First I will tell you of my major accomplishment for the month of July - and no it's not that I actually finished all my painting. *sigh* We sat down on Sunday, June 29th and made a menu/meal plan. And not just for the week, but for the ENTIRE month of July plus the first two days of August! (There are only two repeat meals.) I have wanted to do that for a long time because it means I don't have to devote useless time in my day to determining what we will be eating for dinner. I can look ahead the day before, see what we're having, thaw the requisite meat or chop the veggies or otherwise prepare ingredients all ahead of time. It is also saving us money because this way we are buying groceries for a very specific purpose and we will use exactly what we buy and will hopefully waste next to nothing. Of course, this major menu feat has become a bit of an obsession now. I might actually spend MORE time thinking about what we're going to eat because we have so many exciting things on the menu and new recipes I can't wait to try.
Now getting back to the WIU challenge. The idea is to try one new recipe each week for the next eight weeks. (We will be away for two weeks in August, but will probably be eating new things while we're away and will probably also have our computer along so I will attempt to post during those weeks too. ) I thought I would give you a sneak preview of the recipes we're planning to try. These aren't set in stone and we tried to choose a variety, but it's summer and summer is for light easy foods that don't require much effort so that's primarily what we will be attempting. In no specific order, the recipe experiments will be:
1. Pizza Pasta Salad.
2. Easy Peasy Orzo Salad. (This is from an old issue of Reader's Digest and I will write out the recipe when I post about it.)
3. Apple Dumplings - maybe
or Key Lime Pie.
4. Southwestern Bean Salad.
5. Cottage Cheese (yes, from scratch).
6. Lemon Pudding Souffle.
7. Bacon, Cheese, & Tomato Crescents.
8. Citrus-Pineapple Salsa.
The only problem is that six of the eight recipes are all on the menu plan in the next three weeks which means we need more recipe ideas. So, give me some suggestions - if I try your recipe (and love it!) your prize will be my gratitude....or maybe something a little more tangible. Okay, for real something a little more tangible because I just made one of what I think the prize can be and it was easy enough to do again. So yes, there will be a PRIZE. And no, this contest will be in no way related to the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival which is a mere three weeks away. THREE WEEKS!
7 comments:
Ooh, I vote apple dumplings!
And don't forget, for WIU, you can only "cash in" two recipes each week, so stretch those new recipes out!
We do a weekly menu. The meals get repeated often, because I'm lazy and uncreative, and, why mess with a good thing?
My most recent fave recipe has to be Chilled Strawberry Soup. It is in the Simply In Season cookbook (by the makers of More-with-Less) It is super easy, and delicious, but the recipe book is upstairs, and I already told you I'm lazy...
Mmm, key lime pie!
Okay, going from my food blog alone, I'd suggest:
Spanish Lentil and Sausage Soup
Black Bean and Rice Burgers
Cornmeal Crusted Pizza Casserole Thing
Ooh! I might have to stop back and make some of those recipes. They sound fabulous. I made a new one last night, and I really like it. Here's a link:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-Bean-Salad/Detail.aspx
Plus, beans = cheap protein.
I got this idea from the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. She puts all kinds of veggie purees in her kids' food to get them to eat their veggies. So today, I decided I was going to try something.
I took some tilapia filets, made some carrot puree and mixed it with an egg in one dish. Then in another dish I put some wheat bread crumbs, some salt, pepper and creole seasoning. I heated some oil in a pan, dipped the fish first in the carrot and egg mix, then in the bread crumbs mix. Then pan fried it. It was the BEST fish I have EVER tasted. Amazing!! I'm going to do this more often :)
Also I made a salad with black beans, corn, peas, some lime juice, rice vinegar and salt and pepper. I served it all with fresh strawberries and it was one good meal.
I hae got to get my act together and start making meal plans - what am I waiting for?!? Maybe when school starts and the kids are back in school I will make that my goal.
See you soon - Kellan
We do a weekly menu for shopping and planning purposes, and it is the best thing ever.
A lot of my favorite recipes are up on my recipe blog. I think you've seen it before? But if not, you can find it here.
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