One of the questions I’m most frequently asked by friends & readers has to do with meal planning — How do you do it?! So I decided that I’d spend a little time and tell you how I do it! But first, lets start off with the why! There are 3 good reasons why everyone should meal plan:

1. It saves money. If you have everything planned and go to the grocery store with a list in hand for exactly what you need, you cut down on those ‘Oh this looks good, I’m sure I can use that in something this week” purchases.

2. Grocery shopping is easier. That list I mentioned in #1 means easier, hopefully quicker trips to the grocery store = more time to do other, better things.

3. Cooking gets easier. No standing in front of the fridge & pantry for twenty minutes trying to decide what to cook/eat.

But there are a lot of different ways to approach meal planning.You could have a set rotation Monday’s = Breakfast for Dinner, Tuesdays = Tacos, Friday = Pizza Night, etc. You could even develop a set menu that you rotate monthly. I think everyone approaches meal planning slightly differently. I’ll begin with my personal strategy and methodology. And readers, feel free to chime in with your strategies, tips & tricks! So here’s my meal planning strategy:

Check the Grocery Ads. I always start by looking at the ad for my local grocery store. Our grocery store ad comes in the mail but is also available online so if its not something you normally do, go check it out now! How does the grocery ad help? For starters, buying stuff on sale saves money. Second, it greatly helps narrow down the WHAT to eat question. As an example, this week our grocery store has the following items on sale that caught my eye:

$0.97 Large Red Bell Peppers
2/$1 Large Haas Avocados
Buy Butter Lettuce, Get Free Romaine

What catches your eye is not necessarily what catches mine. So now what? What do you do with these things? Sometimes it comes straight to me and other times it needs more work. Bell Peppers = Stir Fry. Avocados calls for Mexican – I don’t know what yet. Butter lettuce = lettuce wraps. Romaine = Salad for side dishes.

Now its time to Make a Meal Plan & Grocery List. I typically grocery shop on the weekend (Saturday mornings preferably). When I’m making my plan for the week, I assign meals to days (so I don’t forget any days) but the reality is that we rarely eat our meals on those assigned days (with the except of seafood which we eat immediately). So based upon the grocery ad inspiration I start with this off the top of my head (look I’m half way done and all I did was look at the Grocery Ad!):

Sat: Stir Fry & Brown Rice
Sun: Enchiladas with Chips, Salsa & Guac
Mon: Lettuce Wraps
Tues: ____ & Salad
Wed:
Thurs:
Fri: Dinner Out w/ Friends

Then I fill in the gaps, based upon what sounds good to me or via inspiration. Where does my inspiration come? A lot of places. When it comes time to fill in some days, sometimes its just whatever I might be craving like Fried Rice. Or sometimes, I have to dig around to find something that sounds good. For that, I usually have a few go to sources:

(1) My cookbook collection!

(2) Web resources. My first stop is always Epicurious.com — I don’t think I’ve had a single Gourmet magazine recipe go wrong for me. Its a great starting place for inspiration if nothing else. Here are some other web resources that might be useful to you:

• Allrecipes.com
• Real Simple
• Martha Stewart
• Everyday Food
• Williams Sonoma
• King Arthur Baking
• Food Network

(3) Bloggers. I have my list of favorite blogs where I might go look for a new recipe that looks good or go back to Google Reader and find some of the recipes I’ve previously saved from my fellow bloggers. Don’t regularly follow blogs? Use google’s blog search feature. I prefer this over blindly googling for recipes because I tend to get my commentary from bloggers about a recipe. Another great blogging resource is Jane’s Blog, This Week for Dinner. She posts her menu weekly and calls her readers to share their menus so there are lots of menus in one place if you need some ideas!

It usually takes me about 15 minutes to plan a menu for the week and then I don’t have to worry about it again! Breakfasts and lunches are easy. I simply make sure we have cereal, milk, and cereal bars since those are our go-to items. I always put fruit on the grocery list as well. And we either eat sandwiches for lunch or leftovers so lunchmeat and/or PB are items I always check for before heading to the store.

