Friday, August 31, 2012
Late Summer Evening
A warm late summer night at The Edgefield. Outdoor stadium filled with blankets, beer, and laughter. The Avett Brothers singing live. Really, quite perfect.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Bonneville Trailhead
Well, I think we found our new favorite hike. Of course, it's in a federal park (which we didn't realize until we pulled into the parking lot...). I should be keeping score - I think we're winning on the Discover Pass side, but not by as much as we should be!
Anyway, out by Bonneville Dam there's the North Bonneville Trailhead. It's a little steep at first but only if you're prodding a 4 year old along and packing the other one in on your back. Then it levels out and is fantastic. We took the trail toward Gillette Lake. Horses had gone before us so we spent the entire time on a hunt for HORSE POOP!!, which was as entertaining as the slug hunt we went on during the last hike.
We came across the horses (and their owners) on the trail as they were coming back with news of a bee's hive in the middle of the trail so we didn't make it to the lake, but next time we'll definitely plan on eating lunch on the water's edge. If we hike it again in late summer, though, I don't know if we'll have room for lunch because of all the ripe blackberries to snack on on the way there!
Anyway, out by Bonneville Dam there's the North Bonneville Trailhead. It's a little steep at first but only if you're prodding a 4 year old along and packing the other one in on your back. Then it levels out and is fantastic. We took the trail toward Gillette Lake. Horses had gone before us so we spent the entire time on a hunt for HORSE POOP!!, which was as entertaining as the slug hunt we went on during the last hike.
We came across the horses (and their owners) on the trail as they were coming back with news of a bee's hive in the middle of the trail so we didn't make it to the lake, but next time we'll definitely plan on eating lunch on the water's edge. If we hike it again in late summer, though, I don't know if we'll have room for lunch because of all the ripe blackberries to snack on on the way there!
Monday, August 27, 2012
4 Months of Menus
Part 2 of meal planning! (see Part 1 here) I have a few standard meals that are well-loved and demanded. They are also really easy. I've also been threatened with rebellion if I don't include them often. (not kidding) So, I put those meals in first, then fill in around them. I don't plan every night, usually 3-4 nights in a week. This is a mental thing for me (so I don't get overwhelmed with the idea of cooking a MEAL every single night!) and allows for eating up leftovers, that take-out pizza craving, the popcorn and wine nights, a new recipe I might want to try, or an unexpected husband absence which brings me back to the popcorn and wine...
Anyway... here we go.
September Menu
October Menu
November Menu
December Menu
A few notes:
Obviously, we always have salad & bread on Sunday nights.
I haven't included any sides. I keep it simple. Salad, carrots, steamed veggie... Possibly some corn bread for the soups/chilis.
For cost savings I make my own re-fried beans and red (marinara I guess you could call it) sauce for spaghetti
A lot of these recipes you'll find on my Pinterest board.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Anyway... here we go.
September Menu
30
Salad & Bread
|
1
|
|||||
2
Salad & Bread
|
3
Chicken Roll-ups
|
4
|
5
Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
|
6
|
7
Tacos
|
8
|
9
Salad & Bread
|
10
Burritos
|
11
Pan Roasted Chicken
|
12
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
13
|
14
Roasted Potatoes
|
15
|
16
Salad & Bread
|
17
Burritos
|
18
|
19
Brazilian Blackbean Stew
|
20
Cheesy Quinoa
|
21
|
22
|
23
Salad & Bread
|
24
Spinach & Mushroom Enchiladas
|
25
|
26
Roasted Corn Chowder
|
27
Spaghetti Broccoli & Bacon
|
28
|
29
|
October Menu
1
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
2
|
3
Potato Soup
|
4
Burritos
|
5
|
6
Freezer Cooking Day
|
|
7
Salad & Bread
|
8
Burritos
|
9
|
10
Ham & White Bean Soup
|
11
Mac & Cheese
|
12
Tacos
|
13
|
14
