Wings!

Our household enjoyed grilled wings last night. It was a warm day, we were having a couple friends over, and we wanted something relatively light and easy. My dad has been making a butter sauced wing for as long as I can remember and he kindly gave me the recipe a few years ago. I can’t share that recipe or risk penalty of disownment, but I can say that a sauce of melted butter (or butter substitute in our case, Smart Balance Butter Blend is a fav) and your favorite seasoning combinations, is a very easy and tasty sauce…and still lower in sugar and calories than the traditional bottled BBQ sauce. The trick is to melt the butter, add the spices and then keep it warm until ready to baste the chicken.

Hubby and I have discovered a few tricks over time as we’ve tried to recreate what I will say is one of my dad’s specialties. First,  I always soak the wings in cold water for a few minutes, then wrap in paper towels and keep refrigerated until ready for use. The trick we have found with grilling wings is to remove the tips and keep the wing whole. The one time we left the tips on, they kept getting stuck in the grates and that was not fun for hubby.

We brush the wings with olive oil and then cook on the grill. We have always cooked the wings to near doneness before adding the sauce. My dad still grills on coals and chars his wings until they are on the border of being burnt. Hubby and I own a gas grill (I know sacrilege!) and we always get a nice crisp on the skin with a good amount of browning.

I will also share a neat experience I had with wings at a friend’s house. We were invited over to watch the playoffs one Sunday and the hosts were serving wings. They had split the wings into the drum and wing and cooked them in the oven until they were golden. Then each guest was given a Gladware container and told to choose from the array of sauces they had available. You could make your own sauce combination or just use one right out of the bottle. The wings were delicious, everyone got the flavor they wanted and clean-up was a snap! Thanks to the Fuller family for a neat and tasty entertaining idea!

Substitutions

I follow a pretty neat blog on Twitter and Facebook, The Taste Spot. He recently published a post on substitutions which I printed out and saved for another day!

Substitutions: Courtesy of TheTasteSpot.com

The Doctor is "in" - Rescued Meals

Over the years I have learned that successful cooking does not mean every dish prepared is a hit the first time around. There have been things that I have made that failed miserably (mostly related to baking but that’s another post entirely), dishes that were met with “it’s okay” and a few that got a “it needs something”. The most important things to remember  is to not take such events and comments personally. If you watch Top Chef, those guys cook for a living and sometimes make stuff deemed “inedible!” by the judges. What you should do is take advantage of the experience of making the dish and the opportunity to taste the ingredients together for yourself. Then you can determine what kind of "doctoring" it will need the next time around.

Case in point, I was looking for a chicken and pasta dish and came across one on Kalyn’s Kitchen that sounded promising (Chicken Penne Casserole).  I also did what I rarely do which is follow the recipe to the letter…including the whole cooking the chicken breasts in the water thing. I made one slight modification in that I added a little more poultry seasoning to the cut up chicken before using it in the recipe because I was concerned the chicken would be bland. It looked and smelled great coming out of the oven and I was confident I had a hit on my hands.

The 11-year old liked it…but honestly pasta, a cream-like sauce and chicken was not  exactly goingto be turned down by a kid who eats in her school cafeteria every day. My husband tried it and made the face. Your significant other has that face right? The one that reads “ I am thinking of how to say this in such a way that he/she doesn’t want to throw something at me”. His response,“it needs something like…” and then he looked at me pleadingly to try it myself so I could fill in the blanks. “Garlic” I said. And it did need more garlic, and the chicken would have benefited from a light sauté in butter or olive oil oh, and pepper and then I ran through a bunch of other scenarios in my head as we finished dinner.