So, menu planning in a nutshell. How do you plan your menus?

]]> http://www.delish-blog.com/2010/04/meal-planning-101/feed/ 16 http://www.delish-blog.com/2009/03/foodbuzz-242424-a-night-of-texas-hold-em/ http://www.delish-blog.com/2009/03/foodbuzz-242424-a-night-of-texas-hold-em/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:34:42 +0000 ashley http://delishfood.wordpress.com/?p=1055

We love entertaining and don’t do it as much as we should but we’re working on it! One of the things we’ve been trying to stick to over the last 8-9 months is having a regularly scheduled game night. We’ve had 3 or 4 to date and they’re always a hit. The thing we haven’t done yet is have a Poker (Texas Hold ‘Em) dedicated night which is something I’ve been wanting to do. We decided this month’s game night (last night) would be dedicated to playing Texas Hold ‘Em. I’m also please to announce that our game night is being featured as part of Foodbuzz‘s monthly 24, 24, 24 event which is a live blogging event featuring 24 meals, in 24 hours, on 24 different blogs around the world. I participated back in November for the Thanksgiving edition. Definitely go check out what everyone else cooked up this month!

As much as I love entertaining. Its stressful for me. I’m a perfectionist. I want the house to be in perfect order and I want to prepare a fabulous meal all from scratch. Our friends deserve the best. This is a problem though as I never seem to have enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to do. When it comes to planning a party, the key is planning, planning & planning!

• Clean the house thoroughly a week in advance. Touch-up the day before the event.
• Plan your menu more than a week in advance (check out the menu planning tips below)
• Plan the decor and purchase everything in advance
• Make a detailed shopping list and cooking plan (just like we did for Thanksgiving!)… can’t waste valuable time the day of running to the grocery store for the cheese you forgot!

Here’s some helpful tips when planning a party menu:

• Consider your audience. Notice the lack of veggies in ours? Yea, that comes from experience. They rarely get touched when we have game night. Vegetarians in attendance? Make sure you have plenty of options.
• Consider the weather (grilling when its negative 10 or pouring rain probably doesn’t work too well!)
• Consider time constraints and make as many dishes in advance as possible (And if you’re a food blogger, fixing food that can be prepped in advance makes photographing it easier! hehe. Night time light is not a food blogger’s friend!)
• Trim down the bar. Rather than leaving a full bar out. Choose two choice drinks that are premade where guests can help themselves.
• Plan 3-4 drinks per person for a 3-4 hour party

With all that in mind, we put together our menu:

Spicy Pulled Pork on Hawaiian Rolls w/ Rudy’s BBQ Sauce
Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos
Chicken Poppers
Spinach Dip, Salsa & Chips
Cheddar Ale Dip with Pretzels & Carrots

Brownie Buttons
Mini Cheesecake with Strawberries

White Russians
Bottled Beer

When it came to the bar menu this event. We left our “stocked” bar (tequila, whiskey & vodka usually) out since it rarely actually gets touched– mostly beer drinkers! We did opt to do a signature cocktail for last night’s event which was a White Russian. They were a big hit. As was all the food!

White Russian

1.5 shots vodka
1 shot Kahlua
1 shot half-and-half

Combine first two ingredients over ice in a glass. Float cream on top.

And lastly the reason you’re probably really here… the recipes! This mini cheesecake recipe is something my mom has been making as long as I can remember. No clue where the recipe came from but they’re so simple and so tasty. Perfect for entertaining, or anytime really! They’re a huge hit in our family!

Mini Cheater Cheesecakes

18 vanilla wafers
2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375°. Line 18 muffin tins with cupcake liners (fill any empty tins with a little water). Drop a vanilla wafer into the bottom of each liner. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill the liners 2/3 full with mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set. Top each with fruit topping of choice.

Brownie Buttons

1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp Flour
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Stick (4 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter, Cut into 4 Pieces
2 1/2 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, Coarsely Chopped
1/3 c Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 large egg

For the optional Glaze:
2 oz. White Chocolate, Finely Chopped

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter two miniature muffin pans, each with a dozen cups, and place them on a baking sheet. Whisk together the flour and salt.

