Faux Spring (+ more recipes)

Reading: I'm now 126 pages into Wilkie Collins The Woman in White (out of 627 small print pages). It's got just enough thrill to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but not too much that I can't sleep at night. :)
Watching: Nothing, I've been too busy doing some editing this weekend and this book ^^^ is just too good!
Listening to: Bay Area Worship Song Rotation (bayareaworship) on Spotify. This is our church's playlist of whatever songs we're singing. My favorite on here right now is For the Sake of the World. We just sang it while visiting our church in Pennsylvania too.
Can't get off my mind: Wellies. With this thaw and all the mud, rain boots are on my mind. Mine are disintegrating, Jack's have a huge crack in them, and Lia is squeezing her toes into an old camo pair of Jude's. So my goal this month is to get us all a good deal on new boots so we can go on plenty of woods walks!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, heat wave!  The thermometer has been skimming 60 degrees all weekend and we're welcoming the sunshine with open arms!  There are still a few patches of snow in the yard.  But we actually had the windows and doors open yesterday.  I just love that fresh air smell in the house!

A tiny snowball!

On Friday I woke up relieved that we had nowhere to go -- a bona fide home day.  Two hours into that day I was dying to get my four kids back OUT!  So we packed a lunch, grabbed some "treat drinks" at Seven Eleven and headed to "The Meadow" in hopes of finding a semi-dry place to run.

It was overcast and dreary but warm enough that my boys felt comfortable refusing coats. :)  And we walked, and walked, and walked ... until the baby couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and Lia couldn't lift her legs another step.

What will I do when I no longer have sleeping babies to capture?!?

At one point a group of five (foreigner) adults walked by.  The one man pointed to my brood and said "All you?"  "Yes, they're all mine" I responded with a smile.  And then he gave me a round of applause.

I love when strangers take joy in my [somewhat] large family.  Although I wasn't feeling much like clapping when, about 30 minutes later, Jude decided to sprint down the path, around the bend, and completely out of sight.  So I start pushing the stroller faster to catch-up, and Lia starts pounding the pavement slower and whining that she's tired.  I sent Jack ahead to find Jude, right about the time a man walking all alone passed us, trekked back to the 2-year-old, hiked her up on my hip, and tried to push us all up the hill and around the bend to find the boys.  But they're nowhere in sight.  We round the next bend, me out of breath, Julia uncomfortable, Joci thankfully still sleeping.  Still no boys.  Meanwhile, I'm praying that the man that just passed us is simply a kind stranger and not some child-snatching creep.  And then I have to be the crazy mom yelling J names at the top of my lungs, holding a toddler on one hip and using the other hip to push a stroller as fast as I can.

In which we "read" - d-o-g w-a-s-t-e b-a-g-s.

It's situations like this where I realize having a large family really does have its drawbacks... and how vulnerable I am when I try to take all four of my kids out on my own.

No worries though.  I reached the top of the last crest, rounded the final bend, and saw both my boys sitting on the bench by the car just as the stranger walked by with a wave.  Evidently they were too engrossed in the melting snow to respond to my yelling.  Oh, motherhood!

She was still sleeping when we got home, and stayed asleep for all of 3 hours!!

It may be a while before I work up the courage to do another walk in the park.  Which is fine, because the colder temperatures are making their way back to Maryland and we're enjoying a cozy, quiet Monday with nothing to do but watch the dump truck refresh our firewood stash!

Here's some of the food we enjoyed the last week of January!

Breakfast
Fresh Cranberry Scones
These are my go-to scones.  They always turn out flaky and delicious!  I like to buy up a bunch of cranberries when they're in season (and on sale) and then keep them in the freezer for when the mood strikes ... or these scones.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
I love The Pioneer Woman's style of food-blogging - the step-by-step instructions, minute-by-minute pictures, and laugh-out-loud writing.  I just wish her recipes were a tad bit healthier.  But she's generally my source for back-to-basic cooking.  This was my first attempt at cinnamon raisin bread.  I followed this recipe, but used half whole-wheat flour instead of all white.  And raisins too.

Lunch

Normally we make this with all purple cabbage, but I only had green on hand this time.  It's so much prettier with purple!

Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing
I LOVE this salad.  Jon's a big fan too. We've made it a few times this year and it's caused me to discover a newfound love of Thai food.  Fun fact about my homemade peanut butter that I used in this: the blender ate my spatula in the middle of making it.  So I'm now picking out tiny rubber bits from my most recent batch.  Thankfully, it did not appear to impact the deliciousness of this salad!

Meals
French Dip Sandwiches, Roasted Carrots, Salad, Peanut Butter Pie
It's baby season in our MOPS group!  I made a big batch of these in the Crock-Pot one snowy day and split it between our family and a new mama's.  I packed up the filling along with some rolls, provolone cheese, an extra container of sauce, side salad, and roasted carrots (baby carrots + olive oil + oregano --> bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so).  My mom has a recipe for peanut butter pie that is my favorite!  I've been craving it and figured this was a good excuse to make it.  I messed up the crust, though, during pre-baking.  So this ended up being a "deconstructed peanut butter pie" with crumbled pie crust on the bottom, followed by a peanut butter/confectioner's sugar crumble, homemade vanilla pudding, and whipped cream.  At least it still tasted the same!

