Veggies....Veggies....and more Veggies....

My husband expressed to me earlier this month that he would love more vegatarian meals. I was surprised.....and that was replaced with fear! I'm not sure I can make some great vegatarian meals. Guess what folks? I can!!!! I picked up Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates cookbook and I gathered up some recipes along with my courage and went for it. First, I made a ratatouille. YUM! Here is the recipe I used (it was adapted with some changes from the Moosewood cookbook. Enjoy!

4 cups Eggplant cubed
2 cups onion chopped
1 cup yellow squash cubed
3 cups zucchini cubed
3 cups bell peppers chopped (two colors are prettier:-)
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
3 Tbl olive oil

375 degrees
Prep all veggies. Rinse the eggplant in a colander, drain, and dry with a paper towel. Toss eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, onions with 2 Tbl olive oil. Spread the veggies in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast for about 40 min until veggies are soft and edges are brown.
Layer half the veggies in a baking pan and top with half the can of Italian tomatoes. Layer on the remaining veggies and the rest of the tomatoes. Cover and bake for 40 min. Serve immediately.
We served ours over some brown rice. It would be great with pasta or polenta. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Meal Plan part 2

So do you have your recipes organized yet? Now are you wondering how to pick and choose? Well, there are a few ways to go about it. Here is an example:

Set up 2 weeks to a month at a time.
Week One:
Monday - Chicken
Tuesday - Pasta
Wednesday - Crockpot Beef
Thursday - Soup
Friday - Vegetarian
Sat - Leftovers
Sunday - Breakfast

Week Two:
Monday - Fish
Tuesday - Crockpot Chicken
Wednesday - Soup
Thursday - Pork
Friday - Pasta
Saturday - Beef
Sunday - Vegetarian

And so on......you could also schedule more specifically.....for example....
Monday - Chicken Italian
Tuesday - Beef Mexican
Wednesday - Vegetarian Soup
...And so on...

By organizing your recipes and planning ahead, you can really save yourself headache and make dinner time simple. See this post on how to display your meal plans.

Happy New Year!

Do you make new years resolutions? I'm not usually too big on them, but I'm making a few this year....mainly cause my husband says that if you write your goals down, it's proven that you are more likely to achieve those goals. So, this year, it's my goal to read my Bible every day, do a quarter triathlon (quarter mile swim, 6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run)(it's a small goal...but I gotta start somewhere), and to get my certification as a personal chef.....and I for sure want to blog more! So...I thought it's appropriate to start the new year off with talking about meal planning.

Ok, if you know me, you know I love to plan!! I don't know why...I'm just a planner and I really enjoy it. I've talked to several women about how they plan meals and how they decide whats for dinner and most of you say the planning aspect is the hardest. I've also found that the way I plan may not work for everyone. It seems that you just have to figure out the best method for you and your family. With that said....here are a few things I found on other blogs and websites that I hope will inspire you with planning your meals.

Have an old picture frame your not using? How about this from Make it and Love it.

Or this chalkboard project from Nannygoat. You could put a coat of magnetic paint under the chalkboard paint for a multi-functional chalkboard!

Put your recipes in a binder as Martha shows. She uses simple photo album sheets.

Here is a pretty and functional way to display recipes. Find out how she does it at Controlling My Chaos.

And...if you need some inspiration and want to see what others are having....check Meal Plan Monday from I'm an Organizing Junkie.