Back to Basics

I am not a great cook.  In fact, I'm not even really a good cook.  And for that reason I should have started cooking basic things right? 

When I was first married, I imagined I was going to be the perfect Donna Reed wife and make everything from scratch and alter recipes to my hearts content and my family would eat so wonderfully.  And then reality hit (about six months ago) and I realized that though I was making most of my food from scratch, and though we were eating really healthy, not much of the food I prepared ever really turned out right.  The meat would be burned and dry, the potatoes or pasta or rice undercooked, and I always seemed to forget to add salt and pepper.

So I have decided that in this area (and many others) I need to go back to basics.  I need to perfect (or at least as close as I can come) a few good meals that my family enjoys, before I can move on to anything else.  Why did it take me five years to figure this out?  I'm a slow learner, I guess.

I have always made a weekly meal plan, and managed to keep a decent food budget (usually).  And since Friday has become my shopping day, I do my meal planning that morning.  My next step is to think about our coming week.  Our busy days, our not so busy days, ect.

Today is Friday, and Friday has always been pizza night since finding Jennie's recipe.  It's one thing I make that turns out and my family loves it.  But we are going to a party for my hubby's work tonight, so I don't have to cook.  (Yay!).  We could have pizza Saturday, however, I have leftover cabbage rolls in the fridge, so we'd better eat those.  Sunday is usually leftover or sandwich night, but again, we are going to a barbecue, so I don't have to cook again (but I do need to bring something.  I'm thinking a dessert.  I AM good at baking!).

So the real work begins on Monday.  On a beginner's cooking website (can't remember where), they mentioned baked chicken and veggies is a good easy place to start.  That will be Monday's dinner.  Tuesday is usually tacos of some sort, and last week we had fajitas, so we'll have regular tacos this week.  Wednesday...we should do something pasta.  I have leftover spaghetti sauce in the freezer from a few weeks ago, and Wednesday might be a good day to bake, so we could have fresh bread and a salad as well.  Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we are going to a friends house.

Hmmm...looks like I didn't have to cook much at all this week.  Bonus!

Back to basics meal planning is done!  Thanks for your help, oh great blog!