Sunday, March 28, 2010

Downsizing Life

So I am downsizing my life. I will be doing one blog. No more additional blogs, no more facebook or twitter. If you want to catch up on me or my family then the blog will be your ownly way to do so.

http://mod-fam-fun.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 26, 2010

Eating My Way Through Thursday

Well, Thursday was a great food day in my house. Thanks Rachael for some great meals this week. I was able to eat some of Wednesday nights leftover salad and I enjoyed it immensely for lunch. The flavors blended well and it was absolutely delicious.

That being said, dinner on Thursday night was amazing. I even had a good friend of mine over who agreed that Rachael's vegetable stew kicked some butt!! It was so good! I enjoyed it as well. Shane and Althea both enjoyed it. Andrew (the pickiest eater in my household) was not a big fan but I made him a piece of tillapia so he ate that and part of a potato and cheese pancake.

Vegetable Stew with Potato and Cheese Pancakes

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=559

Ingredients

2 Tbs EVOO
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 lb crimini mushroooms (about 16-20) halved (I used 8 oz crimini and 8 oz white mushroomos and I cheated and bought them presliced...I did this because the sliced mushrooms were on sale at my grocery store and I always enjoying saving some money.)
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion chopped (I used half of a large red onion...again working with what I had on hand and what was on sale at the grocery store.)
salt and pepper
1 can chickpeas (15 oz), drained (I chose not to use chickpeas as I am not a big fan. I did add in a couple of handfuls of fresh greenbeans that I trimmed the ends from and cut into bite sized pieces.)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 can diced tomatoes in puree (28 oz) (There were no diced tomatoes in puree at my grocery store. I chose to get the regular can of diced tomatoes and drained only about 1/2 of the liquid.)
2 Tbs fresh rosemary leaves, fresh chopped

Potato and Cheese Pancakes

EVOO or vegetable oil, for frying (I chose to use canola oil for mine.)
2 lbs all purpose potatoes, such as Russet variety (about 3 large potatoes) peeled and shredded
1 small onion, grated (I chose to use one leek and grated the white part and part of the light green part.)
3 Tbs all purpose flour
8 oz smoked Gouda cheese (1 1/4 cups), shredded (My grocery store only had one option for smoked gouda and it was very pricey and less than 8 oz. In order to save money and to only have to buy one block of cheese, I chose some delicious smoked provolone to substitute this one out for.)

Preparation

In a medium pot over moderate heat, saute garlic and mushrooms in EVOO for 2-3 minutes. Add zuccini and onion to the pot and season vegetables with salt and pepper. (I also added the green beans at this stage since I was using fresh green beans.) Saute another 5 minutes. Add chickpeas, cumin, tomato, and rosemary. Bring stew to a bubble, reduce heat and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a thin layer of EVOO or vegetable oil to the pan, just enough to coat the bottom. Combine potaotes with oninons and flour. Mix in shredded cheese. Spoon piles of potato and cheese mixture into the pan, making 3 inch rounds, one inch apart. Cook cakes until golden and crispy, about 4 minutes on each side. Remove cakes and repeat process.

Arrange cakes, three per person, on dinner plates and top with mushroom and zuccini stew. (I am kind of weird about foods touching so I chose to serve mine along side the stew with the stew in a bowl and the pancakes on a small saucer plate.)


So cooking is going well. I am really enjoying myself far more than I would have thought and I have such a feeling of plessure and pride about the fact that I am actually sticking to something and doing such a great job at it. My family is enjoying this venture as well, because who would not love a home cooked meal each day. I am learning more about my family through our dinner time that is eaten at the dinner table as well.

I do have one question for your foodies or cooks out there. Is there anything that you can do with your shredded potatoes to keep them from changing color? Now, my potatoes did not do too bad but they were starting to get dark near the end of my cooking and frankly I did not make them all so the leftovers of course changed colors. I would love a good tip on how to keep the potatoes from changing colors so that I could actually make the leftovers the next time I prepare something like this. Let me know please. Thanks.

Also if anyone out there is reading this let me know what you think. Let me know if there is a recipe or meal that you would like for me to try as I am willing to try out different things. Please keep in mind that I am a vegetarian so meals with meat will not be the best choice or the best option.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Tonight's Dinner!! Yummy!!

