Good "first week" :)

I had a very enjoyable experience meal planning.  Though it was a bit humorous. 

I woke up Monday morning - as planned - and pulled out all my supplies: cookbooks, computer, paper and pen.  I then...stared at it all.  Where to start?  I remembered the list of categories I'd come up with (i.e. mexican, pizza, sandwiches, etc.) and that helped.  First memo to self: Use the week to browse and start marking things to try - so come Monday I'll have a list to work with.

I came up with: Monday - Spaghetti Squash and Black Bean Tacos (from Smitten Kitchen); Tuesday - Margherita pizza (also from SK); Wednesday - at work, so leftovers for Mike; Thursday - Grilled Shrimp; Friday - Grilled Chicken and Lemon Basil Pasta.  Though I knew four meals was a bit ambitious - I figured something would flow into the weekend.  I also slipped in another SK recipe - Apricot Breakfast Crisp! Mmm. 

As I set off to shop - I realized I left my wallet (and whole purse!) down at work.  Fortunately, for me, Mike had happened to leave his wallet at home.  So I was not put off track!

I had a few things on my list I can only get at Trader Joe's (why is that - only certain stores have the very specific things you want?!), so I went there.  It was probably my most enjoyable TJ experience ever.  Coming with my list, I wasn't distracted by all the fun stuff they're always putting out.  But I realized that their produce is WAY cheaper than Lowe's Foods where I usually go.  For example - at Lowe's, Organic Gala apples are $2.79 a pound. At TJ's, 2 pounds is $2.49!  They didn't have spaghetti squash, so I went with butternut squash.  A huge one for only $1.99!  Mike loves when I go out and "save" him money.  And who can argue with a grocery store that provides free coffee and a lovely sample every time of day :)

I must say - it has been an easier week thus far knowing that meals are planned out and I have most of the ingredients I need.  Wish I'd started this sooner!

Meal Planning Basics

I decided January would be my "figure out how to do meal planning" month.  I have gotten recipes organized, been reading through food blogs, but haven't done much on meal planning. 

I stumbled upon a website today that seems like pure gold to me.  Surprisingly - its as simple as setting aside TIME to think through your week.  Each week.  Admittedly its been a hard six months trying to figure out what my routine will be for work.  But I've managed to cook and grocery shop, so clearly I have time to plan meals. 

I am looking forward to putting this into practice.  She suggests categorizing meals.  I came up with the following we like: burgers, soup and sandwiches, pizza, chicken, Mexican (tacos, enchiladas, burritos), Pasta, Vegetarian, Seafood, leftovers and eating out.  I'd also add Ethnic food - particularly Thai and Indian.  Obviously its hard to do all of these in one week - but perhaps a two week rotation?  

I've also found these gems on Pinterest.  This is a good visual of planning out what the meal is and what the required ingredients are.  And this is a really neat tool I saw last summer while visiting at one of Mike's co-worker's home.  She had gone to the extra work of putting the recipes on the back.  It was very impressive!

Again - this all takes time.  And today has been the perfect day to sit in a chair and watch West Wing while hearing the snow and ice fall around our house.  Like I said - January was my target month.  And I am just now getting to this - but I haven't sat much since we entered 2013.

As I mention a goal for the month, I'll also share that my hope for this year is to build some foundations.  Learn to make some basics and take one month to focus one thing.  I think it takes a few weeks to get the hang of something and hard to do too much at once.  I haven't decided on February - or the rest of the year - but its nice to have a start with meal planning. 

I think the best time for me to take this on is Monday mornings.  Usually this is my day to be at home and get to the grocery store and do some laundry.  At least it was before Christmastime hit.  So here's to getting back to that routine - y'all can keep me accountable!

Welcome to my kitchen!

I think its fun to picture a food blogger's 'home'.  The other night I went through and cleaned out our cabinets and the pantry - as these tend to get a little unruly from time to time.  So I went ahead and took some shots of our kitchen.  My husband did much to redesign the kitchen space a couple years ago, and I am still so thankful for the beautiful improvements.  As you can see, he replaced the appliances with stainless steel.  