Teriyaki Chicken Pizza
I wish I would have taken a picture of this because the one on All Recipes simply does not do it justice!  This was a winner with the whole family, I'm sure the pineapple helped.  I made my own pizza dough earlier and had it in the freezer for a quick dinner!

Vegetable Pot Pie -- I did not trim the crust because crust is my favorite. :)

Vegetable Pot Pie
Way back when I was pregnant with Julia, we took a tour of the Birth Center.  And that's where I met fellow mama and Navy wife, Sarah.  I only knew Sarah and her family a few months before they moved to Japan, but the second time I ever saw her was when she brought us a meal after Julia was born - this delicious pot pie!  It's the perfect winter comfort food!  I didn't follow this recipe exactly -- I didn't have Pernod or saffron threads, and I also made a whole wheat pie crust.  There were so many veggies leftover that I made a second pie and froze it for another military friend that is getting ready to move.  I think this pot pie is totally for spreading love and paying it forward!

Cheddar Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms [FAIL]
Oh, these were terrible, just terrible.  Even thinking about them makes me shudder.  My poor children.  After choking down my portion I cleared their plates and gave them cold cereal instead.  To be fair, I don't think it was the recipe's fault, but perhaps I just did it wrong.  I've been told the key to portobellos is to caramelize them.  So I won't write the idea of a mushroom burger off, it just might be a while before I work up the nerve to try them again!

Cuban-Style Pork Roast
Black Beans and Rice
Mango and Avocado Salad
Dulce de Leche
Family favorite here folks!!  We had friends over for dinner (I'll try to cut back on words starting with "F" now) and decided to go with a Cuban theme.  I did not have high hopes for this recipe the first time I read it, but trust me, it is soooo GOOD!  And since it's in the Crock-Pot, low maintenance too! Which means more visiting with guests!  We served it up with the black beans and rice - great for kids and for soaking up the pork juices.  This was our first time trying the mango salad and we'll definitely be having it again!  Jack requests mangoes from the grocery store every week now!
My friend, Eileen, brought dessert - homemade dulce de leche from Smitten Kitchen. I did not make it myself, but I did eat it, and can attest to it's wonderfulness!

Meatloaf (made with Oatmeal) and Quinoa Spinach Mac and Cheese
This is my favorite meatloaf recipe.  You know who else loves a loaf?  Julia.  And since she doesn't like much of anything these days, I knew we were due for this meal.  Instead of a "loaf", I form mine into eight balls because I love a crispy outer edge.
This is my healthy substitute for mac 'n cheese.  The crispy breadcrumb topping does the trick!  As a side note, I have not idea what "Panko" breadcrumbs are, but I always see them in recipes.  I like to take leftover bread, toast it, throw it in the blender, and then keep it in a container in the freezer for any recipe that calls for breadcrumbs.  I don't know if that's "Panko" but, so far, it's worked just fine!

Whole-Chicken in the Crock-Pot and Asian-Style Cobb Salad
Everyone once in a while, I make this whole chicken in the Crock-Pot.  I use some of the meat for a meal and freeze the rest.
In our family, the key to salads is letting the kids make their own.  I just know I have to make extra of their favorite ingredients.  In this case, we quadrupled the oranges!

Overnight Chicken Stock in the Crock-Pot and Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
After making Whole Chicken in the Crock-Pot, I take the leftover bones and "stuff", throw in some veggies and herbs, and let it cook overnight again for homemade chicken stock. The next morning we wake up to the smell of chicken soup.  I freeze it in one-cup portions to use for cooking rice or quinoa, and in any other recipe that calls for chicken brothe.  And especially for homemade chicken noodle soup!  We made this one with homemade whole-wheat noodles, lots and lots of noodles for the kids' sake!

Sante Fe Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Saw these on a friend's Facebook wall and they were really yummy!  Joci was having a tough day, so I made them entirely with a child strapped to my chest.  I did not pour water in the bottom of the dish because I didn't want them to get soggy.  All in all, it was a nice twist on traditional stuffed peppers!

Copycat Chipotle Barbacoa Tacos
Cilantro Lime Rice
Vegetarian Black Beans
Mild Tomato Salsa
Corn Salsa
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Oh friends, am I sharing a secret with you!  Okay, not really, since it's all over the internet and it's not my secret, but still -- copycat Chipotle!  This is exactly what I order when we go to the restaurant - barbacoa tacos with black beans, two kinds of salsa, lettuce and cheese.  I would get the guacamole too but I'm too cheap to pay extra.  We like to make this meal for guests.  In this case, I was bringing another MOPS mama dinner.  This almost tastes like the real thing.  But I must admit, there is one advantage that Chipotle has over these recipes and that is no prep and no clean-up.  This meal takes a lot of time, which is why we reserve it for special occasions!
And I'm including the peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies because I have NEVER made a good chocolate chip cookie.  Mine always turn out thin and crispy.  But these, these actually came out just right.  And to celebrate that I thought I'd post them here!

