I Got My Life Back

Maybe I'll actually have time to blog again now that circumstances at work are no longer hell and my home is gradually starting to look less like a disaster depot.

Accomplishments Today:
- free dinner from office bbq
- rescued a bunch of food from the office bbq that was going to go to waste, socked it away in the fridge and freezer
- 20-min kitchen cleanup and 20-min living room/dining room clean up with all 3 of my wonderful helpers

Home Finances Work:
- updated our budget status with mint.com and reviewed progress against goals (evaluation: pretty darn good, except that the economy is dragging against our net worth goal, and our dinners-out, SBUX habits from the past few months has put us way over in the "entertainment" category
- reviewed various deal sites, decided to subscribe to the zootles animal magazine for the girls for two years -- referrer link if you must know :) -- make sure you dig up a coupon code from RetailMeNot if you go for the deal, save an extra 15%. Also, make sure you pick a school to send a bonus 5% of your purchase. Parent Coop for Early Learning in Chicago, IL is a good choice ;)
- convinced myself that since we're not really out of anything and have a jam-packed-full fridge and freezers, plus fruit & vegetable boxes to pick up today, we don't need to do any shopping this weekend and we can stay home.

Next tasks:
- meal plan for the next week
- clean up back entry and front entry
- make some homemade tortillas, because they're yummy

Meal Plan for 2/14/2011

Resuming the weekly householding struggle...besides having almost no time to cook or clean, I've got a broken dryer, a broken oven, a broken washing machine, and my freezer won't make ice. I think there's got to be a country song about that.

Providing I have a successful grocery shopping trip in a few hours, here's the plan....

To prep:
- freezer-friendly mac & cheese - cook's country
- sour cherry scones
- rum raisin scones
- Lasagna
- apple cider muffins
- healthified carrot cake - cook's country
- victoria sponge cake - how to eat

Category A: 30 minutes
- Frozen taquitos + salad, rice
- Lasagna from prep list + breadsticks & salad
- chicken tortilla soup + salad w/almond cilantro dressing - RR p 35
- chicken marvalasala - RR p 42

Category B: 60 minutes
- Ravioli with spinach & sauce

Category C: 30 minutes
- basic roast chicken from How to Eat
- steak bearnaise from How to Eat, sauteed mushrooms & mashed potatoes

Weekend Breakfast:
Eggs

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Cereal
Yogurt
Peaches

Drinks:
OJ
Milk
Chai
Sodas

Meal plan update - 2/3/2011

To prep:
- freezer-friendly mac & cheese in cook's country magazine
- cinnamon orange scones
- sour cherry scones
- rum raisin scones

Category A: 30 minutes
Frozen taquitos + salad, rice

Category B: 60 minutes
Ravioli with spinach & sauce
Lamb Rogan Josh
Pork cutlets applesauce something

Category C: 90 minutes
- basic roast chicken from How to Eat
- steak bearnaise from How to Eat, sauteed mushrooms & mashed potatoes
- Lasagna

Weekend Breakfast:
Eggs

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Cereal
Yogurt
Oranges
Peaches

Drinks:
OJ
Milk
Chai
Sodas

Recipe Review + Meal plan update - 1/30/2011

Chocolate chip espresso scones. They are in fact as delicious as they sound. I am love-love-loving The Craft of Baking. The flavor is great as you'd expect, but what's fun about these is that they have an incredibly tender crumb. The key technique in the first recipe in the book (aforementioned scones) seems to be keeping the bits of butter quite cold, including sticking the bowl into the freezer in the middle of making them. I ended up having to use some extra water after putting them in the freezer for longer than the recommended 15 minutes, but they don't seem to have suffered from that at all. The recipe says they will keep in the freezer a while, so I put them into baggies for later baking. I wonder how many of the recipes in this book will be freezer-friendly. I have this fantasy now about the perpetual freezer of bakable goodies...


To prep:
- stock from How to Eat
- freezer-friendly mac & cheese in cook's country magazine
- cinnamon orange scones
- sour cherry scones
- rum raisin scones


Category A: 30 minutes
Frozen taquitos + salad, rice
Frozen shrimp + stirfried veggies + instant rice pouch
Orange chicken

Category B: 60 minutes
Ravioli with spinach & sauce
Lamb Rogan Josh
Homemade pizza
Pork cutlets something

Category C: 90 minutes
- basic roast chicken from How to Eat
- steak bearnaise from How to Eat, sauteed mushrooms & mashed potatoes
- Lasagna

Weekend Breakfast:
Cinnamon rolls
Eggs
Scones

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Cereal
Yogurt
Oranges
Peaches

Drinks:
OJ
Milk
Chai
Sodas

Meal plan update!

A total lack of wine led us to Trader Joe's this weekend, so we are beyond stocked for a while now. Here's how we stand for meals:


To prep:
- scones from The Craft of Baking (chocolate chip espresso, cinnamon orange, and sour cherry...yes, I have a scone habit)
- stock from How to Eat
- freezer-friendly mac & cheese in cook's country magazine


Category A: 30 minutes
Frozen taquitos + salad, rice
Frozen shrimp + stirfried veggies + instant rice pouch
Orange chicken
sweet & sour chicken

Category B: 60 minutes
Ravioli with spinach & sauce
Chicken Rogan Josh
Lamb Korma
Chicken Jalfrezi
Homemade pizza
Turkey nachos + refried beans
Pork cutlets something

Category C: 90 minutes
- basic roast chicken from How to Eat
- steak bearnaise from How to Eat, sauteed mushrooms & mashed potatoes
- Lasagna

Weekend Breakfast:
Hashbrowns
Cinnamon rolls
Orange rolls
Eggs
Scones

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Poptarts
Cereal
Yogurt
Oranges
Bananas
Peaches

Drinks:
OJ
Milk
Chai
Sodas

Cookbooks To Work Through

I got some new cookbooks for Christmas this year, and I want to work through them cover to cover over the course of the year, skipping the things that don't sound good at all, but actually cooking the rest.

My books:

The Craft of Baking (Karen DeMasco & Mindy Fox)
How To Eat (Nigella Lawson)
Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris (Clotilde Dusoulier)
A Homemade Life (Molly Wizenberg)

In queue so far:
- scones from The Craft of Baking (chocolate chip espresso, cinnamon orange, and sour cherry...yes, I have a scone habit)
- basic roast chicken from How to Eat
- stock from How to Eat
- steak bearnaise from How to Eat

Meals Again, Post Grocery Shopping

We hit the grocery store tonight....no more shopping for this month, I hope!

Category A: 30 minutes
Frozen taquitos + salad, rice
Frozen shrimp + stirfried veggies + instant rice pouch
Turkey Meatballs w/noodles & sauce

Category B: 60 minutes
Turkey meatloaf (ready to pop in oven)
Ravioli with spinach & sauce
Chicken Rogan Josh
Lamb Korma
Chicken Jalfrezi
Homemade pizza
Turkey nachos + refried beans
Steak, mushrooms & mashed potatoes

Category C: 90 minutes
Roast chicken & sauteed veggies
Lasagna

Weekend Breakfast:
Hashbrowns
Cinnamon rolls
Orange rolls
Eggs
Scones

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Poptarts
Cereal
Yogurt
Oranges
Bananas
Peaches

Drinks:
OJ
Milk
Chai
Sodas