Dinner Friday and Musings

Ok, ok, I realize you are all probably getting bored with my menu posts. So feel free to skip them! Just knowing I have to say what I made is really helpful at the moment, like I wrote in my last post, so I am going to keep doing it for about another week--hopefully that will be enough to get me in good habits!

Tonight's menu:
Tomato spaghetti soup (onion and carrot sauted in olive oil in big pot, then add plenty of water, cover, and bring to boil. Toss in whole wheat spaghetti, broken into approx. 1 inch pieces, 1 28 oz can Trader Joe's marinara, 2 cans drained and rinsed garbanzo beans. Stir occassionally and simmer until done. When turn off heat, toss in bunch of kale, torn into small pieces.

To the girls' bowls I added frozen peas, to cool the soup quickly (and they think it is more yummy, so hey!)

AND I made a SALAD! The last of the romaine, torn and mixed with equal parts fresh tomato, chopped avocado, cucumber. Drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, a dash of salt and plenty of pepper, mixed well.

Served with crusty white artesian bread and butter. (I always splurge on organic butter--did you know the toxins and bad stuff gets stored in fat? So I figure we can buy fat free milk non-organic for me and DH, but we buy organic any dairy with fat, like the 2% milk for the kids. Ok, I guess not all our fatty dairy--organic cheese is just too darn expensive. But luckily the butter we can get at Costco so it is more reasonable.)

I have been processing some of your helpful comments, dear readers, about planning meals in advance. And I realized that I just don't work that way. If there is a specific recipe I want to make, then I make a shopping list with those ingredients and plan on making that meal during the week. But in general I like to go to the store, buy the basics, look for what is on sale for variety, and then just whip up meals from what I have on hand. I realize most people do not like to cook like this. But it seems so much easier to me than working out all the logistics of menu preparation a week at a time! (or even two weeks!)

It is also much harder to plan menus when I shop at FOUR different stores for my grocceries, and try to only visit them when I am already in the area (and they are spread out from our village to Santa Cruz--think I'll blog about why I do this in a later post), and don't like to go with all the kids. . . which means I groccery shop as little as possible!

I also like cooking what I am in the mood for, and you realize as vegetarians I don't have to plan ahead to thaw meat, so typically I really am able to whip up whatever sounds good, as long as I give myself at least a good hour for cooking the stuff that takes longer, like making brown rice or cornbread. I DO have to think ahead to soak and cook dry beans, which is something I need to make part of the routine of the week--like Sun. night always soaking beans and then cooking them for Mon. dinner. And I really want to be making my own bread and yogurt and some healthy breakfast items like muffins to keep in the freezer. . . so ideally I will be thinking and planning ahead as a lifestyle to keep such good things on hand.

But I don't think I will ever do that for dinners!

So thank you for your comments--it is always good to consider why we do what we do, and if our methods/habits are holding us back. In my case, I enjoy the challenge and variety I get from cooking with what I have.

And if you are ever trying to make dinners out of your freezer/pantry for a week, I am your woman! ; ) Just email me for inspiration!