Snack
Hummus
One last recipe: hummus for when we hosted our small group.  I've been trying to perfect my hummus recipe for almost as long as I've been married.  Jon and I love Sabra hummus, so that has been my goal.  But I've never been able to get the texture just right.  This time, I may just have it.  The secret is to cook and peel the garbanzo beans.  Unfortunately, I think the flavor was lacking.  So it'll be back to the drawing board.  But I feel like we're getting one step closer.  And lastly, if you have time, check out more of the Desert Candy blog.  She's an ex-pat living in the Middle East and, well, she just makes Middle Eastern cuisine look like something I'll have to start adding to our menu!

Winter Blues (+ a few more recipes)

Reading:  Finished Georgette Heyer's Regency Buck.  In the middle of Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and skimming through/taking notes on Growing Kids God's Way.
Watching: Well, now that Sherlock is over, I've turned to Britain's fabulous Endeavour.  Creepy murder mysteries aside, I can't get enough of the 60's costumes, period props and stunning views of my beloved Oxford!!
Listening to: Meredith Andrews Not for a Moment -- did you know she had her second baby in the bathroom almost a year ago?!?  As a fellow "didn't make it in time" birther, this song takes on extra-special meaning for me.  Also, while not a recommendation, I did try to listen to Pandora's Love Song station yesterday to get amped up for the holiday.  Didn't do it for me.  Instead, I felt like I was trapped at senior prom with a bad DJ.
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Not much to report here.  You know it's been a slow week when you pop your SD card into the computer and only four new photos appear.  The cold is starting to get to me.  All the storms in our forecast ended up being rain or ice, which is absolutely no fun at all.  Especially when you're running behind for preschool, get four kids out to the door, and realize the minivan doors are frozen shut.

I delayed hanging the snowflakes this year because there was so much natural beauty outside ... but not anymore!

Naturally, all this time indoors has resulted in just a few more messes.  In one morning alone, the three oldest played train, ship, airplane, babies, restaurant, and Legos ... lots and lots of Legos.  I really like Legos myself.  I just hate when they ask me to build them something, and then I can't quit until it's finished... no small feat when dealing with a box of thousands and thousands of pieces.

This girl LOVES Legos too!  Her favorite place to sit is right next to the box so she can run her hand through all the pieces, while simultaneously chewing on another one of course.

The boys' newest activity is "booby traps."  They were setting them up for Julia yesterday.  I tried to have a serious discussion about the difference between having "fun" and intentionally trying to hurt someone.  It ended up with Jack getting mad that I had dismantled all his laundry room booby traps (hello, do you want me to wash your clothes, kids?).  He then told me that he was going to set 50 booby traps for me in the laundry room and I wasn't allowed to come in.  And to ensure that, he set to work making a sign.  So he asked me how to spell "No grown-ups allowed."  I just couldn't resist...

But then I felt bad and, finding the situation entirely more humorous than anything else going on that day, I gave him the correct information.  I have no idea why it's written backwards.  His first three attempts were written correctly.  Must be practicing his Hebrew.  I'm leaving the sign there for now because it makes me feel all rebellious every time I do another load of laundry.

Of course, after all this time confined together in the house, I was practically giddy when Jude ASKED to go outside yesterday.  And not wanting to be left without his "best buddy", Jack was right behind him.  And Lia is in this entertaining stage where she just wants to do what everyone else around her is doing.  So I had a lovely moment in the afternoon of peace and quiet while my older ones played in a half-frozen sandbox (or so I thought.)  I thought I heard water running but assured myself, certainly not!  I sneaked into the laundry room (ignoring Jack's sign) and I heard some voices outside the lower-level door.  When I peaked out the curtain, there was Jude, face-down at the bottom of the outside steps, pants around his ankles, presumably peeing down the drain.  But that wasn't the worst of it.  When he stood up, I saw he was soaked up to his armpits.  Turns out, that noise was the outdoor spigot and Jude had been playing in a homemade fountain.

She's not really drinking, just chewing.

He couldn't understand why I made him change out of his wet clothes in 37 degree weather.  And he was thoroughly upset when I made him take off his "home pants" in the middle of the day.  Boys!

That's a cracker on her chin.  She doesn't eat them, just gnaws on them and lets the crumbs fall all over her shirt.

Seriously though, the boys are not my biggest issue.  It's just that one girl, in the throes of her 2's, the one that empties all my drawers, floods my bathrooms, crawls on the counter to dump a box of sprinkles on her scone, empties my food dye containers into her palms, and SCREAMS "hold you!! hold you!!!" while lying on the floor several times a day.

You know it's bad when she refuses to look at me.

Speaking of sprinkles and dye, let's move on to the latest meal plans.  Actually, no.  These aren't the latest after all.  I think these are from back in January.  No matter!

Breakfast
Yogurt Molasses Bread 
I came across this recipe while scanning Food52 during one of my many nursing marathons. It struck me as odd, so of course I had to try it.  I've never had anything like it, and I mean that in a good way!  I thoroughly enjoyed it but I'm not so sure the kids were into it.  And I don't even think Jon ate a piece.  Which meant a lot of leftovers that didn't get consumed.  I'd make this again when company comes, or at least, company with eclectic taste.

