Mid-Week Check In

I know Wednesday is mid-week for the rest of the world. Since I start my menu on Thursdays, Sunday or Monday ends up being my mid-week. I thought I'd post a quick update on food, weight loss, and... gardening!

Food
Thursday's lentil and black bean chili was quite tasty but not well-received by the kidlets. The recipe called for some optional cayenne pepper, and I decided to add it since we were a bit short on chili powder. I'm pretty sure the kids would have eaten more of the chili had I skipped or reduced the cayenne.

Friday's dinner was nothing extraordinary, but I have managed to move my kids from regular fish sticks to a slightly less stick-like fish. Trader Joe's makes breaded halibut and breaded cod, both of which do not have stick shapes. Sure they are still breaded, pseudo-fried fish products, but they have a bit more verisimilitude to them.

Saturday we had delicious chicken on the grilled with Montreal Steak Spice (yes, steak spice and not chicken spice). I was excited to make the spice-roasted butternut squash again, but neither of my kids would eat it. Wah. Caleb declared it too sweet, which in turn meant Ellie wouldn't do more than lick it. On the bright side, both kids ate salad without dressing.

On Sunday, Aaron called for leftovers because our fridge was a bit full. OK, more than full. :)

As for tonight, I'm a bit nervous about presenting Mexican brown rice casserole to my kids again since they both summarily rejected it last time. I'll have to consider the spicing to see if I can make it more palatable to them.

Weight Loss
I've been in maintenance mode for the past month or so. Weight Watchers has this idea that if you maintain your goal weight for 6 weeks, you become a lifetime member. Lifetime membership means you no longer pay a monthly fee for meetings and online tools. This week will be my 6th weigh-in during maintenance, and I'm a bit nervous since I've been wobbling around between 150 and 152.4. I need to be at or below 152 to hit lifetime, and Ben and Jerry's Milk & Cookies is killing me. I would have hoped to learn some better self-control in the last year, but apparently I still have that battle.

I did make a decision to rid myself of many clothes which no longer fit. I promised myself never to be able to fit in those clothes again, so maybe a lack of internal self-control can be helped with some external controls.

Gardening
Several of my friends started their seeds indoors weeks ago. They are so organized, ordering their seeds, planning their plots. I am not so organized and I got angry at New England's weather. We had snow on April 1 (not a funny April Fools' joke), and today the weather wasn't sure whether to rain or snow. I don't trust my seeds outdoors in this weather, and I don't have enough gardening-savvy to start seeds indoors. Besides I or the WonderBeast kills any living green thing in the house. So I'm still waiting to plant outdoors.

BUT, I turned dirt! The kids and I took shovels and dug into our raised beds to "stir" the dirt. I raked it level when we were done. We also are able to resume composting now that the bin is accessible again. The snow had covered it and frozen it shut. I feel much better not wasting our food scraps. I probably should review composting to see whether I can speed up the process given our lousy temperatures. Anyway, now that we turned dirt, I can start to think about crops and layout/spacing.

I'm looking forward to keeping you posted on our garden (see the old posts for what you can look forward to!) and our eating experiences.

Back to the Posting

The lack of posting has so many reasons:

• Travel out of state for a week
• Caleb's birthday upon returning
• Work-life-blog balance issues

Excuses aside, I'm back to the blogging with this week's meal plan - dinners only.

Thursday: lentil and black bean chili
Friday: fish, green veggie (probably broccoli), brown rice, challah
Saturday: chicken - maybe on the grill?, spice roasted butternut squash, salad
Sunday: Aaron's call since I don't get home until 3ish
Monday: Mexican brown rice casserole - hoping for better reception by the kidlets.
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: Special dinner with Aaron (i.e., PIZZA!!!)

When I have a bit more time to post (i.e., I need to pay attention to the aforementioned kidlets), I will write about Caleb's birthday party food.

Good eats!

Meal Plan: 2/24 - 3/2

I didn't post a meal plan last week because I was in a weight-loss funk. I had hit a nasty plateau in my weight-loss journey and I just didn't want to plan diddley-squat. I did end up with a plan for the week, but I never got around to posting it here. I did post 2 of the recipes, so I hope someone reading will enjoy those.

The plateau ended this week - huzzah! I reached my weight-loss goal, and so I'm feeling much better about my eating and cooking decisions. I didn't use my meeting time to write a menu last night, so I scrambled to put one together this morning. The scrambling was because I needed to figure out whether I would have to go to the store today or if procrastination was an option. Procrastination it is!

Thursday
Since Aaron is having a "man-date" this evening, I'm going to cook up the Trader Joe's BBQ teriyaki chicken with jasmine rice for the kids. I doubt this is the healthiest option for any of us, so my plan is to finish off the split pea soup we have.

Friday
Our usual Shabbat dinner: fish, green veggie, brown rice. I imagine we'll stick with broccoli for the green veggie, but I have been craving asparagus. It's just not the right season for it. I can wait until some semblance of Spring.

Saturday
Aaron has been asking to make grilled chicken or chicken in the slow-cooker. Honey, you're up!

Sunday
Soup and bread. I think I'll use up another butternut squash, but I might see whether the sugar pumpkin on my counter is still usable and go for the Tuscan Pumpkin-White Bean instead.

Monday
Since the turkey meatballs were a big hit, I'm going to try my hand at some turkey burgers. I'll need to decide on a recipe and a side dish, but I'm excited to try some new things. Besides, I found one of those hamburger maker things - you know, the thing you put the meat in and squish it down with a round plastic thing? Yeah, I'm really technical here. I've been itching to try it out.

