My Turn Now!

I have been anxiously waiting to get a few minutes (or 20) to post about my eating, shopping, foodie habits and the time as finally come! It's 6:55 am and everyone is still asleep! So, here I go...A typical day of meals in my house looks something like this (and this is how I plan my menu that is posted on my fridge as well)

B: Cold Oatmeal cereal (plain oatmeal with raw milk...the boys love it, not really sure why) or english muffins with cream cheese and jelly, whole wheat pancakes, banana bread, or hot porridge (Nourishing Traditions recipe). Something easy and quick to get the morning going.

L: Leftovers, pasta, grilled cheese, salad sandwich or taco, or something Mexicanny with beans and rice

D: Some dinner staples are (I will post recipes too) Tamale Pie, crock pot chicken with either BBQ sauce or garlic and rosemary, Easy Mexican casseroles, or homemade pizza. I like easy but nutritious meals.

I work in the afternoons on Mon, Tues, and Wed so I try to put together a casserole or something in the crockpot before I leave so when I get home dinner is ready or just needs to be warmed for 20-30 minutes. I'm not great at side dishes though. I always forget that I should have a salad or veggie or bread or something. I focus on the main dish and am usually proud to get that taken care of! I'm working on it though.

One of my favorite cook books is The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook (Many thanks to Mandi!) All of Cathe Olson's recipes are quick, easy and I usually have all of the ingredients in my pantry. (Side Note: I'm not a vegetarian but her recipes are whole foods with no refined sugar, white flour, etc. and she packs in as many nutritious yummy foods in every meal.)

As far as shopping goes, I am a paycheck day shopper. I do my main shopping somewhere near the 1st and the 15th. I also do quicker weekly runs for fresh produce, things I forgot because I went with 3 kids...etc! I buy organic as much as I can. I am an ingredient reading mama. I'm still learning but it's a high priority to me to only put good things in my family's tummies. So anyway, my shopping list looks like this:




Please excuse the oil spot...
My list is in the order of my Brenham HEB and I leave it out and write things down as I run out or menu planning. I have a budget for each shopping period so as I shop I cross out the item and write the price so I can keep a running total. After each aisle, I add it up and put it at the bottom. I also have a place for things that I need to purchase from the health food store, order online or Co-op, and other errands.





I menu plan for two weeks at a time. I plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Tues-Fri. (on Mondays the boys eat at John's mom's house...so John and I eat whatever we can find when we get home from the music school) On Saturdays we eat brunch with John's family and dinner is usually out or with the family again and Sunday dinner is pot luck at church, so I plan for that too. I keep my menu on the fridge and try to follow it pretty closely. This is the only way we don't end up eating PBJs for dinner every night.

So that's the nitty gritty of how I run my kitchen and planning process. I'm so excited to hear stories from other kitchens. I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement and am open to sharing ideas and picking a trick or two...or three! Ok, so I'm off to plan my menu and head to HEB!