Menu Planning Update

So, Sunday went as predicted - except I used leftovers to make a tostada for lunch. I have a large stack of corn tortillas so I fried one of those while heating up Trader Joe's frozen p

eppers and onions and leftover chicken in a separate skillet. Topped with a leftover half an avocado and some Greek yogurt and pickled jalapeno slices. We did indeed end up pulling through the Dairy Queen on the way to the concert. had a great time at the concert with sweet Kate and my dear Allyson.

I was absolutely starving when I got home for lunch on Monday, so I ended up heating up the leftover Bolognese and having leftover soup and dip for dinner.

I also remembered the half a head of cabbage I had in the crisper drawer, so I ended up making this recipe tonight - http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/healthy/easy-winter-recipe-roasted-cabbage-with-bacon-105338. Proving once again that any vegetable is great once it's roasted and served with bacon! I had some pancetta that I bought several months ago from a vendor at our quaint, monthly market downtown and used that. With an Omaha steak topped with mushrooms and a baked potato.

I haven't heard from the friend with whom I'm supposed to lunch tomorrow, so it may be leftovers again. I finished the soup today, so we're down to bolognese and tonight's leftovers. I'm ok with either.

I have Pilates tomorrow at 6 so the plan is to come home, leave the pizza crust on the counter to rise while I'm gone and bake everything when I get home.

So far, I'm avoiding the usual urge to fulfill every urge and craving. I'm sorely tempted to go buy a whole chicken - seems like everyone on the internet is cooking chickens this week - but I have plenty of food to make it without one. I will hold firm! Maybe!

Can I do it?

I've decided to try to live on half my salary. Obviously, there are a lot of factors involved here, but the biggest aspect by far is menu planning.

My typical routine involves "menu planning." I'll check the weekly grocery store ads and come with a couple of things to cook for the week. And I usually follow through - cooking on Saturday and/or Sunday and eating on those dishes for the rest of the week. In addition to going out for dinner and/or lunch an average of 3 or 4 times a week.

But, I don't just shop for what's on my grocery list. So, there's where I started yesterday. Earlier in the week I made a pantry/freezer list and created a two week menu based on those items and what was in the weekly ad. The goal is to not step foot in the grocery store again until I get back from a trip to Austin on October 16th (this is almost as big a deal as cancelling my cable. Almost.).

The first wrench in my plans was that the grocery store was out of the Perdue whole roaster chickens that were on sale. Now, the old me would have just grabbed one of the other chickens lying there and gone on about my business. But the new me noticed that the chicken I was after was on sale for $1.79 per pound and there was no other chicken combination around that matched that. So I asked the lady that came walking up to restock the kabobs to see if they had any in the back (again, almost as big a deal as the cable. Seriously.). They didn't. So, I had to regroup right there in the meat department of Publix. So, here's this week's menu. I made the soup yesterday morning based on what I had and froze half of it.

Saturday -

101 Cookbooks Ribollita I used garbanzo beans and spinach because that's what I had.

Artichoke and Spinach Dip I didn't have any cream cheese, so I used the recipe as a starting point. I halved everything except the artichokes, used pepper jack instead of cheddar, and baked it topped with more cheese

Simply Recipes Bolognese I added mushrooms and served it over penne. I froze 1/2 of it.

Sunday -

I'm heading to the Taylor Swift concert today with my childhood best friend and her 6 year old daughter. Ridiculously excited because we went to our first concert together - Rick Springfield 1984. Not cooking today and probably eating out all day. May have leftover soup for lunch.

Monday -

Lunch - leftovers

Dinner - Steak (my grandmother recently sent me a bunch of Omaha steaks), baked potato and spinach salad

Tuesday -

Lunch - leftovers

Dinner - homemade pizza with mushrooms and spinach

Wednesday -

Lunch - out

Dinner - leftovers

Thursday -

Lunch - sandwich

Dinner - leftovers

Friday -

Lunch - leftovers

Dinner - breakfast for dinner

Saturday -

Lunch - salmon patties and couscous

Dinner - Roasted Chicken, mushroom risotto, roasted broccoli

I spent $114 at the grocery store yesterday, and I'm hopeful that I'll actually be able to make that last (with one stop for fresh produce) the month. Will keep you posted!

I'm as corny as Kansas in August.

Summer is here!, originally uploaded by Mandee - IThinkYouShould.