Ricotta Raspberry Scones 
After the previous week's stuffed shells, I had some leftover ricotta to use up.  I did have a little on the side with my molasses bread, but the rest went into these scones.  They're from Smitten Kitchen, need I say more?  Okay, if you insist.  These were delicious.  Quite possibly the best scones I've ever made.  But that's not saying much.  My scone-making abilities rank right up there with my crust rolling skills. As a side note:  I make my own ricotta.  So easy.  Just Google homemade ricotta and choose one of the many recipes!

Whole Wheat Honey Pecan Pumpkin Muffins 
I'm always drawn to recipes that spell out just about every ingredient in their title.  Okay, not really.  These have been a family favorite for a few years now.  My mama sent down some pumpkin for my freezer after Christmas so these get made regularly in our house!  I don't do raisins, because I hate raisins in baked goods, and I cut back on the sugar a tad.  Funny how "sugar" never makes it in a recipe title.  Well, except for sugar cookies.  I digress.

Lunch
One Pot Mac n Cheese 
This recipe was shared with me by my friend Jen.  We met during our last duty-station.  (Jen, you're my favorite part about Southern Maryland!!) You'll be seeing more of Jen's collection in upcoming meal plans, she sources a good portion of our menu!  Anyway, this is a homemade alternative to the "blue box" mac and cheese.  I usually make it with whole wheat macaroni because it makes me feel like a good mom.  Just kidding.  [Oh, and speaking of duty stations, STILL do not have orders for this summer.  Any day now.  Or not. Argh!]

Oatmeal Smoothies, Popcorn 
Oh, you know oatmeal would have to make an appearance.  I like this because, back when my kids wouldn't touch oatmeal, I was still able to sneak it in their diet.  It's addition here makes this smoothie extra-filling!  We love popcorn and in this house, it's not just a snack.  It's a whole grain, people!  And full of fiber and antioxidants.  We either make ours on the stovetop or dump 1/3 cup in a paper bag and microwave it for 2 1/2 minutes.  Sometimes I spray it with olive oil and sprinkle on the salt.  But we much prefer melted butter!

Pulled Pork and Apple Cabbage Salad 
Oh, Sunday afternoon's how you tease us!  We go to the earlier service which means we're often home a little before lunch, and yet my kids want to eat the moment we walk in the door.  But after the effort that is getting a family of six ready and out the door for church, and then back again, I rarely feel like making a meal moments after walking in the door.  Nor cleaning it up afterwards.  Which is why Sunday afternoons are our favorite time to play our eat-out card.  But that's not good for the budget.  So this particular day I had pulled pork pulled ready to go in the crock-pot.  I like this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food because it uses all "real food" ingredients - no bottled stuff!  The apple cabbage salad was good but made entirely too much (my kids ate apples and raisins, not the salad) and I really can't stand fennel.  Which is too bad because ... wait for it ... fennel is a galactologue.  There's that word again.  I don't mind drinking it in tea but, please, not on my slaw.  I'd make this again minus that ingredient, and only half a recipe.

Dinner
PF Changs Lettuce Wraps 
Heaven and earth, these were good!  I don't know if they're a "copycat" recipe since she says it's a "lighter version."  Also, it's been so long since I've had a PF Changs lettuce wrap that I wouldn't be able to have an opinion anyway.  I've steered away from making these in the past because half the ingredients were "weird."  But since branching out in my cooking, I have more and more of these items in my pantry.  If you don't have this stuff, it's going to be expensive to make this.  But just know that you'll be making them again, and again, and again.  So it's worth the initial investment!

Spinach Walnut Ravioli 
These sounded so good, and they tasted so good.  But unfortunately, they didn't look so good.  It was my first time making homemade ravioli and, to begin with, they weren't very uniform (I've since ordered a ravioli stamp from Amazon), but to make matters worse, I piled the finished ones on a plate and let them sit there for a while.  So when it was time to cook the ravioli they were all stuck together.  Which meant a boiled mess of pasta.  I've learned my lesson, so I'll be giving myself a second chance on this recipe in the future.

Mexican Meatza 
We're not paleo by any means but for my husband's sake, I am trying to do more low-carb dinners.  This sounded interesting, so we gave it a try.  It was good, but a little tough for the kids who generally struggle with red meat no matter how I serve it, as well as peppers, onions, and salsa.  Oops.

Mushroom Pasta 
Now that I've mentioned cutting back on carbs ... another pasta recipe.  But oh.my.word is this an amazing dish!  I'm not even kidding, this could be one of my new very favorite meals.  As in, you could make this for my birthday if you wanted.  This is coming from a girl who would pick mushrooms off her plate a few years ago!  Phew, just typing out this make me want make it again!  Okay, so we used homemade pasta because that makes everything taste better.  But the real pièce de résistance are the caramelized onions.  I feel like I never truly knew how to caramelize onions until I made this dish. Long story short, I had three helpings, and I raced through the first two in order to beat my husband to the last scoop!

