What's for Dinner?

Okay, I have an obsession.  If any of you truly know me, then you would know that I LOVE to plan my meals.  It gives me a sense of productivity and control in my otherwise hectic life.  I love the confidence I feel that I have all the things I need, to make any meal I choose and on any day I choose.  I love to cook what I feel like eating, not just whatever I can find in the cupboards.  Maybe that is why I have a constant battle with my weight?  But that is how I cook.  I enjoy food and want others to enjoy it as well.  So why cook just to eat.  We need to cook what we enjoy eating.  Eating is an experience we should look forward to sharing with those we love.  Not just something to hurry up and do 3 or more times a day.

I don't know if many of you know who this wonderful lady is?  Her name is Liz Edmunds and she is the "Food Nanny" on KBYU t.v.  I just adore her and so do my kids!  She has helped me make dinnertime fun again.  I got her book off Amazon, took it to FedEx and had them spiral bound it for me.  Now I use it almost everyday of the week.  This has been my go to book in Costa Rica.  Without her by my side, I think mealtime would have been a disaster here.  SERIOUSLY!

I know this seems like a different post from my previous posts, but I wanted to document what I have been cooking while we are here for 25 days.  I think it is an important milestone for me, cooking here with less than I am accustom to.  I want to celebrate this success and want it documented to look back on.  Because after this trip is over, I plan to send my blog in and have it printed into a book for my kiddos to look at whenever they miss Costa Rica.  Because THEY WILL MISS COSTA RICA!  I guarantee!

So, here they are, my weekly menus up to today!

Wow, that was actually a lot of work!  Now I miss my Microsoft Publisher at home. Oh the things I will be able to learn to do when I get home!  

Now, for this week, I have a few things I need to make but who knows if I will make them this week or next week.  We still have 10 more dinners to eat before we leave.  And I don't like making the same meals too close together.  This is what I have left to make:

• Food Nanny's Chicken Cordon Blue with rice pilaf  (I borrowed a rolling pin but I am still tempted to use a rock!)
• Leftover BBQ Pork and gallo pinto
• Food Nanny's S&S Chicken with fried rice
• Food Nanny's Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Chicken and Rice casserole
• Food Nanny's Creamy Chicken Soup with homemade breadsticks
• Chicken Noodle Soup

Yes, that is A LOT of chicken.  Believe me, I KNOW!  Like I have said in the past, good beef is hard to come by and very expensive at the store.  So we choose to eat beef when we eat out.  But fortunate for us, Ken and AnaMaria, our landylady, have invited us for burgers at their house next Sunday.

(Microsoft Publisher 2007)

 YUM!

I wonder if we will need to eat out this week?  I digress, back to meal planning.  Thankfully I have the meat and gallo pinto frozen until I need them.  But I need to use what I have in the fridge and pantry so that we have NO FOOD leftover when we leave!  These are the ingredients I am having a hard time using up:

• Lots of Cabbage in the fridge to eat  (kids having a hard time with the soup I made and don't want to eat it like salad)
• Huge bottle of Prego pasta sauce (Paul doesn't like red sauce or pasta). 
• cans of tuna fish

I do plan to use as much of it for lunches that I can:  quick and easy pizza with the pasta sauce and tuna melts/sandwiches.  But what to do with all that cabbage?

Any suggestions?

I think I planned my next 10 days of meals.  I need to write it down somewhere.  What better place?

Dinners:

• Monday - tuna casserole with peas, zucchini, watermelon, blackberry jello.
• Tuesday - Food Nanny chicken cordon blue, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans.
• Wednesday - Food Nanny chicken tortilla soup, guac, tortilla chips, salad.
• Thursday - leftover BBQ pork and gallo pinto
• Friday - chicken noodle soup (carrots, celery, onion, noodles, chick) and breadsticks.
• Saturday -  leftovers or eat out @ Country Club?
• Sunday - Hamburgers @ Ken and AnaMaria's
• Monday - Food Nanny S&S chicken with fried rice (peas, ham, eggs, onion)
• Tuesday - Creamy Chicken Soup (potatoes, carrots, onion) and breadsticks (freezer)
• Wednesday - overnight caramel french toast

Lunches:

• easy pepperoni tortilla pizzas  (spag sauce, cheese, tortillas, pepperoni)
• tuna sandwiches / tuna melts
• spaghetti
• PB and J - Phineas and Ferb
• grilled cheese
• ham and cheese sandwiches
• egg burritos

Desserts:

• Texas Sheet Cake
• Food Nanny's Black and White cake
• cinnamon twists with frosting / cinnamon rolls?
• vanilla flan
• homemade fudgesicles 

Breakfasts:

• pancakes
• french toast
• overnight caramel french toast (if we don't eat for dinner)  (pg. 98)
• blender crepes with whip cream/ frozen berries  (pg. 98)
• french toast casserole (pg. 96)

Happy Cooking  ~  Wendi