Tuesday
Cheesy lentil rice casserole will make a reappearance on the menu. I love that I can use up extra veggies in it and that the kids eat it without complaint.

Wednesday
Pasta night for the kids; splurge night for me and Aaron. :)

What's on the menu at your house this week?

Menu Plan from Memory

After this week's grumpy weigh-in, I decided I needed to focus on what I could control. I thought about what didn't work this week and last week. I realized that coming up with a plan was not enough. I think I come up with reasonable plans, plans which should help me lose and eventually maintain a healthy weight. I need actually to stick to the plan. I decided to commit to actually sticking with my menu plan.

Besides sticking to my own plan (and by extension to the WW method), I committed to drinking water first before soda and writing down what I eat. I am going to track, just like I did for so many of the past months. It keeps me honest and often makes me think twice about buying that bakery cookie (grf).

Realizing that only I can keep myself accountable, I'm just going to put my request out there. Anyone up for checking in with me around Sunday or Monday to see how I'm doing with sticking to this plan?

Thursday
Turkey chili-mac (8 PointsPlus/serving). I have procrastinated long enough. The turkey is thawing out as I type.

Friday
The usual - fish, green vegetable, brown rice or potato (haven't decided), challah. I'll need to calculate points, but I remember that most fish I like is a bit costly, between 6 and 9 PointsPlus for about 6 oz.

Saturday
Baked chicken (3 PointsPlus/serving), not sure of sides yet. I'd really like something like kale, but I doubt we'll find that at the market. If I don't do the potatoes on Friday, I will make the mustard potatoes as well. Based on the last time I made this, I'm going to make a few pieces that are less seasoned for the kids.

Sunday
Anyone's guess. :) Seriously, I'm at work on Sunday and have a meeting after work, so I'm hoping Aaron will step up with something yummy.

Monday
Soup and bread. I'm not sure whether I'll make split pea or 15-bean soup. I'll need to calculate or estimate points for the 15-bean soup to see whether it fits with the rest of my food. The soups I make tend to be between 2 and 4 PointsPlus per serving, but I'm not sure how many the 15-bean soup is because I usually add chicken sausage.

Tuesday
I'm drawing a blank here. I know I wrote something good down last night on my food tracker, and my memory is just coming up empty. Grf. I'll update when I have my written copy in front of me.

Wednesday
Pasta for the kids. Pizza for me and Aaron. I'm not even discussing PointsPlus for this night. I strongly believe that letting loose once in a while, or once a week, is OK and probably a healthy choice for many people. I can't stand feeling constrained, so my "binge night" helps me. First, I don't have to think about the healthiness of the food. Second, eating crappy for a night reminds me why I prefer to eat healthier.

What's for dinner at your house this week?

Monday Meal Plan Revised

I spent the so-called quiet time trying to make Hebrew fonts work in my ancient master's paper, so when I left to pick up my son from preschool, I didn't realize I should have already prepared dinner and put it in the oven. That is, we were supposed to have cheesy lentil rice casserole tonight, but it takes 90 minutes to bake, and I didn't start it before picking up my son and husband.

At 5:22PM, I had no idea what to make for supper. I suggested the ignored turkey chili-mac, and Aaron suggested the pseudo-Mexican food. Aaron wasn't ready for more chili yet, and I want a WW/weight-loss friendly recipe for Mexican food. Aaron thought we still had leftovers (wrong). As we pulled in the driveway around 5:30PM, Aaron said "How about I leave you alone, entertain the kids and you figure it out?"

OK then. :)

As I type, butternut squash soup is bubbling on the stove. In the process of making the soup, I sorted through the squash we harvested in the early fall to figure out which had gone past their prime (fuzzy squash = yuck). I even had celery to be used up since I hadn't used it as the fun snack I anticipated. We have some bread leftover from having friends over on Saturday, so I think we'll still end up with a pretty yummy meal even as we diverge from plan yet more.

And there goes the kitchen timer!

Plan in Progress

Another week of planning ignored! My weight loss effort would go much better if I stuck to a plan. At WW, they say "you gotta have a plan." Having a plan is at least half the battle. Sticking to it seems to be the tough part for me.

Thursday was on plan until dinner. Aaron and I decided we had so many leftovers that new food was not in order yet. And by on plan, I actually mean that the meals followed the meal plan, not that I ate healthfully. I think I need to get rid of the cookie dough in my house. Wah. I have no will power.

Friday was on plan except for the lunch. I intended to have leftover Thursday dinner, but instead I had some other leftovers for lunch (chicken and potatoes, I think).

On Saturday, I ate some fruit before Aaron got back from skating with Caleb. We did in fact have a fantastic omelet - spinach, onions, and red peppers. It was SO good. Lunch was not tuna salad, and in fact I'm not sure what I ate. Hmm... I'm supposed to be writing down my food intake per WW. Why am I sabotaging myself after I set a goal? Grf. Saturday dinner was changed because we invited our vegetarian friends over. Aaron made a delicious vegetarian chili, and I baked bread. It was quite yummy, and it would have been a healthy dinner had I controlled how much bread and cookie I ate.

Today is Sunday. I actually made my own breakfast AND lunch this week. Instead of a fantastic sandwich, I took some of the leftover chili and an appropriate portion of bread with a Laughing Cow cheese. Breakfast was raspberry greek yogurt over some grapes and banana slices. Aaron declared tonight another leftover night.

I *think* we'll manage to stick to our dinner plan for Monday, but I'm pretty sure Tuesday will change. We'll probably bring the chili back as a pasta sauce on Wednesday.

