Xuan's Way

Here is what we are eating this week.

Fresh off vacation, my kitchen needed a hard reset. Coming back to a busy schedule after time away, I craved meals that felt vibrant, crisp, and endlessly fresh—without spending hours tied to the stove. Taking full advantage of peak late-summer produce (sweet corn, juicy ripe tomatoes, charred peppers, and fresh fruits), this week’s menu balances two showstopping weekend feasts with ultra-quick, comfort-focused weeknight pivots.

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The Pantry Check

Before heading to the grocery store, take a quick peek at my Flavor Foundations: Tools, Spices & Staples guide. It covers the core flavor drivers—like white miso, rice vinegars, toasted sesame oil, and whole spices—that power this week’s menu. Keeping these staples stocked means your weekly shopping list stays lean, fast, and focused strictly on fresh produce and quality proteins.

Your Shopping List

Have you checked your staples?

Weekly Swap Guide

When a swap works naturally without sacrificing flavor, it’s listed below. On the rare occasion that a dish relies on specific culinary chemistry and absolutely cannot be altered without losing its soul, it will carry our ✦ Purist Dish tag.

(Good news: Everything this week is fully adaptable!)

• Gluten-Free (GF)
  • Saturday: Swap wheat soy sauce for low-sodium Tamari or Coconut Aminos in the Dan Dan noodles, salmon poke marinade, and miso dressing.
  • Sunday & Monday: Use a sturdy GF sourdough or sandwich bread for the grilled cheese, and a GF 1-to-1 baking flour for the 2-ingredient yogurt flatbreads.
  • Friday (The Stuffing Pivot): Gluten-free bread often turns to mush when soaked in savory pan juices. Instead of forcing a bad bread swap in the roast chicken stuffing, pivot entirely: skip the bread and swap in cubed apples. They roast beautifully in the pork fat and create a sweet-and-savory, naturally grain-free stuffing that feels incredibly intentional. You can also use cubed cooked potatoes instead. Use turkey instead of pork if you are pork-free. Turkey will be more flavourful than chicken and will hold better as a stuffing.
• Dairy-Free (DF)
  • Monday: Use plain, unsweetened coconut or cashew yogurt for both the spiced chicken marinade and the flatbread dough or just lemon and olive oil with the spices for the chicken.
  • Sunday & Wednesday: Reach for a high-melt plant-based cheddar or mozzarella for the grilled cheese and breakfast tortillas. (If you aren’t strictly dairy-free and just avoiding lactose, a simple grating of aged Parmigiano is perfect for the tortillas).
• Low-FODMAP (No Garlic / No Onion)
  • Saturday: Swap the minced garlic in the Dan Dan noodle sauce for garlic-infused oil, and use green scallion tops only (skip the white bulbs) across both the noodles and the Asian salad dressing.
  • Monday: Replace raw garlic with garlic-infused olive oil when blending the Baba Ganoush, and rely on smoked paprika, cumin, and lemon zest for the chicken marinade.
  • Note that the infused oil provides a very good flavor swap but if you cannot use it, you can do without garlic in these recipes.