Monday Madness

This morning was one of THOSE mornings. One of those mornings with a crawling baby who is now getting in to EVERYTHING. Like from a movie: he thinks its the funnest thing for the dog to lick him in the mouth, and while the dog likes to lick him in the mouth, Mom does not like the dog licking him in the mouth, so dog gets in trouble.  Dog goes to her bed to stay away from baby, but baby crawls to dog. Dog growls. Mom hollers. Baby thinks its just so funny. "I don't laugh when you tickle me, mom, but I'll laugh when you hollar at me and my sister-dog."

So mom attempts to remove the temptation and bring baby in bedroom where she is getting ready, forgetting that the day before while cleaning the front room, she moved a large picture frame into the bedroom and its leaning against the wall in baby range (awaiting to be hung). So of course baby immediately crawls over and pulls the frame over on to his head (no injuries), and while mom is moving the frame to the other side of the room, baby crawls over to dad's night stand and pulls a cup of water down (again, no injuries, just mess.)

To add frustrating elements to this circus, its already hot and humid at 7a, and there is no air conditioning in our apartment.  So mom is trying to get put together to go to work, and despite a morning shower is continuing to sweat. Work outside the home is like a vacation from the work that is non-stop with an infant.  I am so thankful baby has a good daycare that he enjoys going to.

The above chaios was only 30 min of my day.  So needless to say, anything that makes some aspect of a working mommy's life easier is something I'm willing to try.  Meal planning is an area that I need help with. I love to eat, and don't mind to cook, but the challenges I encounter with this on a weekly basis are that I have limited time to prepare dinner (so recipes need to be quick), I want the meals to be healthy (but my husband wants a form of substantial protien, read: meat, with just about every meal), and I don't want to waste ingredients, so I want to use what I have on hand, or have a plan for the week that uses similar ingredients without eating the same thing all week. Its hard to shop fresh for essentially just 2 people and use everything before it goes bad.

Thats why I love this site/app: Pepperplate.  You set up a profile on the website, and download the app to your mobile device and log in with the profile you created on line. Then the site and app sync, and continue to do so whenever you make a change in one.

With this program you can save and store all your favorite recipes in one place, give them filters so you can sort them easily (20 minute meals anyone?), make a weekly meal schedule, and there's a shopping list that you can add a recipe to and it will update your list with all the ingredients, and you can check off what you already have at home. 

What especially love is that Pepperplate had coordinated with a couple dozen other food/recipe sites and when you want to import one of the recipes from those sites to Pepperplate, you just copy the link to the webpage and it imports automatically (you can manually enter recipes as well.)

It takes about 10-15 minutes for your initial set up (creating an account and adding some recipes to get started) but once you do, then you'll always have recipe ideas at your finger tips, consolidated into one place.  And the shopping list feature is great, bc you can see what ingredients you need that overlap with the other recipes.

 

I've had several successful weeks of planned meals, thanks to this app.  And less wasted food.  So at least my evenings are a little calmer, despite how the days start out.

I'm curious to know how it works for you.

Yum-fort food....

Lulu's Soup

I spent an hour or so at the end of my weekend making some yum-fort (aka yummy comfort) food to eat throughout the week. Yummy, but still pretty healthy.  Broccoli cheddar soup is one of my favorite chowder-y soups, and I found this recipe by Lulu the Baker, and it looked yummy.  It makes way too much for just one meal, so its perfect for a few days of easy lunches or dinners.  Plus, the weather in LA has been a bit cool this winter (minus the freak heat wave we had last week), and a good soup on a cold night always hits the spot.

Stirring up color....

For someone who doesn't really cook very much, I have a LOT of cookbooks. Some I've never even ventured a recipe from.  I was weaning down my collection when I found a little seasonal booklet from Pampered Chef, and discovered that every recipe in it looked yummy AND easy. My favorite combo.

So last night I tried this recipe for a Sweet & Sour Pineapple and Pork Stir-fry.

Because I like to eat good food...

White Chicken Lasagna
(image courtesy of
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/)

That's really the reason I cook when I do. I don't 'like to cook', but I like the result.  And my husband loves to eat.  So I cook when I can (much less frequently when school is in session), and since I don't cook all that often I like to try a new recipe almost every time. 

We make it a point to eat healthy as a regular course, and Sundays are our pizza (or other junk food) day.  I tried this recipe this past weekend and I will definitely do it again, and while there are no nutritional facts given, I suspect its overall pretty healthy.