There is no question, from the people who love me, that I love food and cooking. It’s funny, as I’ve previously written in this blog, I always told my dad that I would hire a chef because I would be too busy to worry about things like cooking my own food or even learning how to do so. What a funny little teenager!
Now we, food and I, haven’t always gotten along this harmoniously. There was a rough sketchy period between ages 14 and 22 were I would have told you that we were sworn enemies, but I have since put down my weapons, waved my white flag and openly embraced everything there is about food.
I love, not just eating and cooking, but the thrill of walking through the farmer’s market and seeing all the gorgeous produce, flipping endlessly and reading through cookbooks, and the discovery of a new found recipe. I also read plenty of food blogs and love to discover delicious dishes at restaurants, so that I can race home and try to imitate or, perhaps even, make them better. What can I say; I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of food.
Now that fall is here and winter is close on its heels, I am once again embracing my favorite time of year to cook. I love stews, winter squashes, soups, and hearty meals that warm you from the inside out. Who needs a coat when eating meatloaf and mashed potatoes or North woods bean soup? My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
In honor of my love of this time, I am once again making a meal plan and trying to stick to it. This is not a tedious task for me, I thoroughly enjoy rummaging through my notebook of “pulled” (from magazines, blogs, or cooking websites) recipes or opening up and flipping through one of my many, many cookbooks to find a new, and yet undiscovered recipe. In mixing the new with the tried-and-true recipes, I have made a menu for the entire month of October.
I won’t bore you with all of it. I will tell you what’s on the menu for this week at the O home. I do this in hopes that this might inspire someone to pick up a cookbook or ask a friend for a new recipe. I heard recently that most of the at-home chefs only have a repertoire of ten recipes. This is disheartening to me. Now, I know, time is the issue for some and others may consider cooking a chore, but there are too many good foods and recipes out there to limit yourself to ten, even if the ten you make are fantastic. Pick a day a week and try something new. Your stomach will thank you!
On our menu this week:
Monday: Honey-roasted chicken with parsnip fries and mixed green salad with pears, cranberries, and toasted cinnamon and sugar pecans.
Tuesday: Butternut squash soup and chicken salad (made from leftover honey chicken) sandwiches
Wednesday: Leftovers (If there are any!)
Thursday: Sweet Potato and Hominy stew (this has beef in it and it was supposed to be Lebanese Stuffed Eggplants, but my menu got off and I had to adjust)
Friday: A piled high veggie pizza (I plan to use artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, and any other fresh ingredient that I can get my hands on)
Saturday: We’re going out to a friend’s graduation party
Sunday: Chicken confetti casserole, green beans, and rolls
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