So after dinner there is almost ¾ of a pan of this stuff left and I decide to pack it all into a large container and freeze it as an emergency meal. Fast forward two weeks and I need to whip up dinner for a night I won’t be home. I remember the chicken and pasta and decided to doctor it. I thawed it in the fridge overnight and into the next day. I came home, dumped it all in a large bowl and went in search of easy ways to make it better. I opted for ½ cup of leftover light alfredo sauce, black pepper and a tablespoon of Garlic Garlic . I mixed it all together, spread it into a large casserole and topped it with ½ cup of grated Parmesan. It went into a 425 oven for 20 minutes. The result was a text from my husband with one word: “Awesome”.

Doctoring is not that difficult and is the precursor to loving and using leftovers. Doctoring can also be a great time saver when you are going the semi-homemade  route and using prepackaged foods. You know what flavors you like together so making a few tweaks to any dish or item is as simple as following your own palate. Many people tell me they are nervous about experimenting with a recipe while they are cooking it. That’s okay! Doctoring allows you to make a dish as it is written and then add to it when it’s done. Everyone is comfortable adding extra salt, pepper or adding hot sauce to something…why not  expand those possibilities? The cream sauce you made seem a little boring? Add capers or sautéed onions. Grilled mushrooms sautéed and with a red wine reduction will overcome a  bland steak. I always have canned tomatoes on hand to add to soups and stews that don’t seem to have enough acidity or depth. And I cannot count how many dinners I have rescued with cheese!

If you are using pre-made food: Packaged streamed vegetables love lemon pepper seasoning. A jarred pasta sauce can be a meat sauce with fresh garlic and basil in no time. Instant mashed potatoes combined with shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon and fresh chives makes a side dishlike no other.

Be  reasonable about doctoring too. Some things will just be epic fails. A chef once told me “there is no coming back from burnt”. Be okay with yourself when something doesn’t work out. But also don’tbe afraid to try it again.

What dish have you “doctored” that you are proud of?

Pepperoni Chips

Crispy Pepperoni Chips on the Food Network 
Quick shout out to Food Network and this pepperoni chips recipe. Totally delicious and an easy way for you low-carbers out there to get your salty, crunchy snack in. I used the turkey pepperoni for mine and they don't take as long in the oven. Just watch them closely!

Eggs-cellent Omelets

I have quite a lot of love for eggs. They are in fact my favorite MacGyver tool because they are so versatile and are a key component in many dishes. If you are low-carbing it, eggs are one of the few satisfying things you get to eat in the first Phase and some folks get bored. However, I have yet to get bored with omelets and I am always challenging myself to come up with new fillings. I’ll take this opportunity to put a shout-out to my brother-in-law who I have deemed Omelet MacGyver because it seems like he can find anything in the fridge and make it an omelet (Special recognition for using green olives in that last one fellow Mudblood). So take note that omelets are a great way to use up leftovers!

Omelets  are not just for breakfast. You can find just about any cooking magazine featuring a quick weekday night supper as being an omelet and a green salad. If you move your thinking away from breakfast you can come up with some really great fillings that are delicious AND satisfying. I have also noticed that I can hide some pretty good stuff in an omelet and suddenly I have kids eating ham, cheese and onions and getting a balanced meal! I also tend to gravitate toward the omelet because it takes a few steps less than a frittata and you can tailor an omelet to an individual versus making one huge pan of eggs (my typical frittata recipes call for 6-8 eggs). However, I did just read an interesting food tip via Twitter about popping an omelet in an oven the last few minutes of cooking to make it nice and fluffy…I’ll let you know when I try it out!

