Menu Planning

Every two weeks, I sit down and start to plan the menu for the next two weeks. Why two weeks and not one? Because we get paid every two weeks and I find it much easier to plan for two weeks at a time instead of one. And why not the whole month? While I have done that in the past, I've found that it becomes to plan for unexpected changes during that time.

One thing that I've implemented in the last few weeks is that I don't do all the cooking. I live with 3 other people who are absolutely capable of cooking as well. And since the chef-for-the-night is also in charge of making sure that everything is cleaned up and the kitchen is in order at the end of the night, this allows me to have 3 nights when I get to relax a little, or be out of the house with meetings, etc. Either way, it's a nice break for me :)

I have many resources for recipes. Some are online but most come from cookbooks. And since I don't own nor do I want to own billions of cookbooks, I go to my library. Weekly :) I can't say enough about the library and their resources. They have all kinds of books there, just waiting for you to read and peruse. And if the book you want is checked out, I'm sure that your library will allow you to put the book "on hold," just as mine does. And if I think I'll use most of the recipes in the book, then I'll go and buy a copy (i.e. my Low-Salt Cookbook that I reference for so many low- and no-salt options).

Last week, I was looking at the library and found a wonderful book called "Eating Well: Fast & Flavorful Meatless Meals." Now, not being a vegetarian, I don't have all that many resources for meatless or veggie meals. But I do like to include one meatless meal per week. We call that "Meatless Monday" and this can be anything from a vegetarian-based soup to my Spinach-Cheese Lasagna. So you can imagine how excited I was to discover this cookbook :) I've already slated a few of the recipes for the next couple of weeks, and will try and remember to post pictures as I plate them.