Wishful Slacker

Meal planning

Recently I sat down and did full-scale meal planning for the upcoming week.  It was quite ambitious given that the baby teeters between happy and fussy every night starting at 6, but it ended up working out just fine.  Jim and I have arranged for ourselves a good after-work groove.  He comes home, gets changed, and then happily receives the baby while I retreat into the kitchen to cook.  And I'll tell you what, I have LOVED having this time to myself.  LOVED it.  It's almost as though I'm getting out of the house!  It's just me, the stove top and some cathartic veggie chopping done with my own TWO hands.  It's my new definition of freedom. 

I have been getting Real Simple magazine for several years, and decided this year not to renew my subscription.  My favorite part of the magazine has always been the food section and we've made some great meals (many of which I've posted here in the past- check out the "Featured Recipes" tab above).  The rest of the magazine I have enjoyed- the organizing and fashion sections, or reviews on facial cleansers.  But with baby has come a decreased interest in this season's hot nail polish colors, and I realize that I probably won't get to that "Easiest 10 minute pedicure YOU can do at home!" for some time.  Hence I've said goodbye to my monthly Real Simple's, and instead opted for what I think is a good compromise.  Real Simple has come out with a $5 food app called "No Time To Cook" for the iPhone, iPad, and Android, and I decided to give it a whirl.  This led me to my successful week of meal planning, so I give it two thumbs up.

The app has a great layout that allows you to search through the types of meals you want (poultry, vegetarian, etc) and the amount of time you have to spend on cooking (20, 30, or 40 minutes).  What I really found handy is that you can add recipes to a favorites list and a grocery list.  The grocery list is divided by section in the grocery store.  I found the meals I wanted for the week, added them to the grocery list, and then went onto Peapod.com to buy the ingredients.  A nice feature of the list is the ability to check off the items you already have, so each time I added an item to my virtual grocery cart at Peapod I checked it off the list. 

Some reviewers of the app have complained about the pop-up ads.  Each time you open the app, a full page advertisement for Hillshire Farm sausage comes up, but there is an easy way to "X" out of it at the top of the screen.  I agree that there shouldn't be those types of ads for a paid app, but I haven't found it to be super annoying. 

One of our meals was this fantastic minestrone soup.  It was incredibly yummy, and I'm usually not a fan of soups that are alllll vegetables.  I gobbled this up!

And of course, this is what happens when Daddy comes home to hold the baby :-)

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

Last Wednesday night before we left for Boston, I placed a grocery order at Peapod to have delivered this afternoon while we were recovering from our travel fatigue.  In the past I've wanted to place orders in advance so that a food delivery greeted us after weekend trips to Michigan but have never gotten organized enough.  Last week I made it a priority, and it is so nice to now have a stocked fridge with minimal effort on our part today!  Peapod had a special on sweet potatoes, so tonight we made this roasted sweet potato and apple soup that was featured some time ago in a Real Simple magazine.  The soup is thick and creamy with (ta da!) no cream added!  In fact, per serving this soup has 166 calories and 2 g fat.  And, importantly, it tastes good too.  It can get a bit messy scooping out the sweet potatoes after they come out of the oven (the Ove Glove works well for this), and they roast for about 45 minutes (we kept them in an hour tonight).  Enjoy! I hope you all like this one :-)

 

Haymarket Square in Boston.  We almost cried when we saw how much more reasonable produce was to purchase here as compared to in Chicago!  Two red or yellow bell peppers for just $1??? A pint of strawberries for $1???  What?! 

On-call crazy!

As of today, I am happy to report that my on-call reign at work is over halfway done.  Three-fifths completed.  Six-tenths.  Twelve-twentieths.  Sixty percent.  But who's counting? 