This week's lack of follow through has been from last-minute changes of plans like inviting over vegetarian friends on a night I had hoped to make chicken and from realizing we had too much already-made food in the fridge. Perhaps we'll have better luck following through when our fridge has fewer leftovers. The scale is not in favor of ignoring the plan, nor does it approve of the cookie dough.

Maybe people read this because they think they will find answers to their own food planning issues. I guess I'm writing this post to share how my family is muddling through food some weeks too.

How Do I Menu Plan?

As I was responding to a FB friend about how I plan a weekly menu, I realized I probably could write about it here, and maybe I could write somewhat coherently about my experience of menu planning.

Menu planning has evolved in our family. I don't remember when we started being pretty regular about planning, and perhaps we aren't quite as regular at it as I would like to imagine. I do remember a time when menu planning was more like "hmm, what's for dinner tonight?" I'm also pretty sure that time was well before we had kids, or at least before we had kids eating table foods. Sometime between the "what's for dinner" time and now, I've tried different ways of planning what we will eat.

Menu planning has become crucial to my weight management. Without a plan, I eat whatever is around, and that may or may not be a healthy choice. Menu planning is not all about my weight management though. Menu planning gives me a chance to explore new recipes and try to have a reasonably diverse diet. I love pasta, but it is better for everyone if I eat something other than pasta for dinner. Menu planning also gives me a chance to think about my weekly schedule from a different perspective. When do I have the opportunity to cook? When am I more rushed and in need of something quicker? Thinking about my schedule in this way has helped me not forget about appointments, activities, and various commitments. It actually keeps me organized in non-food ways, weird as that seems.

And to be perfectly blunt, I'm a bit of a control freak (yeah yeah, I know my friends are all saying "a bit???"). Menu planning is an opportunity to control something which is nearly completely controllable (unlike #*!& ice dams).

Here is how I plan a week of food.

• I pick a day/time to do my planning. For me, this usually is Wednesday night or Thursday morning since I have my Weight Watchers meeting on Wednesday and prefer to do my grocery shopping in the second half of the week.
• I think about my schedule and the family's schedule for the week. When I will be out? When am I in a hurry? When do I have time to cook something requiring more attention?
• I think about types of meals I might like for that week or types of meals someone has requested. To do this, I actually made a list of our most frequently consumed meals and categorized them by "genre" (e.g., pasta, chicken, fish, vegetarian, "Mexican," etc.). This list making took under 15 minutes. As I think about meal types, I can refer to the list and consider family favorites (pasta night = pesto tortellini; chicken might = chicken fingers or baked chicken or chicken shepherd pie, etc.).
• I try to make sure a few meals will leave leftovers for lunches.
• I match the type of meal to a specific recipe/idea while considering schedule. For example, when I have time to cook, I might choose to make chicken fingers with green beans and potatoes. When I don't have as much time to cook, I might choose a slow-cooker soup with bread.
• I browse recipes for new ideas, esp. when I know a main ingredient but not how I want to prepare it.
  
• I plan meals for every dinner at a minimum, but I don't plan to cook new food every night. At least one night, usually 2, is up to Aaron due to my schedule. And we do order pizza or Thai food once a week.
• The last step is that I look at recipes and make a shopping list. The previous bullet points can be done in whatever order works for that week, but the grocery list is super important. I do it last so I make sure not to forget anything. I usually forget something anyway.
  

Something else that helps with my menu planning is that I have some no-cook, go to meals for when I really don't have time for anything. Mostly this applies to breakfast when I'm trying to get kids fed and out the door. I barely have time to eat on preschool mornings, so forget about actually cooking anything! These basic quick meals also change with time. Right now, quick breakfasts for the kids include instant oatmeal, Cheerios, and yogurt (not usually all of those at one breakfast). Ellie also sometimes will eat toast or string cheese. For me, I love Chobani Greek yogurt on top of fruit, specifically fruit requiring very little preparation. I pull off a handful of grapes, peel a clementine, quickly cut a banana. Pour yogurt on top and enjoy. It's amazingly filling, more so than a bagel with cream cheese and keeps me going longer. A few months ago, I made large batches of steel cut oatmeal in the slow cooker and would add a bit of brown sugar when I was ready to eat it. These quick breakfasts reduce the planning, and I don't have to think about food when I really don't have time.

Although there never seems to be time to plan a menu, I find that menu planning actually gives me more time during the week because I don't have to come up with food ideas while trying to do everything else. Making a bit of time each week to come up with even 2-3 dinners makes the rest of the week go more smoothly. I make fewer "emergency" trips to the grocery. I eat more healthfully which generally helps my mood and energy. Menu planning means I never get to 5:00 and ask "what's for dinner." Instead, I answer that question when my family asks, feeling competent and confident in the plan.

Meal Plan: 2/3 - 2/9

The snow is making me a bit nuts, so I'm going to try to control those things in my universe which are controllable. Can't control the damn ice dams, but I can control my food (sort of - emotional eating notwithstanding).

Thursday
Breakfast: kids will have leftover oat pancakes (nom nom nom). I will have yogurt and fruit (we have yellow bananas!!)
Lunch: I will have leftover soup. Kids will have leftover pesto ravioli.
Dinner: Ellie has been mentioning turkey chili mac over the past few days. Ask and ye shall receive.

