plan the feast

And now that we have the table, the chairs, and a tablecloth, there’s no reason we can’t do this now, except the scheduling…

I’d love to get this on the calendar with our friends in April.

And I think it would be a great test-run for Christmas.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have chairs for our dining room table yet and that is obviously a first step.

I’ve been pinning anything that looks tasty, with ingredients I’d use, and with techniques that I could follow.

I now have four fully separate meals I’m excited to try out, and a couple that have (most of) the ingredients I already have!

Still focused on just getting through tomorrow morning with the GRE, but otherwise there’s no reason I can’t make one of these meals tomorrow night!

YAY!

Our grocery store had a buy one get one free sale on feta cheese. Now that we have gobs of it, I want to meal plan some things utilizing it.

I have a couple of ideas, but am open to more suggestions! Any favorite recipes utilizing feta?

For a week! With their one year old, I imagine we’ll try to eat most (if not all) meals at home. That’s a lot of mouths to feed at various points in each day. Plus, considerations are to be made for Miss Toddler who’s actually a pretty decent eater, but a toddler nonetheless.

So I’ll need to think about what to make for everybody and have on hand. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner… I’m sure J would love to grill, but he’ll be working during the day, and who knows yet what times he’ll be home everyday…

Hrmm, this is going to be an adventure!

J and I have been talking about taking meal planning more seriously. As a way to save money, as a way to stop overeating, and as a way to prepare for life in a new place when a dozen or more restaurants won’t be within short walking distance.

I’ve been pinning all kinds of visual meal plan boards and recipes over on Pinterest.

I think it’s time I start to implement something.

Flylady suggests that you start by documenting what are actually eating as a way to discover patterns. Eating out would show up a lot, but I think that might help us in our awareness.

I have a ton of ideas that I just am not acting on. That’s foolish. I can do this.

So I have a cousin about my age who lives in the same city now with her dental student husband. Her parents and two siblings are all in town for Easter, and want to see our place for the first time. I invited them all over for dinner tomorrow night, which when we’re all together is EIGHT people! I’m not quite sure how I’ll pull it off, particularly when we have a table and chairs for only 4, BUT we’ll make it work: I’ll clear my sewing table and bring it in the dining room to create more surface area, we can eat in shifts, and there’s always the couch – haha.

First, I was inspired by Afrayedknot’s fish tacos. But J and I went over to my cousin’s place and we all had hamburger tacos tonight. :/

Then, when I was meal-planning earlier today when I wasn’t thinking we’d see my cousins so soon, I thought I could make chicken koftas with tzatziki tonight. Now I’m thinking I can do a whole Mediterranean themed night with the koftas and tzatziki and tomatoes in pitas and maybe zucchini fries and a Greek salad! Mmmmm, yes, I like how this is shaping up. And if I’m still feeling adventurous (and maybe I’ll have to be to make sure I can feed everybody), maybe I can also make Afrayedknot’s orzo pasta side dish recipe I remember she had from her old 43T account.

Yes, I think I have a solid plan!! Hooray!

The Thai Mango Chicken turned out wonderfully. I served it over the thin vermicelli rice noodles I had, and I’m very pleased with it.

Recipe here.

I’ve got rice noodles, Israeli couscous, and Emmenthaler cheese to use.

I’m not planning on using any of that in the same dish, but should help me narrow down the options of what I could make for dinner tomorrow.

I even bought dark chocolate chips and oats to make a chocolate oatmeal cookie recipe I saw online, and had full intentions of making them before leaving my sister’s.

But my niece has been sick, and during the week that my sister was going to have her in daycare, she’s been too sick to attend, and all of a sudden, I’ve been inundated with what it is to take care of a sick baby, and that does not leave much time and space to make chocolate chip cookies. Rats!

I suppose I could make them now, at midnight. But that just doesn’t seem practical. (Maybe tomorrow?)