London Broil, Rice Pilaf, Brussel Sprouts 
I happened to have a London Broil in the freezer.  My in-laws make it often, it's the main course at our Christmas dinner.  And since Christmas wasn't so long ago I decided to try a new recipe.  It was husband-approved!  Rice pilaf, because I'm always looking for ways to make rice exciting.  And brussel sprouts, how I love thee! My earlier memories of brussel sprouts are not good.  I distinctively remember holding my nose while choking them down before the timer ran out (my parents had to regularly set the timer for me as a child!)  As an adult, I've learned the secret to brussel sprouts is how you cook them.  They really don't require much in the way of ingredients, salt and pepper, a little oil, Jon likes to add a splash of balsamic vinegar.  But they should be roasted until browned and crispy.  I've also sautéed them with mushrooms with great success!  We love brussel sprouts here!

Crispy Nut and Herb Fried Chicken, Warm Orzo Salad with Beets and Greens
We don't do fried chicken very often, but this was a nice twist to the traditional breadcrumb topping.  Crispy, but with more depth of flavor -- we did pecans and parsley.  Beets rank right up there with brussel sprouts in the "food I used to hate" category.  I love how this recipe also includes the greens.  But I have to admit, the real reason I gave it a go was for the feta.  My gang loves cheese, and feta tops our list!  The kids actually do fairly well with this salad, I think the pasta and feta play a large role in their acceptance!

I don't always put so much effort in to plating my kids' food, only when they're being occupied by the TV and I'm trying to stall dinner until Daddy gets home ...

Thai Style Chicken Burgers, Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
For Christmas, my sister-in-law gave me Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook "It's All Good."  The irony is that, according to Gwyneth, it's really not all good, as so many of the foods we're used to consuming are not allowed in her diet.  But that doesn't negate the fact that there are some positively beautiful and tasty recipes in her book.  This is the first one we tried, based on Kate's recommendation.  I thought it was delicious, although I don't think Jon appreciates it when I mess with the traditional burger.  For his sake, I included a Japanese salad with ginger dressing which is also in the cookbook.  Unfortunately, my grocery store did not have miso paste, so I had to improvise, i.e. Google every recipe until I found one that didn't call for miso paste.  I think that's why my version didn't go over as well.

Pork, Sauerkraut and Mashed Potatoes
It's not officially a new year until we usher it in with some pork and sauerkraut.  As a kid, we used to go to my Great Aunt Jane's cabin every New Year's Eve for games, ball dropping fun, and sauerkraut.  Loads and loads of sauerkraut.  Aunt Jane's cabin and sauerkraut just go together.  In fact, we visited her once in the summer and I swear her home still had a faint cabbage-y smell.  Anyway, I keep hearing about how easy homemade sauerkraut is, and how, as a lacto-fermented food, it's so darn good for you!  So I decided to try my hand and sure enough, easy-peasy and oh, so good!  I like my sauerkraut with a little crisp and that's exactly how this turned out.  There are recipes out there that suggest fermenting in a mason jar as well, but I wanted to try a "crock" version.  I don't have a crock, so I used my slow-cooker insert instead.  But then I needed it for another meal so I switched it out to the Dutch oven.  All that to say, making homemade sauerkraut is not as involved as you may think!

Green Beans with New Potatoes
And finally, while we're on the subject of food and relatives, this dish always brings back memories of my Grandma.  I miss her most when I'm in the kitchen.  When I got married, that's when I would talk to her on the phone, while cooking.  Because inevitably I had a question and she was better than Google.  When we were younger and my mom went back to work, my Grandma used to cook our family dinner every Thursday.  It was a meal I made sure I never missed.  "Ham and Green Beans" was one of her frequent dishes.  A frugal and filling meal.  This is Paula Deen's version and although I hate to admit it, I think I like it a touch better than my ancestral one.  Probably because of the butter.  Yeah, that's a lot of butter.  But I'm of the mind that butter ain't so bad, and Weston A Price agrees.

So that was our menu in January.  What about you?  Any good recipes to share?

Coastie Kitchen (How I Meal Plan)

Sometimes, as a mama, I really miss "the girl I used to be."  It's easy to mourn those irretrievable days, particularly when I come across old clothes in the closer: the shirt I paid a fortune for in Oxford because I was sick of my limited wardrobe, the coat that kept me warm during my first Coast Guard football game (in which I fell in love with a handsome running back), and the heels that are absolutely mangled from tramping the brick sidewalks at my alma mater and last job. Wait, where am I going with this?

Oh yeah, but there are some things about that old girl I don't plan in ever revisiting. Namely: Food. 

I grew up with a much different style of cooking than what we eat now, although I still revisit the old favorites. But at least my mom tried to keep me healthy. Left to my own devices, I was a wreck. We can partly, PARTLY blame that on cafeteria food. I can still hear the clatter of those pastel plates (what WAS that material they were made out of??) hitting the stainless steel track and sliding it's way to the cashier. A sweet older woman we all called "Muffin" or "Cupcake"... something like that. 

My tray usually had a ham and cheese hoagie with lettuce and mayo and a bottle if water. Unless it was Friday, in which I'd treat myself to a Coke. And when I wasn't feeling the hoagie, I'd get a pack of NipChee. You know- creamy cheese, whole grain cracker, super healthy. Just enough to sustain me through the afternoon until field hockey when I'd pull out my favorite TastyCake fudge brownies with nuts to enjoy right before two grueling hours of hockey practice. Energy food, I tell ya!

