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Uh, go get dried chickpeas from the bulk aisle if you can. I sent my favorite falafel recipe to one of my favorite food bloggers, so I'm sharing her blog on that in the link. After I sent that to her, I started deep frying them instead, and I have to say it makes a difference if you don't mind eating fried food every once and a while.

Dried beans that are soaked are 'crunchier' than canned ones, which are cooked, so you get a different texture once you FP them up. I prefer tzatziki to straight up tahini for saucing, but do what you like!

autumn veggie burgers and another batch of the squash and potato gratin.

It's 9:30 and I'm still at work so I'm sad to report I hit up fast food. But let me tell you about last night's dinner, because it was awesome! I mandolined up a big zucchini from my garden and some new potatoes for some squash gratin. I also had two chicken thighs that didn't fit in the pan for the weekend's arroz con pollo, so I cooked them up with a honey-lemon sauce and browned them under the broiler. It was great!!!

My bf's 9 year old golden retriever/yellow lab mix needed to lose weight too after he turned into a fatty dog. The vet recommended 1 can of drained, unsalted greenbeans every night with his 1 c of low calorie food (total feeding=once daily). It keeps him nice and svelt and he loooooves his green beans. I would imagine you'd need to use less veggies on a smaller breed, but ask your vet!

I had something like that happen once the other day. I just started clicking every "x" once I saw it since I recognized what was happening pretty fast. Hasn't happened since though.

I am making apple crisp for a bbq later this afternoon.

Since mac & cheese is kind of heavy, you might want to go with fresh greens - like a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. If you want to add man-stomach-friendly protein, you could go with chicken wings (grilled or oven roasted). And serve it family style - if he thinks of mac & cheese as a main dish, he can bulid his plate that way.

I usually do turkey meatballs with about a pound of ground turkey, one egg, 1/2-1 c breadcrumbs (I go by texture mostly), half an onion or some shallot very finely minced, and lots and lots of dried herbs for flavor, plus a hit or two of olive oil if I need a little moisture. Usually served with vodka sauce and zucchini over spaghetti ... a staple in our recipe rotation.

I grew up on venison, though I haven't had it since I lived with my parents so I don't have any game-specific recipes.

I get wayyyyy too hungry if I don't eat breakfast. I got an office job a few months after finishing school, and I've needed three meals a day ever since.

I'm with @jinx35 - SO excited to see a mole recipe that doesn't make me want to just close the cookbook (or browser tab).

Burritos and enchiladas are my favorite freezer food. Beans and/or veggies and rice, eggs+beans+salsa+cheese for burritos. Black bean enchiladas are nice and filling (and healthy), I like to do a chile verde tomatillo sauce on them. How does your kidlet feet about quinoa? High protein grains make a great base for a lunch. Something like this might be a little too pasta-salad-y, but I think it would fit your bill of healthy veg lunch fare. Also, don't discount a piecemeal meal: whole grain crackers, a nice cheese, nuts and dried fruit, plus some yogurt or something like that for when you don't really want to have to prepare a lot of food.

First comment should do the trick. I've actually had good luck with one incident where my bf's cousin insisted that we needed to tip the chef a shot of tequila. I thought he was nuts, but the guy loved it, took us out to drink with him and some of the other cooks afterwards (it was the end of the night when we did this), and totally befriended my bf to the point of going out for drinks after close more often than not and having a server bring out *his* bottle of tequila from the back office to share with us the one evening (my bf traveled to the city he was in much more often than I had the pleasure to).

I have no idea if that is a raging fluke or if sending a drink back to the chef makes you a shoe in for at least a quick chat over a drink, but it seemed to work for us :P