Tonight was leftover night at our house. We had a variety of leftovers...the kids chose to eat pizza and ALthea ate some of the soup that she had enjoyed so much. I ate the soup and the following salad and Shane also enjoyed the salad but had the rest of the curry. We have lots of leftover salad for lunch tomorrow and I am going to whip up something of Rachael's since we have talked about going out to dinner as a family tomorrow. If we don't go out to dinner then we will be eating something from one of Rachael's recipes.

I did choose to make a salad of Rachael's to go with our leftover feast.

Fennel, Celery, Portabello, and Parmigiano Reggiano Salad

Ingredients
1 fennel bulb (So, I had a problem with this one as my grocery store only had one fennel and it was not looking too fresh so I chose to use two leeks instead of the one fennel bulb.)
1 red onion
1 celery bulb, darkest green stalks removed (I used five stalks of regular celery as Shane is not a big celery fan.)
5 or 6 crimini mushrooms (I used a handful of already sliced crimini mushrooms.)
A handful of fresh basil (I was out of basil so I used a handful of fresh cilantro.)
A handful of fresh parsley
2 Tbs EVOO
Juice of one lemon
Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Cut fennel bulb in half and thinly slice each half until completely shredded and dump into a big bowl. (I cut the dark green parts from the two leeks and discarded them. I then chose to cut them in half and slice them very thinly.) Remove outler layers of the red onion and slice in half. Slice onion halves thin and add to the fennel slices. Thinly slice celery, starting at bottom of the heart and working your way through to the tips of the stalks. Add to fennel and onions. Thinly slice mushrooms and herbs and add to the fennel.

(I chose to add a small bag (5 oz) of shredded parmesan and mix this into the fennel and toss prior to adding the dressisng or instead of serving with the cheese as a garnish)

In a separate bowl, whisk together EVOO, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the dressing to the fennel mixture and toss. Serve.


This salad was great and it was very very pretty. It would be a great option to serve for a family dinner or when we are entertaining friends or family.

Tuesdays Lunch

Tuesdays are my night to be at school so I am unable to cook supper for my family. So I decided that I would cook lunch on those days.

Tuesday's lunch was Tortellini Soup from you guessed it, right? Rachael Ray.

The lunch was delicious.

5 Ingredient Meal: Tortellini Soup

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3186

Rachael says that this soup serves two, however we had it serve six, so I guess portions are different depending on who you are.

Ingredients

1 quart chicken broth (I used vegetable stock instead since Shane is allergic to fowl.)
1 bag tortellini (16 oz), dried or fresh, regular or whole wheat (I actually used frozen as it was a lot cheaper than fresh and I am not a big fan of dried.)
1 bunch of spinach
zest of 1 lemon
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (I used shredded parmesan.)

Preparation

Place a medium pot over medium high heat and bring stock to a boil. Drop the tortellini into the pot and cook, according to the package directions. In the last 30 seconds of cooking, add the spinach and lemon zest to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and garnish each serving with cheese before serving.


The soup really surprised me as it was really really yummy. I don't usually like vegetable stock in soups as I always preferred chicken broth, but since that is no longer an option to me I was forced to use the vegetable stock and it was delicious.

Both Althea (my 19 mos old daughter) and Shane both enjoyed this dish as well. I ended up eating the leftovers as dinner on Wednesday night.

I cheated on the diet Tuesday night by ordering some cheese pizza from Aurelio's...yummy!!

What I'm Learning

Well I am learning a lot of stuff about myself and my family by cooking. Typically I have at least one of my kiddos cooking with me and we have started eating dinner together at the dinner table. It is amazing all of the ways that we have been able to spend more time together around the dinner table. My 6 1/2 year old son has even started doing chores and setting the table for our dinners.

Thank you so much Rachael for bringing my family together. I appreciate all of this great time that we are spending together.

So I will make a late post in a bit for the dinner on Tuesday and for tonight's dinner.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Dinner Tonight...

So here's what's happenin in my world.. Dinner tonight was great. I used a new one of Rachael's recipes and it was pretty good. Shane and Althea enjoyed it but I could not get Andrew to try this one.

