Pinterest Round-Up: Menu Planning

So.  One of my beneficial binges comes once every two-three weeks.  And that is the creation of our (me and the-mouse-in-my-pocket's) menu plans for the upcoming weeks.  If inventory needs restocking, this menu plan is accompanied by a four hour grocery shopping fiasco...nooooo.....it doesn't take me four hours in the grocery store.  Two of those hours are spent driving to the army base "near" us to utilize their grocery.  Why, you ask? Because that's what I'm willing to do to save some money.  A lot of money.  So, I think ahead, and stock up on nearly all of the ingredients I need to make my recipes for the upcoming weeks, leaving off some critical produce that i know will rot before i make the food it goes into.  i also try to organize my menu plan in such a way that the produce that is known to  go bad first is used first, while heartier root crops and cold crops are saved for the end of the week or even the following week.  in between these trips of insanity, i just pop in to my loal grocery store to get whatever produce I left off the original list.  So there it is, some more proof that I'm a housewife.

This week is one of those fiasco weeks.  So, the list is long, and there are about two weeks of recipes (probably more, I always over estimate). When I'm making my plan, I like to think that I have the energy to cook every night, and that leftovers won't rot away in the fridge, uneaten, due to a lack of stomach space....In reality, I cook about three-four nights a week, saving room for leftovers that become lunches and parts of the two remaining dinners. On the weekends, I am mostly cook-free--my daughter spends most Saturday nights at my parents' home and on Sunday nights we go there for dinner for a nice home-cooked meal, NOT cooked by me.

Now, to the point of this post.  Well, sort of....  I have several recipe apps on my phone (food network, epicurious, and allrecipes). But, my number one recipe finder and storage app is Pinterest. Even when I use a different app to find a recipe, I pin it.  That way my meal plan/recipe inspiration is all in one neat and tidy place.  And, really, I don't find the recipe apps to be any more efficient on my ipad in the kitchen than the websites they are on.  So I say, just pin it. Yea, google, that's right, Pinterest is as cool as you.

Ok, NOW to the point.  I wanted to share with you my weekly recipe plan through a weekly Pinterest round-up.  Now your saying to self, "hey, she said she plans for three weeks! Why do I only get to see a week at a time?"  Well, now, if I gave it all at once, it wouldn't be a weekly round-up, now would it?  So, you'll just have to wait it out.

Here are some recipes to start you off: (disclaimer: I will not guarantee that all of the recipes I make are "HEALTH FOOD", but I do know that eating home-cooked meals, made from real ingredients is way healthier than eating something packaged, or pre-made...more on this another day)

I'll start with the one that I actually made last night (yes, it was Saturday..yes, I had just spent four hours getting groceries to my home..but my daughter was home, so really, what was a girl to do?)

It's this awesome Roasted Red Pepper Gratin from Epicurious.

It was super-fun to make--I enjoyed roasting red peppers and tossing them into a paper bag, while my husband stood by, asking, in disbelief, "Are you going to throw THOSE in THERE?!"

And holy-wow--this recipe called for 40 ounces of spinach (you would not believe how much this cooks down..well, maybe you would..but I had never cooked spinach in such quantity before.)  Oh, and then theres the gratin part: the recipes calls for ricotta, swiss, and parmesan cheese.  I used Jarlsberg to replace the swiss, since I already had some, partially used, in my fridge.  The flavor was intense, in a good way, and I felt good about eating something with so much cheesy flavor and SO much spinach. Just a note, if you decide to give this recipe a go: DO NOT over-salt it.  The cheese provides a lot of sodium into the equation, and the recipe calls for additional salt to be added--I did and it was fine, but any more would have made the food too salty.  When I make this again, I may even cut the salt back by half (I cook with very little salt, and rarely eat out, so I'm sensitive to it).  And, we have leftovers for lunch on Monday.

And, now, the rest of the week in food:

So, the photos out there on the inter-webs don't do this Vegetarian Kale Soup Justice.  It's hard to photograph soup, man...Maybe this week I'll give it a go.  More on that later.  I've made this soup before so I already know this one is a keeper.   This soup, for me, is a meal in itself.  But I will probably make some sort of rice to accompany it, since the grains are nonexistent.

Another soup, you say? Well, it's autumn...And this Tortellini Soup (that makes enough to freeze)
will be accompanied by....

This Denver Sandwich!!!!
(It's basically a yummy omelette on yummy bread).  My sammys will be going onto a bakery made whole grain bread rather than Ciabatta.  And, since I won't use the entire ham-steak thingy, I'll devise some way to incorporate into a future meal's side, or lunches for the children (by children, I mean my husband and daughter).  Serving a sandwich with the soup allows for the soup that I don't freeze to stretch a little bit for leftovers.

I will also be making some homemade granola later in the week.  The recipe is not on the internet.  It was shared by a member of my family, and is a very flexible recipe--you can pretty much add or take out almost all of the ingredients.  I'll post about how I make it later.

