01/17/2010 Meal planning and Basil Veggies

Well hello and happy Sunday! I find myself in the middle of a 3 day weekend, as our office is closed on Monday for MLK Day. This is probably the one day of the entire year that I have off that many people do not, including my husband. Not that I won't enjoy it, don't get me wrong. But I am already anticipating that I'll feel like I'm playing hooky!

As you can tell from previous blog posts, I've been off my game recently with the weather, darkness, work, etc. We have been in our new place for almost 2 months now, but you would think it's been far less than that based on the appearance of some of our rooms! We have all this new space but nowhere to put anything, and very little motivation to actually go about trying to solve this dilemma. The issue is most prevalent in our second bedroom. I spent several hours in there last Sunday, kicking around boxes and stuffing files into our file cabinet, while muttering to myself, "Just put everything away- organize later! " I have a grand plan to turn that room into a nice cozy workspace. . but we're just stuck for now! This was one pile that we cleared out yesterday, in preparation for our new dining room table that will be delivered next week. Yay!

Typically, I do really enjoy meal planning and preparing good meals. It just makes me feel good. I rely greatly on looking forward to things, and there is nothing like getting through your work day by knowing that you plan to make a good dinner that evening. We watched the movie Julie & Julia last night. It was a cute movie (though I do need to talk to someone else about the ending- did Julia really not like what Julie was doing? ). At one point, Julie comments that no matter how tumultuous your day is, you can always find comfort in the consistency of ingredients coming together to make a dish. I agree with that whole-heartedly. It does take some planning, which is what I've neglected recently.

Yesterday morning I woke up, sat down with my cookbooks, and planned some meals. I then placed a Peapod order, and now we find ourselves with a full kitchen and a week's worth of meals to make! It feels awesome. Our fridge is stocked with so much produce- cherries, clementines, blueberries, leeks, parsnips, broccoli, cilantro, mixed greens and arugula, and red peppers. This week's meals:

Cuban braised beef and peppers (in the slow cooker as we speak! )

Pasta with lentils and arugula

Spicy black bean cakes

Creamy parsnip soup

Broccoli and 3 cheese lasagna

YUM! ! I like to rotate cookbooks for simplicity when I meal plan, and this week I have chosen a mixture of recipes from Real Simple magazine and the Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook. I will make sure to post any good outcomes! As part of my New Years resolution, I am cutting back on my meat consumption, so today's braised beef dinner is the only non-vegetarian meal we're having this week. Another new thing I have done is created a "Featured Recipes" tab at the top of my blog. If you click on that, you will find the different dishes I have posted in the past. I am hoping this makes these recipes more accessible. I will leave you now with the dish that we made last night. I obtained this recipe from my friend Christina over a year ago, and it's a good one. It is so easy to make, and we've designated it as our "go to" fancy dish for evenings when we're clueless on what to make for dinner. You just need to stop for basil, veggies, garlic, feta cheese, and couscous on your way home and then you're all set.

Basil Veggies and Couscous
2T minced fresh basil
2T balsamic vinegar
1T olive oil
1/4 t salt
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 medium zucchini cut into one inch slices
1 medium yellow bell pepper cut into one inch pieces
1 red bell pepper cut into one inch pieces
1 medium red onion cut into 8 wedges
1 8oz package mushrooms
3 cups hot cooked couscous
feta cheese
pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add zucchini, peppers, onion and mushroom. toss well to coat. Arrange in single layer in shallow pan. Cover and bake at 425 for 35 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Spoon veggies over couscous. Top with feta cheese and pepper.