Monday, May 3, 2010

This weeks fare




We didn't get to everything last week. The pea soup and beans and rice lasted longer than I anticipated. The soup was great and very possibly the best pot of it I have ever made, everyone loved it but still, when I served it for "brunch" on Saturday, there were groans.

  • Sunday: Shrimp, broccoli and carrot stir-fry, rice, banana bread
  • Monday: Mexican beans, Mexican rice, corn tortillas, coleslaw
  • Tuesday: Gumbo, sauteed greens, fresh bread
  • Wednesday: Taco salads, potato dumplings
  • Thursday: Hot and Sour soup, sushi, sauteed broccoli
  • Friday: Foccacia, salad with tuna and potatoes, sorbet
  • Saturday: Pork souvlaki, barley bread, hummus, beet salad, pumpkin pie
On another note, I figured out how to grocery shop without a plan. Once again, many people probably already know this. I have a well stocked pantry--beans, flours, grains, canned goods and dried fruits. My freezer is well stocked, as well, with meats and fruits. It is the perishables that get me when I don't have a plan. What I used to do was over shop. I would put any produce item I could ever possibly want in my cart, that way, my options were endless. That resulted in a lot of waste. For most of the month of April, I just couldn't wrap my mind around a weekly menu, but this time I used another tactic. I, mostly, stuck with the basics that don't go bad in a few days, or even weeks (carrots, beets, celery, chard and kale, potatoes, apples and oranges,) with a few exceptions that were in season or I knew we would eat in the first few days (rhubarb, asparagus, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower.) I get yogurt and a hard cheese or some feta--something that isn't delicate, and I called it good! It was a nice change of pace without a lot of waste or feeling like there was a lot of food to be dealt with before it went bad.

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I am an Organizing Junkie.

I made an important discovery!!!

It could be that I have rediscovered the wheel a bit but, here it is: If you want dinner on the table at 5:30, you must start preparing dinner BEFORE 5:30. For the past two weeks, I have been starting dinner WAY earlier than (seemingly) necessary, and holy beans in a pot, dinner has been on the table between 5 and 5:30!!! The kitchen has been cleaned and the food put away and I can actually enjoy the family for the rest of the evening instead of spending it rushing them through their bedtime routines. THEN...oh, yes, there's more...I can spend the time after they go to bed RELAXING instead of cleaning up the kitchen. It has only taken me 10 years, but I have finally gotten this timing thing down!

On another note, I found a Jacques Pepin dvd at our local library and he pretty much rocks! It is titled "Fast Food My Way" and even though most of his dishes don't work for our family, it just got me thinking about meal making in a different way.



I have made this Tibetan bread a few times with spelt flour and it was lovely.