When I went away to college I thought I'd be all grown up and visit the salad bar. So I'd grab a bowl, fill it up with cauliflower, and then dump a pile of salt on my plate to dip it in (learned that one from my dad).  My beverages consisted of cranberry juice for breakfast, iced tea for lunch, and a Coke for dinner.  One day this boy I had a crush on sent me a Coast Guard Academy water bottle.  So I started filling it up, carrying it around to all my classes, and maybe drinking four sips throughout the day.

Chef Lia sautéing some vegetables to go with her Lemon Parsley Salmon.

While in England I basically lived off tea and digestives, lots of tea and digestives.  And bread from the co-op around the corner that always went on clearance on Tuesday nights around 11:00pm.  My Welsh roommate taught me how to take a piece of toast and dump a can of beans on top for a really well-rounded meal.

Fast forward to my married days and Jon likes to tell the story about how the first meal I made for him was hot dogs.  I sincerely do not recall.  But it was probably true.  I had never even heard of meal planning.  My idea of grocery shopping was to buy what sounded good and what was on sale, bring it home, and then try to figure out what to make.  Not to mention my new husband wasn't even home the majority of our first year.  And when it comes to cooking for one ... well, let's just say I brought the beans over toast tradition to American soil.

By our second year of marriage Jon was "home" more but often working night shifts.  So dinner was typically a solo affair.  We did start to improve and some of my most vivid memories of the Beach House were grilling up loads and loads of chicken on Sunday afternoons, and then eating grilled chicken salads for dinner the rest of the week.  Whoever lived in the house before us had a subscription to Kraft Foods magazine (where just about every recipe featured a bottle of Kraft dressing), and that's when I really started to think about recipes and planning.  It may have also had to do with the fact that I had a massive one-year-old on my hands who could out-eat me any meal!

I started to get more serious about grocery shopping on a budget and noticed that actually thinking ahead about what we were going to eat saved us a bunch of money!  By the time we left Virginia Beach I had started filling a notebook with weekly menu plans.  After a year of living in Southern Maryland I was on my second notebook.  Not only did it make grocery shopping easier, but now that I had a complete written history of our families eating habits, planning ahead wasn't so difficult.  I think the most frustrating part of menu planning for me is the inspiration (keep in mind the number of months these past 6 years that I've dealt with morning sickness!).  Sometimes when I just don't feel like thinking about what we're going to eat this week, I recycle a plan from the year before.

So, by the time we celebrated our fifth anniversary, I had discovered the art of meal planning.  But it wasn't until after Julia was born that I figured out the science.  It was then that I subscribed to The Fresh 20, a company committed to budget-friendly, 20-ingredient recipes.  As a subscriber, I received a weekly meal plan complete with grocery list and cooking instructions.  I love to learn by doing, and after a few months I started to catch on.

First of all, it was all seasonal cooking.  I learned to save money by only purchasing products that were in season.  Second, recipes with like ingredients were used in the same week.  So instead of having one recipe call for 2 cups of broccoli and having the rest of the head rot in the back of the fridge,  you'd include two broccoli recipes in the same week.  Or, you'd buy one onion and stretch it across two or three meals.  In addition, the plans would often have you cook up a large quantity of meat (although when I first started it didn't seem like a very large quantity) early in the week for one meal, and then use about half of that meat later in the week for another meal.  And I don't mean having tacos twice.  For instance, pot roast on Monday, and then using that beef for a spicy noodle bake on Thursday.  Despite having the same protein cooked the exact same way, the recipes were entirely different.

I realize that this is intuitive for many of you but for me, it was pure genius.  I didn't renew our subscription though, simply because I wanted to incorporate more of our family favorite recipes in my meal planning.  I still have the plans from my first year as well as The Fresh 20 cookbook , and I highly recommend it for anyone who is just starting out or who doesn't have much time.  But for me, I wanted to take what I had learned and make it my own.

After several years of planning on paper, I figured it was time to enter the new millennium.  After my job ended in 2012, I found I really missed concrete activities, i.e. spreadsheets.  Try as I may, kids don't translate well to spreadsheets.  But meal planning, now that should work.

The actual planning page.

But there's more to the spreadsheet than just the meal planning page.

The basic meal rotation I try to use, but often don't.

 But I wanted to take it even further.  Several years before, back in my couponing days, I started compiling a list of "rock-bottom prices."  This is, the lowest amount I've paid for something (where, when and how).  That way I know whether or not a current price is a "good deal."  I don't use this so much anymore, but it's still handy for those few items that we are incredibly loyal to -- like my husband's super-expensive, hard-to-find razors.  Or my favorite yogurt that nothing I've ever made can compare to.  Or that ridiculous toothpaste that kids like (and only like).  You get the drift.

In addition, I also have a page that lists local (Annapolis area) produce by season.  That way I can plan meals around what will (most likely) be the least expensive fresh produce at that time.  

