April 26, 2025

WEEKLY MENU 04.27.25

Weekly Menu 04.27.25: The Kentucky Derby Dinner Lineup You’ll Want to Bet On

I’m not exactly racing during the Weekly Menu 04.27.25, but I am showing up hungry and fabulous for every meal, especially when Derby Day hits.

The Kentucky Derby might be “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” but let’s be honest: most of us are here for the food, drinks, and floppy hats. The first Saturday in May brings more than just fast horses—it brings some seriously good eating.

According to KentuckyDerby.com, approximately 125,000 Mint Juleps are served during Derby weekend alone. That calls for more than 10,000 bottles of Kentucky Bourbon (!!!), 2250 pounds of fresh mint, and 475,000 pounds of ice. That’s some professional drinking, right there.

The Hot Brown Sandwich is basically a love letter from Louisville, loaded with turkey, bacon, and Mornay sauce like it’s doing you a favor.

And don’t even try to show up without the pimiento cheese spread—it’s not a party, it’s a tradition. Oh, and we’re closing out with bourbon pecan blondies because Derby Pie has a cousin… and she’s got main character energy.

The race itself? It’s a 1.25-mile sprint with 20 horses that lasts just over two minutes. The winning horse gets draped with a blanket of roses (hence the phrase “Running for the Roses”). But the party lasts all weekend. Horses run fast, drinks run cold, and if you’re doing it right, your kitchen smells like garlic, bacon, and toasted pecans by sundown.

Weekly Menu 04.27.25

What else is for eats on the Weekly Menu 04.27.25? Sunday night we’re having a pretty ritzy casserole – it’s called Chicken Parm with Gravy, but it doesn’t have red “gravy”. It’s made with cream of chicken soup and plenty of Parmesan cheese though. It’s a new-to-us recipe that looks good enough to, well, eat.

We’ve got ice-cream leftovers for days with all the birthdays in the last few weeks, so we’re making a dessert that my mom used to make for the same reason: Ice Cream Pie. The glory part about it is that it doesn’t matter what flavor of ice cream you have a partial container of in the freezer – they all go together into the pie.

We’ve got baked chili-cheese dogs on Monday. These are super simple. Hot dogs are placed in buns and put into a casserole dish, then smothered in chili (from a can) and shredded cheese. They get baked (hence the name), and everyone grabs a couple. I’ve been jonesing for summer (and the hot dogs that go with it), so this is a welcome family meal.

We’ve got the crockpot coming out to play on Wednesday, and another family favorite hits the menu with Italian Sloppy Joes. They’re basically meat sauce on a piece of garlic toast, smothered with mozzarella. How bad can THAT be?

I always serve Italian Sloppy Joes with a grade school cafeteria throwback: Garlic Elbows. After the elbow mac is cooked and drained, I douse it with olive oil and garlic powder. I always salt the cooking water well, and that’s really important here too. The breath that follows is horrendous, but so worth it.