Salad & Bread
|
15
Chicken Stew w/ butternut
squash
|
16
|
17
Burritos
|
18
Oh My Chick Pot Pie
|
19
Thai Lime Vegetable Soup
|
20
|
21
Salad & Bread
|
22
|
23
Spaghetti w/ broccoli &
bacon
|
24
|
25
Sausage & Bean supper
(freezer meal)
|
26
|
27
|
28
Salad & Bread
|
29
|
30
Brown Sugar & Balsamic
Pork Loin
|
31
Tacos
|
November Menu
1
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
2
|
3
|
||||
4
Salad & Bread
|
5
Burritos
|
6
Café Rio Chicken (freezer
meal)
|
7
|
8
Enchiladas (pork from 10/30)
|
9
|
10
|
11
Salad & Bread
|
12
Lazy Day Stew (freezer
meal)
|
13
Spaghetti w/ broccoli &
bacon
|
14
|
15
Tacos
|
16
Kale & White Bean Soup
|
17
|
18
Salad & Bread
|
19
Burritos
|
20
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
21
|
22
Garlic Ranch Chicken
(freezer meal)
|
23
|
24
|
25
Salad & Bread
|
26
Tacos
|
27
|
28
Chicken & Blackbean Soup
|
29
|
30
Pizza (homemade, not
takeout)
|
December Menu
30
|
31
Overnight Chicken
|
1
|
||||
2
Salad & Bread
|
3
Rosemary Scented Lentils
& Sausage
|
4
Chicken & Salsa Flautas
(freezer meal)
|
5
Burritos
|
6
|
7
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
8
|
9
Salad & Bread
|
10
|
11
Spaghetti w/ broccoli &
bacon
|
12
Chicken w/ 40 garlic cloves
|
13
|
14
Tacos
|
15
|
16
Salad & Bread
|
17
Burritos
|
18
|
19
White Chili
|
20
|
21
Blackbean Enchiladas
|
22
|
23
Salad & Bread
|
24
Crockpot Bacon Cheese
Potatoes
|
25
|
26
Spaghetti w/ Red Sauce
|
27
Burritos
|
28
Pork & Veggies (freezer meal)
|
A few notes:
Obviously, we always have salad & bread on Sunday nights.
I haven't included any sides. I keep it simple. Salad, carrots, steamed veggie... Possibly some corn bread for the soups/chilis.
For cost savings I make my own re-fried beans and red (marinara I guess you could call it) sauce for spaghetti
A lot of these recipes you'll find on my Pinterest board.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Meals for a Year
I hate cooking. Honestly, it is the bane of my existence that my children have to eat more than once a month. If I could justify the expense and the lack of nutritional value I would order takeout or pre-made meals from the grocery store all the time. But, as I am not rich, try to care about what I eat, and care even more about what my kids eat, I try to provide some type of meal each day. It's a struggle. If I also didn't get totally bored with food we'd just eat burritos every night. And we eat a lot of burritos. (I make my own beans, there's lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado... I've justified it.)
Anyway, I tried planning a week at a time but it was too easy to blow it off and eat popcorn when the re-fried beans ran out. A month at a time was okay but I DREADED the planning and would put it off until Steve was standing at the door with his keys in his hand waiting to go grocery shopping.
Then I found this pin on Pinterest (a sigh of adulation for Pinterest...). It was from this lady who plans a full year out. WHAT?? There's no way! But the more I thought about it the more sense it made for me. Get all of the horrible planning done at once and then, if I already had a plan in front of me, maybe I'd be able to stick to it and have dinner on the table more nights out of the week than not. I'm going for overall percentages here.
So, I printed out her templates (link at the bottom) and gave it a try. The first year I managed to plan October through April before I lost steam - summer is bad for cooking anyway, right? (justifying again!) It was SO helpful. I wasn't close to 100% but it was so much better. No more trying to come up with something last minute, I just pulled out the ingredients and made what the calendar told me to! (Having the menu planned ahead means I can then buy just what I need when I go grocery shopping which has reduced wasted food and also makes it easier to shop)
This week, I've managed to plan September through May (it was easier this time around because I had my old calendars to help. I spent about 1 1/2 hours. The first time I split it up over a few nights). We'll see if I get to the summer months, although with grilling I think those months are easier anyway.