Farm to table is nothing new in my world. My grandfather had a farm, and I never miss it more than during corn season. He always filled the field across the street from their house with corn - "just for you", he'd tell me. I think that was the only thing that got me out of my ham, potato chips, and orange Hi-C rut.

The key is to pick the freshest corn you can. My favorite source is the old men who pull their pick up trucks up to our local farmers market on Saturday mornings. Most people line up for the tomato guy, but you can find me with the corn men when they ring the bell at 8am. If you can get it fresh enough, raw corn is really like candy.

Silver Queen is my favorite (I'm still kicking myself for not stopping when I saw a sign in Northern Florida on the way back from the beach Memorial Day weekend), but the most important characteristic is freshly picked.

When I hit the jackpot, I like to eat it raw. I'll slice it off the cob with my chef's knife. You'll read lots of different ways to do it most efficiently, but I just keep it simple: stand it on end in a bowl big enough to catch the flying kernels and go to town. You'll want to get close enough to the cob that you get some of the delicious corn "milk," too.

Once you have that bowl of summer goodness, use your imagination. Yesterday, I added cherry tomatoes, avocado, salt and pepper and topped my flank steak with it. Another favorite is tomatoes, a little white wine vinegar, olive oil, goat cheese and basil.

Of course, if you gamble and lose in the freshness category, just boil a big pot of water and drop it in there for only a few minutes. If it's too hot to heat up the kitchen, wrap it in a wet paper towel and then some wax paper and microwave it for a couple of minutes.

If the grill is already on, prep the corn by removing the silks but leaving the husks on. Mix up a little compound butter - softened butter, brown mustard, garlic and cilantro is a favorite - while you soak the corn in water for 20-30 minutes. Smother the ears with the compound butter, tie up the ends of the husks, and throw them on the grill for 10 minutes or so. You can thank me later.

Where should I eat in New York?

We spent some time last weekend trying to figure out when it all started - this obsession of mine. I am always in search of the perfect restaurant for the occasion. Was it the dinner at Cashion's Eat Place following the fire at our little house on East Nelson? Maybe it was actually utilizing the sommelier at Tru celebrating my sister's first national speaking gig. At any rate, it's a full fledged obsession now, we know that.

So, last week this time, I was on a flight to LaGuardia for a combination weekend of sorts - one part girls' weekend, one part performing at Lincoln Center weekend. My friend L lives in the West Village, so when Sherri heard I'd be visiting for the weekend and singing, we decided to make it a girls' weekend, too. Some of our prime eating time was taken up with rehearsal, but these were my favorite places of the weekend.

Murray's Cheese - Sherri and I arrived before L got home from work so I suggested a stroll over to Murray's. L and I visited last year when I was in town and I quickly fell head over heels. Grab a number from the dispenser near the front of the store in front of the cheese case. When someone calls your number take full advantage and taste to your heart's delight. They also have plenty of meats, crackers and bread to accompany your cheese. By the time we made it back, L had the wine breathing and we settled in for some catching up.

Eataly - our intention was to head to the newly opened beer garden on the roof, but by the time we escaped our Murray's stupor, it was nearly 10pm. The wait was 2.5 hours, so we just decided to nosh downstairs. And, wow, was it a big overwhelming. Several different restaurants, lots and lots of humans. They stop serving food at 10pm so we had to order in a hurry after finding a seat at one of the bars. We ended up with more cheese and a charcuterie plate - plus a softshell crab. We grabbed gelato on the way out and walked everything off on the way home. Right?

Luke's Lobster - Unlike most Southerners, I'm not a huge fan of mayo. These rolls were perfect for me. We hit the Upper East Side location on the way to the Met for the McQueen exhibit and they absolutely hit the spot. They are described as having just a swipe of mayo, and frankly, I didn't notice any at all. It seemed to be unadulterated, pure, luscious lobster on my roll. Perfect. Sherri and I each had a beer and L. went with a whoopie pie (she gave it a thumbs up and as the sigoth for a Maine native, the girl knows her whoopie). Highly recommended.

Mas Farmhouse - For dinner Saturday night, we decided to go for the gusto with the tasting menu at Mas. We know our way around a tasting menu - hello, mini bar - and really enjoyed this one. It was a little more substantive food vs. foam and caviar (the last time we were all together, we did Eleven Madison Park's chef tasting menu for Sherri's birthday. Incredible but L and I still can't tell you half of what we ate). The only real downside was that our waitress was on crack. Or tweaking. We couldn't decide. Fun place, though.