Melt the butter, chocolate, and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over very low heat, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula and keeping an eye on the pan so that nothing overheats or burns. When the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and cool for a minute or two. Stir the vanilla & egg into the chocolate mixture. When the mixture is well blended, add the flour and stir only until it is incorporated. You should have a smooth, glossy batter.

Spoon the batter into 16 of the muffin cups, using about a teaspoon of batter to fill each cup 3/4 full. Put 1 teaspoon of water in each empty cup. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the tops of the buttons spring back when touched. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 3 minutes before carefully releasing the buttons. Cool to room temperature on the racks.

To make the glaze: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Stir constantly and don’t leave the chocolate for even one minute- white chocolate scorches easily. As soon as the chocolate is smooth, remove from the heat.

One by one, dip the tops of the buttons into the chocolate, twirling the buttons so that you get a little swirl at the center of each one and the excess chocolate drips back into the bowl. Refrigerate the buttons for 15 minutes to set the glaze.

Source: Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Even more excitedly, this year’s Thanksgiving feast was chosen by the editors of foodbuzz to be a part of the foodbuzz 24,24,24 event which is a live blogging event featuring 24 meals, in 24 hours, on 24 different blogs around the world! It was really hard not to let the cat out of the bag a few weeks ago when I found out. I’m so excited to be participating in the November event! Definitely go check out what the other 24,24,24 featured bloggers have done!

Planning your first Thanksgiving can be overwhelming, especially if you have a personality like mine. Without a doubt, I’m a planner and a perfectionist. Even though I had the menu picked out weeks ago, I knew exactly when each dish should go in the oven, and I had the shopping done. I was still anxious. What if I burn the turkey? What if it tastes horrible? What if my oven breaks? I can’t help myself! And I can’t help you with that sort of anxiety. But I can help you get all your ducks in a row! I can’t imagine how I could have pulled off this Thanksgiving without the planning I did (and I didn’t get it done at 2pm like planned but we were all sitting down to eat at 2:30 so I didn’t do too bad for my first try!). So here I am to share some helpful tips with other first timers such as myself. You can keep these in mind for next year, or really these would be helpful when planning any meal for company!

Its critical to plan your menu in advance, especially for a meal like Thanksgiving! With so many dishes needing to be cooked at the same time, you have to coordinate cooking times and oven temperatures. You ideally want to choose recipes that are close in temperature so you can make adjustments and cook it all together. Unless you’re blessed with a wonderful kitchen with multiple ovens! I unfortunately do not, I’m not even blessed with decent counter space! But with all that in mind, I started out by putting our wonderful menu together:

Thanksgiving Feast, Texas Style!

Cajun Roasted Turkey
Tamale & Green Chile Cornbread Dressing
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Green Bean Bundles
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted Carrots & Mushrooms
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Chutney
Dinner Rolls

Dessert
Pumpkin Roll
Pecan Tassies
Apple Pie
Icebox Cake

So now what? You’ve got the menu planned but it doesn’t stop there! There are some other things to consider and plan for!

• Consider what kind of turkey you want (fresh turkeys should be ordered in advance, and frozen turkeys will require planning as they take time to defrost). Check out this Turkey Guide. We ordered a fresh turkey from a local butcher)
• Make a grocery list from menu several weeks in advance and double check your list twice to make sure you’ve got everything covered (this saves you from having to run out on Thanksgiving day!)
• Clean out the pantry & fridge! You’ll be bringing home a lot of groceries and you need to make room.
• Stock up on shelf stable items one to two weeks in advance and make a run to the grocery store or farmer’s market a couple days before Thanksgiving for all the fresh veggies, bread, etc.
• Plan a time line. Consider how long each dish needs to prep and cook. Review each recipe twice (or more)! You don’t want to suddenly realize the day of your event you should have started the night before! And if you’ve familiarized yourself with your recipes, you’ll be calmer the day of!
• Check to make sure you have all the proper cooking equipment and enough serving dishes for everything
• Print and/or make copies of all your recipes. You don’t want to hassle with having 4 or 5 open cookbooks
• Prep/chop as much as you can the day before a big event. Things such as dicing onions, peppers, celery for stuffing can be done in advance. What does that leave you the day of? Simply combining it all and throwing it in the oven!
• Make all baked goods the night before. These hold up very well and it greatly frees up your kitchen time the day of the event
  