Good Housekeeping has an Omelet 101 on its website 

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/quick/make-perfect-omelet-tips 

but I will also share a few of my tips:

•  If using freshly cut vegetables, sauté them in the pan with a little butter or oil first and the set aside to add to omelet when time. This ensures the vegetables aren’t super crunchy and it also gives you the opportunity to season them to your liking.
• Leftover meat also does well sautéed and then removed. Also, make sure you fully cook any meat you selected that was not previously cooked. I will often cut up some raw bacon, cook it in the pan, add some onion and then remove and reserve a little of the bacon grease as my fat for cooking the eggs.
• Some recipes suggest you add the cheese to the egg mixture. I have found that the omelet consistency is not as good and it sometime sticks worse that way. My method for cheese is to sprinkle a little on the cooked half, then add the other fillings and then a little more cheese.When the cheese melts, the sides of the omelet adhere a little better
• Pay attention to your seasoning based on your fillings. For example, if you are using bacon as a filling, be conscious that it’s pretty salty on its own.
• Drain liquid based fillings well before adding to the omelet. I used chili once and because I did not drain the excess liquid, the omelet got soupy fast.
• Use a good non-stick pan and a good wide spatula. I have tried to make omelets in a non-stick pan when on travel and it always becomes a scramble.

So what are my favorite omelet fillings? The top has to be goat cheese and asparagus as I ate that omelet for the entire first week of Phase 1 of South Beach. Pretty close is the Italian one I made with Genoa salami, pepperoni, chopped tomatoes, a little garlic salt and mozzarella. I also love a good veggie omelet, especially when its spinach, onions and mushrooms. Other suggestions:

• steak and onions
• peppers and onions with taco seasoning and monetary jack or pepper jack
• capers, prosciutto and basil

Experiment with your own creations. Also, if you are an egg substitute person, there is no limit to your fillings either. You just have to pay special attention to ensure you are moving the pan around and pushing the cooked portions up enough to not overcook them.

Travel Spot: Ben's Chili Bowl

I love shows about food and the Travel Channel's Man v. Food is no exception! In fact, it's a favorite in our house the whole family enjoys and we have often talked about visiting some of the sites host Adam Richman has in his show.

Well, this Saturday, we went to McLean, VA to visit friends and as we usually day, planned a day trip into Washington D.C. for part of our weekend. I insisted we try out Ben's Chili Bowl which had been featured on Man v. Food AND because I love, I mean love chili dogs.( My husband can attest to this since I think my diet when I was pregnant with our son consisted of about 50% chili dogs at some point during the 9 months).

Anyway, we went there for lunch at 1:30PM on a Saturday. We expected a line and there was one but it moved pretty quickly (15-20 minutes total) and soon we were inside ordering at the counter and watching them grill hot dogs and their signature "half-smokes" and smelling chili. 

We had hungry kids and the place was small, and loud and crowded as we placed our order but can I tell you how wonderfully sweet the folks behind the counter were? Even as I attempted to pass myself off as someone who knew what they were ordering, I got a "sweetie" , several smiles and when she told me she would bring the food to us and bring the check later...I didn't care if it was the best chili ever, it made my day.

So, the four of us sat down to one plain hot dog for the little guy, a large bowl of chili for hubby, a small bowl of chili for the 11-year old, one chocolate milkshake, 1 vanilla milkshake, 1 basket of fries, and for me, the famous chili half-smoke. Let me again remind you that I love chili and love chili dogs and then I will say BEST CHILI DOG EVER!! My son said "Mommy, I REALLY like this hot dog place!" And when my dear step-daughter said it was the best chili she ever had (even better than mine), I knew our trip had been really worth it (and that I need to tweak my own recipe some...LOL)!

So thanks to Ben's Chili Bowl for a wonderful family lunch and a great experience.

Stuffed Chicken-Everybody's Doing It!

I had a mini-brain meltdown yesterday: I left home yesterday morning and never put together dinner. Clearly the calendar said "crock-pot chicken" and I ignored it. So that afternoon as I talked with hubby about plans for the evening, the realization of no planned dinner occurred to me. Then he saved me: I'll be working a bit late tonight. Whew! That would give me time to run by the grocery store for a few things.

I knew I still had some cooked chopped bacon and fresh spinach left over and as I have said before, the man loves chicken so I grabbed a package of boneless skinless breasts to make a dish with that and the bacon and spinach. Then I remembered a friend had given us some wing sauce from one of our favorite places. Hmmmm...spicy chicken needs blue cheese so I picked up a wedge (on sale even!) of blue cheese.

