Matt gave me a 52 week meal planner by The Small Object for Christmas. (It does not appear to be in stock on the website). I am so excited to use it because a) I think it will hold me accountable to cook the food that I buy, creating less waste and b) I will be able to take a comprehensive look at what we ate during the year. I'm very excited about this last point, because I have been thinking how great it would be to keep track of what we ate for a year, then to use that record as a guide to what we should grow, preserve or buy in bulk for the following year. Also, it's a great way to keep track of recipes that were a success, and recipes that were one hit wonders.
I've already been cooking up many dishes this week. Here is what my first entry looks like:
Monday:
Dinner: Wheat pizza topped with olive oil, arugula, prosciutto and Monte Vernon cheese.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Baked Farmgirl Fare's Cranberry Christmas Scones. I froze half for breakfast next week!
Dinner: Burgers with Baked Fries. If you try the baked fries, follow the comments and only set your oven to 400 F. Last night I coated mine in celery seeds, turmeric and garlic salt.
Wednesday:
Lunch: Turkey sandwich
Dinner: Ordered pizza - but for a good cause. My supervisor at worked got locked out of her office containing her keys, her phone, her husband's keys and their money. Their two children were at the studio, so I ordered pizza to provide dinner for every one. Luckily the locksmith arrived and saved the day, just as everyone's bellies were full.
Currently making Maple Butternut Squash Soup and Cheddar and Rosemary Scones, tweaked from the recipe here.
Thursday
Lunch: Butternut Squash Soup and Scones!
Dinner: Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Arugula and Pistachios via Martha
Friday:
Dinner: Same pizza as Monday
Saturday:
Dinner: Swiss Chard Risotto with Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
That's all I have so far, and I am excited! I think that this weeks menu is the perfect balance of old favorite and new goodies to try!
What about you, dear readers? Do you have any tried and true dinner stand-bys? Any new recipes you've been eyeing lately? Tell me all about it in the comments. Cheers!
8 comments:
if you haven't already, you MUST check out www.smittenkitchen.com. every recipe i try from her is great, so now when i have an ingredient i want to use or know what i want to make generally, i just search the archives. right now i'm making pulled brisket from her site (in a slow cooker overnight) and i can hardly wait.
Soup. I am such a cheater, but I adore soup because it is (usually) quick, cheap, and yummy all at once. My favs are Zuppa Toscana (an Olive Garden copy), Tomato/Basil, Veggie/Beef, and (not a soup) Gramma's Goulash.
I also like quesadillas, fajitas, and steak salad.
Unfortunately most of my recipes are "dash of this, handful of that" type of things... but I can send you "recipes" if you like. : )
YES!! One of the things I think I did right is that from the beginning of our living together I made a shopping list for the whole week (I hate shopping more than once a week). Of course this means you have to plan all your meals and since I did this from the get-go, I couldn't live without it doing it now. I'm so exicted to see you doing this because I think it's so rewarding - you should post your menus at the end of each week! (i'll do it if you will ;) )
as for stand by meals, ours is risotto. 'what to make you don't know what to make' food. sounds lofty but it's just glorifed rice and then you throw whatever you've got into it. it's completly satisfying, seems luxurious, plus, it only takes 20 minutes.
p.s. thanks for the warm welcome back :)
Oh I hear you! I was only out of work for six months and I'm finding getting back into the cooking groove an utter nightmare.
As for recipes, we are existing off soups at the moment! The fav du jour is butternut squash and red pepper, yum!
WOW, good luck with all that! Sounds like a great plan.
p.s. I hope you don't mind (or find it toooo creepy), but I may have borrowed one of your photo's for the inspiration to a new illo. *gulp*
Note the word "inspiration" not "depiction", that gets me out of having to capture any kind of resemblance.
I find that really helpful too...although now that fresh produce is really not as available I find my self scarfing up anything green that is available at the grower's market.
those cranberry scones sound really yummy...I have a recipe for scones also on my site and this is reminding me that I need to archive my recipes so they can be easily found.
here is one for chicken, aspargus, cheese pie (of course asparagus isn't in season now but you could substitute spinach or some other more seasonable green if you can find one;)
http://www.sowabisabi.com/2009/06/chicken-asparagus-cheese-pie.html
Love the Small Object's work! I got a couple new cookbooks for the holidays and am trying them out now. One site I turn to often is 101cookbooks.com The food is healthy and yummy.
I think this is good if conscience or wallet can sustain, and this habit can result in some positivity!
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