The last page is my budget.  I purposely left out numbers here.  But I do most of my shopping at Aldi (cheap, but limited selection) and Safeway (expensive, but better selection).  I do some bulk shopping at Sam's Club (which I don't like but Costco isn't close enough) and, of course, my beloved Target.  (I also do some bulk shopping through Amazon but not enough to include it here).  This way I can track my weekly grocery expenses and see how I'm doing in staying under budget for the month.

But let's get back to the real purpose of this spreadsheet, the meal planning.  Page two is a list of every recipe we eat and want to eat.  The arrows at the top of each column allow me to filter for what I'm specifically looking for.  The first column is the name of the recipe.  The second column is the source.  If it's online, I use the link.  If it's from a recipe book, I Google it and use that link instead.  If it's an old family recipe from my personal collection, I just put "Recipe Box" under source.  The third column is the category.  For me, this is chicken, beef, meatless, fish, breakfast, snacks, etc.  This way I can sort by category and make sure we're having a good variety in our menu.  

The next column is the season.  I had big plans for this but never got around to actually assigning a season to each and every recipe.  Ideally, if it contained brussel sprouts it would be a "winter" recipe.  Fresh salsa would be "summer."  Acorn squash would be "fall."  You get the idea. The next column is the cooking method.  Stovetop, oven, slow-cooker, grill, no-cooking ...  This is helpful if I'm trying to avoid oven recipes in July.  Or if I know it's going to be a busy day and I only want a slow-cooker recipe.

All the rest of the columns are ingredients, or at least the main ones (I didn't include pantry staples like salt, vinegar, flour, etc.).  This is the crux of the spreadsheet.  In theory, I can type in an ingredient in the top right corner of Excel and bring up all the recipes that contain that ingredient.  So for instance, I'm making a recipe that calls for half a head of cabbage.  Rather than waste the other half, I'm going to intentionally plan a second recipe that week that utilizes cabbage.

As you can tell, this is a lot of work.  It took a lot of time to set up initially and it continues to be a work in progress.  So over Christmas break I decided to revisit a website/app I had tried previously - PepperPlate.  You have to input all your recipes into your account, but it automatically recognizes "big name" websites like food.com, allrecipes.com, food52.com, etc.  If it doesn't recognize it, you can open a window right on your desktop to copy and paste the ingredients and instructions.  And if it's not a recipe from the internet you can manually enter the information.  I like that I can create my own categories (like seasons or what kind of meal) and then can filter my search results by those categories when I'm ready to plan.  And of course, I can easily search by recipe name or ingredient.

Can you tell we're having guests on Saturday??

And the planner is built right in. I find a recipe I like, and I can send it to my calendar and choose whether it's for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Or I can already have my planner up and just start typing the name of a recipe directly in a specific day.  Once I get my week's meals planned out, I can add each day to my shopping list and it automatically creates a grocery list of the ingredients I need to make all those recipes.

Finally, and quite possibly my favorite aspect, it's also an app for my iPhone.  So I can do all this while sitting and nursing the baby.

I think that's enough chatter for now.  Time to get to meal planning!  If you need some inspiration (I always do), below are some recipes that we enjoyed at the beginning of this year.

Blackberry Oatmeal and Flaxseed Muffin with Green Monster Smoothie.

Breakfast
Blueberry Oatmeal and Flaxseed Muffins
I love muffins and these were so hearty.  Crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside!  We used blackberries instead because they've been on sale at Aldi.  And also because the blueberries I bought were gone within a few minutes of returning from the grocery store.  I'm big on oatmeal right now.  I took a hit from the stomach flu and, while I've regained my milk supply and have been able to keep up with Joci's demand, I'm always looking for ways to keep up with my growing girl!  Oatmeal is a galactogogue.  In other words, it promotes lactation.  (And now all the non-breastfeeding folks who read this blog are going to think of that when they eat oatmeal.)

Cinnamon Date and Walnut Baked Oatmeal
More oatmeal, of course!  We love baked oatmeal in this house!  I decided to switch things up from our usual recipe.  This was okay, but judging from the fact that there's still leftovers in my freezer two weeks later, not as good as our normal dish so I doubt I'll be making it again.

Lunch
We don't usually eat such "involved" lunches, but Jon has been home a lot between his two surgeries and holiday vacation.  When he's home I try to make a decent midday meal.

Fried Couscous
This is a favorite.  It freezes well which makes it even more convenient for a quick lunch.  I made a huge batch of this before going into labor with Joci and just seeing it brings up memories of that exciting evening!

Raw Kale Salad with Lentils and Sweet Apricot Vinaigrette
I had a random jar of apricot preserves in my pantry that I had bought to use for Christmas cookies, um, last year.  I decided it needed a new purpose.  You guys, this was so good.  Jon packed the leftovers for work the next day and got a lot of inquisitive looks from his Coastie co-workers.

I've mastered homemade Peanut Butter in the blender.  Only one ingredient: peanuts.

Lighter Thai Inspired Chicken Wraps
New family favorite, we've had this twice this month.  Every few months I cook down a chicken, shred the meat and use the bones and scraps to make chicken stock for the freezer.  We used the leftover chicken for these amazing wraps.

White Bean Tuna Salad
A great source of protein for a breastfeeding mama and a weight-lifting daddy.  The kids, on the other hand, were not feeling it!

