It's not often that I wake up looking forward to a "chore" but Sunday morning meal/menu planning actually gives me the opportunity to peruse the options in my copious cookbook collection and imagine the best part of the week ahead, dinner!
While I dream, I complete my shopping list for the week which helps keep my buying under control and my budget in line.
I always try to balance what my children will love to eat with what will comfort and nourish us and what I will truly enjoy cooking. I also make sure that I include the activities that we have scheduled for the week so I have an idea of how long I have for prep each night and if we will sit down or dine and dash with each meal.
I love to have tv cooking shows on in the background, a cup of fresh coffee or tea and my clipboard in front of me at the breakfast table while I begin my list. My breakfast table faces into my backyard so I can dream about food and take visual breaks by watching the dogs play or the squirrels nosh or the leaves rustling in the breeze.
I bring a pile of the best looking cookbooks to the table and start to page through them. I really only use the ones with gorgeous pictures because with one look I can tell if I am in the mood to make a dish or not. Generally, I limit the menu inspirations to two main cookbooks so that my counters are not too cluttered with my week's book picks.
I use my small clipboard to hold the menu for each day of the week, the main dish and side dish choices, the cookbook title and page number. I use my large clipboard to write my shopping/ingredient list. And we are off!
This week I looked at the weather forecast too in order to plan which days might call for hot or hearty foods to lift our spirits. Looks like we will have cold rain on Wednesday and Thursday so comfort foods are in order on those days.
I always plan for Monday thru Sunday meals. Sunday night is family dinner night so I like to choose something that might take more time or prep work knowing that we have no activities or plans to hurry us through the meal. Sunday is my ode to the Slow Food Movement.
It seems like all of my cookbooks have a piece of paper in the front cover with the meal list from a week past. I love seeing the food stains and smudges and recalling how that dinner or this dinner worked. It makes me feel like I am doing my job as a parent to feed and provide for my kids. My husband takes so much pride in the full refrigerator when we get home from grocery shopping, and I like to see that I have completed a week's worth of hearty, healthy meals for us. :)
This week's menu looks like this:
Monday: Eating out for a school fundraiser
Tuesday: Chicken Invotini on a bed of Spinach with Pasta and Mama's homemade sauce.
I am subbing chicken for Veal as we don't eat veal.
Wednesday: (Rain in forecast) Rosemary Grilled Chicken, Lemon Scented Broccoli and
Oven Baked Fries with Olive Oil.
Thursday: (Carson has drum lessons and Rain yet again) Crab and Clam Chowder with
Cheesy English Muffins, Iceberg Wedge Salad
Friday: Bucatini Ala Amatriciana, Mixed Baby Green Salad, French Bread
Saturday: Ribolita Bread Soup with Soft Cabbage
Sunday: Meatloaf Patties, Mama's Mashies and Pan Fried Brussel Sprouts
I found most of the main dishes here in the tiny Rachel Ray Cookbook "Top 30 Thirty Minute Meals". It is a great resource for yummy comfort food ideas with side dish suggestions that make it easy to plan and keep the number of necessary cookbooks down to a bare minimum for the week.
I generally try to keep Friday and Saturday dinners easy as the kids always have social plans. And actually Saturday is usually a soup day that I can start in the morning when I am cooking breakfast~ for 2 to 10 teen boys~ and then let simmer all day.
So now, I am off to the store. Where I will look for the ingredients with the least additives, that are from the most local suppliers and organic when possible. I go alone, I take my list on a clipboard and I make sure that I have time to meander and think and plan and read labels.
I hope your week is wonderful. I hope you are able to eat hearty, healthy food with the ones that you love. I will see you next time.
Love,
Mama Joy
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