I had previous experience stuffing chicken as I made my way through Cooking Light's newest issue, but I wanted something different and I really wanted to use that wing sauce. Enter Cooks.com and  blue cheese stuffed chicken breast recipes that I knew I could adapt.

I pounded out the chicken breasts into relatively even cutlets. I made a mixture with the fresh spinach, the bacon, 1/2 cup sour cream and some crumbled blue cheese (I mixed the filling in the sour cream container! I divided the filling out evenly and put some at the end of each breast. I carefully rolled each one up and secured with toothpicks. Then, I coated each rolled up chicken with the wing sauce I had poured in a bowl. Next, I dredged the chicken in breadcrumbs. I heated an oven proof skillet with a small amount of olive oil on medium high heat.

When the oil began to smoke, I added the chicken. I carefully browned them on each side. (You have to be careful to let each side brown sufficiently or you can lose breading.) Once browned, the entire skillet was placed in a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Husband said make again...and that's all I need for praise!

Monthly Menu Planning - Planning for Leftovers

The hallmark of a good monthly menu is planning for and using leftovers. I know there are some out there that hate leftovers but in this post, I am not talking about packaging mini-meals for later,but re-purposing what you had left over to create a new dish. Tons of magazines and websites have devoted articles to making a meal one night and using the leftover protein or components for another dish. One of my favorite mags, Real Simple,  did a feature on reusing leftover hamburger and hot dog buns! Like monthly meal planning, planning for leftovers takes a little extra time at the front end but overall, proves to be a time and money saver.

As a mom with a job also outside the home, I save my more complicated meals for the weekends. I am also sort of a traditionalist in that I do like trying to have a nice big Sunday dinner. So for me, my leftover planning starts with whatever I have chosen to cook for the weekends. Remember I start my menu planning by first filling in the evenings I know I am not responsible for dinner. The next step is planning my weekend meals and their related leftovers.

Let’s say Sunday is pork loin day. Depending on the time of year, the seasonal vegetables and what else we have that week, I can cook pork loin in a variety of different ways. However, you can bet that somewhere on the menu for the following week is my fried rice (a family favorite) using the leftover pork. I have even chopped the leftover pork and frozen it for that purpose if the schedule isn't going to allow for rice the next week.

By now you have probably seen all of the cooking segments, recipes and articles that revolve around rotisserie chickens. I will pick up a store made chicken in a pinch, serve it as a meal and then use the leftover meat for another meal. What I prefer, is to roast my own chicken as a Saturday or Sunday meal. I pick the chicken of all the leftover meat that evening and have several meals I can choose from to make using the leftovers (enchiladas, pot pie, wraps, salad, etc.). Then I take the carcass, place it in a large stock pot* with some water and poultry seasoning and boil it to make my own chicken broth. Sometimes I reserve the meat and go ahead and plan for chicken soup using the broth. Otherwise I freeze the broth for later or reserve in the fridge for another meal during the week (if you have never added chicken broth to vegetables when you steam or mash them, you are missing out).

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Wendy’s uses it’s leftover hamburgers for its chili, why not use leftover meatloaf to make a savory chili that you can eat alone or use as filling for a casserole. There is always a can of crescent rolls and/or biscuits in my fridge for just such an occasion. Did you grill an extra chicken breast or two? Slice them up for use in quick fajitas (I sauté in Newman’s Own lime dressing and add a little taco seasoning) or make a grilled chicken salad. My husband loves giant chicken Caesar salads but we have done Asian salads too. And of course, there’s always nachos!

So when you plan out your meals, think about how you can use what’s left for a future meal. If you have a large family, double or triple a recipe if you need to. Because you are using leftovers, you are cutting down on prep time and often cook time for a future meal. Got a leftover you don’t know how to use? Let me know. I am sure I can MacGyver something!

