Given how variable both the weather and our schedules are right now, I've been trying something different in my menu writing. Rather than write a specific menu for each day of the week, I'm putting together complete meals and listing them individually on a sheet. Each day, I select which ones are most appropriate to how that day is shaping up. As I make them, I cross them off the list.
So far, this seems to be working well. I still get to grocery shop all at once and have plenty of meals ready to go. I plan ahead, pulling things to thaw or pre-soaking rice and beans for dishes I anticipate making in the next couple days, giving me some flexibility. I've got a stack of cookbooks out from the library and a string of new recipes bookmarked online - I'm excited to see how they all turn out!
Here are a few I've tried already:
Sweet & Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Red Onion - I found this one online and had to try it... the whole kitchen smelled like PF Chang's! Next time I'll thicken the sauce, as I prefer thick, sticky sweet & sour sauce, but otherwise the flavor was perfect and I'll definitely be keeping this one!
Creamed Tuna - I'd never actually had creamed tuna, but I saw it listed somewhere as fantastic comfort food. Once we tried it, I agreed! So easy and so yummy!
Apple Barley Flummery - it looks faintly reminiscent of cream of wheat, tastes like applesauce, and has a fun name. What more could you ask for? Lol.
Garlic & Sesame Peas - from a Williams Sonoma veggies cookbook. Quite simple, but very good. Nice for those of us who somehow feel incapable of serving plain veggies as a side.
Baps & Softies - fuel for my bread & salt addictions! So easy to make and delicious, with just the slightest salty edge - yum! As a bonus, it's easy to make a small batch, which means you don't have to use up half the flour you current have ground to make them.
Sally Lunn Bread - I was introduced this delectable treat at a very nice restaurant a decade ago by the handsome and charming young man I was dating at the time. Now I'm married to him, and when his eyes lit up at the site of the recipe I knew I had to make it! Who knew something so yummy would be so easy to make?
Molten Chocolate Cake - okay, so this one isn't good for you, but it kills me to watch people pay ridiculous amounts of money for these in restaurants when you know they came out of a box and are full of crap (you knew that, right?) and they're so easy to make at home out of real ingredients!
Mushroom Barley Stew - one of the most satisfying meat-free dishes I've ever had. I used chicken stock, but you could make it with veggie stock for vegetarian company. It was rich, substantial and a good budget stretcher - definitely a keeper.
Beef Brisket with Apple Cider-Ginger BBQ Sauce - this was sinfully good and ridiculously easy. I threw it in the crockpot for 6 hours and it was perfect! Will definitely be keeping that BBQ sauce recipe for use on all kinds of things this summer too!
Southwestern Sweet Potato and Corn Medley - this totally did NOT work for me. Bleh. Oh well, can't like them all!
Caramel Ginger Shrimp - had my doubts about this one, but it turned out nicely!
Pan Crisped Deviled Eggs - another of my attempts to find food that does not require turning on the oven before summer gets here. This was deceptively easy and decidedly a keeper!
(Copies of recipes without links available on request. I had intended to post them all, but time is flying right now so typing them all out will have to wait!)
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