So where are the recipes?? I know that’s why you’re here! Well you’ll find the turkey and dressing recipes below. I was inspired by a hometown restaurant, Z’Tejas for the dressing recipe. The recipe was shared by my fellow blogger at Slightly Cheaper than Therapy. I substituted roasted Hatch green chiles for jalapenos and scaled back the cilantro which I’ve shown below but pop over to her blog to check out the originals. I’ll be honest and say its not my favorite cornbread dressing of all time. The family raved about it though so I was definitely in the minority. I do have to say though, I liked it enough to go back for seconds It was different and I loved the color! It was worth blogging about!

The green bean casserole… well it was my disaster. It should have been good. But I had overcooked the green beans for the bundles when I blanched them the night before so I was worried about overcooking the green beans when I blanched the 2 pounds of green beans for the casserole. I ended up undercooking them and didn’t know it til it was too late. It was the crunchiest green bean casserole I’ve ever had and the sauce didn’t really thicken up like it should have. Oh well. I guess they couldn’t all have been winners my first thanksgiving

The green bean bundles however were a huge hit. Unfortunately I don’t have a recipe to share yet. I’ll work on measuring and bringing you a recipe soon. But you can’t bean bacon wrapped green beans covered with brown sugar, garlic & butter!

All the roasted veggies got all around raves. Not many had had roasted veggies before which was surprising! They’re a fave in our house though and so simple! This particular recipe for roasted carrots & mushroom came from my fellow blogger, Kalyn. She has a great blog for those watching their waistlines (new year’s resolutions anyone?), particularly south beach dieters. These were a huge hit and so very simple! I meant to add pearl onions but with the help in the kitchen and everything going on, I got distracted. But we’ll definitely be eating these in the future so I’ll give the onions a try another time.

The sweet potatoes were a huge hit. But again, I don’t have a recipe to share as of yet. I threw in some butter, cream cheese, cinnamon and nutmeg and then topped them with chopped pecans and marshmallows. The side y were fabulous. I don’t even like sweet potatoes that much and I think these were actually my favorite dish! So I’ll be working on recreating the recipe to share. I need to make these much more frequently!

And of course the biggest and most important recipe of all… the turkey recipe! It got all around raves from everyone, myself included. None of us had ever had a brined turkey before. We’re all used the smoked varieties, but this was fabulous! I loved the seasoning and it was so moist! I wish I had bought a larger turkey; we’ve already taken out all the leftovers! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to do it all over again! I’m so thankful for all the blessings in our lives. I hope everyone had as fabulous of a holiday as we did! And stay tuned because Christmas is just around the corner which means the surplus of baked goodies is about to come a knockin!

Cajun Roast Turkey

Brine
2 c water, plus more water to cover the turkey
1 c kosher salt
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
Ice cubes for cooling

12-14 lb turkey, giblets removed
1 onion, quartered
2 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1 lemon, halved
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c all-purpose flour

To make the brine: In a large saucepan, combine the 2 cups water, salt and sugar and set over high heat. Cook, stirring, until the salt and sugar are completely melted. Fill the saucepan with ice cubes to quickly cool the brine. Put the turkey in a large stockpot, heavy plastic bag or cooler large enough to hold the bird when covered .Add enough cold water to cover the turkey. Add the cooled brine and the onion. Add more ice if you are brining the turkey in a cooler. If brining in a stockpot or plastic bag, place in refrigerator. Leave the turkey in the brine for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.

