Time for Foodie Pen Pals!! This month past I was paired up with Kara. Kara lives not too far from me - about a 45 minute drive from me.... in Justin Beiber's hometown for a reference.
Anyway she sent me an amazing package of items from Ontario... but they were all things I had not tried before.
The first thing, I could smell even before I saw what was in the parcel was chocolate... not just any chocolate but...Chocosol this kind was hemp and sea salt. It was as expected... delicious! I managed to make the chocolate bar last me a whole week... talk about self control.
The second item was Arvinda's madras masala. I've never tried this spice blend before. I've looked at them many times, but never tried it before. I didn't have time to try the suggested recipes, but I did add it to pumpkin seeds before roasting them. These spices were amazing and so much better than the masala spices I had been cooking with before a perfect blend of spice and a little bit of heat.
The third item was Barrie's Asparagus pasta. Kara said that this was what she was most excited about sending. I couldn't agree with her more. I made a pasta dish combining tomatoes, pumpkin, mushrooms and a bunch of other stuff turning it into this...
the pasta was delicious - I tried some before I added the sauce as well.
Thanks again Kara - awesome goodies!
Laura at Mommy Run Fast and Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness have created a forum for everyone to share their weekly menu planning ideas. I've started to get back into the habit of planning out my family's weekly dinners simply because it makes life a lot easier and prevents me from ordering take out. So win-win healthier meals and saving some money.
I also have a few wrinkles in meal time preparation because I am vegetarian but my husband and oldest daughter eat meat and my youngest just told me this week past that she doesn't want to eat meat. So a bit of a balancing act.. I need to teach my youngest daughter that if she is not eating meat, she needs to make sure she eats the proper amount of protein and not solely from cheese.
Right now I am only going to plan dinner, not breakfast and lunch. I am going to incorporate leftovers and salads into my lunches and typically oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. I don't know about you, but I often go through stages where I will have smoothies everyday for breakfast for about two months then switch to something else. Currently my breakfast of choice for those of your who are interested is apple, cinnamon oatmeal - it is so good even my husband a non oatmeal eater loves it.
But back to the weekly menu...
Monday - vegetarian chili - for everyone (wish me luck) with salad and tea biscuits
Tuesday - chicken, rice and green beans - I run so I usually eat later and will eat leftovers or a salad
Wednesday - stuffed shells and salad
Thursday - pumpkin soup & grilled vegetable sandwiches
Friday - build your own pizza (based on this recipe)