Green Monster Smoothie
A regular in our rotation.  This isn't the exact recipe I use, because it really depends on what I have in the fridge.  Either way, it's how I get my kids to eat green veggies!

Dinner
My husband calls me the "breastfeeding browser." I spent a lot of Christmas break in a dark room with a hungry/sleepy baby.  So I used this time to seek out new recipes online to try in the new year.  (Unfortunately, the result of which was reaching my phone's data limit less than halfway through the month, oops!)  Below are some of the new dishes I sacrificed my precious data time to find.

Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells with Lemon Sage Brown Butter
Jon LOVED these.  I thought they were good but a little dry.  Typically baked shells have a sauce and these didn't, except for the brown butter sage that you drizzle on at the end (that I had to make twice because "browning" butter is a bit more of a challenge with four kids in the house!).  I'd make it again, but only on a day when I don't have a lot going on.  It was a tad labor intensive!

Taco Chicken Bowls
I haven't been making much Mexican food in the lsat year because Chipotle was one of our favorite post-church lunch stops.  But about halfway through the year we switched churches and Chipotle is no longer on the way home, nor is it even open since we get out of church earlier.  In addition, my goal is to cut back on eating-out this year (so hard for this girl who appreciates ANY opportunity to take a break from cooking and cleaning dishes!).  So I have to find a new way to satisfy my Mexican cravings.  We have an awesome collection of copycat Chipotle recipes that we like to use when we have company, but it's a lot of work for just a regular dinner.  This one hit the spot for less money and effort.  In addition, I find my kids eat better when we have a "make your own" meal.

Greek Marinated Chicken
This was soooo delicious.  I was skeptical of the yogurt, but mmmm, just mmmm.  Oddly, I have no idea what we ate with it.  I'm sure that was good too.

Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken
I found out Uncle Jared, Aunt Kylee, and Miss Mary were coming for dinner and football less than 24 hours before they arrived.  I wasn't up to taking 4 kids to the grocery store in the snow so I planned around what we had on hand.  And this is what came of it.  This was really delicious and I loved that it used honey instead of sugar.  For our special dessert we had ...

Snow Day Cake

Garbanzo Bean Chocolate Cake
AKA Snow Day Cake, because it was snowing outside.  I love this cake, I've made it several times before.  Not because we're gluten free or anything, but simply because I like to serve it and THEN tell people the secret ingredient.  I make the entire thing in my blender, so easy clean-up.  And a dessert that's high in protein?  Need I say more.

Making pasta.

She's so cute I didn't have the heart to tell her she was cranking the wrong direction ...

Italian Wonderpot
This has been all over Pinterest for a while now.  I got a pasta maker for Christmas and was just dying to try it out.  So this is what I planned for later in the week.  This is also the dish I was in the middle of making when the stomach flu HIT.  So I don't have good memories of this meal.  Also, my husband doesn't like cooked tomatoes.  Neither do I really, unless they're pulverized into sauce.  The kids ate the noodles (they helped make them by the way!) and my main objective was to feed my recovering family the homemade chicken stock in the base.  I probably won't make this again, though, simply because it's hard to enjoy a meal you once threw up.

Spinach, Mushroom, Feta Crustless Quiche
My favorite part of eating quiche is the crust.  My least favorite part of making quiche is the crust.  It's just too much work.  So I thought this would be a good alternative for a weeknight meal.  Jon really liked it.  He said it was his favorite quiche to date.  I wasn't as big a fan.  I missed the crust.  The kids did just fine, eggs are usually a safe bet.  And well, protein.

In case you're wondering why I make a big deal about the whole protein thing.  I tell my kids its brain food.  That's how I get them to eat pretty much anything.  And amazingly, Jack typically informs me he feels smarter after dinner.  It's all in how you sell it folks!

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Snacks
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
These were so stinkin' good.  A lot of work.  I've never worked with dates before this week.  I had a few leftover from the baked oatmeal, but not enough for these.  So I substituted golden raisins for the rest.  We were also low on peanut butter as well as almond butter, so I combined all I could find in the pantry and there was just enough to make the granola bars.  But the chocolate.  That's the clincher.  Currently, my "secret chocolate stash" consists of a container of peanut butter cups in the back of the fridge.  This is a much healthier and heartier combination of my two favorites.  And the oatmeal, galactogogues baby!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
My husband keeps making comments about how I'm wasting away to nothing.  This is the part of my baby-raising where I struggle to maintain my own health while also being the sole provider of my 6 month old's nutrition.  Enter, the weight-gain smoothie.  This bad boy consists of over 500 calories!  So it could be a meal replacement, or a mid-meal snack.  Which is what I like to do.  My new naptime routine is to chug a bottle of water ...

This ...

Follow it up with one of these smoothies...

... plus this ...

And chase it down with a cup of Mother's Milk Tea.

... plus this ...

Joci appreciates the results so much she dreams about it, and then wakes me up at 3am for seconds.

... equals this!

And since this blog post is entirely too long, and  I'm anticipating meeting up with "Smiles" here in a few short hours, I really should call it a night.  Happy meal planning!