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!