Much prettier and tastier.

Much better go on the dinners tonight.  Andre cooked up the Turkey Meatloaf and served it with steamed brocolli.  Kai was not a fan, but Andre and I liked it alot.

Stick to the Recipes for Now Ms.

Tossed so quickly I didn't have time to get a decent picture.

Tonight I tried to make the Ellie Kreiger 4 Cheese Macaroni...and well...as Andre put it, "It was one of the worse things I've ever tried to eat."  And believe me...he did try.  Kai and I took one bite and spit it out, but Andre ate an entire bowl.  Then he walked over and threw out the rest of the dish.  Truly a gross meal.

To be fair, I don't think it was the recipe that went wrong...it was my "alterations."  In an attempt to get a bit more protein and veggies into the dish I added ground chicken and mushrooms.  Seems reasonable enough.  But, for whatever reason, something just went wrong.   The ground chicken smelled funny from the get go...or maybe chicken just isn't meant to be ground...or maybe when you see ground meat you expect it to smell like hamburger and when it smells like chicken you get grossed out.  Whatever the reason...it was just bad and weird and gross. Kai and I could not handle the smell.

I also added coconut oil sauteed baby bellas.  That was where I lost Andre.  We typically love coconut oil for sauteed mushrooms, but it just did not go with the dish tonight and the mixture of tastes was too much.  This says a lot as Andre is one of those, "we must never throw any food out or waste any food" kind of guys.

At any rate, I cannot say enough how nasty that meal was.  Not one of my finer culinary moments by a long shot.

So, blueberry cream cheese pancakes it was.

Hope everyone else had better luck with whatever you tried to create for dinner tonight.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes All Around!

Got a late start today and so breakfast and lunch became Brunch.  Yum.  We made scrambled eggs with cheese AND blueberry cream cheese pancakes.  Such a nice way to start the day.

Since the pancakes are from scratch and allow us to monitor the ingredients for nut safety, we've decided to start making them, freezing them, and having them for Kai's breakfast instead of the frozen waffles and pancakes he's had in the past.  Those tested out fine, but we figure not having any preservatives and being able to make all the ingredients organic can only have a positive effect.

Also, we take snack to Kai's class every Wednesday afternoon so that once a week he has the same snack as the other kids.  This week...they're having homemade pancakes.  Hope they like them!

Final added bonus...this all saves us a ton of money.  Rather than packaged waffles and class treats, we made a huge batch of these relatively inexpensive cakes and we're set for a week of Kai's breakfasts, plus a class snack.  Awesome.

A Pretty Fridge Every Week

 Recently we've switched from grocery shopping every two weeks to every Saturday.  It's made a huge difference in how fresh our food is, how much less we waste (especially produce), and how excited I am about the meals we have planned for the coming week.  When we went every other Saturday I found that a lot of our produce got icky after about 5 days and I'd toss it.  You can't imagine the money that wastes.  I also found that we'd eat the meals we were excited about in week 1 and then in week 2 we'd eat out more because we weren't excited about what we had left in the pantry/fridge.  

The change has been a great one for us.  It''s inspiring to come home, stock the fridge and be happy about opening it to see fresh herbs, veggies, milk, meats, etc...  

I wish we'd done this long ago, but better late than never.

Meal Planning #1:

I know for most of you cooking is just normal and part of your everyday life, but for me and Andre it's a newly developed habit.  At least healthy cooking.  Not, boil it up, empty the jar on top and top with cheese, kind of cooking.

So, I've taken up meal planning (thanks once again to inspiration by my dear friend Kendra) and here's what next week's lineup looks like:

• Turkey Meatloaf, Broc & Mash Potatoes
• Steak Tacos with Chipotle Cream Sauce and Black Beans
• 4 Cheese Macaroni with Ground Chicken and Broccoli
• Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Veggies
• Bluegrass Jambalaya 

For those interested in doing your own meal planning and wondering about my process I'll post a few notes:

1) I went back to the basics with books.  As someone who's use to doing most research and planning on the internet, there was something really refreshing about pulling out the old cookbooks and making a plan while holding something tangible.  I see a rush for new books in my future.  Luckily, these days, I can probably find tons on the cheap.

2) I use Notes on my computer (which is synced to my iphone) to make my grocery list.  I type it up based on 3 stores (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Harris Teeter) and then further organize those subcategories based on store layout and location of foods.  I find that this method has allowed me to keep my budget down and to get in and out of the stores very quickly.

3) Finally, I note prices as I pick things up so that in the future I don't have to wonder what my final bill might be.  Also, I try to space out the purchasing of my more expensive staples and bulk items.  Again, a great way to stock up while not killing my grocery budget.

Would love to hear other tips on meal planning if you have them.