One of the things I did last year was try to utilize my crockpot more and, when possible, I made a double recipe (or with soups you just get a lot with the normal recipe) and then froze 1/2 and planned that into the menu for later. This year I have one day in October already on the calendar where I plan on doing a bunch of freezer meals where I put all the ingredients together in gallon ziploc bags, throw them into the freezer, and then pull them out later as needed. (more links at the bottom)
There are a lot of really well thought out resources on the internet for this type of stuff so I'm not going to go into more detail - no need to reinvent the wheel. I will say that Pinterest is a wonderful source for recipes - both the regular variety and the freezer meal kind. (link below) On my food board you'll see that I've made notes on the ones that I've tried already...
LINKS!
Meal Planning Binder - Yes, it really is a binder. She's way more scheduled than I am, taking into account their activity schedule and that type of thing. But it gives you something to start with, take what you want, and don't re-create the wheel... Mine is a simplified version, though I have found that her recommendation to have all of the recipes you're going to use printed and then filed behind that month's calendar is actually really helpful, both for ease of creating a shopping list and when making dinner. I've printed the computer/internet recipes, haven't converted my cookbook recipes (doubt I'll ever get that far!)
Pinterest Food Board - start at my board and then just browse Pinterest (click the Pinterest logo at the top of the page), each pin will lead you down a rabbit trail of deliciousness...
Freezer Cooking - (to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. There are a TON of resources)
I'll do a separate post to show you an actual month of meals that I've planned. It's not quite as impressive as it sounds but it does keep people fed and me sane, so that's good!
Anyway, I tried planning a week at a time but it was too easy to blow it off and eat popcorn when the re-fried beans ran out. A month at a time was okay but I DREADED the planning and would put it off until Steve was standing at the door with his keys in his hand waiting to go grocery shopping.
Then I found this pin on Pinterest (a sigh of adulation for Pinterest...). It was from this lady who plans a full year out. WHAT?? There's no way! But the more I thought about it the more sense it made for me. Get all of the horrible planning done at once and then, if I already had a plan in front of me, maybe I'd be able to stick to it and have dinner on the table more nights out of the week than not. I'm going for overall percentages here.
So, I printed out her templates (link at the bottom) and gave it a try. The first year I managed to plan October through April before I lost steam - summer is bad for cooking anyway, right? (justifying again!) It was SO helpful. I wasn't close to 100% but it was so much better. No more trying to come up with something last minute, I just pulled out the ingredients and made what the calendar told me to! (Having the menu planned ahead means I can then buy just what I need when I go grocery shopping which has reduced wasted food and also makes it easier to shop)
This week, I've managed to plan September through May (it was easier this time around because I had my old calendars to help. I spent about 1 1/2 hours. The first time I split it up over a few nights). We'll see if I get to the summer months, although with grilling I think those months are easier anyway.
One of the things I did last year was try to utilize my crockpot more and, when possible, I made a double recipe (or with soups you just get a lot with the normal recipe) and then froze 1/2 and planned that into the menu for later. This year I have one day in October already on the calendar where I plan on doing a bunch of freezer meals where I put all the ingredients together in gallon ziploc bags, throw them into the freezer, and then pull them out later as needed. (more links at the bottom)
There are a lot of really well thought out resources on the internet for this type of stuff so I'm not going to go into more detail - no need to reinvent the wheel. I will say that Pinterest is a wonderful source for recipes - both the regular variety and the freezer meal kind. (link below) On my food board you'll see that I've made notes on the ones that I've tried already...
LINKS!
Meal Planning Binder - Yes, it really is a binder. She's way more scheduled than I am, taking into account their activity schedule and that type of thing. But it gives you something to start with, take what you want, and don't re-create the wheel... Mine is a simplified version, though I have found that her recommendation to have all of the recipes you're going to use printed and then filed behind that month's calendar is actually really helpful, both for ease of creating a shopping list and when making dinner. I've printed the computer/internet recipes, haven't converted my cookbook recipes (doubt I'll ever get that far!)
Pinterest Food Board - start at my board and then just browse Pinterest (click the Pinterest logo at the top of the page), each pin will lead you down a rabbit trail of deliciousness...
Freezer Cooking - (to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. There are a TON of resources)
I'll do a separate post to show you an actual month of meals that I've planned. It's not quite as impressive as it sounds but it does keep people fed and me sane, so that's good!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)