Menu for the Week

I'm not the sort of cook that can McGuyver a meal out of random pantry items -- I may never be. I'm also pretty terrible at walking around a grocery store and knowing what to grab. If I don't have a list, all I think about are pre-packaged meals, the deli, and snack food. So, lately, I've been creating menus. Menus are an easy way for me to put recipes together for a week, buy the groceries I need, and focus on learning how to make tasty, fresh, home-cooked food. This week, it looks a little something like this:

• Sunday Night: Pasta Alla Norma experiment
• Monday Night: Salmon, Bok Choy, Rice, Rolls
• Tuesday Night: Free-for-all (I'm out!)
• Wednesday Night: Fish and Chips experiment, peas
• Thursday Night: Ginger Garlic Chicken, Garlic Parmesan Roasted Butternut Squash, Rolls
• Friday Night: Pork chops, Mashed Potatos, Broccoli, Cornbread
• Saturday Afternoon: Hamburger, Chips
• Satruday Afternoon Snack: Guacamole, Chips
• Saturday Night: Pork Enchiladas, Pinto Beans, Mexican Rice
• Sunday Afternoon/Night: Steak, Zuccini, Rolls (A bit unplanned because I saw good looking steaks for 1/2 off while I was buying groceries)

Here I am on Wednesday -- long after dinner -- and things have been going acceptably. Everything I've produced has been at least decent and I can see where I need to head with some of the recipes. The "Fish and Chips" experiment tonight actually turned out pretty well. I'm a bit surprised because I mixed a few recipes and had to guess a bit as to what might work. The pasta experiment still needs more work and there are some parts I haven't even tried yet there (i.e. making fresh pasta), but, even as it was, it was perfectly fine -- just not where I want it.