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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Meal Planning

I am a HUGE meal planner.  If you know me, you know that I am a planner in life by nature and this part of my life is no exception.  I love to cook so you will hardly ever find store-bought frozen meals on my dinner table.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just get my jollies by cooking and baking.  If I don't meal plan, I've found that not only do we spend more money but we also eat more unhealthy things.  That was completely my downfall in both of my pregnancies.  I had some crazy bad morning sickness (in the afternoon and evening) and never knew what I would be able to stomach that night.  We stopped at the grocery store every evening and that is exactly what happened.  I'm not saying we are completely clean eaters or don't cook with things like cheese or oil, we do.  However, we try to use it in moderation and where possible try to cut calories by using skim milk, low fat cheese, ground turkey, etc.
 

When I meal plan, I try to do it at a time of day when I'm not starving so that I make sure to include healthy meals on our list.  For some reason when I'm meal planning when I'm starving?  All I can think of are carbs, carbs, carbs!  I try to make sure we have veggies every night either as part of the main dish or as a side.  Friday nights are usually our nights to eat out or to order take out.  Sometimes if we are visiting family or friends on Saturdays then we eat out then too, but most of the time we eat at home.  Sort of by choice and also by necessity with two young children.

I use my crock pot with a timer when I can, but during the week we are usually gone for too long and meat gets too dry sitting on warm.  I'm always game to try a new recipe (especially those that are quick and easy for weeknights so I can spend more time playing with my boys!). I love using Pinterest to find recipes and follow several foodie blogs.  I'm also pretty lucky to have married a man who is pretty adventurous with foods he eats and is not even the slightest bit picky.  So far, our toddler seems to have followed suit which is great news for me.

Caleb loves to help me in the kitchen which I adore.  He sits on the counter with me, dumps in ingredients, and helps mix things.  I hope he continues to like helping his Momma with cooking as he grows up.  Future chef perhaps?

I'll definitely work on some upcoming posts with our favorite recipes but for now, here are some of my favorite recipe blogs.


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