I went into this on-call period with no meal or grocery shopping preparation, and this has had dire consequences.  Even grocery shopping through Peapod has seemed too laborious a task.  Today I subsisted on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with the leftover heels of a loaf of bread (therefore making it about 2 inches in diameter), and two apples.  And, seeing as I used up the bread, this is no longer even an option for tomorrow.  My husband, who usually rallies for us during these times, is equally grocery-lethargic this week.  So, alas, we're relying on carry out options that have the promise of leftovers.  When I could not resist my continuous stomach grumblings at 4 pm today, I reached for the only snack I had at work--- fig newtons.  This is humorous because it was only last night that I vowed to stay away from figs for some time.  We probably ate about 4 pounds of figs and fig products over the weekend at our Iron Chef Battle Fig party.  Having to rectify today's moment of hypoglycemic panic with a fig newton gave me a chuckle...in a frenzied, slightly manic way.  It probably sounded more like a cackle. 

It makes me wonder how on earth I made it through graduate school, when I had such little time to cook and an empty wallet.  What I do remember is that there were plenty of tator tots.   

Part of the reason why we haven't devoted any weekend time to stocking up on food is that we've used these moments attending some really fun events the past couple weekends, definitely helping to ease the work dread that frequently oozes over me on Sundays (and yes, one of these fun times involved seeing The Wiggles).  Thrown into this weekend was a new arrival to our home- my husband's newly assembled bike, using a new bike frame and his old retro bike parts.  It's awesome.  And, Jim also won second place in Battle Fig with his Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Fig Compote.  All in all, the guy had a very successful weekend!

Hanging with The Wiggles:

Taking in the Air and Water Show:

Filling up at Battle Fig (pictures shown are of Chris's lamb and fig skewers, which won first place, and Christina's Fig, Apple, and Fontina Cheese Crostini):

And, last but not least, the new Black Stallion!

I love this man

See this man?  Thanks to him, I was able to come home from work, run the dishwasher, get our dinner started, and receive all my groceries at my door as my chicken cooked on the skillet.  The timing could not have been better, and now thanks to Peapod, we have a stocked fridge.  This man must have sent his friend to our place instead today, but I was still more than happy to receive any Peapod employee this evening.

In buying from Peapod and comparison shopping, there are a few things I have learned.  Peapod is great for when you need basic interchangeable food items and can do most your shopping from their weekly specials list (which, be forewarned, runs from Wednesday-Tuesday, not Sunday-Saturday like most stores.  I found out the hard way when I saved an order on a Tuesday night only to log in on Wednesday to find everything back to regular price).  Outside of weekly specials, Peapod's prices can be a bit on the steep end, especially for meat and name-brand items like Nabisco crackers, etc.  We've even come across some fruits and vegetables that we feel are expensive, whereas other produce items have come at a great price.  Speaking of their produce- I've not once been disappointed.  The bell peppers we've received have been gynormous (yes that's a word), and everything we've purchased has arrived very flavorful and fresh.  Tonight we received some blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, cucumbers, zuchini, squash, apples, oranges, nectarines, and peaches, and they all arrived looking stellar. 

Peapod also has weekly specials on non-food items, and (FINALLY!) they ran a special on a facial cleanser for which I also had a manufacturer coupon.  You just give your friendly Peapod delivery man the manufacturer coupons when he arrives, and the next day you receive an email with your adjusted total.  The first few times you use Peapod you're eligible for some good store coupons (like $5 off your first order and super amazing things like that).  As much as my husband and I have googled " Peapod coupon codes," nothing has come up that is legit for us to use any longer.   So, alas, no cheating with coupon codes.

And, let's please not forget one of the best parts of ordering from Peapod, which is the convenience factor.  Good God there's nothing better or easier.  For me, when I have what can be called a "Peapod kinda week," the $7 fuel and delivery charge is worth every penny to not have to get in the car, slowly inch along Diversey or Wrightwood for 30 minutes, to then weave through 500 other people at the grocery store at its busiest time (which, when you don't get home until 6pm most days, is basically any time you're not at work).  I have to say, that while you need to be cognizant of some of the pricing, I feel that you save oodles using Peapod because there are no impulsive purchases that have tempted each and every one of us, without fail, while walking past the display at the grocery store (ahem Scooby Doo toy in the cereal box!).  

So, my vote is two thumbs up for Peapod.  If you live in the Peapod-less 'burbs, I am sorry.  It is a terrific benefit to have this option.  However, you folk can usually zip to the store and back while reaching speeds of greater than 30 mph, which from a city dweller's viewpoint, is comprable to having super powers.  Who needs grocery delivery with that?!