When you plan your meals ahead of time, the evening goes much smoother. It becomes simpler to just finish up whatever you need to (work, laundry, whatever) and then move into a speedy dinner prep. Unfortunately, I fell back into bad habits recently and wasn’t planning dinners. Heck, I wasn’t even thinking about dinner … until it was time to make it. We consumed a lot of pasta. It was really chaotic, and I hate chaos.

But I am working on it (we’re on day five of planning success!). Honestly, the stress of having dinner roll around without a plan is something I don’t need. No one needs it. And it’s just too easy to skirt the issue with a little bit of planning.

The slow cooker really comes in handy. It’s just so simple. You toss the ingredients in early in the morning and then when dinnertime rolls around, you have a hot, ready to go dinner. If you are struggling with dinners, you should totally get your slow cooker out and give it a shot. Having this stew bubbling away the other afternoon provided such sweet peace of mind so that I could focus on what I needed to without stressing over what I would toss together for dinner.

Oh, and this Slow Cooker Beef and Veggie Stew is a great dish to re-start your slow cooking adventures with.

This stew has a faint French onion-ness to the broth, but not so much that onion haters will balk (and the onion pieces are big so they can pick ‘em out anyway). And the roasted garlic adds dimension to the broth. The slow cooking blends the flavors as it renders the stew meat completely fall-apart tender. The vegetables – carrots, broccoli stems, potatoes and sweet potatoes – give the stew bulk so that it fills you up.

Did you catch that it has broccoli stems. Stems! The part that no one loves to eat. I keep stems in my freezer for using in recipes like this. And honestly, after slow cooking the stems for so long, the kids and I really enjoyed them in this stew. It was an unexpected but welcome element.

Eat this with a slice of buttered bread. Just divine.

Read the rest of this entry…

For years I haven’t watched the news at night. While I think it’s important to be informed (and I am), it’s easy to become enraptured with the frightening amount of bad things that happen every day everywhere. I like to believe in the inherent goodness of people, but also realize that for whatever reason some people do very bad things. But it’s my choice not to focus on those things. So, I change the channel when the news comes on.

All of this is a wind up to explain why it was so unusual for me to watch the news last night. I’d heard a preview about rising food prices, and I had to tune in. I handle the budgeting for our family — for everything from food and utilities to vacations — so I really feel the impact when prices rise. I wanted to know what I am in for.

The news isn’t good. We all know that the price of gas and food has risen over the last year. Fuel, which has risen nearly 30 percent in the last year, is largely to blame … and the rising prices aren’t done climbing yet. Gas is expected to topple the $5 a gallon mark soon — something that was unthinkable a decade ago. With this, the cost of meat has and will continue to rise, as will pantry staples. How much? Beef alone is expected to rise by 7% this year. Good thing we don’t eat a lot of beef anymore, right? But the rise in prices is largely across the board, so not eating beef won’t let us escape the costs.

The cost of putting food on the table — any food at all — is rising. Whether you eat all organic or whole foods or cleanly or low-carb, it doesn’t matter. If you aren’t feeling the pinch yet, you will.  That is scary.

This all made me start thinking about ways to cut costs, naturally. There’s only so much my family — and especially me — can comfortably cut back. As a food writer who makes a living developing recipes, I have to buy certain ingredients no matter what the cost. But what I can do is cut back in other ways like cutting back on my coffee habit, getting less takeout and driving less. And I can plan our meals in advance, allowing me to save on gas for the many trips to the grocery store I make each week.

Really, no matter whether food is an intrinsic part of your work or just what you need to nourish your family, planning is absolutely key to frugal eating. This dish — Lemony Pasta Salad — is a perfect example of a well-planned meal. It’s a side dish with 12 portions, so you can make it for dinner one night and have plenty of leftovers for lunches and quick sides all week. Easy.
Read the rest of this entry…

Monday: Classic Tomato Spaghetti (from Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals), salad with Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette, Italian bread

Tuesday: Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers and Parmesan Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday: Grilled Island Chicken with wild rice and salad

Thursday: Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Potato Wedges and corn

Friday: Grilled Rosemary Chicken with couscous and green beans

Monday: Grilled Sirloin Steak with Parsley and Garlic Butter; tossed salad

Tuesday: Mini Shell Pasta with Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce (from Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals); tossed salad

Wednesday: Ginger Soy London Broil; Orzo Salad with Peas

Thursday: Pork Tenderloin with Soy, Ginger and Lime (from Everyday Food, July/August 2008); white rice; sauteed sugar snap peas

Friday: Grilled Rosemary Chicken; Israeli couscous; tossed salad

Sometimes you stumble. Sometimes you fall. This week was all about stumbling and falling in My Spending Diet. As I mentioned last week, it was the first time where my kids had to do the big weekly shop with me. It turned out to be harder (on me) than I anticipated. Add in an intensely busy workweek and an otherwise crazy schedule, and I just was off. Really, really off.

First, as a reminder:

The Plan: No spending from Saturday until the following Saturday. Cash in wallet can only be used in a true emergency.

What Happened: On Saturday, the kids and I hit two stores and got most of the stuff we needed. I had trouble finding the pork shoulder that was to comprise two of this weeks meals. In the end, I didn’t end up buying quite everything we needed on Saturday.