Friday
Breakfast: yogurt/fruit for me because it's quick. oatmeal, Cheerios, yogurt, leftover pancakes (likely none by Fri.) at kids' requests.
Lunch: leftover turkey chili mac
Dinner: fish, green veggie (I think Aaron bought broccoli!), rice, challah

Saturday
Breakfast: learning from last week, I need to eat breakfast before Caleb gets back from ice skating. He needs a second breakfast after skating. I may make myself an omelet/scramble while he is out, and everyone else's food will be thrown together from standard stuff. Besides, we might go to the market again this week, and the kids usually get treats there (scones, honey bunches)
Lunch: Maybe I'll get around to making the tuna salad I mentioned last week. Thinking sandwiches, maybe soup and grilled cheese for the kids.
Dinner: I'm thinking chicken of some kind or maybe pseudo-Mexican. At least I know I'll have time to cook dinner on Saturday.

Sunday
Assuming that I am teaching (not a guarantee given the pending snow on Sat.)
Breakfast: yogurt, fruit
Lunch: yummy sandwich made by dear Aaron (my husband is awesome)
Dinner: Up to aforementioned awesome husband. Maybe he'll make a chili, but that might be too much chili in a week - is that possible?

Monday
Breakfast: standard quick stuff (non-cooking)
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Cheesy lentil rice casserole - easy to make and usually well-received.

Tuesday
Breakfast: omelet for me, whatever kids request (within reason). Maybe I could make them smoothies if I'm feeling motivated.
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Soup and bread! Not sure which soup I'm craving... ok, I know which soup I want (tuscan pumpkin white bean), but I don't have all those ingredients. SO... perhaps either butternut squash as it is close to what I'm craving OR the 15-bean since I seem also to crave protein this week.

Wednesday
Breakfast: quick stuff
Lunch: leftovers (love reruns of food)
Dinner: pasta for kids, "special dinner" for me and Aaron

Just found out that my mother-in-law will be arriving on Friday and leaving on Sunday. I may switch my chicken day with the soup day to meet everyone's dietary preferences.

I have 2 complaints about this rough plan. First, I don't have any new recipes in it. I like expanding our options. Second, I have not specified side dishes, but I tend not to plan those. In general, I aim to have a "true" vegetable for a side dish at every meal - something green or not terribly starchy - and some dishes just lend themselves to certain side dishes. Chicken tends to get green beans whereas fish tends to go with broccoli, for example. This week, Aaron chopped up some raw vegetables and set them in a bowl on the table before bringing all of the meal. The kids went to town on cucumbers, broccoli, and even tried the red bell pepper a bit. When I get stuck about vegetables, I look to our fruits. No, they are not local, but I have decided to let that battle go for the winter months. The kids have been enjoying the dark red cherries and grapes. Clementines seem past whatever peak they may have experienced, but they were good for a while. And a lot of things I have planned for this week (and I suppose more generally) don't really need side dishes. Turkey chili mac has protein, fat, and carbohydrate covered. No, it doesn't have a green vegetable, but it has lots of beans. Surely beans count for something. Cheesy lentil rice casserole is another dish that doesn't really need a side. Sure, I might want an additional texture at the meal, but nutritionally the dish covers a lot of ground.

So that's the plan, with a commentary about side dishes. It is a guideline and certainly subject to change. I'll report throughout the week to let you know how we're holding up despite the tundra in which we seem to live.

Plan? What Plan?

Normally I would have waited until I was planning next week's menu to post, but I feel a need to share some process with anyone reading this. Sidenote: I was asked by a mom at the Y whether I had any readers. I sheepishly said "maybe 10?" and tried to justify this blog's existence by saying how I write mostly for my own benefit. Anyway, I just needed to get that insecurity out of the way. On to my plan issues!

Today is Saturday night - the end of Day 3 of "THE PLAN"
Thursday: We all followed the plan! Yummy food for all. My downfall remains chocolate. I went to my neighbor's house to keep her company while she tackled her kitchen. She offered me yummy wine and British biscuits (Hobnobs, etc. - they're like cookies). I have no will power. I blame only myself.

Friday: Turns out I did not have leftover butternut squash soup as I thought. I had leftover vegetable barley casserole instead. This recipe turned out REALLY good. I'll post it in another post. Low in WW PointsPlus and pretty tasty! I also had an emotional eating binge (leftover biscuits) due to some potential health stuff. Everyone is fine now, but I'm pretty sure the scale is going to rat on me.

Saturday: I forgot we had a morning birthday party, and I decided to run for a second day in a row to attempt to balance out the biscuits. As a result of the party, I did not make bread, and we did not set up soup. Since I jogged, I did not make yummy oat pancakes. In fact, I never really had a true breakfast - a banana before jogging, a rice cake with Laughing Cow cheese before rushing to party. While at the party, we were invited to Indian buffet for lunch, and I have no will power. And let's not forget the cupcake at the party, though one cupcake in the grand scheme of things is hardly my issue. Dinner ended up being leftovers for all of us, in shifts as the kids were wiped before dinner.

SO, why do I plan? If I'm not going to stick to the plan, why have one? Why not just make it up as I go?

I suppose I like the sense of security a plan gives me. I like knowing that I have an option and the tools to make that option happen. After the kids' bedtimes tonight, Aaron said he could make the soup tomorrow as long as I make the bread dough. He isn't a baker really (all that measuring!), so this seems quite reasonable. Since dinner was up to Aaron, according to the plan, split pea soup sticks to the plan again. :)

Every day is a new day, and every day I can recommit to a plan. Plans don't have to be fixed in stone. Maybe I should consider my plan a strongly recommended guideline.

This Week's Meal Planning

After a not terribly successful week in the weight loss department (grr to cookie dough!), I decided to take a few precious moments before sleeping to do some more thoughtful meal planning.

