The Best Laid Plans

Dear Readers, I really, really do try to be consistent about my posting. My goal is always to post at least twice each week, and three times if I'm feeling especially verbose. But little things like work, sweet boys, DH, errands, household chores, socializing, and exercising always seem to get in the way of sitting down and writing about food.

This week is a classic example of the days getting away from me. For those of you eagerly following my menu planning, here's what the week was supposed to look like:
Sunday: Chicken stew with biscuits
Monday: Leftovers (chicken stew is even better the next day!)
Tuesday: Pan fried flounder, green beans, rice (or, in cold weather, chili on rice or baked potatoes)
Wednesday: Spinach lasagna
Thursday: Steaks, salad, potatoes (with hot dogs for the kiddos)
Friday: Pizza night

Here's what it really looked like:
Sunday: I left for Atlanta to work there for a couple days this week. DH fed the kids cereal for dinner.
Monday: Still in Atlanta. DH fed the kids bagels for dinner.
Tuesday: Walk in the door from Atlanta just in time for dinner. Thank goodness for my mother, who stopped by earlier in the day and put a casserole in the oven for us.
Wednesday: No one has gone to the grocery store for a week. The kids had waffles for dinner. DH had a peanut butter sandwich. I abandoned them all again and ate dinner with my book club.
Thursday: Today. Still no grocery store run. Thankfully we got a farmbox delivery today, so we at least have a few vegetables in the house and a nice fresh loaf of ciabatta bread. I hear a frittata calling our names...
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I am SO behind on posting recipes, and I have some good ones lined up! This one is from our friend (and one of my husband's partners) Jennifer. It is FABULOUS. She served this at a dinner party a few weeks ago with rice, roasted asparagus, and salad. So amazingly yummy.

Shrimp Dejonghe (a family favorite for at least 40 years now)

2 cups white bread crumbs
2-4 cloves garlic, minced (I use 4)
1/3 cup chopped parsley with extra set aside for garnish
1 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Dash cayenne pepper
2/3 cup cooking sherry
7-8 cups shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails off (approximately 4 lbs)

Boil shrimp until just done (Editorial note: that should be no more than 3 minutes at the most) and spread on the bottom of a greased baking dish. Set aside.

Melt butter. Add garlic, parsley, paprika, cayenne pepper, and sherry. Mix well. Add breadcrumbs to the liquid mixture at the last minute. Toss gently with hands (do not stir with spoon because it will make the mixture too "pasty.") Spread this mixture on top of the boiled shrimp. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley toward the end of the baking.

I usually do all of the chopping by hand just for the joy of preparing and cooking food but it can be easily and quickly done with the aid of a food processor if you're in a hurry. Just do the breadcrumbs first to keep them dry as long as possible.

Enjoy!

Week 4, Out the Door

Um, hello? Where did this week go? Here it is Thursday night, and I swear just a second ago it was last week. Labor day weekend totally threw me off, and this week has flown by (perhaps I should pretend I have another vacation coming up in a few weeks - that made time come to a screeching halt).

That means this post is too late to do anyone any good if you were hoping for dinner ideas for this week. Sorry. But now you've got a menu planned just in time for next week!

Here's what we did this week:

Sunday (a Labor day cookout, but since all of this can be made ahead of time, this is actually a great weeknight menu plan): Ribs, potato salad (since my sister-in-law and her family were visiting I made her mother's famous potato salad, but if it were a regular week I'd just do baked potatoes), green salad, watermelon

Monday: Shrimp stir fry (this was a new recipe for me and we loved it, I'll post it before too long)

Tuesday: I don't know what we did Tuesday. It was a blur. Seriously, I can't remember any details of that day, even though it was just 2 days ago. I'd be more concerned if only I could remember to be. My menu plan says we were supposed to have chicken burritos but I do feel fairly confident we didn't.

Wednesday: Lasagna, salad (another one that's easy to make ahead of time and just pop in the oven) (I have lots of lasagna recipes. One of our very favorite foods. I'll post these soon, as well. Wow, I'm feeling behind.)

Thursday: More lasagna. It's a big recipe. More salad.

Friday: Pizza night!
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I am well behind on my posting. Stay tuned for more...

Week 3

Why oh why did I not do this years ago? I was always a Meal Planning Skeptic. Yes, if I was very organized, I would plan a week's worth of meals. And sometimes I would plan a week's worth, and Atlanta Mom would plan a week, and then we would swap so we each got 2 weeks out of the bargain. But whenever I heard someone say "I plan out a month's worth of meals at a time," my snarky little brain would immediately think, "I don't even know what I'll be doing in a month, so why would I know what I'm eating?"

Well, news flash. In a month, or six weeks, or whenever, I think I can assume with confidence that I'll be doing pretty much the same thing I'm doing now: Working. Driving carpool. Juggling soccer practice and sight words. Planning a small dinner party. Trying to fit in some exercise. Grabbing the occasional tennis game or lunch out. Meeting with clients.

