February 2013 Update

I fell a little behind on my posting this month. And then this happened.

So I am expecting to be a bit slow in posting for the next few weeks. I am trying to keep up with the actual items, so hopefully it won't be too long until I can catch up.

I will be updating the 365 blogs soon, as well as starting one for Charles. I do have the pictures, just haven't had the time to upload them.

# 27 and # 45

27. Celebrate my birthday (1/2)
45. Have a monthly date-night with Geoff (3/34)

Two weeks ago, +Geoff  and I went out for a date night to celebrate Valentine's Day and my birthday. It was a little early for my birthday, but we wanted to make sure that we would get to celebrate before the baby came (and good thing we did). We headed over to Club Car for some desserts. It was the first time we had ever been there, and we were shocked how crowded it was. The desserts were delicious, and it was great to have some grown-up time. It will probably be a while before we get another date night like that again.

# 84

84. Read 2 new books a month (10/66)

Earlier this month, I finished reading One Bite at a Time by Tsh Oxenreider. It was interesting, but definitely not something that I couldn't have figured out on my own. Then again, sometimes it is just easier to be told how to do something than it is to make a plan yourself. So I do think that I'll be going through the book again, and while I won't do every task (some just don't make sense for where we are right now), I will try to take advantage of most of them.

# 7, # 8 and # 20

7. Create weekly meal plan (31/143)

8. Have one meatless dinner a week (25/143)
20. Try at least two new recipes a month (41/66)

Last week we once again made four of the meals, and we pretty much enjoyed them all.

Orange Glazed Sea Bass with Black Beans & Rice and Roasted Carrots

Cuban Black Bean Stew with Sofrito Quesadillas

Teriyaki Chicken with Asian Flavored Quinoa

Teriyaki Chicken Burrito Wraps

The fish was supposed to be halibut, but we weren't able to get it. The sea bass had bones so we couldn't really give it to Peter, but he was more interested in the side dishes anyway. If we make it again, I think that we'll try a different fish.

This week, we weren't thrilled with the menu (a lot of prep which I just don't feel up to right now), so we are going with a week that we've done before.

# 7 and # 20

7. Create weekly meal plan (29/143)
20. Try at least two new recipes a month (37/66)

Last week we only made four of the recipes, partially because I didn't have the right pan to make the last recipe. Of course the one that we didn't make was the vegetarian option, so that is one item that wasn't updated. We had:

Chicken Milanese with Lemon Broccoli Quinoa

Chicken Scampi, Angel Hair Pasta, Wilted Arugula and Pine Nuts

Tuscan Bean & Chicken Stew

Creamy Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

We loved the Chicken Milanese, it was definitely the best meal of the week, although they were all pretty good. Here's hoping that we get through all five meals this week.

January 2013 Update

So the year is off to a decent start, especially with the meal planning and new recipes. So far The Fresh 20 experiment has been pretty successful. We have yet to make every meal (something always seems to come up), but we have been liking what we've made so far. It hasn't lowered our grocery costs, but we still have some wrinkles to iron out in the grocery shopping arrangement. I forgot to update the meatless meals that we've had so far with the plan, the twice baked pizza potatoes and the garlic mushroom linguini, so I've gone back and tagged these posts and updated the master list.

Other than that, the big push we've been making this month is getting ready for the baby. I haven't made much progress on my resolutions as far as completing items, but I have been keeping up with Peter's 365 project. I haven't been able to get photos of him every day (FAIL), but I have taken photos that represent him on the days that I was missing.

I'm hoping that the beginning of February is a little more productive, since I really don't see the end of February doing this list any favors.

# 84

84. Read 2 new books a month (9/66)

So, I finally got through a book, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I was intrigued by the commercials for the movie that's coming out soon, so I decided to jump in. It was interesting, and I definitely found it engaging. I'm not used to books being told from the male point of view, which I think made me just that little bit more interested. While I did enjoy it, I'm not sure how quickly I am going to start reading the rest of the series, maybe it will be something that I save for middle of the night breastfeeding sessions.

# 7 and # 20

7. Create weekly meal plan (28/143)
20. Try at least two new recipes a month (33/66)

Last week was a bad week as far as planned meals go. Geoff got sick, and I had hard time cooking (too much standing at one time). We did have two new meals that went over very well, Spaghetti Bolognese and Southwest Chili Corn Carne with Homemade Tortilla Chips. The bolognese was made with turkey and not beef which was different and not in a bad way. The chili was a huge hit, as were the chips, even though they were made with spelt tortillas since I couldn't find corn. These are both meals that I can see myself making again.

