Archive for August, 2008
The Meal Planning Game (Part Three) – Let the Games Begin
Successful meal planning requires some form of all three parts of The Meal Planning Game. Without an understanding of the meals and recipes you have available to you there is no way you can reach your goal of saving money, time and feeding your family better. This is the final installment of this (we hope) helpful toolset that should set you on the right path… it all becomes just so many words on a page if you don’t use it.
There are several ways to go about meal planning depending on your level of competence in the kitchen, general ability to plan and your desire to succeed. For the purpose of this exercise we will assume that you will use the tools we have provided… many of you do some or all of this from memory; just follow along and plug into the toolset wherever you need it.
Let’s start by getting out your calender and deciding the number of meals you need to plan; pick some of the meals you have on your meal spreadsheet and place them on your calender. You may wish to check out what is on sale at your grocery so that you can take advantage of any money savings. If you can’t decide, you may simply place numbers in a hat, these numbers will correspond to the numbers beside your meal plans on your spreadsheet. Pick a number and you have a meal plan. If you have young kids you may want to have them give you a number and this becomes the Meal Planning Game. Another way to get your kids involved is let them pick a favorite meal from the meal planning sheet… when kids get involved with the planning you will find them much more interested in the food.
So we have our meals scheduled; let’s bring out our recipes and write down what we need to shop for. We suggest you make your list based on how your grocery store is set up. Make a section on your paper for meats/seafood, one for veggies, one for frozen foods and another for dairy. Put down all the ingredients that you need; combine any “like” items; i.e. 2 chicken breasts, 2 chicken legs and 2 chicken thighs becomes 1 whole chicken. Also delete any items that you have in your pantry, frig or freezer. Finally put any other needs on your shopping list, print the list and it is off to the store.
Remember your goals: to save money, to save time and to feed your family better. When you go to the grocery only buy the items you need… these are the things you decided you needed to make the meals you have chosen. DON’T buy things you don’t need. DON’T give in to the urges to buy junk food at the grocery. DO give the method some time to work; chances are it may take a time or two to get the hang of it…when you do you will reach the goals you have set out and be happier and healthier, and your kids may look forward to family meals again.
P.S. Send us your comments of how this works for you and any suggestions you think might benefit others.
Add comment August 28, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Chocolate Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chocolate Cake
We usually celebrate special occasions with family and our extended family who strangely have been our neighbors in suburban Chicago and now we are all in Cincinnati and neighbors again. So when some of the kids came home for a weekend last month we decided to have a family dinner and celebrate a couple of birthdays at the same time. Our friend and extended family member, Mary, offered to make one of the cakes; saying she had a really good chocolate birthday cake recipe.
Mary gets the award for understatement. The cake she brought was the most dense, chocolaty, delicious chocolate cake I have ever had. The photo above doesn’t really do it justice, but to make it look as it actually is would be too dark to show the layers. I had to lighten up the photo just to post it here. I thought I had the best chocolate cake posted on my site www.emealsforyou.com but mine is a lot more complicated to make and frankly this one is better and easier.
Another benefit of this cake is that it will feed an army, even those who really are chocoholics will find it difficult to eat more than a thin slice. If you don’t believe me; make it and let me hear from you in our comments sections.
Mary’s Special Birthday Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 3 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bits |
| 1.5 | cup | coffee, fresh brewed |
| 3 | cup | sugar, white |
| 2.5 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1.5 | cup | cocoa powder, unsweetened |
| 0.75 | tsp | baking powder |
| 2 | tsp | baking soda |
| 1.25 | tsp | salt, table |
| 3 | large | egg |
| 0.75 | cup | oil, vegetable |
| 1.5 | cup | buttermilk |
| 0.75 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | lb | chocolate, semi-sweet bits |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 2 | Tb | sugar, white |
| 2 | Tb | corn syrup, light |
| 0.25 | cup | butter, unsalted |
Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease pans (two 10 inch cake pans or three 9 inch cake pans), line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and grease paper.
Place chocolate in a bowl and combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes ) Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Remove parchment paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Ckae may also be frozen at this point.
Make frosting:
In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency.
Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature to serve.
3 comments August 26, 2008
The Meal Planning Game (Part Deux) – Creating Your Cookbook
Now that you have your spreadsheet of the meals you will chose from (The Meal Planning Game – Overcoming Our Aversion to Planning ); it is time to get a little more organized. Look, most of us hate to spend the time to organize and plan but if you take it little by little, eat the elephant one bite at a time as they say, you may find yourself in good shape without much pain. Okay? deep breath…better…let’s get started.
On a separate sheet of paper or file card, take the first meal on your spreadsheet and write down the ingredients, the amounts and how many servings the recipe or meal plan is for. This is important as you progress to developing a shopping list for the meals for whatever period you are planning. Don’t try to do your entire spreadsheet at once or you will overwhelm yourself. You have spent this long without planning so a few more days won’t hurt anything. Now repeat this procedure with the rest of the meal plans on your spreadsheet. It may be helpful to number all of the recipes on these sheets and match them with numbers on your spreadsheet to avoid confusion down the line. Remember, you are doing this to save money, feed your family better and save your sanity…keep this in mind and push through.
