Food update

We did very well following my meal plans.  Three of the nights we didn't follow it but we didn't go out to eat either. We ended up being invited to friends homes these past two Saturdays so we ate there instead.

However the plan ended last night. I haven't had time to come up with a new one...so we are going to Burger King tonight.

Grocery Shopping & Meal Planning

Okay so I am trying extremely hard to cut the grocery bill in 1/4 (at least) for 2011.  One way I read to do this (besides extreme couponing) is to try and only go to the store once a month.  As I am not one for drastic changes, we are going to try to only go once every two weeks.  In order to do this I came up with our meal schedule for the two weeks.
So here it is:
1/9  -- crock pot lasagna
1/10 -- chicken enchiladas
1/11 -- pork chop skillet (I've posted this recipe before)
1/12 -- chicken breasts with french pan sauce
1/13 -- crock pot chicken with black beans
1/14 -- leftovers
1/15 -- farfalle, peas and goat cheese
1/16 -- crock pot pork roast w/ apples, sage and rosemary
1/17 -- Date Night with hubby (kids will eat leftovers)
1/18 -- king ranch casserole
1/19 -- crock pot chicken tortilla soup
1/20 - ravioli lasagna bake
1/21 -- leftovers
1/22 -- my famous meatloaf (which is actually my friend Susan's recipe)
1/23 -- sesame chicken

So far, so good.  We have stuck with the plan but honestly we haven't left the house so we had no choice. I will keep you updated on how it goes.

Yummy Dinner

This is one of my go to recipes. We typically have the ingredients in the house. It is quick and easy.  Best of all, everyone LOVES it.  I got it from Family Circle magazine.

Farfalle with Peas and Goat Cheese



Here is what you need to make it:

8 oz farfalle pasta

1-1/2 cups of frozen peas, thawed (I normally leave this out b/c I am not a fan of peas)

1 large red pepper, seeded & cut into 1/4" strips

1 TB cornstarch

2 TB olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 ts dried oregano

1/8 ts red pepper flakes

1/2 cup white wine

1-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 ts salt

1 bunch chives, cut into 1/2" pcs.

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I always leave this out since I am allergic to nuts)

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

* Bring a medium size pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions, about 12 minutes, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Add peas and red pepper to pasta pot for last 2 minutes of cook time. Drain pasta mixture and set aside.

*Meanwhile, stir together cornstarch and 1 TB water; set aside. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Stir in wine and bring to a boil. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cornstarch mixture and cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in salt.

*Add pasta mixture to the skillet and stir together with sauce. Stir in chives, walnuts, and 1/4 cup of the goat cheese. Add pasta water by the tablespoonful if mixture appears dry. Sprinkle with remaining goat cheese. Serve immediately.

Like I said, we love this meal.  It is extremely easy. It is quick. It requires little to no planning. It is a perfect last minute meal.

Last night

Last night a friend and I made dinner for my husband. It is his birthday on Tuesday.  She loves to cook (like me), so we asked him his favorite dish and went with it. 

It wasn't actually that easy.  At first he responded with "what's yours?".  Then he picked mine. I had said lobster.  There really wasn't much of a chance that I was making lobster.  All week he pondered his favorite dish. On Wednesday night he decided to google the menu of Calhoun Corners.  It is a fancy restaurant in Clemson.  He said he had his favorite dish there. So be picked steak with a mushroom and prosciutto cognac sauce and banana cream pie.

So we had a starting point. We came up with the rest of the menu and went to work on figuring out how to make the sauce. 

The menu was:
Appetizers
Pumpkin dip with gingersnap crackers
Shrimp cocktail
Salad
Autumn Salad with lemon poppy seed dressing
Main Dish
NY Strip Steaks w/ mushroom and prosciutto brandy sauce
Roasted potatoes
Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower
Dessert
Banana Creme Pie
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Caramel sauce

I will include recipes for the meal later on this week. Suffice it to say, dinner was delicious!