Red Rooster Harlem - by far, one of the highlights of the trip for me was our dinner Sunday night at Red Rooster. What a great place. The entire front is glass and they had both sides of the windows open to the street while a phenomenal band played. The bar is a huge, copper-topped, u-shaped presence and the cocktails were great (Spicy Lady, ftw). I saw on Twitter the week before that Molly was headed there for her birthday and asked for her recommendations. She did not steer us wrong with the advice to get there early enough to have a drink at the bar and to have the cornbread and bacon appetizers. All the food was incredible. One of my favorite places.

So, are you visiting New York any time soon? Want me to help you obsess over where to go? This article cracked me up - you mean there's some other reason to visit a city?

Careful What You Ask For

She moved in about a month ago and really wanted to have a Derby Party since she has some more room now. I was there to celebrate her birthday, so who was I to argue?

As expected, it was raining when we woke up on Saturday so Will's soccer game was canceled. We all piled up in her bed and I picked out recipes to make for our impromptu party. When Mom got there, we headed to the grocery store.

As we walked out, an elderly man and his daughter were ahead of us. They had barely gotten to the threshold of the door when he lit up a cigarette. Julie and I were disgusted but moved around him to get to the car. Before we could get to the car, the bottom fell out. By the time we made it to her neighborhood, Julie's windshield wiper flew off. Oh, how we laughed.

As I started cooking, Will sat at the kitchen table to eat his lunch. Julie put her ipod in its dock and we were listening to Fleetwood Mac. I told her that I hoped that moment would be one of Will's first memories.

They only showed the actual race - the rest of the afternoon was covering the severe weather. Pretty soon after the derby was over, the pictures of a flooded I-24 started appearing. We watched as a mobile home floated down the west bound lanes and a boat came up the east bound lanes to rescue a trucker. I installed a new app on my phone that night so I could be alerted of any severe weather.

Etta and I woke up pretty early and headed downstairs to no Dish signal. She made it outside and back in just before the bottom fell out again. I decided I better make a cup of coffee before we lost power and we settled in to watch the rain.

The power went off at 7:42. Will woke up soon thereafter. We ate some Fruity Pebbles and let Julie sleep in. Mom and Dad had power, so he tried to come get us at some point, but couldn't get out of his neighborhood.

It wasn't until I went to charge my phone in my car and saw somebody down the road with a raft that we had any indication of the devastation that lay 100 yards away.

It turned out to be a weekend Will will never forget.

Miss Connie

She was the first single mom I ever knew. She loved her kids fiercely--just like the mama bear she was--but she also recognized the benefit of allowing them to be their own people. And she loved their friends just as fiercely.

She struck a perfect balance between parenting (and she expected our utmost--always) and listening. What other mother was willing to turn her house over week in and week out to a bunch of middle school girls and their dance routines? Even more amazing--what other mother would have enjoyed it? Miss Connie did.

We loved to get ready to go to the Youth Center while sitting at her vanity. She would lie there with her heating pad and chuckle while we discussed boys and Cathy gave us advice on how to flirt. Then we'd pile into her old Bonneville and head down the road.

Her arthritis made her reliant upon us to be the eyes in the back of her head. The maddest I ever saw her was the day we were too lazy to actually turn around and look when she asked us, and she backed into somebody downtown. Little did she know we had been throwing gum wrappers in her hair the whole time. I can still hear her right now upon discovering them, "Well, shit girls!" And the giggling--we never quit that silly giggling. I remember getting tickled while walking out of the old Piggly Wiggly once, and by the time we got to the car, she had developed the line that would become the refrain for years to come: If you girls don't stop giggling, you're never going to get a boyfriend.

When she got tickled, she's start laughing, silently, while her shoulders would shake. Then she'd take a deep breath in, "Oh," she'd say smiling at whatever antics we were presently engaged in. She had promised to buy us a Playgirl magazine, and she fulfilled her promise on a trip down to Panacea. There we sat in the backseat exclaiming about how gross everything was while those shoulders just kept shaking up in the front seat. She let us split one wine cooler but warned us she'd strangle any of us who ever told.

