My New Project: "3 Cookbooks In 90 Days"

Here is the deal.....

   I have been in a major slump! My poor hubby's stomach growls at me from across the room! "I'm too busy to make dinner tonight", I answer it's complaint as he, without a single utterance of annoyance, fires up the microwave for yet another thrown together meal. Truth is....it's not that I am busy as much as it is that I am COMPLETELY lacking inspiration....and I N E E D to be inspired! I want to be creative in the kitchen! I don't want to whip up another bowl of same-ole-same-ole or slop another spoonful of blah on a plate. I want to sit down to a bunch...(Ok, let's be realistic, my kids don't eat ANYTHING like EVER, so I don't really mind if their faces don't shine with excitement) or at least one other happy smiling face!

My other motivation.....

   I AM in fact busy a lot of the time. Days just slip by without even letting me know they are coming, let alone going! Life gets crazy! When life gets like this, the only way for me to truly find sanity among all of the crazy is organization. Otherwise, each day feels like a blur of "need to get done's", instead of a day packed with "look what I can do's". Let's face it....if we are lagging in our day to day responsibilities, it doesn't matter how productive we can be outside the home, because we will always feel like we are falling short. I hate falling sort!
So, in all of the organization, I have decided I need a meal plan....and a food storage, but let's start with meal plan.

    I am not interested in filling up a 30 day menu with meals that repeat themselves over and over and all seem to taste about the same so that at the end of the week we all feel like we have been eating the same thing for days. So, I busted out my supply of cookbooks. I have A LOT! I may have tried a recipe here or there in a couple of them, but for the most part, their potential is untapped. So, I decided to pick 3 of them and start there. I went through the entire book. I wrote down every beverage, appetizer, salad, soup, dinner & dessert that looked like it might interest my family. It had to fit a couple of requirements. It must be either dairy free or easily converted to dairy free, it must be healthy or allow for healthy substitutions, and it must be delish!

     By the end of my list I had a list of a handful of snack & breakfast recipes to make and 90....uh hem NINETY days of delicious dinners! Now, I can't really say delicious. I mean, we haven't even tried them, but they look yum and I am willing to give it a go!

     For the next 90 days I am going to post the days recipes. This will likely include, at the very least, a main course, possibly dessert, sides, breakfast, who knows! But each recipe will be posted along with our overall review of the recipe!

     The winners will make it to our family cookbook, which will be packed with recipes that we all know we love! Four 30 day menus will be created for each season from this cookbook, with a few days for trying new stuff. The 30 days menu will be repeated for 3 months each, then filed for the next year. This will help me get my food storage. For example, if I know that I use 6 cans of black beans in a month I can watch for a great sale on black beans and then stock my shelves with 18 cans! If I do this for each of the items, I end up with a 3 month supply. At the end of all of the seasons I will have a year supply and I will go to the store to replenish the items we used, when they are on sale, of course.

     Sounds great, right?! I am excited to try it out! Tomorrow starts the first recipe! I am also going to start trying to make bread! I haven't ever learned! Wish me luck! :)

     Now, just to let you know, the cookbooks I have chosen to use for the next 90 days are........

Are you excited?! Man, I am! I hope to give you some FABULOUS new recipes to throw into your rotation! We will try them out and give you our honest opinion as we go! Let's get started, shall we?! 

First stop.....

Almond Chicken Stir Fry

Brown Rice

Perfection Rolls

Garden Salad

See You Then!