Meal Planning Week 4

Mmmm. Another successful week of cooking! I was pleased with all the new recipes I tried although I went a little overboard on the peanut sauce for the Thai chicken pizza. I used the Rachel Ray peanut sauce recipe posted in the comments section but it made too much sauce. Next time I will only make 1/2 the amount but otherwise the flavors were all uber-yummy. I made the same crust recipe as last week but followed the instructions to precook which made all the difference. It came out perfectly. The pumpkin penne was another favorite. I did take the suggestion of some reviewers to add fresh sage which gave it a wonderful flavor.

• Sun: Leftovers
• Mon: Tomato fennel soup (never got around to it last week) and grilled cheese
• Tue: Ginger peanut chicken salad wraps
• Wed: Honey goat cheese pizza with carmelized onions and salad
• Thurs: Collard greens soup with turkey sausage, baked cinnamon yams
• Fri: Pasta puttanesca with salad
• Sat: Tuna noodle casserole with salad

Meal Planning Week 3

Last week's menu went relatively well although I wound up making some minor alterations. Here's some feedback on the recipes I linked to last week:

The chickpea burgers I made didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped probably due to the fact that I was in a hurry and grabbed a whole bunch of cilantro instead of parsley while making them. It was a bit overpowering. I'll try them again sometime to see how the parsley would taste but so far I'm liking my black bean burgers a bit better.

As for the pizza I used this crust recipe but since I burned the last pizza I cooked I did not precook it according to the directions. I should have because the crust turned out a bit soggy but it was otherwise great. I used fresh mozzarella instead of shredded and fresh basil instead of spinach which was very tasty. Also I added the chopped basil AFTER the pizza was cooked which kept it from getting wilted.

The white bean chicken chili was not only quick and easy but it was pretty tasty as well. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken and 1 package of frozen corn instead of canned to use what I had on hand and it didn't seem to make a difference. We will definitely make this one again!

Here are the choices for this week

• Monday: Panini sandwiches with roasted vegetables and fresh mozzarella, roasted cauliflower
• Tuesday: Pumpkin penne with salad
• Wednesday: Thai chicken pizza with salad
• Thursday: Leftovers or eat out
• Friday: Tuna and spinach tortellini with roasted pears and butternut squash
• Saturday: Tomato and fennel soup with blood orange and grilled cheese sandwiches

(No, I haven't forgotten about Sunday but since we usually do our shopping on Saturdays I thought it would make sense to start the menu on Sundays starting next week)

What's For Dinner?

My New Years resolution this year is to plan a menu for every week. When I do cook I generally cook pretty healthy meals but when I don't plan ahead we wind up eating out more than we should which isn't as healthy. It will be challenging to stick to as tax season is coming up soon and David and I will pretty much be on our own for a couple months. Then it will get even harder in July when the new baby comes but I'll give it a go. Here's the menu for the upcoming week.

• Mon: Dinner at my moms
• Tues: Chickpea Veggie Burgers with Celery and Carrots
• Wed: Vegetarian Pizza with Salad from my friend Amy's blog. This is one of the best homemade pizzas ever.
• Thurs: White Bean Chicken Chili (crockpot recipe) with Tortilla Chips
• Fri: Vegetable Stir Fry and Frozen Potstickers over brown rice
• Sat: Black Bean Pineapple Enchiladas with Salad. These are from my friend Elizabeth's blog and they're pretty tasty. This time I'm going to try using fresh pineapple for a change.
• Sun: Tuna Noodle Casserole with Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli

I was a little late in coming up with this resolution so this is only week 2 but I'm interested to see how many weeks in a row I can go without dropping the ball. If any of you plan menus I'd love to see what kinds of foods you're eating (and maybe pick up some good ideas).

Catch Up

I've let myself get pretty behind in posting. Here's some pictures to get you caught up. Oh, and most of you know by now that we're having another baby come July- a little boy!

Christmas morning (actually Christmas all day. David did not leave his new train table for several days afterward if he could help it. As you can see, even breakfast had to be shared with his new friends.)

David turns 2! His birthday and party fell on different days so he got a birthday cake AND a cupcake to celebrate. The train cake was definitely a hit, but the cupcake was pretty acceptable too as you can see.

Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

Alpaca Farm

Train Ride!

Halloween