Thursday
Breakfast: veggie omelet for me, oatmeal/yogurt for kids
Lunch: oven chicken fingers, salad?
Dinner: Vegetable Barley Casserole (recipe from WW, may need to shop!)

Friday
Breakfast: yogurt with fruit, oatmeal/yogurt/cereal for kids
Lunch: Butternut squash soup
Dinner: salmon, green veggie, brown rice, challah

Saturday
Breakfast: oat pancakes, eat fruit before Caleb's skating, make bread dough for dinner
Lunch: Sandwich - either chicken/turkey or tuna salad
Dinner: split pea soup

Sunday
Breakfast: yogurt
Lunch: sandwich, make sure to take fruit to work!
Dinner: ??? Up to Aaron

Monday
Breakfast: yogurt with fruit
Lunch: leftover soup
Dinner: WW fish n chips, should figure out a green veggie

Tuesday
Breakfast: omelet
Lunch: soup or sandwich
Dinner: Baked Chicken (recipe from WW), green veggie, dijon potatoes featured in WW weekly flyer

Wednesday
Breakfast: yogurt w/fruit
Lunch: soup, sandwich, or leftovers
Dinner: "Special Dinner with Aaron" after weigh-in

Breakfast isn't terribly inspirational. Many mornings I'm rushing to get me and the kids somewhere, and the Chobani Greek yogurt with fruit is quick and delicious (and filling!). On the days with less rushing, I tried to have more interesting breakfasts. I don't have much trouble choosing a healthy choice at lunch. I hate getting to the end of the day without a clue for dinner though. Plus having a dinner plan ends up taking care of lunch for me. :) Now I'll just need to see what shopping has to happen and make sure this plan works for Aaron!

The Week in Review

Aaron made a tasty turkey chili this week. We served it over penne, and I also had it without noodles a few times this week. The kids were not as enthused about this particular chili, but Caleb did eat it quite thoroughly when it was sent to school.

I did not seek out the shredded chicken, so pseudo-Mexican night again is postponed.

Leftovers worked out beautifully. I cannot tell you how happy I am that we cook enough for leftovers.

Cheesy lentil rice casserole remains a favorite, though Ellie is particular about getting cheesy parts.

My only complaint about the week is that it felt uninspired. This week can be better, so I'm going to spend my next post brainstorming on that.

Another week, another plan

The past few weeks have been a bit crazier than usual around here. Since Christmas, someone in the house has been sick in one way or another. Caleb had strep throat before Xmas, stomach bug as soon as we arrived at my parents' house for Xmas, and an ear infection the first week back at pre-K. Ellie had snots for most of that time, but it didn't seem serious. After Caleb had recovered from the ear infection, Ellie told me her ear hurt. I was surprised enough to take her to the doctor and discovered she had a double ear infection. The spot where Caleb's amoxicillin had been became the spot for Ellie's amoxicillin. During the kids' various illnesses, Aaron and I also caught the stomach bug 2 days after Caleb had it and contracted some kind of upper respiratory/bronchitis bug after we came home.

Why am I telling you our sick story? Because meal planning has been sketchy at best and quite boring often. We have enjoyed a lot of soup, with Caleb eating vegetable broth for one of his meals when he had the ear infection. I think we are coming into a clearing this week, so I'm going to brainstorm some food ideas and let you know how they go.

The meals from my previous meal planning post were generally well-received. Caleb enjoyed the Turkish Vegetable Stew much more than the first time. I loved my bean soup (tweaked the recipe on the bag to replace ham with chicken sausage, skipped tomatoes) and the turkey chili mac. Both the soups and the chili mac really hit the spot. It's still wicked cold here, so comfort food is in order.

The Plan:

• Chili - Aaron declared that we had too many containers of leftover tomato "product." What this means is that I use canned tomatoes (diced, crushed, etc.) but I don't use the entire can for a given recipe. I save the leftovers and sometimes forget to use the leftovers in the next recipe OR need to use whatever I didn't have leftover (e.g., recipe calls for diced and I have crushed leftover).
• Cheesy lentil rice casserole - This came up at lunch today when I was explaining to Caleb that he did in fact like the cheese we used for his grilled cheese sandwich (shredded cheddar). I told him I use shredded cheddar on the lentil casserole he likes, and Aaron said we should have that this week. I'm kicking myself for not buying more broccoli to add in, but it will be yummy without it.
• Chicken quesadillas - IF I can find already shredded chicken, I want to try the Weight Watchers recipe I found last week. We haven't had pseudo-Mexican food in a while, and we all usually like it a lot.
• Leftovers! We have most of a quart of butternut squash soup, oven chicken fingers, and a hodgepodge I can't remember while away from the kitchen. We might even have a pasta night in which we use up leftover chili as the sauce (nom nom nom - think Skyline Chili for those of you from the midwest).

Lunches for the kids will be leftovers, sandwiches, and tomato soup from Trader Joe's. Tomato soup became a favorite for Ellie this week, so I want to take advantage of the fad. I think we still have some chicken tacos from Trader Joe's too. Although I won't generally eat them (a bit too rich for my preferences), the kids really love them. I also want to have them make their own mini-pizzas in the near future, but that will require a bit of grocery shopping, so I'm pretty sure that project isn't happening this week.

