Monday's Menu

I love cooking. I love the process of creating a healthy and delicious meal. I hope that you both inherit my love for cooking. Hopefully, you will look back on this years down the road and pick up some ideas or maybe even be inspired. First things first....have a plan. I sit down every weekend and plan the menu for the week ahead. Everyone gets a chance to make a request (Camy your turn will come too). I have tons and tons of recipes that I like to go through too. I then make the grocery list. The fastest way to ruin a cooking mood is not to have everything you need on hand when you are ready to start dinner. We go as a family, usually on Sunday afternoons. Because daddy works for the grocery company, we hold nothing back at the ol' HEB. So, planning ahead accomplishes two things....1.) you are committed to cooking because you have stuff you need to use up before it goes bad (which is always a healthier choice than eating out) and 2.)you are set for the week and ready to go when dinner time comes around. No having to decide that day what to eat and then having to go to the store to buy everything and then come home and cook.

So Monday night's Menu:

Cucumber, Tomato and Red Onion Salad
Grilled Flank Steak
Baked Potato
Steamed Asparagus
Steamed corn

Some tips....Remember this order when it comes to choosing veggies: 1.) Fresh is always best! They are healthier and will always taste better They 2.) If you cannot get them fresh, frozen is your next best option 3.) Canned...avoid canned veggies if you can. They are left with little to no nutrients and they are usually lacking flavor and texture. I almost always start each of our meals with a salad. The more color and more vegetables you can incorporate into every meal, the better! Organic is always the way to go but I will save my tips on how to actually choose true organic foods and how to interpret those coded little stickers found on fresh fruits and vegetables.

 

Pretty Vegetables

 

Camy-at 8 months you are doing very well with your eating. You love, love, love to eat and prefer fresh fruits and veggies to anything that comes in a jar. I try to make all of your food that I possibly can. You love fresh avocados and this was part of what you had for dinner tonight. You are beginning to work on self-feeding and though it is a little messy you are doing marvelous! You finished your meal off with a fresh peach that I first poached and then mushed up fo ryou.

 

I have just recently became confident enough to grill by myself. I was sure that I was going to blow myself up the first few times doing it. Grilling has opened up so many more cooking choices for me!

 

The finished meal. Aesthetically, it would have looked nicer on serving plates, etc...But, where I fall short is having an actual set dinner every night. I start dinner at 5pm almost always. Dinner is served at 6pm. Doodle and I are usually the only two eating together. Camy eats her dinner while I am cooking and I then make a plate for the Mr. to eat when he gets home. He gets home much later than I would like to eat so we make it work. So, I have learned to serve everything directly to our plates rather than setting a serving table. It is not my preference. I wish all four of us sat at the table together every night but this only happens Friday-Sunday. The work week brings hectic schedules.