T: "What do you want for dinner?"
A: "I don't know. I'll eat anything."
About an hour later...
T: "Are you hungry?"
A: "I'm pretty hungry. Are you?"
T: "I can eat."
A: "Well, what do you want?"
T: "Pretty much anything at this point. I'm starving."
A: "Well, it's getting sort of late. Should we just go get something?"
T: "Fine."
A: "How about ---"
T: "I am not eating pizza. How about burritos?"
A: "Not into it."
T: "Barbeque?"
A: "Gross, we just had it last week. Thai food?"
T: "Definitely not. Should we just go to Whole Foods?"
A: "Fine."
We would inevitably end up in the prepared food section of our local Whole Foods which is cool the first few times, but quickly gets monotonous and expensive.
Enter my weekly menu planning. Each Sunday, I plan meals for the week and write them with my daily to -do lists.
Though not completely perfect, my Sunday planning helps to ensure a few things:
First, it mostly eliminates that feeling of dread at the end of a workday when you have to figure out what to make for dinner. I am not sure about many of you, but after teaching 7th graders all day, usually the last thing I want to do is figure out what to make and then visit my local grocery store before getting home.
Second, planning on Sundays helps us to save money because I can sometimes reuse ingredients and plan according to local sales. (I say sometimes because Husband doesn't like too much repetition and I can get a little hostile when I hear sarcastic comments like, "Great, black beans again. Yummy.")
Third, I can make sure that we are eating a variety of balanced, healthy foods though out our week. Pasta on Monday? Great. Pasta on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? Not going to do it.
Fourth, our weekly meals are based on our schedule. If I have class on Wednesday night (I am currently working towards a Masters in Educational Leadership) then I will plan a quick and easy meal. If Thursday is going to be hot and humid, we are going to grill baby grill.
Fifth and finally, my evening cooking becomes a welcome (most of the time) respite at the end of a long and busy day. It allows me to enjoy the experience of preparing a meal for my husband and I rather than resenting a necessary, daily chore. Though he will probably laugh when he reads this, I sincerely mean it. Cooking by myself after a long day of teaching, errands, and other tasks can be a welcomed solitary experience in which I am creating a delicious (hopefully) and healthy (usually) meal that my little family can enjoy. I feel a sense of pride when I am able to put a dish in front of my husband and find myself crossing my fingers less and less as I get better at the cooking process.
As far as Pink Notebook Planning (PNP) is concerned, I will share these weekly menus with you each week. I will also provide either a link to another website or my own recipe. (These will be written as short hand recipes. You will need a general sense of cooking in order to follow them. For example, if spaghetti is a part of the recipe, you need to know how to make it. If you don't, figure it out. I am sure there are some great youtube vids you can watch. If you still can't figure it out, step AWAY from the stove and order a pizza pie.)
I obtain most of my recipes from sites like www.epicurious.com, www.eatingwell.com, or www.cookinglight.com. Sometimes I have an idea for a meal and then I google it to see if it "exists". If I am able to locate it, I find this as a sign that it is an acceptable recipe as long as it wasn't posted on www.disgustingrecipes.com. Does that site exist? (In a separate post, I will describe my cooking journal with you. Yippee!)
Anyhow, feel free to copy, use, or adapt these menus to suit your own dietary wants and needs!
Sunday, July 29th: Goat cheese, onion, mushroom, and spinach quesadilla {pnp link}
Monday, July 30th: Greek salad with grilled chicken and creamy dressing {pnp link}
Tuesday, July 31st: Parmesan chicken {external link} with roasted corn {external link} and sauteed spinach
Wednesday, August 1st: Salmon burgers (on sale for $5.99/lb at Whole Foods this week. Dress them up like regular burgers- yum!) and sweet potato fries
Thursday, August 2nd: Creamy garlic pasta with shrimp {external link}