In other words, my life is not quite as spontaneous and varied as I might lead myself to believe. Which brings me back to meal planning. I'm telling you, dear readers, having these meals planned out is a weight lifted off my Sunday afternoon shoulders. And here's the bonus: we are somehow saving about $100 per week, or more. Part of it is easy to understand - we have cut out the "I have nothing in the house let's just eat out" $50 meal. A smidgen more baffling is that for the past 3 weeks, my grocery bill is $50 - $75 less than usual. I don't know why this is, since I'm cooking more, but I'm guessing that I am throwing fewer random extraneous items in the cart in the hopes they'll magically transform themselves into dinner (impulse buying at the grocery store is admittedly a weakness of mine, so perhaps I've found a way to combat it?).

All that said, I'm sure you are now on pins and needles for this week's menu:

Monday: Pork chops and rice, salad
Tuesday: Roasted chicken leg quarters, mac and cheese, roasted vegetables
Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, salad
Thursday: Roasted shrimp, pesto pasta, whatever veggies come in our farmbox
Friday: Pizza

Coming up next: Shrimp Pizza!

Week 2

We are now into week 2 of my six weeks of menus. All I have to say is - wow. What a nice thing to have already done with absolutely no thinking required. Every once in a while I'll remember a family favorite that didn't make the six week plan because I just didn't think of it while sitting there on the plane, so I'm jotting those down. If I'm lucky I'll get a 7th week, and stretch the time between repeats even a bit more.

Here is this week's plan:

Monday: Greek lasagna, Greek salad (Last time I made the lasagna I froze half of it, so this is already in the freezer waiting for me. Just need to make the salad - perfect for a Monday).
Tuesday: Grilled shrimp, baguette, and salad or tomato soup and grilled cheese (this week it will be grilled shrimp, of course!)
Wednesday: Apricot pork chops and green beans
Thursday: Chicken and black bean quesadillas, with whatever veggies come with our farmbox delivery. (If I have to drop a planned meal, which often happens as unexpected things pop up during the week, this is the meal that we'll skip)
Friday: Pizza night!

Happy eating!

Barefoot in Bermuda

We have just returned from the most fabulous, relaxing, rejuvenating vacation ever. 5 days in Bermuda to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, and we did nothing but move from restaurant to beach to restaurant to pool to restaurant to beach...you get the idea. I read 10 books, slept 9 hours each night, and occasionally stepped foot in the fitness center. I came home 5 pounds heavier physically but 20 pounds lighter mentally.

On the plane coming home I was a bit bored with my one remaining book, so I did something astounding. I planned a full 6 weeks worth of meals. It was surprisingly simple. Each week I really only need 4 dinner ideas, because we have pizza every Friday night, at least one night each week DH works and the boys and I eat sandwiches or leftovers, and we generally eat out at least one night. So I made a list of 6 each of my family's favorite chicken dinners, beef/pork dinners, pasta dinners, seafood dinners, and soup dinners (the seafood and soups will be alternatives for each other - right now when it's still hot there's nothing better than a light fish dinner, but when cold weather comes soup will hit the spot). Then using those lists I started making menus for each week, playing with the combinations so we had a good balance. (Ahh, the luxury of not flying with small children who require entertainment). And voila! Suddenly I had 6 weeks planned, and there's no reason at the end of the 6 weeks we can't just start right over at the beginning. If I am insanely organized, I can even double some of the recipes when I make them the first time, freeze them, and have them ready to go when their turn circles back around.

Here's this week's menu:

1) Atlanta Mom's Chick Pea Pasta, salad
2) Fish tacos with avocado slices (recipe to follow later!) OR butternut squash soup and cheese toast (this week we are doing the fish tacos, but on the next round we'll likely do the soup)
3) Cheeseburgers with oven fries, corn, salad
4) Roasted chicken, macaroni and cheese, peas.

Friday night pizza will be my favorite pesto and chicken pizza using the leftover chicken for the adults, and the usual pepperoni for the kiddos.

Happy eating!

Back in the Saddle Again

WHEW. I have returned to the Land of the Living, and not a minute too soon. I woke up Saturday morning feeling human again, for the first time in 2 weeks, and we had a great holiday weekend. I can always tell how much fun we've had over the weekend by the state of our laundry room...right now it is strewn with beach towels, bathing suits, pitiful American flags, empty sunscreen bottles, and 2 coolers that need to be cleaned out. Must have been fun.

Now, though, back to reality. I am attempting to regain the upper hand with the laundry, mail, errands, exercise, and, most importantly, food. There's something about being sick that makes me abandon all attempts at feeding myself and my family balanced meals. We've pretty much been living on sandwiches, chips, and honey nut cheerios, with the occasional Chinese or pizza take out thrown in. Ugh. Not satisfying and not particularly healthy. My shorts are protesting today.

