Eat Like a Rabbit

Notice what I looked like only three weeks ago. I'm four weeks away and although I generally move well, I lack much energy.

Last week, I had no menu plan. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I just knew I had items that needed to be used up. When most people hit their third trimester, I hear they start stocking-up. I appear to have been doing the opposite. I've been cleaning out the cabinets and freezer. My thought process is to do a whole new complete restocking just before I deliver. Why? I don't know. Apparently, not much about this pregnancy has been normal or average. Why should I start now?

It's warmed up to over 70 in Orlando. So, now, we don't have the opportunity to play with soup any more. I did acquire some fresh veggies and have great plans (as salads at work) for them this week. Paul lands late tomorrow night; so, I don't know that we'll get dinner together. If he's underfed when he lands, we'll get some form of take-out after leaving the airport. Thursday night is my first baby shower. It will go late; so, if Paul works late he'll have dinner at the hospital or eat the snacks at his desk. Otherwise, I'm sure we'll both get plenty of food at the party. That leaves me with really just three meals to worry about for the week:

Another picture from last weekend in New York. We already blew up a few photos, framed them, and hung them downstairs. Just glad we weren't there this weekend!

I assume your thoughts are like mine when the week of Christmas comes around. There's so much food about to go in the fridge, you just can't imagine making something new and storing it in there. Not to mention, you're about to be spending a couple days in the kitchen and don't want to spend extra time each night working on the family meal. Course, when you're 7 months pregnant and have a broken foot, things get much trickier.

I've been happy to allow my mother the joy of taking care of the meal for Christmas Day as it will just be my folks and grandmother and ourselves. Paul's family comes in late Christmas night and will be around to play for the next week. Today, I'll post my plans for meals Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, hoping my mother has cooked up a great plan for Christmas Eve, too. And, later in the week, I'll post the ideas I have for the week that Paul's folks will be in town. Granted, Paul's mom and sister are great cooks and the menu's subject to change if they bring around a recipe they want to try or if Paul requests something in particular.

So much of this post should be about focusing on the great pictures. And it's not just about giving Paul all the credit for the fabulous photography. The last time we were at Seasons 52 would have been my birthday, and the restaurant still had roughly the same fall/winter menu with a few changes. In fact, the items from February's post were still available. I'm not complaining. As long as the quality is consistent, there are no issues for me. I suppose we don't visit Seasons 52 during the summer because there are so many options available for cooking at home.

Speaking of cooking at home, the butternut squash on the big vegetable plate is the inspiration for our choice of dish for PumpkinFest this Saturday night. Stay tuned for how it turns out.

Being a working girl, I generally plan my menu for the week on Sundays, early Sunday. However, I've learned that a number of blog readers subscribe to the MenuPlanMonday.org idea. Therefore, to make my schedule fit more appropriately with readers, I have adjusted my posting schedule even though I must have some ideas in my head on Sunday.

Sometimes, it's really hard to think of dinner. Sometimes, it's even harder to think of an entire week's worth of dinners! This is what happened yesterday. I had a lot going on. We had salad for lunch and leftovers and peanut butter and honey for dinner. (Hey, it's what the baby wanted!) However, today my mind got back on track surprisingly quickly as it all came to me while I was at work, and I actually have a meal plan for the week that isn't 100% salad and ice cream.

Dinner Menu for October 12

• Tonight we had the butternut squash pasta bake/lasagna that I took from last year's post and tweaked. I'll have an alternate recipe up as soon as Paul edits the pictures. There's still enough left for another night.
• Butternut squash soup--again trying to perfect a recipe, but suddenly we're in record highs of 90's! May have to come up with an alternative.
• Dilled roasted potatoes and green beans maybe cornbread, too. (High in iron.)
• Salad (just in case the baby rabbit doesn't want anything else as has happened of late.)
• Burritos

We have some great-looking fruit that my be a night's meal with peanut butter and honey toast or cereal or maybe just for desert.

Paul's folks had a major issue with their kitchen earlier this year. Their upstairs water heater flooded their kitchen and ruined--among other things--years of collected recipes. You can see all the marked pages in the cookbooks that the insurance company replaced. I also benefited because we learned one of the cookbooks The Occasional Vegetarian was out of print. Kathleen graciously sent me a used copy when she found a source. I'm happy my stomach is more settled because I've already read it cover-to-cover. (Yes, I do find enjoyment just reading cookbooks.) I've already used two recipes and will be going back to it later in the week.

I purchased a 1 pound package of spinach at Costco on Thursday and am determined to finish it off before the end of this week. One pound doesn't sound like much, but it looks like a lot, probably because I'm not running to the kitchen when I get home from work like I once did. I hope that excitement will return. Anyway, below are some ideas I have for getting that extra iron into my tummy because the vitamins still aren't staying down all the time.

You'll never believe this. I almost don't. . .except it happened to me. You know that planned menu list for dinners last week I did as part of my New Year's Resolution? Well, it seems that this was not the week to plan such things.

I've finally done it! I have made a planned menu (at least for dinners) for the week! Take a look; then, follow up in a week or so to see the results.

Menu for the Week

• Monday Turkey Vegetable Fajitas
• Tuesday Church function, free food for me, Paul will eat cereal
• Wednesday Egg Salad Sandwiches with tomatoes and arugula, hopefully enough leftovers for lunch the following day
• Thursday Pasta of some variety, using spaghetti sauce already opened
• Friday Something with sweet potatoes, either mashed or grilled, vegetables, and corn bread

Hopefully, this is the first step to great success for a less stress-filled life!