Kitchen

I don't have a lot of exciting stuff going on this week (gasp!), so I thought I'd write a bit about what's going on in my kitchen!  I love food blogs.  Loooove them.  I also love cookbooks.  Looooove them, too (and am in the market for some new ones so feel free to dish on your faves or fails).  They are so awesome because they exist so I don't have to create my own food ideas!  I'm an awesome cook - meaning, I can follow a recipe like nobody's business.

Every Friday or Saturday, I sit down with my cookbooks and computer and "research" what I want to make for the week.  So I can go to the grocery store with a plan.  I have a few weekly requirements:

• I will not make the same meal for two weeks in a row, no matter how much my husband likes it and begs for it.  No matter!  
• At least two meals have to be vegetarian.  With vegetables in them.  It helps me to make sure my family and I get proper nutrition.
• All dinners must have at least one side veggie item or have lots of veggies in them (if it's a casserole, for example).
• Three of the four meals must be relatively "quick fix" since dinner making hour is "mad dash" hour in my house.  
• One pasta dish per week maximum.
• I try to make enough so there are lunch left overs for me and the hubbster.  Sine my toddler basically doesn't eat, I don't worry about her leftovers. 
• Speaking of toddler, I try very hard to make meals "toddler friendly," (but she doesn't eat them anyway, so... "pfffttthhh" to her)  
• Make foods that don't upset my husbands abundant food allergies.  

I think that's it for my requirements.  I typically don't cook a ton of ethnic foods, partially because I'm not sure how they taste and partially because who needs a bunch of random ethnic spices in my tiny spice space in my cabinet that I'm not going to use but once a year.  I would like to cook more Indian food, because I loved it when I ate a ton of it in the UK for the year I lived there, but I'm kind of afraid to try.  I also don't cook fish hardly ever, which is also something I'd like to change within the next few months.  

This week, I decided to make the following: 

Monday: Cheeseburgers on whole wheat buns, with Cheddar Cauliflower and potato chips (my toppings were mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato and pickles)

• Note: I think next time I might try to slide in some hidden veggies and see how that turns out.  Hubbs eats veggies, toddler doesn't eat anything, so it's not for the "hiding" factor, per se... but I always like to pack as much as I can get away with while trying to satisfy all of us.  These had onions, salt & pepper, Worcestershire, whole wheat bread crumbs and an egg.  I could probably mince some zucchini  or really grate the hell out of some carrots next time.  Hmmm....

Tuesday: Beans and cornbread (without the bacon, maybe.  Maybe.) with a cucumber salad

Wednesday: Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread, roasted red pepper and tomato soup and roasted broccoli

Thursday: Springy Shells (i.e. springy whole wheat penne)

Friday: Pizza night

Saturday: Leftovers

I'm excited for Springy Shells night.  I LOOVE The Pioneer Woman.  I don't cook her food that often, despite using her recipes twice this week, because they are often heavy in butter or creams or meat (yum, YUM YUM!!!), but I love the way she writes and her food is fantastic!

Okay, well I'm off to start my pot 'o' beans and play with my baby!  

Spring Cleaning

Spring is in the air, and I'm working feverishly to CLEAN IT OUT!!! The entire Schmandrea household has been SICK, and so has the rest of the world apparently! YUCK! I swear that the phrase "spring cleaning" was coined by a mother of four infectious little toddlers who needed to open the windows and sanitize the hell out of every single item in her house, lest the cycle of sickies start anew in the mild temperatures.

In the spirit of Spring cleaning, I have a few follow-ups from previous blog posts:

1) I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL! I just hope the government doesn't tank in the next two years, because, as it turns out...

2) Education is still expensive;

3) Apparently I'm not having heart palpitations. The cardiologist said that on the "two week" monitor (which I wore for only 5 days because that's when the sensors started to create blisters on my skin) showed no significant anything. What I felt was nothing. This concept is hard to wrap my head around, the "something is nothing" nihilist mantra, mostly when it's applied to something I actually feel in my body. But, I'm going to take it and run with it.

4) Mondays are still untrustable, and so am I when it comes to being strict to goals I decide to start achieving on Mondays. I am no closer to losing any weight, but I'm having fun trying new classes. I've decided to mix it up, and relax my demands on my body a bit. I don't HAVE to run or lose weight (I am at a healthy weight, just not one that any of my clothes fit in). I can get in shape and have fun doing exercises INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO running. For anyone who knows me, you know this is a big step for me to cut myself some slack. So, that's going well. And, well, I can always start my goal again on Monday. Surely there's one of those coming up again soon. ;-)

Other than that, today - also in the spirit of spring cleaning - I'm going to buy some organization tools for my "pantry," so things don't fall on my head when I open the door. Anymore. And I want to buy a key rack for the back entrance of the house. I think I'm going to head to Pier 1 Imports and Target for said items. Wish me luck!