My monthly menu

I bought a Once-A-Month cooking cook e-book, thinking I might give that a try. Turns out a RevGal doesn't really have a free weekend like they suggest you need to really do that well. (And frankly, the stuff they make in there is NOT waist-line friendly!)

So for all my five dollars, I got a nice calendar that I use to work out a monthly menu. I'm not strict. If I just absolutely don't want what I've got down for Tuesday this week, I'll swap it up for Thursday (or whatever) since I've probably already gotten all the ingredients for that week's meals.

I think I started doing this in April and so far I've found which nights need quick stuff (the nights I've pottery and the nights L has ballet) and which nights we can do homemade pizza on the grill (usually reserved for weekends).

I make sure that there are always chicken nuggets in reserve, but I find that this way, we hardly ever need them (though I do put them on the menu usually about once a month since the kids love them).

That said, I've been making what I call "chicken sticks" which are basically ground chicken meatballs made into sticks instead of balls. Not fried, I know what's in them, and the kids love them. I highly recommend taking your favorite meatball recipe and trying this. Kids love things they can dip.

eating for spring

Now that (I think) spring is actually here, I am getting my spring appetite back, meaning that I want lighter fare, less heat in the kitchen, and fewer calories on my waistline.

I still have to keep the kids favorites in the lineup, but mostly that spaghetti and chicken nuggets.

I've found a brand of sweet potato fries that the kids love and turns out the baby (she's 2 now!) loves roasted broccoli. Who'da thunk?

I can't wait to get the garden started again this year (see RevGal Gardens). I'm just waiting on DH to do some of the heavy work.

I think one of my go-to ideas this season will be hashes. All kinds of great combinations there.

But probably one of my all time favorites is this salad. It has all the flavors of spring, uses fresh spring veggies when you have them and is great with frozen when you don't. You can add other veggies too. I like a few artichoke hearts, maybe corn. Yum!

winter blahs

I actually did really well over the winter. Didn't gain a single pound over the holidays. Probably too busy to eat much. But now that January is here, I'm back to craving sugar. I think it happened right after we had the really big, kids were out of school snow. What did I do with a couple of cabin-fevered kids? Bake! oops.
It's not too bad, a couple pounds tops. Still... I just really wish I could have the willpower to get exercising. But after a solid 15 years or so of fighting my own lethargy, I'm pretty sure that there is no motivation in the world that can get me there long enough to make it a routine.

Cooking for the weather

RevGal is going to have to get serious about eating better again. It looks like I'm going to need to put myself back on the WW online plan or this could be a bad fall/winter season. It's the birthday cake--that's what always starts it. Then it's downhill from there for the rest of the cool/cold weather.
I've realized that my sweet-tooth is out of control. I crave sugar all the time. So I'm going to try and cut down on that a great deal as well.
So cooking is going to have to change a bit as well. I always like to cook with seasonal ingredients and we all know that when the weather starts to cool off we like to make more comfort/hearty foods.
I made a yummy dish last night out of the most recent Everyday Food mag.--the chicken spinach casserole. Ok, the half and half was what made it so good. Next time, I'll try it w/ff h&h and see if it's still as good. (I had to make my own h&h this time as I had none on hand.) But it was quick and easy. I added extra spinach. I liked it all, but I think the kids' favorite part was the bread cubes on top that got all nice and toasty in the over. Bonus: I made them with homemade bread that I had made on Saturday.

It'll Cure What Ails Ya

I was feeling a little under the weather about a week ago. I wanted chicken soup. But I didn't have any chicken or egg noodles in the house. What I did have was some leeks, some ginger and some orzo. I did manage to find a bag of homemade chicken broth in the freezer. So off the the kitchen I went. The first time I made it, I only made enough for myself. So here's how it went.

I chopped up a couple of smaller-sized leeks. I sautéed them in a couple Tbs. of butter for about 10 minutes until really nice and tender. I used my microplane to grate up about an inch of ginger--yeah, it's a lot, but I really wanted its healing properties. I added that to the leeks and sauteed it again for another minute or two. OMG, was it smelling good. At this point, I dumped in about 2 cups of the broth and brought it to a boil. I then added a handful of the orzo (maybe around 1/4 c., not sure how much one of my handfulls is exactly) I let that boil according to the package and then had one of the best-tasting soups I've ever put in my mouth. I love it when my made-up stuff turns out so good! It really did seem to perk me up, too!

I made it again when P was feeling a little under the weather, but I went ahead and made enough for several servings. Just used 3 much bigger leeks, 3 inches of ginger and probably 2 qts. broth and about a cup of orzo. I did also add garlic this time, I think 3-4 cloves was good, I might use a little more if, no, when, I do it again. Garlic having all those good anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties and all. P said that he really did feel better after eating it.

Stickin' to it

We've actually been pretty good about those new years... well, I don't quite want to call them resolutions, just really good suggestions. Far less meat. More veggies. I'm finding organic when it's feasible and affordable. I still don't like how much packaged food I seem to find myself picking up, but I am having a hard time breaking that particular habit--the 100 cal. packs are my nemesis. They are *great* for school lunches and quick snacks on the go. And getting two kids ready at bed time and then again for school in the a.m.--I am not at a place where I have time or energy to prepare labor-intensive snacks, etc., for school lunches, or my lunch for that matter. Do it en mass on the weekends, you say. Ha! I'm a pastor. I have one day weekends. That one day is devoted to quality time with my hubby and kiddos.

So, until I can find a way to add three or four extra hours to my day, or completely change my personality into that of a "J," well, I guess a few 100 cal. packs won't kill us.

New Year, New Eats

Now that I'm over that nasty stomach flu I got the first of the year, I'm ready to make the eating changes I'd resolved to (try to) make myself do in 2010. Less meat, less sugar, more veggies, more local. I'm so ready to plant my seeds and get back into our CSA.

I need to read less or something though. I can't seem to get away from conflicting info. Soy is great, soy is terrible. Whole grains are great, gluten is terrible. Which fats are good and which are bad, and how the hell am I supposed to remember which is which?! Ok, so I can't keep it all straight, so we're going back to some of the most simple rules. I'm finding that I'm falling back to Michael Pollan's rule first and foremost: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." That, I can handle.

P's been really into making stir-frys lately. Yum. Tonight's was broccoli, celery, snow peas, a little beef, with a garlic, ginger, soy sauce over some Basmati rice. Trying to keep with my resolve, I stuck with only a couple pieces of the meat and chowed on the veggies. So good!