Tonight what I'm really craving (again...*sigh*) is a really good moist brownie. This does not help my weight loss efforts in the least, and I'm so ridiculously close to my goal that I almost want to just fast for a day to be there. Not a healthy choice AT ALL, but I'm less than a pound away!! Anyway, my body is rebelling and begging for baked goods. Damn winter for triggering my desire to carbo-load and hibernate! Still if anyone has a truly magnificent brownie recipe, please let me know. :)

Dinners Planned for This Week

I don't make New Year's Resolutions usually, but I would like to make a better effort at regular meal planning not just for this year or because it is the new year.

Reading other meal plans online is helpful to me. My friend Renee over at Beyond Rice and Tofu plans her meals in part due to her celiac disease. I find her consistency and diligence inspiring. When I do post a meal plan, I hope that it keeps me on track but I also hope that maybe someone else decides to try something new or give the planning a try. I would love to hear from readers about what you're eating and what works for you for meal planning.

I KNOW how much easier our lives are when I plan our dinners in advance. Fortunately, I am blessed to have a husband who cooks well, so meal planning means we can decide who will cook when based on our schedules. Meal planning theoretically saves us money at the grocery because we buy what we need and we don't make unplanned extra trips in the middle of the week. Meal planning also gives my kids a chance to say what they might like to eat that week. I think giving kids some say in their food choices is important and increases the chances of kids eating well.

This week is a pretty laid back week for us because Aaron is not back at work yet and I don't have to teach until next Sunday. Nevertheless, we're making meals which are pretty easy to prepare and easy to make double portions for leftovers. I think winter is partly responsible for our menu. After all, winter screams comfort food like casseroles and soups. Plus, the kids end up indoors more than they would be in the summer, so they get a bit restless by the time I want to start cooking. As much as I enjoy cooking with kids, sometimes it really is easier to do it myself.

In no particular order, here are the dinners we have planned for this week:

• Cheesy lentil rice casserole - This actually is baking as I type! I will be forever indebted to my friend Cathy for this recipe.
• Soup night - I'd like to make butternut squash soup since we have a ton of squash. Caleb wants split pea soup. I also picked up a 15-bean soup mix at the grocery. All 3 are very healthy and delicious, and I'll make the so-called 5-minute artisan bread to go with whichever soup we pick.
• Chicken - No recipe picked yet, and this is Aaron's meal. He suggested he'll bake it with Montreal chicken spice (yum!) OR fry it if I'm OK with that preparation style. I'm leaning toward the baked one of course.
  
• Turkish Vegetable Stew with Israeli couscous - I made this over the summer when I had more fresh local produce, but I think it would feel better in the winter. It wasn't a huge success with the kids, but it wasn't a flop either. Besides, Aaron and I like it.
  
• Whole-wheat chili mac (aka Turkey Chili Mac) - Our latest obsession. I don't think I could rave enough about this meal. It's a classic and reminds me of childhood.
  

Evaluating this week's plan
Needs/wants met:
Aaron wanted chicken. Caleb wants pea soup. The kids love the chili mac. All of the recipes are very Weight Watchers friendly.

Potential downfalls:
I haven't decided the order yet other than to know that I'll make the soup and bread on Tuesday when our friends are planning to visit. I'm not sure they are staying for dinner (unlikely, I think), but the smell of bread rising makes for lovely visits. Most of the meals are quite easy to prepare, but the vegetable stew requires a lot of chopping time, so we might not get to it which would mean a very sad eggplant.

Other considerations:
My son desperately wants more social time this week, so at least I have some good meals planned if we do end up with dinner guests. I realize I probably have more meals planned than necessary. I rather would have too many meals than not enough. All of these meals leave us with leftovers, which certainly helps with lunches but also for those nights when we say "I don't wanna cook!"

Update on Meals of the Week

On Monday, I made a meal plan. Then I made Oven Chicken Fingers, green beans, and broccoli. The broccoli was leftover and the green beans just needed to be heated up. The chicken fingers were received well by all. The last of them were eaten today at lunch.

On Tuesday, I continued my meal plan, excited that the first day had gone well. I made Tuscan Pumpkin-White Bean soup with a side of cornbread. Unbeknownst to me, the pumpkin goo had turned bad on us. I didn't realize this until we sat down to eat. After the big blech, all I can say is "wah." At least the bread was delicious and we still had leftover latkes.

Today Aaron made pesto tortellini for the kids, and he and I had our "special" dinner after I returned from my Weight Watchers meeting.

Tomorrow brings turkey burgers and squash, as well as grocery shopping. This weekend, Aaron goes to Florida, so I know I need to get a plan in place so that I don't have to think about meals while he is gone. I think I'm sensing cheesy lentil rice casserole in our future.

Menu Pondering...

This morning Aaron asked me if I had any ideas for dinner tonight. Yeah, menu planning is not happening around here lately. :( He suggested the leftover latkes (yum yum) or turkey burgers. Since I sent latkes with Caleb for lunch today, I'm not loving the idea of more of the same for dinner. I like variety in our diets. I figure variety helps give us the nutrients and vitamins we need AND keeps us from getting bored with food. Turkey burgers feel a bit uninspired though, so I thought I should try to come up with some food for the week.

Some ingredients I have on hand:
Proteins - turkey, chicken
Fruits/Vegetables - cranberries, clementines, bananas, various root vegetables and winter squash such as butternut, broccoli?, green beans
Carbohydrates - tortillas, rice, pasta, various breads

Yes, there is more food than that in the house. :)

Some meal ideas:

• chicken fingers breaded with seasoned panko, side dish of green vegetable
• turkey burgers with side dish of spice-roasted butternut squash and perhaps another starch the kids prefer like potatoes
• pumpkin-white bean soup with bread (I have much pumpkin goo)
• Friday night will be fish and such.

