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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

what's for dinner?

I actually enjoy cooking, I just hate deciding what to make. I've tried menu planning, but let's face it, I'm just not that very good at it. Every week seems to be the same old thing. It's not that I'm not an adventurous cook, I just don't have the knack for it. I'm not the type of cook who can throw some ingredients together (without a recipe) and it tastes great. I'm also not the type of cook who can look at a recipe in a cookbook and think "ummm, that sounds good." That's one reason I love food blogs... I can get a good idea of how the recipe turned out, and whether it's worth attempting it. I frequent such foodies and salivate over the pictures and descriptions. They are hard to read without getting hungry. (want to visit a few of my favorites? Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE.)

So I have this idea/ goal: I want to plan 6 weeks of dinners, with no repeats. That way I can just keep the meals on a continual rotation, without having to put much brain power into it. I don't want to plan a meal for every night... I need a little room to account for leftovers, frozen stuff, trying a new recipe, going out, etc... so I'm thinking four meals per week for a grand total of 24 different meals. Totally do-able! Right? Just think of all the headaches I'm saving myself. I won't have to decide what to make, I'll just know! Just imagine what a breeze grocery shopping will be.

My problem? I don't think I have 24 different meals that I just love! I'm an over achiever... I don't want just "okay" meals, I want great meals. When Jeff's asked how he liked dinner, I don't want to hear "hmm, it was good" coming out of Jeff's mouth. I want to hear "Wow! that was great. When do we get to have it again?" So... about a week or so ago I read a post over at This Week For Dinner talking about "Go-To Recipes"... you know, those all time family favorites that you tend to make again and again. She shared her favorites, and asked everyone to do the same. So I'm a total flake, and just got around to sharing. But I'm going to totally steal the idea and ask everyone to share with me. Please help an old dog learn some new tricks, hopefully I'll get a couple ideas, and soon will be revealing my new 6 week dinner plan!

Let the sharing begin... here are my favorite "go-to" meals!

Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Curry
Taco Soup
Grandma's Chicken Salad
Taco Salad
Honey Mustard Chicken
Chicken Poppy Seed Casserole
Chicken & Rice
Patio Beans
Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Salsa Tacos
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

7 comments:

Mumsy said...

Holy cow! You went to a ton of work, Kelly! I am so unbelievably grateful for your recipes! I'm getting sick of mine, too, even my go-to recipes.

You are the best!!

tara said...

I really need to do the same. I'll try and get a few together! I just got a really good recipe from a friend that she calls 'mexican soup' It is so delish!

on a side, I totally know what you mean about those bags! I think you'd have to have a heavy duty machine and the right fabrics... maybe once we see her on HGTV, we can mimic it, now, where to get the fabric!

Jessica said...

I have to say that I used your Honey Mustard Chicken recipe a few weeks ago, and I'm thinking about making it again next week. My husband loved it!

I commented with some recipes on the original post, but I'm excited to try some of your's now.

kelly said...

yeah! i'm glad someone likes something I suggested. that always makes you feel good. Jessica - you just made my day!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks for the recipes, the food blog links and the meal planning ideas. I love to cook, but the daily grind of a meal is overwhelming so much of the time. THis was so helpful!

Leslie said...

i'm going to get on this. it will motivate me to post more to my recipe blog!!

thanks, kelly, your stuff sounds delish.

mama jo said...

hey alot of those are mine...