Sunday Dinner

I feel icky today…..achey – hot, cold, bursts of energy that last about 15 minutes….then I want a nap.  I think its the beginnings of a cold but I Zicamed and EmergenC’d – so hopefully I can head it off.

Todd made dinner tonight, grilled chicken & instant mashed potatoes -the Idahoan ones in the packets are awesome, don’t knock it for a quick dinner til you try it.

I – on the other hand – am hungry but dont know what I’m hungry for.  I think chicken noodle soup sounds good. I think I have some Mrs. Grass’ in the pantry.  It’s what my mom made for me when i was sick as a kid.

I have a list of comfort foods -and every single one dates back to a variety of childhood ick.  The time I had strep throat REALLY bad – 2 weeks out of school bad.  Chicken Pox one summer was pretty miserable too.  I gave them to my mom – so once i was better – she was miserable .

Here’s my top 5 list:

1. Mrs. Grass’ Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Chow Mein Hot Dish
3. Meatloaf Sandwich
4. Grilled Cheese
5. COLD Watermelon

I’m a very distracted shopper – get me in a grocery store and I want to buy one of everything.  ”Oohhh that sounds great” – or “I can use this in recipe X instead of that other stuff”

As a result, my pantry looks like this:

I have taken to planning menus so I know I at least have something I can cobble together into a meal.  This pantry can probably make a few meals (ok more than a few) but my downfall is looking at the shelves and trying to decide if the kids will eat Triscuits and baked beans for dinner…..likely not going to happen.

By planning out what we’re going to eat for the week I accomplish a few things

1. I know I have something in the house that will make into an edible meal
2. I look at my veg and perishable situation and make sure to use what I need to use up
3. The menu for the week is set, and I dont have to stare at the fridge or pantry and try to THINK Of something to make, which we all know is the hardest part of making dinner
4. I can use store ads to get the on-sale stuff and save some dinero – always a good thing.
5. I Don’t spend $200 a week at the grocery store on stuff i have no room for in my pantry. (Altho I do admit one or two things i dont have on my list make it into the basket every trip.)

I know a lot of people who dread the after work, kids are cranky, what’s for dinner, rush rush rush.  Planning things out on a Sunday before we go grocery shopping saves me SOME of that headache.

That’s not to say I don’t have some frozen pizza or lasagna stockpiled for those nights when I just cant bring myself to stand in the kitchen after a 10+ hour day.  I’m okay with that, no guilt at all

As a sprouting foodie, I somewhat guiltily still make spaghetti with jarred sauce.  I mean – I don’t begrudge those that use sauce, its a helluva time saver…I just feel like if I’m going to walk the walk – I need to talk the talk, so to speak.  I wonder though, is spaghetti sauce really the place to draw the line.

A few factors work into this line of thought – first of all – i dont have a great recipe for sauce.  Everyone says their recipe is the best, but I still search for the one that isnt to sweet, isnt too thick or too thin, or has the right “feel” to it.

As far as Jar sauce goes – I have a definite favorite – Newman’s Own Marinara – which my local groceries have discontinued.  UGH!  We are on the search for a few favorite – I’m partial to the Giada deLaurentis Tomato Basil – which you can now get at Target…but it’s thinner and VERY tomatoey – and not my hubby’s favorite.

Classico has a good marinara – but its a bit too sweet to call it my “Favorite.”  Maybe I DO need to develop my own sauce recipe – since the stuff in the jar just doesn’t do the trick anymore.

What are your favorites?  Jarred or Homemade?  If you have a recipe I’d love to try it

Saturdays in the summer usually entail some sort of Farmer’s Market visit.  Right now the only one nearby is Glenwood Springs – it’s a pretty good one – so it’s not a hardship to head in on Saturday mornings.

Today I spent about $35 and got the following:

• 4 zucchini – 2 are green, 2 are yellow – about 2 meals worth
• 4 ears of Olathe Sweet Corn – best stuff on earth, hands down
• 2 Heirloom yellow tomatoes
• 1 bag of mixed salad greens – its the size of the plastic grocery store produce bags – probably 3 good sized salads or more in there
• 1 bag of mixed green, yellow & purple beans – about 2 meals worth
• 1 1lb bag of mild roasted green chile – the greens will get cleaned & chopped for green chile this fall
• 1 1lb bag of sweet roasted pimento chilies – I’m thinking the reds will get cleaned, shopped & frozen in smallish bags for side dishes etc.
• 1lb of gourmet wide fettuccini – fabulous stuff – 1 meal’s worth
• 1 bag of handmade orzo – mised flavors – enough to make 1 side dish
• 2 light yellow and 2 dark green bell peppers – probably going to stuff the light yellow ones – green ones for salads & sides this week

I think I did pretty good – I’m going to clean everything up tomorrow and will put photos here and in my flickr stream.

What are your favorite Farmer’s Market finds?  I dream of large cities with large farmers markets – I love the idea of vacationing and eating ONLY local food.  Where are your favorite places to find awesome locavore favorites?