Meal Planning II- Two Weeks at a time

Hey there.  I've been busy wrangling my kids, walking my pooch, and cleaning my house (And doing laundry.  There's always so much laundry...)   but I wanted to share the new way I do meal planning.  Well it's not so much new as perfected from last fall.

With the spring soccer season in full swing and my daughters both in rehearsals for local theater productions I've opted to simplify as much as I can.  Planning two weeks at a time just makes more sense.   I'm making basic meals, many without recipes.  (So no vintage creations for a while longer.)  I organize my grocery shopping so that I buy everything in one or two big trips.  My master grocery list is on a spreadsheet.  Hubby just about cracked up when I asked him to help me set it up.  This is just so not me.  I like short shopping lists on cute family stationery with my kids' names under their stick figures.    Now I whiz thru the store with the spreadsheet clipped to a clipboard and a pen clenched between my teeth.  I must say I look like a boss in my black yoga pants and mom bun.  Unfortunately this look rarely makes it to a yoga class.

Here's a pic of our meal plan for April 26 thru May 8th.  It goes with my hubby's pay periods so it's not exactly in the beginning or middle of the month.  I only plan dinners.  Breakfasts, lunches, and snacks are simple- leftovers or whatever one likes.

I still use the binder I showed in my meal planning video but there haven't been any new recipe additions in a long time.  Luckily I've built it up enough that everyone is relatively happy with our meals.  (And if not I remind them that I'm not a short order cook.  I'm a boss.  With a bun...)

Here's the accompanying  master grocery list.  I do one big trip the first week and another the second. I still may run in to buy a little unanticipated something (or a sale item) but for the most part this is it.

The prices are to help me stay on budget and the highlight colors tell me what to buy at which store.  I started crossing things off but stopped when I thought about doing this post so you could actually read it.  The best thing I ever did was to list the items according to categories.  Helps me whiz faster thru the store and there's less room for error.

How do you meal plan?  Does it change with the seasons or the school year?

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying spring.  It finally feels like it here in the midwest.  :)

Sarah

Chicken and Rice, Family Circle February 1955

This recipe is called "Arroz Con Pollo" in the February 1955 issue of Family Circle.  It literally means "rice with chicken" in Spanish.  The popular dish is so much a part of the culture that most Latin countries have their own version.  Since this recipe is so Americanized I opted to just call it Chicken with Rice.  (Why switch the order?  There's clearly more chicken than rice in the recipe.  I assume the Latin versions have more rice as the traditional Latin diet is more grained based.  Here in America we're all about protein, aren't we?  Not sure that's a good thing.)

This dish takes a few steps (and a good can opener) but it's easy enough for a weeknight.  With a little planning I could do the bulk of the prep it in the afternoon and do the rest in between schlepping kids to and fro.  It was nice comfort food on a lazy Sunday.

Here is the original recipe.  It starts in the lower left column and continues on the upper right.

Here's what I did:

• 1 Chicken, cut in 8 pieces
• 2T Olive oil (Original recipe called for 1/4C.  2T is plenty.)
• 1C Raw white rice
• 1C Chopped onion
• 2 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1-14.5oz Can of green beans
• 2-14.5oz Cans of diced tomatoes
• 1-6oz Can of chopped mushrooms (I didn't use the whole jar- aimed for 4 ounces)
• 1-4oz Jar of diced pimientos (What are pimientos?  Click here to find out!  I know them from the pimiento cheese of my Texas childhood but had no idea they were actually peppers.  Go figure.)
• 2T Dried parsley
• 1.5t Salt (Or salt to taste.  It depends on how salty your canned veggies are.)
• Dash of pepper
• .5t Chicken bullion granules

Warm 1T olive oil in a large skillet over a medium high heat.  Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken and turn to brown on all sides.  Place the browned chicken in a large baking dish.  Preheat oven to 350.

Add the remaining 1T of olive oil to the skillet.  Add rice and sauté over a medium low heat scraping brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  Add onions and garlic.  Sauté for about 10 minutes until soft.

