I love the Eat At Home Challenge. I've always been a lover of grocery stores, grocery shopping, meal planning, pouring over the weekly flyers to see how little I can spend on great meals and I love to cook but I have to confess...this is tough this time around.
Ever since my childhood sweetheart, Paul came back into my life...it's been a whirlwind ride of splitting our time between each of our households, juggling his work schedule with mine, fitting Mackenzie's scheduling needs into the picture and many, many outings spending time with his family and friends. It has been SO...MUCH...FUN!!! The only teeny, tiny downside is that the routine lifestyle that I was so used to simply doesn't exist any more and that makes grocery shopping/meal planning really tough now.
January 1st went well. We were invited to Paul's parents for pork wellington, roasted potatoes, mashed cauliflower, broccoli and "Eton Mess" for dessert. It was DELICIOUS!! His mom is a great cook. Just like Jenn, she loves to have a house full of people which makes me admire her so much as I'm only starting to learn how to be a comfortable hostess. I'll have more info about Eton Mess later in the month.
January 2nd...we blew it, though I think it was for a good reason! Paul's buddy from high school and his girlfriend and 2 wee ones (20 months & 2 months old!) were in town from Australia for 4 weeks over the holidays. We got a chance to meet them at their high school hangout, The Runt Club pub for a few pints and the best thin crust pizza I've EVER had. I had pesto for the sauce, baby mozzarella, grilled chicken, smoked tomatoes and broccoli on mine. YUM!!! So it wasn't home made but it was hand made with my favourite healthy ingredients. Does that absolve me of some of my guilt?
January 3rd, we ate leftovers from the 2nd and 3rd. January 4th we did chores around my house (installing some curtain rods, laundry and we got the Christmas tree & decorations put away...YAY!). We stopped just long enough to eat some leftover homemade enchiladas cooked up with sautéed potatoes and broccoli.
In the evening on January 5th we were in the mood to watch a movie so we queued one up on the computer and made some home made nachos for dinner. I love anything "tex mex" so this is always a favourite option for me. Plus, to make it quick and easy when I want a tex mex fix, I keep cooked, seasoned taco meat (ground beef or shredded turkey or chicken) in the freezer so I can pull it out on a whim.
I haven't yet figured out what we're making for dinner today but once I do, I'll try to remember to take a picture this time so I can add it to the next post.
Happy 2013 everyone!!
Lori