To bake the turkey: Preheat oven to 325°. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse under cool water in the sink, and pat dry with paper towels. Place it on a greased V-shaped roasting rack in a large roasting pan. Pat the Cajun seasoning evenly all over the turkey, inside and out. Place the lemon and garlic in the turkey’s body cavity. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir the flour into the melted butter and pour over the turkey, taking care to cover the whole bird. Bake the turkey, basting about every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. The turkey is done when the legs are loose in their sockets and an instant-read thermometer stuck in the thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 175° to 180°. Remove from oven and let rest for about 30 minutes before carving.

Source: Adapted from The Pastry Queen Christmas by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman

Z’Tejas Sweet Corn Cornbread
Yields two 10″ skillets

1 1/2 c stone ground corn meal
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 c plain nonfat yogurt
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp canned creamed corn
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp frozen whole kernel corn (thawed)
3 large eggs
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together and set a side. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk all wet ingredients (including corn) together. Then add dry ingredients to form a batter. Spray a 10″ cast iron skillet with nonstick spray or melt 1/2 a stick of butter. Fill with 1/2 the batter. Bake at 400° (375° for convection ovens) for about 20 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cornbread; toothpick should come out relatively clean but still a little moist.

*If using this for the Tamale Dressing, make at least one day in advance and allow to dry out.

Tamale and Green Chile Corn Bread Dressing

One recipe of Sweet Corn Cornbread, crumbled into quarter sized chunks
6 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 red peppers, steemed, seeded & chopped
2-3 poblano peppers, steemed, seeded & chopped
3 roasted Hatch green chiles, steemed, seeded & chopped
1 Tbsp fresh sage or 4 tsp of dried
1 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 c crushed corn chips
1 1/2 c frozen corn kernels (thawed)
12 pork, chicken or beef tamales, shucked and chopped into 1″ chunks
3 c chicken stock, heated
3/4 c canned creamed corn
Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers, all chilies, sage and oregano. Sweat the vegetables (sauté until about half way cooked). Transfer to bowl with cornbread. Mix in cilantro, corn chips, kernel corn, creamed corn and heated chicken stock. Stir well. Mix in tamales, being careful not to break up the chunks. Add salt and pepper. If stuffing is too dry for your tastes, add a little melted butter.

Preheat oven to 325°. Butter a 13×9×2 baking dish. Pour mixture into baking dish and cover with foil. Bake approximately 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until top is browned.

I actually didn’t realize this week was Chinese New Year until yesterday so I’m glad I planned on cooking from the pantry this week and didn’t go grocery shopping over the weekend cause now I won’t feel bad going out to shop for the feast! Chinese new year is on tomorrow and technically lasts for 14 days, ending with the Lantern festival. So I hope to take this time getting back to my roots and spending more time fixing Chinese food. Its almost a crime that I’m half Chinese and you only see 1 or 2 recipes in my blog that are for Chinese food!

As far as food goes for Chinese New Year, there are of course some symbolic meanings relating to food so here are some things to keep in mind when playing your own Chinese feast:

• Chicken and fish symbolize happiness and prosperity, especially when served whole which represents abundance; not all the fish should be eaten either because then your abundance will be overflowing into the next year
• Oranges represent wealth and good fortune
• Noodles represent longevity and long life. And therefore, they should never be cut!
• Duck symbolizes fidelity
• Eggs signify fertility
• Bean curd or tofu, however, is avoided because its white color which suggests death and misfortune

And without further ado… here’s the menu for this year’s grand feast. Hopefully I’ll be back with some actual recipes. I’m horrible about not measuring anything when I’m making Chinese food but I’m going to make an effort!

Appetizers:
Egg Drop Soup
Scallion Pancakes

Main Course:
Chicken Lo Mein
Hong Kong Style Fish (steamed maybe?)
Bok Choy w/ Shitake Mushrooms

Dessert:
Tangerine Sorbet

I also have to confess… this is going to be the first time I’ve ever prepared Chinese food for someone other than hubby. I’m nervous! Friends know I’m half chinese, so I feel like the bar is set pretty high but home cooking is a little different than Panda Express!