*I have a stock pot that has the removable insert for draining. This is the BEST for making chicken stock because you are not trying to skim out bits of bone and such when your broth is done.

Nachos!

I love nachos and for the longest time if you asked me what my favorite food was, I'd say chicken nachos.(A special shout out to Havana's in Norfolk for especially tasty ones!) I'd make them with Perdue short cuts or leftover chicken, sometimes adding onions or jalapeños or green chiles.  In more recent years I have come to appreciate the untraditional nacho. Finn McCool's has BBQ chicken nachos that I really enjoyed. So one night, we had some leftover pulled pork BBQ and we thought, "what about nachos?"

Being a nacho novice, I have always put down some tortilla chips, piled on some meat and piled on the cheese. Flavor was great...on the chips that had meat AND cheese. Then I saw an episode of Good Eats and watched Alton Brown make his nachos and I paid special attention to how he layered the nachos and made sure each chip had toppings. I tried that the next time and although it took a little more work, the effort was worth it. I also noticed that a light layer of shredded cheese, then meat and then more cheese keeps toppings from sliding off.

I continuously experiment with types of chips, cheeses and toppings. For chips, the heartier yellow corn, blue corn and stone ground chips work really well. We have also really enjoyed using the Flax seed tortilla chips from Trader Joe's. We like the pork BBQ with shredded Mexican blend and a little BBQ sauce sprinkled on top. We have recently used my pulled chicken BBQ as a topping, adding lettuce, sour cream and jalapenos right out of the oven. Homemade chili goes great with Pepper Jack or a very sharp cheddar and steak goes well with mozzarella, extra steak seasoning and a little onion. And finally, buffalo chicken with blue cheese and garnished with chopped celery....yummmm. Try some combinations and share what you find!

Steal of the Week: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I made no changes to the recipe posted on the Hidden Valley Ranch website other than I mixed the ingredients in the dish I cooked it in. Since this was just for us I didn't need it to be pretty, just delicious. And it is!


http://www.hiddenvalley.com/recipe/v/626/Perfect-Spinach-Artichoke-Dip/

Hey There MacGyver

Thank you to a Cook Crook follower for sharing this!!

MacGyver Night

I will admit that I loved MacGyver and never missed an episode (we won't talk about the pictures of Richard Dean Anderson in my locker) but who would have thought that the word "MacGyver" would become a part of our slang? If you have never seen an episode (or never owned a TV), MacGyver could escape a Turkish prison with a paper clip, some chewing gum and a shoe lace. To "MacGyver" is to take what you ordinarily have on hand and make something new.

So tonight, was my MacGyver night and usually, like tonight, it is the night my husband isn't home and experimentation doesn't affect anyone but me! So, I took a look in the fridge and cabinets. In the fridge I found leftover cooked whole wheat rotini pasta, fresh spinach, chopped bacon, and leftover diced onion. In the cabinet I found a jar of light Alfredo sauce I keep meaning to try. So I sauteed that bacon and onion in a little olive oil and then wilted that spinach in the mixture. I heated up a 3/4 cup of the sauce with the pasta in a small pot and then added the other ingredients. Add a salad on the side from the Romaine hearts I always have on hand, and Voila, dinner is served. Not a rocket ship out of a paper towel tube and hairspray, but it was delicious!

Another Family Favorite (Courtesy of Pillsbury) Taco Pie

My brother had/has a very limited palate and as such when my mom found a dish he liked, she kept making it. When she discovered he liked tacos, she found a recipe for a taco casserole that Pillsbury had using their crescent rolls. She called it taco pie and since he's adverse to vegetables of ANY kind, including tomatoes, she made hers with taco meat, crescents and cheese. This is another dish that has become a favorite in my house but I've lightened it up a bit and no one is bothered a bit!