She was the best listener I've ever known. Whether I was complaining about my crazy mother--who was undoubtedly one of her best friends--or trying to recover from the loss of a love, my first reaction upon finding myself in a pickle is to pick up the phone and dial 1317. She had an uncanny knack of knowing what was going on with everybody in town, but you knew you could trust her with your deepest secrets.

She kept the pantry stocked with Funyuns. And Doritos. And every other variety of junk food known to man. It was all Cathy would eat, so she bought it. Every now and then, she'd make us grilled cheese sandwiches. And once a year, on the Fourth of July, she'd cook something that had wine in it--I've forgotten what. She never spoiled our fun by telling us that all the alchol had cooked out of it; year after year she let us anticipate this grown up meal and indulged our silliness after we ate. We'd go to the Country Club for the fireworks and tell all our friends that we were drunk from our dinner.

She didn't care when we made colossal messes--mud pies, slip n slide, orthodontist with every stuffed animal in the play room, elaborate sets for our dance shows including using (and breaking) every candle she had in the house as drum sticks. It was all OK.

She thought we were all the most beautiful, talented children she had ever known. We were all so incredibly different, and she loved us because of those differences. She knew how to treat each one of us just a little differently, so we would feel comfortable confiding in her. I wish we could bottle up that magic and sell it. It was an invaluable skill.

She was supposed to grow old with my mom. We've joked for years that mom was going to be the body and Miss Con was going to be the brains in the operation. Cathy and I were to make sure that mom had socks and dental floss, and we were to bring Connie a Blizzard on Sundays.

I think of the example she set for me every single day. She suffered in incredible pain for years, but I NEVER heard her complain. Not one time in my 34 years did I ever hear Miss Connie say she was feeling badly. I hope that on this Easter Sunday, she's got a view of Matthew McConaughey's butt in some tight jeans while sitting beside a lake where the fish are biting.

Thank you, Miss Connie. I love you and I miss you already.

Timeline Continued

Started here

One to Two:

My parents finish building their house in Carlton Woods. The playroom is built over the garage and it has a little opening that over looks the kitchen. I'm standing on the mini-balcony and looking into the kitchen crying after my sister leaves me in the playroom. I do not enjoy being left alone.

Shortly after we move in, my dad is downstairs having just finished his shower. Mom has Julie and me in the bath (she was 5) and is in her robe. She doesn't know that Julie has been kind enough to share a peppermint with me before we got in the tub until I start choking. She reacts in her typical manner--yelling for my dad. She thinks, "we can't go to the hospital! No one is dressed." My dad eventually turns me upside down and shakes me until the peppermint comes out.

Later in the year, Julie pantomimes eating a leaf off a houseplant; I actually eat it and have some sort of allergic reaction resulting in a hospital visit. The act of her pantomiming and me actually carrying out the act became something of a theme in our lives.

Two to Three:

We move out of the Carlton Woods House into the Barbara Circle house. It's much smaller but backs up to a small lake. We continue to keep the house allergen free, but Mom has a horrible time in the mid-70's finding a babysitter for me. Everyone either has shag carpet or a pet. She finally goes in to resign and her principal insists on helping her find somebody to keep me instead. It's a continuing issue for the next several years.

In addition to the constant red, puffy eyes associated with allergies, my scalp refuses to grow hair. Julie could have been the model for the girl on the Sunbeam Bread product--beautiful blonde locks with gorgeous blue eyes. I am completely bald with red eyes and a red nose.

I also cry. A lot. When my parents can no longer stand it, they call my grandfather. He's a farmer and lives an hour away, and is one of the few people I will quit crying for. He takes me riding around the farm looking at cows until I fall asleep.

Three to Four:

Mom has finally worked out an arrangement that I seem to be satisfied with. I go to the church preschool 3 days a week and spend the mornings before and afternoons after with either Miss Jane or Miss Amanda. Both of these homes become second homes to me over the next two years--keeping me when I'm sick, when my parents are out of town and basically whenever else my mom needs them to.

One morning, I was wearing my new orange jumpsuit and fancy knee-high boots with a hidden zipper compartment and Bill took off running through the church without me. Never mind that I spend half my life at this church--in addition to school three days a week, my dad is the choir director--I totally freak out. The very nice janitor, James, escorts me to my classroom and I am forever grateful.

The days I'm not in school, I stay at with Miss Betty and her grandson, Bucky. Miss Betty never remembers to pull the tongue on my shoes out before she ties them. I'm too scared to tell her.