You can get more Menu Plan Pinterest Round-Ups every Friday, right here.  Hope you enjoy, and find some inspiration.

And, hey, let me know, in the comments section, where you find inspiration for cooking, and feel free to share any awesome recipes! 

Small Moments: A Familiar Walk

For the past few days, I have been thinking a lot about several things:

*I neglect my blog and am very erratic with my posts.
*I need to get outside more when I am home alone.
  -I have a tendency to become a recluse.
*I need to slow down more often.

This morning, while being a work-crazed, antisocial recluse, I decided to create a photo-project that would require me to venture outside, and maybe...even.....out of my safe zone (area immediately surrounding our home, which pretty much consists of a rather large park).

It's pretty simple: I go for a walk somewhere and take photos of the minutia--the small things that are often missed by most people....Edit and delete more than half of what I shot, and hope there are a handful that are "blog-worthy".  As a companion to these posts, I will also be posting additional photos on Instagram with my trusty iPhone, so be sure to check those out too.

Today, I chose to start with a familiar walk through a section of the park.  I was out for about an hour; it felt like 10 minutes.  I became so immersed in searching for and observing the little things.  Even things I couldn't photograph, like the sound of a little creek... the random motion of a dead spider, still hanging from a strand of web, being blown by the wind.  I found it all very meditative and motivational....I actually felt excited when I thought of journeying out to the urban-landscape, all alone.

This little maple is actually what inspired my location choice today.  It lives in a rock garden.  I remembered that in the fall, it turns a deep purple.  I was a little early in the season, but I still found it delicate and beautiful.  The clumps of leaves have a soft wispy texture to them.  Today, though, I was more interested in the sweet little seeds.

These beautiful seed pods were found hanging not even five feet away.  Their texture caught my eye, and the purplish accents drew me in for a closer look.

Next door to the pods, on a different bush I found this little creeper hanging out on his front stoop.  I hate spiders, but I must admit this is strangely beautiful.

Beneath the spider, was this leaf, damaged by I-don't-know-what.  To see that something as thin as a leaf has obvious layers is pretty awesome.  And, the colors, and organic shapes created by the leaf's "wounds" are perfect inspiration for future art.

I continued on, out of the rock garden.  The contrast on this wall caught my eye...plus, I have a thing for man made and natural forms coming together and/or responding to one another.

The sunlight was filtered and hitting this grass, creating a warm light.  The complexity of this baby is mind-boggling...And, did I mention, soft to touch--a fuzzy caterpillar of the plant world.

This guy is small, but honestly, around this park squirrels  are hard to miss--they beg from anyone with food, and will rob you blind if you aren't careful.  One time, a friend had a box of crackers outside.  She left it open, and walked a little ways away.  Immediately, a squirrelly boy had moved in and helped himself to some tasty cheese-its.

I continued on, through a nearby playground, to the edge of a wooded area.  These berries were striking; never knew they existed even though I had walked past the bush thousands of times.

These flowers are on their way out, but I found something beautiful about that.  More moving than beautiful...The ephemeralness of nature is something I have always been attracted to...I suppose that's a part of what makes me want to appreciate it more.

And then, I came to the bridge and started across...but then I paused eyeing a little path that led down to a little creek that passes beneath the bridge....I argued with myself for a full minute about whether or not to go down it (I know it seems silly, but there are unscrupulous people around and about from time to time--but really...in the middle of the day?)  I decided to go for it,and am happy to say, there was no one there but me myself and i....

oh, and this dude....this is the dead spider I spoke of...it was in constant motion from the wind, but I managed to get two semi-clear shots.  It was a beautiful sight to watch this thing bob, weave, and float around.  In the time I was there, it went up a foot, floated down about two feet,  and then proceeded to be moved by the wind in a horizontal motion back and forth, covering an area that was about three feet wide....I know there was a strand of the web, but it still was kind of mystifying how the range of motion was so great for such a tiny object.

Again, some damaged leaves.  I wished that more of the veins were intact, but I still found the positive/negative spaces interesting.

As I crossed the bridge I spotted these seed pods on a plant.  Oh, the complexity of nature...it never ceases to blow me away.

I climbed the stairs at the opposite side of the bridge, and noticed this, along the side of the rock path.  The symmetry of the leaves caught my attention, and of course, the complexity of the seed pod, became my focus.

Nearing the end of my walk, I came to this tree--it's one of my favorite trees in the park.  The way the branch twists and cuts through the space around it is wonderful...and it's a great place to sit....when there aren't spider webs all over it.

This was the final photograph on my walk.  The branch was probably sawn off a long time ago, the marks of aging and wear and tear are what i found lovely...oh, and the smattering of bright green moss contrasting with the duller brown.

This walk reaffirmed my love of the complexity found in objects so simple, that their beauty is often overlooked.

I will leave you with a message I found on a fortune cookie years ago: 

there is beauty in simplicity.