Warm Ginger Carrot Slaw

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=922

Ingredients

2 Tbs vegetable oil (I actually chose to use 2 Tbs of sesame oil.)
1 small savory cabbage (1 1/2 lbs) (I used 1 1/2 lbs of red cabbage.)
1 bunch scallions
1 cup snow peas (a couple of handfuls)
1/4 cup honey (eyeball it) (I chose to eyeball it this time too.)
3 Tbs cider vingegar (eyeball it) (Again I eyeballed it this time too.)
3 Tbs pickled ginger, drained and thinly sliced, found in Asian food isle (I could not find pickled ginger in my grocery store so I used about 1 tsp of ground ginger instead.)
1 sack store-bought shredded or juliene cut carrots (10 ounces)
salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut cabbage into quarters, and cut away the core. Shred the cabbage and set aside. Cut cleaned, trimmed scallions into 3-inch lengths. Pile scallions lengthwise and juliene them into thin strips. Pull the threads from the ends of the snow peas and juliene into thin strips, lengthwise, like the scallions.

Drizzle honey into a small bowl. Add vinegar and combine with a fork.


Heat a non stick skillet over high heat. Add 2 Tbs oil, two turns of the pan. Add pickled giner and cut carrots and stir fry for two minutes. (I chose to use 1/2 tsp of ginger stirred into the oil before adding the carrots...the other 1/2 tsp of ginger I stirred into the honey and vinegar.) Add cabbage and stir fry 2 mins more. Fluff and toss the veggies with tongs so they stay dry and crisp while cooking. (I used a spatula and mine turned out fine this way.) Add scallions and snow peas and stir fry another minute. Add honey and vinegar combination, pouring it all around the pan in a slow stream. Cook the liquids down 30 secs more and turn off the heat. Continue to toss the slaw and season it with salt and pepper to taste.

With this delicious warm slaw I chose to have some yummy home-made egg rolls. The following is my personal recipe for home-made egg rolls.

Egg Rolls

Ingredients

1/2 head of green cabbage
5 crimini mushrooms
2 scallions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp garlic salt
oil, for frying
egg roll wrappers

Preparation

To begin get your vegetabls ready. Take the 1/2 head of green cabbage and slice it into thin slices and then cut into small shredded pieces. Then take the crimini mushrooms and slice them and then cut them into small pieces. After that take your scallions and cut into small sections and then cut them lengthwise in a juliene style cut. Mix the soy sauce, ginger and garlic salt and pour over the cabbage mixture. Take the mixture and place in an egg roll wrapper and wrap it up. Then fry them in the oil until golden brown on the first side, turn them over and fry on the second side until golden brown on this side as well.

This was all served with jasmine rice. I used Rachael's suggestion from her television show to reduce the amount of water. I found the rice to be cooked perfectly. Thanks for such an amazing tip for fresh healthy rice, Rachael. This one is sur eto be used time and time again.
So Sundays are usually my big cooking day. Not so this weekend as we got new furniture and Shane was busy putting it away while I was busy working with the kiddos and trying to cook.

I had originally planned on cooking tacos but could not stomach the idea of ground beef after watching the Food Inc. documentary. I can not believe what hamburger filler is and that they actually put this crap into hamburgers. Now, to be more realistic about it, the hamburger that I bought would not have contained any of this but it still made my stomach turn so dinner became something a bit different. I had been planning on making both beef and portabello tacos but we ended up with yummy portobella wraps instead.

My recipe from Rachael was our breakfast. Personally it was not for me. I don't like bananas but tried this anyway figuring that it could not taste too much like bananas with everything else. However, I did discover that it did taste too much like bananas for me. Shane seemed to really like them though, but Althea (also not a big fan of the banana) did not eat hers either.

Monkey Buns

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2931

Ingredients

non stick cooking spray
1 large banana, thin sliced
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I had substituted with light brown sugar as this is what I had on hand. In the future if I try these, along with picking a differnet fruit, I will be using the dark brown sugar.)
10 Tbs honey
2-3 Tbs cinnamon
1 tube refridgerated biscuit dough

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray 10 cups of the 12 muffin cup pan with non stick cooking spray.

In each of the 10 cups of the muffin tin, lay down a few slices of banana and cover with about 1 Tbs of brown sugar, 1 Tbs of honey, and a dash of cinnamon. Pop open the tube of biscuit dough, separate each portion and place one piece into each muffin cup, pushing them down slightly so the dough touches the bananas and sugar. Bake the biscuits as directed on the package, until golden brown. (I also added a dash of cinnamon to this side of the buscuit as I love cinnamon.)