(Hold the phone!  This is where it gets really vintage...)

Drain liquid from the can of green beans into a measuring cup.  Add water to make 1 cup total.  Pour in skillet with rice mixture.

(...Explanation:  Reserving the water in canned veggies or the cooking water from steamed fresh veggies was just what people did as a matter of course back in the day.  Somewhere along the line we stopped saving this nutrient dense water to use in soups or other dishes and it just went down the drain.  When I read this in Michael Pollan's book Food Rules I promised to start a veggie water jar in the fridge.  Never happened.)

Stir into the skillet:  green beans, tomatoes with liquid, mushrooms with liquid, pimientos, parsley, salt, pepper and bullion granules.  Bring to a boil.  Spoon over the chicken in the baking dish.  Cover and bake for 50 minutes.  Uncover, dig out the chicken, rest it on top of the rice and bake for another 10 minutes.

Voila!  This is what you get:

Chicken, rice and veggies all in one dish.  How easy!  We had fruit on the table to round out the meal.

When I first saw this recipe I was concerned about all the canned veggies.  I mean fresh is best, right?  And then next comes frozen?  For goodness sake my mother was a back to the Earth hippie vegetarian in a housewife's clothing!  How can I make a meal based on canned vegetables?  Then I thought about what my doctor told me once.  When determining what is better nutritionally you have to look at the whole picture.  What else is available?  How much time do you have?  What do you like?  So if you're going to try to make this meal with fresh veggies (adding in time for the cleaning, trimming, chopping, and steaming) but end up with a house full of screaming hungry kids and a grumpy hubby who gives up and orders a pizza then the canned veggies are better.  My wise friend Janet agreed and I proceeded sans guilt.

The result-  I don't know if it was the extra salt and pepper I used before browning the chicken or my brilliant idea to add the chicken bullion granules but hubby said IT HAD FLAVOR!  (Cue the angels.)  The kids loved it too.  I cut the chicken off the bone for the bone phobic of my brood and they ate it right up.  I thought it was delicious.  The leftovers were yummy the next day and the rice didn't get mushy as I thought it might.  Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!

This is the beautiful Family Circle magazine cover.  I love it!

See George Washington?  Back then he didn't have to share his birthday by honoring all the presidents!  

I hope your family loves this dish as much as we did!

Sarah

Where have I been?

Hey there.   I haven't abandoned my fledgling blog.  I've just been busy with my kids being home from school, holiday fun, getting my house organized, and making emergency trips to Target.  (I'm a suburban mom.  It's what we do.) Also hubby is off for these two weeks so we've been trying to slow down and spend time together, which can be a challenge at this time in our lives.  He still has work in the back of his mind and I'm still keeping up with my job- the hubby, house, and kids.  Sometimes it's just a walk with the dog but I love it.  Last night we saw American Hustle.  We both really liked it and if you're into Disco era fashion it's a must see.  The story kept my interest which is pretty great considering gangster con artist films aren't my favorite genre and I had a nice glass of wine at dinner.

I'm working on a recipe now.  Literally.  It's on the stove.  We'll see how it turns out.  I have concerns.  (Hubby's suggestion was to make sure it has enough flavor.  Gee thanks, babe.)

I've been thru almost all of Mrs. Katz Cohn's December magazines and it just dawned on me that the reason I'm having trouble finding a test recipe is because I'm looking for family meals.  The December magazines are all about parties and treats.  Nothing against party food, decadent Jello, franks and beans for a crowd or five thousand ways to make different cookies from the same basic dough but there is so much chocolate in my house right now I'm in danger of OD-ing on it as it is.  (I seriously couldn't sleep the other night after my 15 year old and I had a Rodeo Girls marathon complete with equally trashy snacks.  And lest I insult those reality show devotees out there- this one really isn't bad.  For reality tv.)  I found a couple of contenders so I'll be posting a recipe soon.   How do we feel about homemade salad dressing?   Hmmmm...  I may have to find out!

I hope everyone has been enjoying their holidays!

Sarah