Manic Monday

We all overslept.  And I forgot the Little Man's school bag at home. So I had to run to Publix to get him lunch.

I hosted playgroup at the house. This is always a source of terror and dread for me.

I spent all afternoon brainstorming/working on my new project.  I can't wait to share!

The hubby is out of town and so I invited a friend over for dinner. It is always nice to have another mom to share dinner with when he is gone.  And the kids love having the playdate. 

It is 7:19pm and the house is quiet. I guess that is my payment for the crazy day. I am about to have a glass of wine and indulge in some reality tv.

And maybe I will make a meal plan.  I haven't made one for the week yet.  I really need to go back to the monthly one. We'll see.

Meal Plan

Okay so I have done it. I looked through my handy cookbooks (I have a lot!), my binder of recipes (more on that later) and the internet and planned my meals for the next 4 weeks. Remember I said earlier I am doing leftovers on Thursdays and crock pot dinners Wednesdays. I figure if I publish it here it will keep me honest so here it goes:
14th: chicken enchiladas
15th: going out
16th: pasta w/ butter, parmesan cheese and broccoli
17th: pork chop skillet w/ stuffing
18th: teriyaki chicken and fried rice
19th: leftovers
20th: hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw
21st: steak, sweet potatoes, grilled veggies
22nd: out
23rd: chicken bruschetta
24th: tilipia w/ rice & beans
25th: BBQ pork, bakes potatoes
26th: leftovers
27th: breakfast for dinner
28th: out for dinner(no kids)
29th: picnic/sandwiches at fountains
30th: meatloaf
31st: ravioli & spinach bake
1st: chicken tortilla soup
2nd: leftovers
3rd: gravy w/ sausage and meatballs; pasta
4th: meatball subs
5th: fajitas
6th: Labor Day (probably a BBQ)
7th:tostada stacks with fajita leftovers
8th: buffalo chicken lasagna
9th: leftovers
10th: make your own pizza night
11th: grilled chicken sandwiches

Wow! I can't believe I did it. Let's see if I can stick with it. All this and I did 2 loads of laundry today. It is a miracle.  I think I am just being productive because I have a long overdue girls night tonight. I can not wait!!!

Dinner...the worst time of the day!

Well not dinner, actually. Just the planning, preparing and cooking.  Typically it is because I have done very little planning that the preparing and cooking is difficult.

The Little Guy had swim lessons this summer which interfered with dinner.  So there was no plan.  And if I am being honest barely even a dinner. Sandwiches, take out, hot dogs, pizza...it was awful. When we got back from NJ, I told the hubby I was going to get back on track.

I started slowly.  And according to him, I was doing it with lots of trial and error. I normally would have debated that point, but I did interchange garlic salt for powder in a recipe since I was out of garlic powder.  The recipe called for 1/3 of a cup so it was a pretty big error.  And we had to scrap the whole dinner for the night. 

I am happy to report that I've made dinner 5 nights in a row. And it was good dinners...grilled chicken and veggies, pasta in a shrimp marina sauce, chicken stroganoff, chicken Marsala and hot dogs with macaroni and cheese.  That last one wasn't great, but the Drama Queen requested it as her back to school dinner so I obliged.

As I was filling out my calendar for next week, it occurred to me how busy we are about to become.  The Drama Queen has dance once a week and the Little Guy will have soccer twice a week and karate twice a week.  So I decided Wednesdays for the school year are about to be crock pot nights. Check back on Thursday when I post what I made and how I did it. Thursdays are going to be leftover nights.  The kids have two activities at different times on Thursday and I think it will be easier just to heat up leftovers than all of us sit down to a big(ger) dinner.  Plus we are trying to get the kids to sleep by 7pm.  Okay so the point of all this is I am thinking about monthly meal planning.  Does anyone out there do this? Any tips for me? I know I will need all the help I can get.