So here's the meal plan for the week, to get us back on track.

Tuesday: Rotisserie chicken, tortellini salad
Wednesday: Honey/soy glazed roasted salmon, brown rice, peas (this is a new salmon recipe for us, I'll post it if it turns out good)
Thursday: Spaghetti (whole wheat!) and meatballs, salad
Friday: Pizza night, and we're loading up on the veggies

Hope you all had a good Independence Day!

Crazy Is As Crazy Does

Has it really been almost a week since I last posted? Where does the time go? (Around here, I think it gets sucked into the black hole called Children That Don't Nap, Work Projects That Are More Complicated Than Anticipated, and Dirty Laundry That Clones Itself)
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We've just finished the third week of January (which means it is time for you people to get your Christmas decorations packed away. Yes Dear Neighbors, I am talking to you. If I can do it, anyone can, but particularly people whose children no longer live at home).

Our paper reports that this is the week most people give up on their resolutions. I've been doing well with my resolution to eat and serve more vegetables, but we're hitting serious test time. I have 4 trips in the next 4 weeks, and will be lucky to just keep my head above water, let along think, plan, and execute well-balanced and nutritious meals. This first week is a warm up, so here's my plan:

Sunday: Prepare lasagna, put in refrigerator for later in the week. Make Sunday dinner of roasted chicken over vegetables (fresh delivery from Cha Bella, if you're in Savannah you really need to be taking advantage of this...). Leftover chicken saved for later.
Monday: 5pm teleconference AND family dinner with my parents. Solution? Take-out sushi over at my parents' house. (BTW, who plans a 5pm mandatory teleconference? People without little children, that's who. Thank goodness for mute buttons.)
Tuesday: Salad and lasagna (score! it's already made!)
Wednesday: DH working this evening. Kiddos and I will have chicken and black bean quesadillas with the leftover chicken. (Oops. Just realized that doesn't include a vegetable, and a grocery store trip is not in the cards between now and then. I'll add apples for all of us and call it Good Enough)
Thursday: All day client meeting out of town for me; if everything goes absolutely perfectly, my flight will land (with me on it) at 5:30pm. Leftover lasagna for dinner, and Thursday is vegetable delivery day, so we'll have whatever comes with it. If there's no lasagna left, always a possibility if I eat the rest of it for lunch, we'll just do omlettes and vegetables.
Friday: Homemade pizza with more fresh vegetables from whatever is delivered on Thursday, LARGE glass of wine.

Have a good week!

Gone with the Wind

Let me tell you, this cold weather is going to be the end of me. I am, as anyone who has the misfortune to come within 10 feet of me in the winter time knows, a Cold Weather Wimp. Or perhaps more accurately, a Cold Weather Wimp And Whiner. The cold is bad enough, but combined with the Arctic wind we've been having, it's about to do me in. If there is a sudden dearth of blog posts, it's because I froze to death.
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For those of you joining me in my Quest for More Vegetables, here's a great menu. Cozy and hearty enough for a cold day, but not too heavy like winter casseroles can sometimes be.

Ribs (Here's my usual recipe; for a fast weeknight meal in the spring or summer or fall when it's warm enough to grill outside, make these on a Sunday and eat them on Monday. If it's too cold outside to even light the damn grill, nothing wrong with grabbing some already roasted for you at Fresh Market!)
Cucumber and tomato salad (sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes, tossed with your favorite vinaigrette and a little fresh dill)
Butternut squash soup (I pulled the last of it out of the freezer for tonight's dinner)

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A non-food related comment: if the Tar Heels don't PULL IT TOGETHER it is going to be a really long basketball season. Arg!

A Menu for You

First, a request: I am in search of a really good banana bread recipe. I have one that is perfectly fine, and we all eat way too much of it, but it's not a wow-this-is-the-best-ever recipe. If you have one, please post it! Note: those recipes that include coconut, walnuts, or raisins need not apply. We go through bananas like crazy around here, but at least once each week I don't time the supply quite right, and I have 2 or 3 overripe ones that could be put to better use.

No recipes to share tonight (Because I am sitting on the couch. Which is here. And my recipe book is on the shelf. Which is there. And do you think I have the energy, after a weekend of parenting two crazy boys, to move from here to there and back to here? No.) Instead, I'm posting this week's menus, recipes to follow later in the week!

Monday: Pot roast. Yes, it's still too damn hot outside for this recipe. But I have all the ingredients, it gets me two nights worth of meals, it tends to itself while we are running around like the overscheduled maniacs we are, and we all love it.
Tuesday: Pan fried flounder, peas, rice.
Wednesday: DH working, leftover pot roast for the rest of us.
Thursday: Baked tortellini. And some sort of vegetable. If inspiration hits by then.
Friday: Homemade pizza.

Happy eating!