Aaron still can do pasta for Wednesday night with the kids. I get back into a cooking groove without having to cook too intensely since the turkey burgers are pre-made. I would prefer to make our own, but Aaron really likes the ones we have. Hmph.

I'm going to let those ideas stew (pun intended) and check out WW for other recipe ideas.

What are you eating this week?

Menu Planning Attempts again

We need menus here. We need regularly planned meals. It makes for much easier grocery shopping, saves money (really!), and reduces stress all around. Months ago, maybe even a year ago, I made a list of favorite meals and sorted that list by type of food (e.g., chicken v. pasta v. veggie). For reasons not entirely clear to me, that list isn't working for me. I don't feel inspired to make any of it, even though I know the choices are good choices. For example:

Veggie enchiladas (easily made into chicken enchiladas)
Potato frittata
Summer squash casserole

Part of my trouble with the recipes I love most is a simple matter of calories. If I want to continue to lose weight, I cannot eat large quantities of cheesy, creamy foods, and small quantities generally don't fill me up.

Part of the trouble comes down to seasonal issues. I don't like using the oven when it is 90+ degrees outside. We don't have central air, and our window a/c units keep the house pleasant until I turn on the oven. I don't like humid hot spaces.

When I address the seasonal issues, I don't find great options for the kids since they don't really do salad like I would. They will eat raw cut veggies, but veggies generally are sides for them rather than entire meals.

When I address the calorie issue, I find that the food is hit or miss with the kids. Grf.

Maybe I need to set aside one evening a week to do loads and loads of cooking. Get all the hot stuff made and ready to be reheated, store in fridge and use as appropriate. And this idea brings me right back to menu planning. If I'm going to cook at least a week of meals in advance, then I need to know what those meals are. Since we get our farm share box on Mondays, maybe I can try to do my planning on Monday? I'm not sure when I/we will do other grocery shopping in the fall, but maybe Tuesday will work even though that including the kids. In theory, including kids in grocery shopping is good - they learn about where food is bought (not its actual origin), and they can feel helpful when given small tasks. In reality, my experience of grocery shopping with kids is not so great. There is often much whining about who sits where and for "sample cheese" (icky white American cheese from deli counter).

Do you plan a menu for your family? How do you decide what to eat each week? Do you plan the menu and then shop or the other way around? Share what works and doesn't!

Meal Plan - Belated

On Thursday or Friday of last week, we made a meal plan for our dinners. Here goes:

Friday: Shabbat dinner (fish, green, rice, challah). We ended up with salmon steaks, a veritable cornucopia of vegetables (kale, grilled zucc/summer squash, corn, green beans), brown rice, and challah.

Saturday: We were invited to our neighbors' house for dinner. It was delish! Tandoori chicken, cucumber salad (must get this recipe!), and my memory fails me on the rest. I brought over a peach cobbler.

Sunday: Aaron grilled up more chicken. I made an orange cilantro quinoa saute which I liked a lot, but Aaron was not sure about. Neither kid liked it. Oh well, I will keep looking for quinoa recipes.

Monday: Fish and chips courtesy of a Weight Watchers recipe. This was REALLY good. Ketchup saved the day for the kids, but Aaron and I enjoyed it straight. I also served up a side of steamed green beans from the CSA box.

Tuesday: Pasta night. I have my cake decorating class, so we're keeping it simple. I'm not sure yet what the pasta dish will be or what we may serve with it.

Wednesday: Pizza for the kids; "special dinner" for me and Aaron. Wednesday is my weigh-in night, so Aaron and I get take-out (Thai or pizza) after the kids' bedtime. I like to have one night when I eat not healthfully and then I start fresh with my healthy eating the next day.

Thursday: This will probably be a leftover night, but I'd like to focus on vegetables too.

I hope you have a yummy week!

Meals Eaten and Meals Planned

The weather has been getting rather ridiculously hot, so cooking has become less enjoyable. Well, at least cooking in the kitchen is less enjoyable. This past week gave Aaron the opportunity to prepare various grilled goodies. Here is what our weekend eating looked like.

Friday Dinner
Friday dinner is special to me and Aaron. We hope it will become special to our kids. We celebrate the start of the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) at this meal. We have a fixed menu which seems to be reasonably successful for all of us.

Fish - this week we had baked rainbow trout with parsley, sage, rosemary, and no it did not have thyme because I was out of thyme. :P I added some black pepper though.

Green vegetable - we had our garden's first pole beans which are not quite green and not quite yellow. Aaron thinks they are yellow, but I know I planted both yellow and green. We also had kale with carmelized onions. It turns out that Caleb likes kale this year. I don't remember whether he likes this preparation of it last year.

Rice and challah - we eat brown rice, and the challah comes from Rosenfeld's Bagels usually. Sometimes we have Cheryl Ann's challah, but we all seem to like Rosenfeld's better.

Saturday
Breakfast - The kids probably had instant oatmeal and/or yogurt. I *think* I made eggs for me and Aaron. Breakfasts in our house are extraordinarily repetitive and usually made to save time.

Lunch - Again struggling with my fuzzy memory, the kids likely had PB&J with some side of cucumbers and a fruit. I think this was the day I made a mighty fine tuna salad - tuna, lots of spicy mustard, some red onion, and frozen peas.

Dinner - Aaron grilled chicken from Chestnut Farms, seasoned with Montreal Chicken Spice. We also had grilled zucchini and summer squash and some fantastic focaccia from Natick's Bakery on the Common. The bread unsurprisingly got rave reviews from the kids. Caleb devoured the chicken and vetoed the summer squash. Ellie picked. After the kids went to bed, we enjoyed some homemade chocolate ice cream.