2 packages reduced-fat crescent rolls
1 pound ground Turkey
Favorite taco seasoning
Water as directed by seasoning
2 cups shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese

Spread out one package of crescents onto an ungreased cookie sheet, pressing together the seams until the dough is in a large rectangle. Do the same with the other package of crescents on a large sheet of wax or parchment paper, trying to approximate the size of the other sheet of dough. Cook turkey until no longer pink, and drain off all liquid in pan except for approximately 1 tablespoon. Follow instructions for seasoning the meat with the taco seasoning you prefer. Every brand of packet seasoning has different directions.( I no longer buy packets and instead by the large container of McCormick seasoning from the local big box store.)

When meat is finished and all liquid is absorbed, remove from heat and set aside. Spread one cup of cheese on the dough on the cookie sheet being sure to keep a small edge all around the rectangle. Next, evenly spread the meat on the cheese. Cover meat with remaining cheese. Then cover with the other rectangle of dough and pinch and seal the edges all the way around. Bake in the oven according to the package directions  for the crescents (usually 375 for 15-20 minutes) or until crescent rectangle is golden brown.

Slice into rectangles and serve with sour cream. I have made this adding green chiles and salsa too!

Steal of the Week: Italian Meatloaf

I had "meatloaf" on the menu for tonight because I scored a great deal on meatloaf mix in the meat section at the grocery store. The meatloaf mix includes veal, pork and beef and one package is about 1.25 pounds. However, I wasn't interested in the traditional meatloaf and I also was short on time to worry about making a meatloaf tonight. So....in search of ideas I went and I found a recipe on the Lipton Onion Soup box for meatloaf and it said to go to their website for slow cooker instructions.

So to www.recipesecrets.com I went and found the recipe for the traditional meatloaf using the onion soup mix. then I came across this recipe for what they call Pizza Meatloaf . I thought why not combine the two? So, in lieu of the chopped onion, garlic and salt, I just used the onion soup mix. I also have never eaten Ragu in my life so I substituted for the Bertoli tomato and basil spaghetti sauce we love and decided to call it Italian meatloaf.

The verdict? The 11-year old said I am never allowed to make any other kind of meatloaf and hubby had two helpings. Consider it added to the menu rotation!

Note: Lipton's tip to add the foil strips was an excellent idea! I also sprayed my crockpot with cooking spray because the sauce did get sticky when cooking with the meat.

Happy Big Game Day

Thanks to Betty Crocker for the instructions for the dessert we are bringing to the party today!


Football Cupcake Pull-Aparts

Here's to good food and a good game!

A Family Favorite: Spaghetti Carbonara

I give my mom all the credit for teaching me to cook. Many of the dishes I cooked when I lived on my own were ones she had shown me to make. As I lived on my own longer, got married, and had a family, I stayed relatively true to those dishes only making minor adjustments. One of the dishes that was a favorite of mine growing up has now become a favorite of my step-daughter's: spaghetti carbonara. This recipe is by no means low-fat but it is delicious and I have made minor changes to my mom's recipe to include butter substitute leaner bacon and whole wheat pasta. Her original recipe called for a pound of regular spaghetti and 1 pound of bacon.

1 box whole wheat thin spaghetti (we like Barilla) or spaghetti of your choice
1 package center cut bacon (12oz) cut into small pieces
3/4 stick I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for baking (or any butter substitute)
2 large cloves of garlic crushed
1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
5 eggs beaten
fresh ground pepper to taste

In a large non-stick stock pot, cook the cut-up bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. Pour off the grease from the pot being sure to reserve a small amount for later and set the pan aside.While the bacon is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the instructions for "al dente". Drain the cooked pasta and set aside.