When the buscuits come out of the oven, let them cool for a couple of minutes, then place a large platter or baking sheet on top of the muffin pan. Carefully but quickly, invert the muffin tin and platter or baking sheet together. Remove the muffin tin (fishing out any buscuits or topping that may have stuck to the bottoms of the cups)and let the buscuits cool further. Serve warm or at room temperature.


Our dinner was some yummy portabella wraps that were actually pretty too. The kiddos ate some fried portabella slices with cheese and crackers instead of the wrap.

Fried Portabella Wraps

2 portabella mushrooms sliced
1/4 of a red onion thin sliced, slices cut into strips
1 green onion, thin sliced lengthwise after being cut into shorter lenghts
1/2 cup parsley rough chopped
2 cups Bisquik baking mix
2-3 Tbs season salt (depending on your tastes)
1/2 cup milk
6 Tbs butter
6 Tbs olive oil
small (taco sized) corn tortilla shells

Mix together season salt and baking mix in a small bowl. Pour milk into another small bowl. Put 2 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs olive oil in a frying pan and slowly heat over medium low heat until all of the butter is melted and it is hot.

Dredge the portabella slices in the baking mix and season salt, then dip them in milk, and finally dip them a second time in the baking mix and season salt mixture, and then fry until cooked on both sides. After each batch of mushrooms fries you should add another 2 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs olive oil to prevent the pan from becoming too dry. Lay the mushrooms on a plate that is covered in paper towel.

Then warm your tortilla shells in the microwave. place a few slices of the mushroom on the shells and top with red onion, green onion and parsley.

The wraps were delicious but I would have rather used cajun seasoning instead of seasoned salt but we were out of the cajun seasoning.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Tonight's Meal

Well tonight's meal was good. I had to make some different changes on the dish that I chose from Rachael tonight as I was not happy with the original flavor. I am going to her recipe 1st and then post my own so you can see what I ended up with. Sorry, Rachael but this one was just not for me. However, my dr'd up version was really good, perfect for my taste and it all spawned as an idea from your recipe.

Sweet-Hot Slaw

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2095

Ingredients

2 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
one 1 inch piece of ginger sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbs tamari (dark soy sauce)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 lb nappa cabbage, shredded
2 bell peppers in varied colors, thinly sliced
1 red jalepeno chille or Thai chille, fine chopped

Preparation

In a small saucepan, dissolve sugar in vinegar over low heat. Stir in ginger and garlic. Transfer to a bowl and add tamari and cumin. Let stand for 2 mins and then discard the garlic and ginger. Add the cabbage, bell peppers and jalapeno and toss to coat.

My version of the Sweet-Hot Slaw

1/2 head green cabbage, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
4 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
juice from 1 lime
salt and pepper

I combined the peppers and cabbage in a bowl. I then cooked the vinegar and sugar over low heat until combined with the finely chopped garlic. I then added in the sesame oil and the lime juice. I added in some salt and pepper to taste. I then served it with fresh black pepper as well.

Vegetable Curry (my own personal recipe)

Ingredients

1 bunch green onions,green and white parts cut into bite sized pieces (mine were rather fat so I haved the white parts)
1 red onion, cut into bite sized pieces
8 oz package of sliced baby bella or crimini mushrooms
1 green pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 red pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 yellow pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
4 jalapeno peppers, fine chopped
3 cloves garlic, fine chopped
2 cans red curry paste
2 cans coconut milk

Preparation

To start add the coconut milk to a large pot and stir in the curry paste. Turn on the burner on high heat. Allow the curry and coconut milk to come to a boil. Add in the veggies and cook for about 15 mins on medium heat or until the mushrooms have been cooked.

I served this over some instant brown rice. Since I don't have a rice cooker I choose to use the instant rice instead.

The curry was delicious although it is very spicy. If you are not a fan of spices you might want to leave out the jalepenos, seed them or even reduce to just one can of red curry paste. We prefer our curry spicy. The slaw was also delicous after my doctoring but some of you might prefer it the original way. It just wasn't what was on my mind for my taste buds.

All in all the meal was easy and quick to prepare. The majority of my time was spent cutting up the veggies.