On Tuesday, after consulting with Twitter experts, I discovered that pork butt could be used (apparently, the butt can be part of the shoulder … in a pig, at least) and I knew where to find that. We never found the taco shells I wanted for Friday’s dinner (it’s hard to locate ones without those partially hydrogenated ingredients that I avoid). But that’s okay, because we ended up ordering pizza last night. Read the rest of this entry…

This week’s meal plan is …

Monday: BBQ Pulled Pork from Everyday Food; Honey Maple Cornbread (new recipe); Sweet Potato Fries; Vinaigrette Coleslaw (new recipe)

Tuesday: Pulled Pork Wraps (new recipe); Lime-Cilantro Red Beans and Rice; Corn

Wednesday: Asian Turkey Burgers with Stir Fried Rice; Salad

Thursday: Teriyaki Beef Kabobs; Roasted Green Beans; Grilled Potato Wedges

Friday: Tacos with Homemade Mild Taco Seasoning, avocado, sour cream, cheddar and salsa; Yellow Rice, Salad

Read the rest of this entry…

Four weeks! I can’t believe it! Seriously, I really can’t. When I started my spending diet four weeks ago, I doubted it would last more than two weeks. But week two was easier and week three even easier and now I have ventured into finding ways to simply spend less.

As a reminder:

The Plan: No spending from Saturday until the following Saturday. Cash in wallet can only be used in a true emergency.

What Happened: This week flew by. Really, it did.

We followed our meal plan almost completely this week. The only change up was on Tuesday, when I served the Salmon Cakes over a salad instead of on a roll because we ran out of rolls on Monday. But it worked out better that way. They were fab on the salad.

We did run out of a few things – for instance, I failed to purchase half and half for an Easter recipe, and accidentally used all of my husband’s. He picked up a new carton of it. We also are out of bleach, which I will totally buy tomorrow (promise, Shawn!).

As I mentioned last week, the urge to shop midweek is pretty much gone. Although, I will readily admit that when we had balmy summer temperatures this week, I was very tempted to go to the local garden center in search of plants for my garden. I didn’t. It’s still early in the season, and it wasn’t Saturday.

Spending: The kids and I had lunch out once this week (which we’ve done pretty much every week). Cost: about $10. My spending is way down, even with a big holiday meal served this past weekend.

About My Saturday Shop: I’ll be the first to admit that my shopping list left a little bit to be desired this week. It’s largely due to Easter, which I cook for every year. I was so caught up in making sure that we had everything we needed for the holiday that I forgot to do the same for our eating during the week. We didn’t go hungry — we just didn’t have a lot of extras. Read the rest of this entry…

This week’s meal plan is …

Monday: Leftover ham, macaroni and cheese, Roasted Green Beans (new recipe)

Tuesday: Homemade Salmon Burgers on ciabatta rolls with a tossed salad (new recipe)

Wednesday: Maple Soy Flank Steak, rice and salad

Thursday: Chicken Florentine over pasta with salad

Friday: Homemade fresh mozzarella, ham and pineapple pizza with salad

See last week’s plan
Read the rest of this entry…

(Psst! There is some definite cuteness at the end of this post. Be sure to click though.)

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three weeks already. As you probably remember, the first week of my spending diet was really hard but the second week was a little easier. So, how did the third week go?

First, a quick recap of what my spending diet is all about:

The Plan: No spending from Saturday until the following Saturday. Cash in wallet can only be used in a true emergency.

What Happened: In a lot of ways, I feel like I hit my stride with controlling spending this week. The urge to shop just wasn’t there, and more importantly the thought of not spending didn’t consume me all week. That was a huge win.

In terms of planning, I’ve come a long way. Pretty much everything was taken care of this week … and there was even enough room for a little flexibility when I decided against a third day of Asian-inspired foods (the turkey burgers had to wait). So, that was good.

Spending: The only spending I did this week was for a magazine subscription that was part of a gift (which I think was A-ok) and a quickie lunch for the kids yesterday (which was paid for by cash that I had on hand). It was a beautiful day and they deserved the treat. Today, I will need to run out for white eggs and milk. The eggs are for dying tomorrow and the milk is because Paige drank way more than expected this week.  Our week’s shopping will happen tomorrow as planned.

About My Saturday Shop: Doing all the shopping for the family for the week in just a few hours isn’t just challenging, it’s really tiring too. Actually, if I am going to be really specific, it’s exhausting. Last week, all I wanted to do after shopping was sleep (which, of course I couldn’t actually do). Read the rest of this entry…

A few of you asked, so here you go!

Monday: Quick Chicken Parmesan (Click here for the printable recipe at Tablespoon) with a big tossed salad and homemade bread

Tuesday: Peanut Soba with Stir-Fried Beef and Broccoli (recipe from the latest issue of Fine Cooking)

Wednesday: Asian Turkey Burgers on Homemade Foccacia Rolls with salad and fries

Thursday: Maple and Soy-Glazed Flank Steak with Silky Cucumbers (recipe from Cooking Light) with rice and green beans

Friday: Chicken Souvlaki on salad with feta, roasted red peppers and kalamata olives

Psst! Looking for Inspiration for Your Menu?

As you may remember, I write for Tablespoon, a food website. You can read my musings and tips thrice weekly on TbspBlog. Recently, I had the opportunity to add my recipes to a collection on the site so I carefully chose several favorites for it. You’ll notice that one of this week’s recipes even made the cut. Check out my collection, Dinner with Sarah’s Cucina Bella.