Menu Planning

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, then you know I like to cook and bake. I love to bake, it is my true kitchen passion. I love the chemistry and exactness about it. I love to tweak the flavors and hope that it doesn't mess with the chemistry of the recipe. Cooking is fun and is done more frequently. I like that with cooking I can toss in whatever I feel like and hope it tastes good.

I am constantly searching for new and exciting recipes. I find I'm drawn more to baking recipes since well I can make up my cooking recipes and can't make up baking ones. I really like Pinterest for this (and for kids crafts).

One thing that I have done forever is menu planning. I sit down with Richard, and sometimes the boys, and plan a week's menu the night before I go grocery shopping. We have a few things that make it on the menu every other week or so, but I try to mix it up as much as possible.

I am not one of those people who likes to have the same thing all the time. I know there is a push to go back to the whole notion of meat on Monday, Italian on Tuesday, Mexican on Wednesday etc... but even that thought is too routine for me.

When I menu plan, I plan two weekend meals and 5 weekday meals and don't necessarily assign them to a given day. I shop for all the ingredients and pull the meats out of the freezer and have everything on hand. This way I can decide what works best for that day depending on time and mood.

For example this week's menu is: Burgers (that was Sun), Hummus chicken (a new version of this be watching for it on a TT recipe soon), ravioli, Teriyaki-Beer Skirt Steak, chicken fajitas (one of our staples), and waffles with bacon.

If you don't menu plan, I suggest you try it a few weeks and see if you like it. I like having everything set and only have to decide which night to make what. (I typically don't plan what to bake unless there is an occasion)