Animal, Vegetable.....zzzzzzzzzzzz

I have to confess, I am making slow progress on the Barbara Kingsolver book. Generally my first chance to read something that is not Knuffle Bunny or Cars and Trucks and Things that Go is at about 10:45 p.m., and as much as I like reading about food and farming, it is not exactly page-turning kind of stuff. Generally, by about 11:15, Brandon finds me asleep with the lights on, the book propped open to a recipe for swiss chard. I was excited to find a CliffsNotes version of the book on http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/ . If you are not willing to sign on for 300 pages of farming and recipes and you are more the type to cruise on over to a website on your lunch break, then you might enjoy clicking on http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/ -- if for no other reason then because it will give you recipe ideas for cooking seasonally (not with season-ing, although that is important too). Here's a link to Kingsolver's fall menu. Yum. Kingsolver also has resources for finding food locally here. If you got all fired up after seeing an Inconvenient Truth and then got bummed because you could not afford a Prius, don't give up! Buying locally grown food or growing your own food is a very important way to decrease the size of your carbon footprint.

I'm not suggesting a return to pioneer days here, people. Stay with me... nobody's suggesting that you start sewing your own frocks or churning your own butter. Seriously, it's really easy. Just click over here. Do it. Have you clicked there yet? Are you just being stubborn? Okay, now just put in your zip code where it says "where?" and then it will tell you where you can go buy locally produced food near you. See? That wasn't so hard.

What's for dinner?

I have realized that life runs a lot more smoothly if I figure out what we're having for dinner before say, 5:30 p.m. I had to learn this the hard way...there have been many days where I have taken a hungry toddler to the grocery store sans list, cruising the aisles for inspiration. Not a good plan. So, on the weeks that I'm feeling like I've got my best mom foot forward, I actually come up with a menu for the week and do one mega shopping trip while B is home to watch the kids. Sometimes I even post the menu on the refrigerator, so that we can see what's for dinner on any given day. B loves that for some reason. I guess he likes to look forward to his favorite meals (and know which nights to work late).

So, I am new at this blogging stuff, but I'm going to try to link my menu to recipes and a grocery list to help all my imaginary friends out there do their shopping.

Happy cooking! Let me know if you have any great recipes/menu planning tips to share. I am always in the market for new ideas (no pun intended).

Here's the menu for this week:

Sunday: Chicken Tortilla Soup with Cheese Quesadillas and Guacamole
Monday: Salmon and Couscous with Fruit and Sauteed Spinach (This spinach recipe serves about 3--you might need to double it.)
Tuesday: Talapia Fish Sticks with Sweet Potato Fries and Veggies with Dip
Wednesday: "Butterflies and Trees" with Grilled Chicken (You could save time by picking up a rotisserie chicken, but that will mean an extra trip to the store since you can't buy this ahead of time.)
Thursday: Salmon Croquettes with Cauliflower Mock Mashed Potatoes and peas
Friday: Pizza and movie night! Here's a recipe for easy pizza dough...or call your favorite pizza man and take the night off!
Saturday: Indian Summer Turkey Chili FWIW, I always tweak this recipe a little...I don't do the barbecue sauce because it just seems wrong to me. Instead, I add about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and about a quarter cup of chicken stock to loosen up the tomato paste.


Click here for the Grocery List--Chances are you already have things like salt and olive oil in your pantry, but I'm putting it all on the list just in case...