new widget: meal plans

you may notice i added a new widget to the blog, on the bottom right (i may move it up if it generates any formal interest). it's our meal plan for the upcoming weeks. i usually meal plan for two weeks at a time, based on what we have, what's going to be on sale, and what is currently striking our fancy. more often than not, we use recipes as guides and inspiration, knowing we can do better (not to be conceited or anything... just truthful). i've noted where the recipe is a loose inspiration - in these cases our finished dish will probably vary wildly from the given recipe, but be similar in concept. and just because i haven't noted a vegetable or starch in all of them means we'll be skipping them - it just means we'll make whatever sounds good that day, whatever we have on hand. it's important to note that while some things look more involved than one would necessarily tackle during the week, we occasionally do some prep beforehand (like cooking a giant batch of tomato sauce and freezing it to use in the months to come^*, or roasting a whole chicken on sunday so we can use the meat during the week, or cooking a braised dish the night before since they're so much better after a day anyways), and there are certain things we've already made and keep on hand (especially canned items like homemade pickles, cranberries with port, pickled red onions, and escabeche). that's just the way we roll around here.

i do this because i've had requests in the past for access to my meal plans, so hopefully this helps satisfy some curious folks. and i figured, we used to document nearly all new meals we did with pictures, recipes, and reviews, and i've dropped that business like a hot potato due to a complete and utter lack of time. it's hardly a complete view into how i menu plan, and won't reflect any of my cherished tips to menu planning and food shopping in general (such as buying seasonably, and planning based on sales, which i cannot possibly predict outside of the stores we actually shop at, and some of the prep and storage i mention above). if anything, i hope it provides inspiration, and a few rumblies in the tumblies.

now let's just see if i can keep up with it.



^{* um, yes, god may actually strike me down if i were to buy jarred tomato sauce. seriously. what is wrong with you people?}