# 7 and # 20

7. Create weekly meal plan (27/143)
20. Try at least two new recipes a month (31/66)

Since I didn't like the meal plan scheduled for this past week, I switched it with a previous week, and I am so glad that I did. There was one meal that we didn't make because we weren't home, but the rest were big hits. I made:

Turkey Cutlets with Quick Mushroom Gravy (it was supposed to have Baked Maple Sweet Potatoes, but I didn't make them since we like plain sweet potatoes so much, so why add the sugar and butter)
Baked Tilapia and Green Beans with Tangerine Butter, Almonds and Wild Rice
Turkey Noodle Casserole with Parmesan Breadcrumb Topping
Garlic Mushroom Linguini

I was not a fan of the tilapia, but I that definitely had more to do with the type of fish than anything else. I could definitely see myself making any of these meals again.

# 45

45. Have a monthly date-night with Geoff (2/34)

I am way behind on this item, and it is only going to get harder in the next few months. +Geoffrey and I haven't been out on a date night since we were in the Bahama's, but this weekend we made it a point to go out. It was our fifth wedding anniversary, and while I had originally hoped to go away for the weekend, that plan has been postponed for now. So instead we headed out to a nice romantic fondue dinner, and it was great to get dressed up and spend some grown-up time just the two of us. Hopefully we'll get to do it again soon (maybe a Valentine's Day/birthday date), and we won't be interrupted by a little visitor.

# 20

20. Try at least two new recipes a month (27/66)

Last week we added two more recipes from our The Fresh 20 meal plan, Twice Baked Pizza Potatoes with Sauteed Garlicky Kale and Greek Chicken with Warm Spinach and Orzo Salad. The potatoes had real potential, but the directions did not have me bake them long enough the first time for them to be twice baked, they were hardly baked at all. Some weekend in the not to distant future, I plan on trying them again. The chicken was a hit with Geoff (Peter still wasn't really eating much), it wouldn't surprise me if I was to make that on a weekend as well.

# 20

20. Try at least two new recipes a month (25/66)

Tonight was the first night of our The Fresh 20 experiment, and it went well. Geoff liked the Italian Polenta Mozzarella Bake with a Spinach Salad and Balsamic Vinaigrette. Peter didn't eat since he still wasn't feeling well. I was off a little with my timing, but that had more to do with the cuddly toddler than anything else. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the Polenta, (I am not a fan of sausage), this is something that I could see myself making again in the future.

# 7, # 8 and # 20

7. Create weekly meal plan
8. Have one meatless dinner a week
20. Try at least two new recipes a month

I have been really struggling with creating meal plans, mostly because I have not wanted anything which makes it hard to plan. I didn't see this getting any easier with the baby coming in two months. One of the blogs that I follow on Facebook had asked for suggestions on lowering grocery bills, and one of the major suggestions that they received was to try The Fresh 20. It is a meal planning service which uses non-processed ingredients. So last night I decided that I would try it, especially since I found a Groupon which dropped the cost drastically. I'm going to see how long this will work for us, but hopefully it will at least get us through the first few months with the baby. As well as meal plans, this will also help with the meatless meals and new recipes (since all the recipes will be new).

In case you are interested, here is the Groupon for a one year subscription at half price.

Happy 2013!

Just like that, a new year is starting. And what a huge year it will be with a new baby coming early in the year. With a new year comes new resolutions, although they might not seem all that new.

• Do two 365 Projects, one starting today and one starting with the arrival of Baby B. I'll be doing these a little differently than last time, it will be one for each child. I wish that I had known about this project when Peter was born, it would be great to have that record (not that I don't have a ton of pictures of him from the first year, just not every day). The links to these projects will be on the right under "My Other Projects".
• Complete twelve items on the list. I did this in 2011 and I thought that it worked pretty well, so I'm going to try it again. 
• Keep my blogs up to date. I also might give them a bit of a facelift, but I seem to say that every year.

Since I know that this is going to a busy year, I don't want to over burden myself (anymore than I already have with the full list) so my resolutions will be short.

Here is to an amazing 2013!