If you try my recipe or Rachael's please let me know what you think. I'd enjoy hearing from you about the things that I have cooked and how you have enjoyed them yourself.

I also should state that I have recently become a vegetarian and so that is why you will see a lot of veggie dishes and also sometimes two different main courses. I just thought that I'd forewarn you that I don't eat meat, but that my children and SO do.

Dinner Night 1

Well dinner last night was a complete success. I did make some substitutions to the recipes based on taste and preference, but all of those will be included below.

First off, I must say that Rachael's recipes were all simple and easy for me to prepare. In the past I have cooked from other recipes and had a hard time with the food not turning out quite so well. These recipes will all be repeats in my house as they were enjoyed by all. Even my picky eater, 19 mos old Althea, enjoyed eating them and she ate all of them!

The Salad was a Mozzarella Salad--yummy!! With this one Rachael says that there are 4 servings. We got 8 adult servings and 2 toddler sized ones out of ours.

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2192

16 pieces bocconcini, bite sized mozzarella balls (my store was sold out of these so I actually just got a hunk of fresh mozzarella and cut it into bite sized pieces, there were more than the suggested 32 pieces that this recipe calls for but since I love cheese it was fine by me!!)
1 pint multi colored, yellow, or red heirloom cherry tomatos (there was no selection in my store we got red)
4 scallions, whites and greens, thin sliced on an angel (Now here is the biggest substitution of the night. My grocery store had a very sad selection of scallions. Therefore, I was forced to only have two very small scallions for this recipe. I used the two and then added a bunch of green onions sliced thin, lengthwise. I didn't use quite all of the green parts of the green onions as there were so many that it would have been too much for the salad. I used all of the white parts and about 1/2 to 2/3 of the green parts.)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves
1/2 cup thin sliced basil, 10-12 leaves
2 Tbs red wine vinegar (Rachael says to eyeball it, but I chose to measure it.)
1/4 cup EVOO (Again Rachael says to eyeball it, but again I chose to measure it.)
salt and pepper

Preparation

Have the mozzarella and the tomatos and combine in bowl with scallions and herbs. (Again my mozzarella was chunked and the tomatos were simply halved as stated. My green onions were also added at this stage.) Dress salad with vinegar, EVOO and salt and pepper to taste.


Our main course was the Penne with Vodka Sauce, Pearl Onions and Peas (although since I hate peas we didn't have peas in this one!) Rachael says that this recipe has 4 servings, however we must not eat as much as was recommended as we had five adults and one 19 mos old eating, as well as a care package for a 6th adult and there is enough for two more lunch servings today and a serving for our 19 mos old, so we got 2 baby servings and 8 adult servings from this dish.

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3197

Ingredients--
1 bag fresh red or white pearl onions (I used red!)
1 Tbs EVOO
2 Tbs butter
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (I used 3!!)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup vodka
1(28 oz) can crushed tomatos (they didn't have these in my grocery store so I used 2 (15 oz) cans, drained (I could not really drain mine as they were too crushed to drain)
1 cup cream
1 box penne rigate
1/2 cup baby peas (again I didn't do this as I am not a fan of peas...I bought them when I was shopping but I ended up not going through with it! :) )
1/4 cup tarragon, chopped
1/2 cup basil leaves, thin sliced
parmigiano reggiano cheese, grated (this was pretty expensive at my grocery store so I substituted with some plain shredded fresh parmasan)

Preparation

Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Add the pearl onions and boil for 3 minutes. Drain, cool, and trim the root ends. (I chose to trim both ends...personal issue :) ) Pop the onions out of the skin. (This was so easy and it really worked!! Thanks for the best tip ever, Rachael!)

Place a large pot of water over high heat for the pasta.

Heat a deep skillet or saucepan over medium heat with EVOO and butter. Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Add the vodka and reduce for a minute or two. Add the tomatos and stir and heat through, then add the cream and let simmer while the pasta cooks. (During this stage, I tasted the sauce and chose to add a bit more salt and pepper. I am always hesitant in the begining as I do not want to add too much salt and pepper to a dish. So, sometimes my cooking needs a bit as I go along.)

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water to al dente and drain. (I only cook my pasta for about 9 mins rather than the box directions of 10-12 mins as I like mine to be al dente and to have some bite.)

