2013 Cooking Resolution Update

While Poppy is the big news in my life right now, I promise to not write only about babies and pregnancies for the next six months.  So let's talk about my second favorite topic: food and how my resolution #2 is going.

So far, I'm happy to report that we are still doing great on the food front (yes, yes, I know we're only 14 days in to the new year).  You can read here about what we ate through the 8th.

So what else was on the menu last week?

Wednesday, Jan 9th - leftovers (Mr. Cob started his bowling league that night so he grabbed a bite out and Lukas and I ate some leftovers)

Thursday, Jan 10th - leftovers (I had dinner out with some girlfriends and Mr. Cob and Lukas had leftovers)

Friday, Jan 11th - Pasta with peas, turkey and mushrooms (You can find a similar recipe here).

Saturday, Jan 12th - leftover pasta (I'm especially proud of eating dinner in this night.  We met some friends at the park and then they came over so the kids could keep playing after dark.  We tossed around the idea of going out for Mexican, but I felt guilty and really wanted to keep to our eating-in resolution and food budget, so we decided to eat leftovers.  Normally, I would have been the one leading the going out to eat charge!)

Sunday, Jan 13th - Peanut Butter Noodles from Dinner: A Love Story - get the recipe here (I LOVED this dinner, but Mr. Cob hates peanut butter so he was less than enthused.  Lukas was a fan.  We served it with edamame and sliced cucumber)

And for the remainder of this week our menu looks like this:

Monday, Jan 14th - Fried Tilapa with Black Bean, Tomato Avocado salad from Dinner: A Love Story.  (The recipe originally called for flounder but flounder is $14.99 per pound and I just wasn't up for shelling out that much for fish, especially with a picky toddler who may hate it.)  UPDATE:  Lukas LOVED the fish and ate almost an entire filet - so apparently this is a kid-friendly recipe!

Tuesday, Jan 15th - Taco Tuesday - Mr. Cob found a recipe for Cowboy Tacos that he'll be making.  I'm not sure if doing a new recipe defeats the purpose of easy taco Tuesday, but we'll see how it goes).

Wednesday, Jan 16th - Apple Onion Pork Chops from Dinner: A Love Story (recipe here) with roasted sweet potatoes

Thursday, Jan 17th - Lazy Bolognese Pasta from Dinner: A Love Story (similar recipe here)

Friday, Jan 18th - leftovers

So that's our menu.  Menu planning alone will save you money. I swear it!  We shopped at the Dekalb Farmer's Market last night for the week and our grocery bill was $94.  So far I can tell that we are DEFINITELY saving money by cooking at home.  Perhaps the biggest savings is coming from cooking enough every night to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  Lunches for Mr. Cob and I each can easily total over $50/person a week if we eat out every day (a $10 steak salad, followed by $12 on sushi, $8 at chick-fil-a, etc. - you get the picture).  I do find that I have to remind Mr. Cob to grab the leftovers in the morning (or shove them at him as he's leaving the house), but it's a small thing to save a ton of money.

Aside from the big dinner meal planning I've also been snack planning.  Snacks are huge for me, especially when pregnant.  I think the lack of snack planning is where I really lost ground on the "average" weight gain race last pregnancy.  I wouldn't bring enough food with me to the office and in a state of ravishing hunger I'd go buy a snack that was less than healthy.   So here's what I'm snacking on:

- Homemade almond butter granola bars (the recipe made 14 bars)

- Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries (I'm partial to the Fage Greek yogurt)

- Roasted Beets with feta cheese (if you've never had roasted beets, try them...they are DELICIOUS!)

- Roasted tomatoes with goat cheese (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE slow roasted tomatoes)

- Edamame

- Roasted chickpeas (I found a recipe on Pinterest that I plan on trying this week!)

I'd love to hear some of your go-to meals and snacks!  How are your resolutions going???