We had granite countertops put in along with a subway tile style backsplash.  To finish off, last spring we had tile put in to replace the linoleum floor.  It is a wonderful place to work and all the counter space makes it so easy to have multiple 'projects' going at one time!

I keep the spices to the right of our oven so they're on hand.  A quick trip to Penzey's last weekend re-inspired a desire to keep lots of fun salts, cinnamons, and spices on hand.

The stainless jars have breadcrumbs, couscous, oats, and flour respectively.  Sometimes I mix things in and out - but its fun to have stuff out and reachable.

What's a kitchen without some fruit on hand? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenge Extended, Challenge Accepted: Chicken dinner that 'isn't sweet'

We are trying to eat less sugar.  Which you probably couldn't tell with the previous post about tomato soup (lots of sugar, some natural) and cookies with ice cream (lots of sugar, all added!).  So in trying to come up with a good dinner, I did lots of scanning.  It seems there's a plethora of poultry recipes - until you need one.  But in going through one of the many blogs I've been following, I found a great idea that I adapted.  It had a sweeter flavor with the orange, but didn't put any sugar in.  Our dinner was adapted from this recipe - 30 Minute Lemon Brown Sugar Chicken.

I took two larger chicken breasts - cut them into pieces, and then pounded thinner.  Into a mixture of flour, paprika and black pepper, I coated the chicken liberally. 

Comfort foods galore: Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup, Cookies!

Welcome to my parents!  A pineapple - traditional symbol of hospitality.  In reality, a yummy treat for me to munch on.  With all the ruffage I eat, I hear pineapple helps digestion without the gas... 

As they were arriving, and it was a cold day, I wanted to have something warm and comforting to share together.  What else - tomato soup and grilled cheese.  I'm still a novice when it comes to blogging + photography + real time cooking.  So I'm finding its hard to keep up with the pictures.  (Really, we are so hungry we eat and then there's nothing to take pictures of!)

New Christmas toys!

For Christmas I bought myself a few new goodies to use in the kitchen.  They were on sale at Tar-get.  I wanted a cast-iron griddle pan - but couldn't decide between a bigger square one that was flat on one side to make pancakes, or something like this.  Round and with griddle marks for chicken, fish, etc. that we tend to have. 

Alas, finding something on those end caps at Target with the bright orange "buy me now I'm marked way down" tags always trumps my initial plans. 

To the far right behind my cute make-up bag, there's a little 'Giada' goodie box.  It included a stainless steel set of an ice cream scoop, veggie peeler, pizza cutter, can opener, and silicone whisk - all for about $12!  Score!

 I don't remember what this beauty cost, but it was good. 

You can also see a packaged serrated knife - also Giada, also stainless steel (not on sale - but I did have a coupon and an extra 5% coupon on top of the Target RedCard 5% discount - so almost free...).  Anyways, the one I had was getting very dull.  I'd read its possible to sharpen this kind of knife - inlet by inlet - but it sounded super tedious.  I just want to be able to cut bread without fearing for my life (read: the safety of my hands.
Speaking of... my hands have never taken such a beating as they have since I started cooking more regularly.  Dry skin leads to more cracks, with an occasional slip of a dull knife. Owey.   

Finally - a nod to our efforts to be more green and reduce plastic - a new, large bamboo cutting board.  w00t!


All this to say, never go to Target with an "Oh I'm just browsing" mentality.  It always lands you...with lots of stuff you 'need'. :)

New Years' Treats - Apps, Dinner, and Dessert

For New Years, we were apprehensive to again dive into party food mode.  However, you gotta live it up a little!

We attempted to eat healthily - enjoying some snacks, a dinner, and dessert.  I have a three-ring binder full of recipes - not really in great order - and I picked out things that sounded fun to try.

And I think they turned out well - we had fun so that's all that matters.  And we have good leftovers!