Add the peas and herbs to the pasta sauce and stir to heat through. (Again I did not add the peas.) Add the pasta and toss for 1 minute to combine. Serve pasta with parmigiano regiano cheese at the table. (In my case I added about 1 cup of parmesan cheese to the pasta itself in small batches while stirring...it just made it easier since we were having company over.)

I also served garlic bread. Unfortunately this was not one of Rachael's recipes. I got this one from the Food Network website and Guy Fieri.

Garlic Bread

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/garlic-bread-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I chose to use 3 as my cloves were very small.)
1 scallion, minced
1 Tbs Parmesean (I used 2 here, I love cheese!!)
1 Tbs fine chopped parsley leaves
hot sauce, to taste (I left this one out, something about hot sauce and garlic bread did not sound good.)
salt and fine cracked black pepper
1 French baguette (I used a large loaf of French bread as there were no baguettes at the store.)

In a small bowl, mix butter together with garlic, scallion, Parmesan, parsley, hot sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Preheat broiler with rack 4 inchese from heat. (I did this but had to move my rack down another row after the first 1/2 of the loaf was too done around the edges and not done enough in the middle. Moving my rack down for the 2nd 1/2 made it perfect!) Slice baguette horizonatally. Spread butter on both halves. Place on a sheet pan and toast under the broiler for 2 minutes.

All in all the dinner got rave reviews. Everyone loved it and everyone ate until they were full. I chose to serve it with a nice glass of pinot noir as that is my wine of choice and the flavors blended well with it. I will definitely cook all of these recipes again. Plus since there was a chance that more people were coming to dinenr, I already have the ingredients for another batch of the pasta. Yummy!! I can't wait and I am so happy that it did not take long, was easy, and I was able to pull it off successfully.

Friday, February 19, 2010

The Start to My Journey

So, after watching Julie and Julia some time ago, I thought that the premise of the movie was great. I loved the way that blog was created and all of the things that Julie was able to learn about herself as she forced herself to follow through with something for a year.

As for me, well I have a bad habbit of being lazy in the kitchen. I have been guilty of creating too many unhealthy foods and not working hard enough to give my family a healthy meal each night.

That is about to change!

I am challenging myself to make at least one of Rachael Ray's recipes each day for a year. I want to make sure that I cook a good solid meal for my family on a regular basis and I know that since her recipes are quicker and easier than most, I am more likely to stick with it.

There will be times, I am sure that I just make a side of Rachael's and something of my own but I am confident that I will be able to do this and to be able to do a good job as well.

Since there is no day like today, I am starting my journey tonight. I have my week's menu planned and I have went grocery shopping for the groceries that I needed to get. I have nine days of meals and recipes planned out.

So if you are wondering what's going to be for dinner at my house, you can look at the short menu list below. Each day, I will provide a link to the recipe (most of which are gotten on Rachael's website), the recipe, and a quick review of what my family thought about it. I will give my honest opinions and will be letting you know when I entertain how others enjoyed the food as well.

Friday (Tonight)--mozzerella salad, Penne with Vodka Sauce, Pearl Onions, and Peas, and Garlic Bread--all of these are Rachael's recipes...plus we're having company over so we'll see what happens

Saturday--sweet and hot slaw (Rachael's recipe) and vegetable curry with rice (my own and yes these will be included on the day as well)

Sunday--monkey buns (breakfast--Rachael's recipe), tacos for dinner (my own recipe)

Monday--ginger carrot slaw (Rachael's recipe) and egg rolls (my own recipe)

Tuesday--Tortellini Soup (Rachael's recipe)

Wednesday--cracker and parmesan crusted fish (Rachael's recipe) with veggies and rice

Thursday--fennel, celery, portabella, and parmesan salad (Rachael's recipe) and spaghetti (my own)

Friday--vegetable stew with potato and cheese pancakes (Rachael's recipes)

Saturday--Tomato and red onion salad with lime cilantro dressing (Rachael's recipe) and cereal coated fish (my own recipe)

Sunday--Fish with rice and green beans (my recipes) and peanut butter brownie cups (Rachael's recipe)

On occasion I will be substiuting some things on Rachael's menu in order to be able to make the meal more of something that myself and my family will like but all in all they will be hers and changes that I make will be noted.

Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think of the recipes or what I am trying to do. I am trying to lose weight and have a healthier family.