Heat the pot used to cook the bacon in to medium-low and add the butter and garlic. When the butter is just melted and the garlic begins to sizzle, add the cooked pasta. Using tongs or a large fork and spoon, toss the pasta until it is coated in the garlic butter. Add the cooked bacon and be sure to incorporate it well into the pasta. Next, add the Parmesan cheese. The trick is to make sure you constantly toss and mix the ingredients: keep the pasta moving! Next slowly add the egg and continue to keep the pasta moving and mixing the ingredients well together. As the egg begins to set up, it is especially important to make sure you are bringing up the bacon and cooked portions of egg up from the bottom of the pan. When the egg reaches the consistency you prefer (I like my pasta "wet"...my mom makes this for my dad and makes it "dry"), remove pot from heat and add fresh ground pepper. I serve with Parmesan on the side for those who like it extra cheesy!

Groundhog Said Early Spring-Go Grill!

In all honesty, my household considers itself to be an all-year grilling home. If it's not raining or snowing or polar bear cold, we try to grill outside. To offset the times the outside isn't available, we have an indoor grill. There is just something about grilling the food that adds to a dish like a chicken Caesar salad or a pork tenderloin. Frankly, sometimes I just get bummed out at winter and plan for something to get grilled outside!

Grilling is also great for entertaining and not just the typical hamburgers and hot-dogs! I happen to love kebabs for a crowd. Relatively easy to prepare, elegant when done and easy to pair with sides like potato wedges, pasta salad, rice...you name it, kebabs are a great choice!

These kebabs are chicken and steak with onions, green and orange peppers. I have done pork and pineapple, I've added tomatoes (cooked on their own skewer since the cooking time is so short) and I've done shrimp. You can make your own marinade or use on of the many easy bottled kinds. Our house is a big Lawry's fan, especially the sesame ginger flavor that made the chicken so delicious! The steps are simple and the butcher can even do the real hard work for you if you ask him to cut the sirloin for you into large cubes. Our local Harris Teeter sells "kebab" meat even that we use in a pinch but ordering it ahead of time is recommended. Once your desired meat is in large, uniform chunks, marinate it in a large zippered bag, reserving some marinade for grilling. If using a bottled marinade, an hour in the fridge is usually plenty. Homemade marinades may take a little longer.After marinated, skewer the meat and veggies of your choice alternating them on the skewer. For grilling, the trick my husband says is to get a good sear and then low and slow.

So this weekend whether it's for the game or to get you thinking about Spring, put together some kebabs! Share your combinations too!

Monthly Menu Planning - The first steps!

It's the first day in February, so if you have decided to try your hand at planning meals for the month, today is the day to start! or if you're like me, when the previous month ends at the beginning of the week, you already have this week planned out!

The first step whenever you meal plan is to plan meals for when they will be eaten. I know that sounds crazy, but a lot of people take the time to plan out a menu and then forget Timmy's soccer practice or the Girl's Night Out or that the husband will be out of town on business. So the first step is to fill in all of the evenings you know that your meal will be taken care of (i.e. a party or night out) and all of the evenings that you will need a quick meal or only need to feed part of the family. For example, my husband's EMS duties go on first since he works a 6PM-6AM shift and I know I only have to cook for me and the kids. Next week, I only have to plan for two meals because we have meal related activities outside the house the rest of the week!

Once that's done, the task doesn't seem as daunting because you realize you don't need to dream up a meal for EVERY SINGLE NIGHT...some nights it will be okay to have take-out. The key is to plan for it!

Now in regards to the "busy" nights, those are perfect nights to bring out the meals you have frozen or the trusty crock-pot. The less stress on you when you or your family get home, the better the meal will be, no matter what it is! If you know you have some nights you are looking to crock-pot, take a look at your local grocery store sales and find some recipes that involve cuts of meat on sale. Better yet, raid that freezer of yours where you stockpiled stuff the last time it went on sale!

With the busy nights filled out, the next task (and my next segment on meal planning) will involve planning the meals you have time to prep, pre-prepare and plan with existing ingredients, store finds and of course, leftovers!

If you ever have specific questions, let me know! Remember, I am happy to do the stealing of good ideas for you!