Sunday
Breakfast - Aaron bought bagels from Bakery on the Common, and we had lox, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes to add to the cream cheese. The kids had mixed reactions to all of the above. Caleb thought he would like the asiago cheese bagel (no), but in fact preferred the multigrain. Ellie thought she wanted cream cheese AND a bagel, but she probably would have preferred just the cream cheese. Both kids have loved lox in the past, but they seemed less in love with it this time.

Lunch - We spent our morning at the pond. The kids and the men ate lunch at the pond. This meant more PB&J. I also packed cucumber and carrot sticks, raspberries and blueberries. No food made it back to the house.

Dinner - Aaron prepared more yummy grillables! Chicken sausages from Trader Joe's and turkey burgers from BJ's. We also had some kale with carmelized onions (Aaron's favorite way of eating kale), and the last of our corn from the freezer. After dinner, we enjoyed making s'mores with some neighbors.

As I look over these meals, I don't think we're making anything terribly fancy or interesting. We probably give our kids entirely too much PB&J. And based on their lack of eating at the Indian restaurant today, I fear their palates may have forgotten how to eat well-spiced/seasoned foods.

Meals to Come
I mentioned in the previous post that we have to cook with beets this week. I'm sure we will have roasted beets since I know Aaron likes them, but I also know the kids are less enamored with that preparation. I'm going to do some more research on beet recipes to see if I can find something more palatable to my kids.

I also mentioned that we have much squash to consume. I fear I may have to bake enchiladas this week just to dispose of the beautiful fruits. Oven + 90 degree weather = yuck. I may do some more recipe reading to see what else the squash can do besides breads.

Surprisingly, the hardest CSA food for me to find a use for are the peas. My kids are hit or miss with them. I forget about them and they lose their yumminess then. Suggestions for snap peas are very welcome!

OK, I have cookies to bake for a class I'm taking, so I must sign off. Good eating to everyone!

CSA Pickup

Yesterday we picked up our box of yumminess, so I thought I would report. The only sadness was that strawberries are done. :( In their place, we got a quart of blueberries. Here was our share:

• 2 bunches of kale (not sure the variety, but at least one was crinkly leaved)
  
• 2 bunches of beets (red and golden)
• 2 or 3 zucchini
• 2 or 3 summer squash
• 2 cucumbers
• about a pound of shell peas
• 2 heads of lettuce (Romaine and Boston Green)
• 2 bunches of arugula
• 1 quart of blueberries

I think I remembered everything this time. For dinner last night, I took one of the zucchini from our box and a golden zucchini from the farmers' market and instructed Aaron in making zucchini-potato pancakes according to Weight Watchers. They were yummy!

I'm considering making a banana blueberry bread I saw on AllRecipes, and I'd love to get my neighbor's recipe for the beet salad she brought over the other night. Other than that, I'm a bit stumped on meals for the week. It's been ridiculously hot and humid for the past few days, so cooking has felt rather unappealing. Hot stove or oven in hot weather leads to a very grumpy me. I welcome cold meal ideas!

Garden, Food, SO much happening!

Where to start? So much has been happening, and I seem unable to find time to update here. Daily swim lessons mean my mornings are consumed with time at our local pond. Until this week, I hadn't made a reasonable attempt at meal planning in weeks. Yes, I know I had tried some Weight Watchers recipes, but I didn't even get through the 3 I picked! Oy! On with some updates...

Garden
We have a veritable jungle in our raised beds. The pole beans are lush tipis and are beginning to flower. The carrots look like a mass of parsley. The misplanted squash (squash which inadvertently ended up in the big bed) is trying to take over the entire bed, but at least it is flowering beautifully. We even think the peppers might have sprouted at long last. I must remember to take pictures to share with you!

The only failure thus far has been the swiss chard. I will have to figure out a better way to plant chard in the future if I want to try to grow our own.

Our lettuce survived Ellie's enthusiastic and untimely harvesting, so we are still enjoying salads and crunchiness on our sandwiches. Our basil has grown enough that we made a small batch of pesto today. Caleb LOVES pesto. Love is an understatement in this case.

Food
The lentil burger recipe I tried was basically a bust as far as creating something that would make a burger. Aaron saved the recipe by adding several eggs, and the kids actually did eat the burgers. I think I will cook the lentils MUCH longer next time to see if I can avoid using an egg (saves on the WW points).

Tonight's dinner will be grilled Moroccan chicken kabobs. Caleb is looking forward to it, so at least 3 of us ought to enjoy the meal.

I made a crustless swiss chard quiche thanks to having delicious chard from Stillman's, and the kids really do love it. I think I may have to create a page just for recipes and link from daily posts to it.

Looking forward
As summer continues, we are looking forward to more fruit from our CSA and the farmers' markets. We have been enjoying strawberries and raspberries tremendously. The kids are not as enamored with blueberries as I recall, but I'm happy to have the locally grown fruit.

I'm excited to watch our garden's flowers become food and to watch my kids' excitement at the impending harvests. Both kids helped pluck basil leaves for the pesto we ate today, so I'm sure they will enjoy more picking as the season arrives.

My remaining challenge is summed up in my blog's title - meal planning. I truly have forgotten how to set aside to do this very simple yet important task. I am hoping that the box of goodies from the CSA will re-inspire me to get back to it. Cooking for my family is SO much easier when I plan.

In the meantime, I'll try to post garden pictures soon!