6 heads)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 peeled apple, cut into matchsticks
2 large shredded carrots
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
Coarse salt and ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut the baby bok choy in half lengthwise; rinse under cold water to remove grit. Cut crosswise into thin strips; place in a large colander, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Toss to coat. Top with a plate that fits inside colander; weight with a heavy object (such as a skillet or canned goods). Set aside in sink to drain. 

2. In a large bowl, mix apple, carrots, lemon juice, sesame oil, and peeled fresh ginger. Add bok choy; season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Toss.  

The Good: My oldest ate all of his. The youngest had no interest in it. Quick and easy to prepare.

The Bad: If you don't drain the bok choy completely, the dressing can get watered down.


Grade: B+. This will be a regular side dish in our house since we often will have these ingredients on hand.

I'm crazy for tomatoes. Especially in the height of the summer when they are at their best. I really love them. Roasted, broiled, sun-dried, stewed, diced, crushed, whole, you name it. I don't think I would like Tomatino however. Held on the last Wednesday in August in Bunol Spain, Tomatino Festival is the largest tomato fight in the world. But I think I would thoroughly enjoy the paella eating contest beforehand!
Back to edible tomatoes. I hadn't tried grilled tomatoes so was eager to try the Grilled Tomato Linguine recipe from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living. I've made Todd English's Roasted Tomato Sauce from The Figs Table cookbook in the past and loved it. So I'm thinking this was going to be a winner. It looked simple and since it was a hot day, was looking forward to cooking outdoors.


Grilled Tomato Linguine
Adapted from Everyday Food

INGREDIENTS:
3 lbs plum tomatoes, cored and halved lengthwise
5 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme or 1 Tsp dried
2 Tbs chopped fresh basil (optional)
1 head of garlic, halved
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 lb linguine
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat grill to high. In a bowl, toss the tomatoes with 3 Tbs of olive oil and thyme; season generously with salt and pepper.


2. Starting with cut sides down, grill the tomatoes and garlic until soft and charred, 8-12 minutes per side.


3. Return tomatoes to the bowl. Once cooled, remove 3-4 garlic cloves and add to tomatoes. Cut tomatoes and garlic into coarse pieces with kitchen shears.

4. Meanwhile, cook the linguine in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente according to the package instructions. Drain; return to pot.

5. Add the remaining 2 Tbs olive oil, the Parmesan, basil and grilled tomatoes. Divide among bowls and serve immediately with more grated cheese.

The Good: Super easy and good summer pasta dish alternative. The kids cleaned their plates.

The Bad: The boys were not fans of the char, or "dust" as my son calls it, in their pasta. Even with the roasted garlic, it was lacking some flavor.

Grade: C. It lacked the richness of oven-roasted tomatoes. Could be due to mediocre tomatoes. Might try again with native, vine-ripened tomatoes.