Congratulations, you now have your own, personalized cookbook and a spreadsheet to assist you in making meal planning decisions. Next up…Making a Game of Meal Planning.
Sound like too much work? Remember we do all of this for you on www.emealsforyou.com… only $31 for a full year of membership. Use EMEALS-42 for the Sponsoring Identifier on the registration form to get the $5 off the price of $36.
Add comment August 21, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Mixed Berry Pavlova
Mixed Berry Pavlova (meringues)
Deciding what to post on this blog is always an interesting proposition…do I post a really good meal or do I go for the easy sell and post a dessert. I try to keep it even but every once in a while I just lose it to the visual. Besides who doesn’t want to see a pretty dessert; especially if that dessert is both easy to make and really great to eat.
This recipe is fairly easy on the pocketbook and guaranteed to impress your “audience”. Come young, come old, there is something for everyone to love about the Pavlova. The crunchy outside, the chewy, sweet inside, the whipped cream and cover it all with juicy, delicious berries, is that even legal? Anyway back to this world, the one drawback is that you need to leave these in a very low oven for a lengthy period of time. The good news is you will now have a recipe that uses up all those egg whites you have leftover from all the egg yolk recipes.
Mixed Berry Pavlova
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 4 | large | egg, whites |
| 0.125 | tsp | cream of tartar |
| 0.125 | tsp | salt, table |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 0.5 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, white |
| 8 | oz | mixed berries, frozen |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, white |
For the Pavlova: Beat egg whites with cream of tartar, salt, sugar and vanilla until stiff and glossy. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees; line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread egg white mixture in even, 4-inch circles on the parchment paper, about 3/4th inch thick. Cook in oven for 1 ½ hours then turn oven off and let Pavlova cool in the oven for about an hour. ( may be frozen at this point)
For the whipped cream: Place heavy cream, vanilla and sugar in a cold bowl and whip until firm peaks form.
For the berries: Mix the sugar into the berries, allow the berries to thaw.
To construct the Pavlova: Place a Pavlova in the center of a plate, spoon on whipped cream in the center, Gently spoon on the berries, allowing some of the juice to run unto the plate.
Add comment August 18, 2008
The Meal Planning Game – Overcoming Our Aversion to Planning
I have written several Meal Planning post on this blog dealing with the methods and the reasons behind planning our meals. ( see Meal Planning Category ) Yet still many of my readers have a hard time getting into the habit. If we look at my website:www.emealsforyou.com as the easiest method; completing the meal planning function for you as the top level we should also create an easy, free and comprehensive method as well. In this and the next posts I will introduce The Meal Planning Game… a way of encouraging you to begin the planning function and involve your family to help you. Using this method we will teach you to create your meal worksheet; the place you go to get meal ideas. Next we will work on creating your own “cookbook” for these recipes; providing a source for your personalized shopping list. Finally we will put it all together and you will be amazed at how easily you will “slide” into meal planning and enjoy all the by-products of this: saving money, saving time, feeding your family better and stressing out less.
Step 1: Completing the Meal Sheet.
Our first step is to sit down and write a list of our “usual” nightly meals. Here is a worksheet to assist you (Meal Sheet); I also have this in an Excel format, see the note at the bottom of this post to obtain it. Simply put down your Meat/Fish (protein), any starch (Potatoes/Pasta and any Vegetables you usually make with this meal. Don’t worry substitutions will be allowed later. If you typically tie one meal into the next, via the leftover route, simply put the meal on one line and then the leftover meal on the next. Later on, when we begin to choose meals you will place these meals on your meal plan on consecutive days.
You are probably saying I don’t have any “usual” nightly meals; you certainly do and I think you will be amazed once you take the time to think about this just how many you really have.
Okay, so now we have a list of Meal ideas, from this list we can create a Special Meal, a weekly menu, or any number of weekly menus. Next week we will discuss how to set up your “personal cookbook”.
Note: to obtain the Meal Sheet in an Excel format simply send me a message including your email address and I will forward the file to you. Also, please, please send me comments and questions. I truly want this to be a useful product and without your feedback I may miss something important. Remember, if you don’t want to have your comment posted simply tell me in the comment field, I read each one before deciding to post them and I can delete your comment without posting it. You may also send me an email for a personalized and private response.
Add comment August 14, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Summer Salad
Summer Salad
I can’t believe it is mid-August already; seems like it should be June or something. My wife’s two tomatoes plants are performing nicely, providing fresh, great tomatoes each day. Usually a summer treat is to cut up tomatoes and green peppers, add some salt, and you have a refreshing salad I decided to “enhance” my old favorite to make it just a little different and make it a little more substantial.
I was looking for both a taste and visual push here. We eat with our eyes as well as our mouths and putting a colorful dish in front of our families cost us nothing extra and makes the food just a little bit better. I served this salad with grilled chicken breasts and green peas.
For those of you looking for an easy, quick and satisfying meal, this meals hits on all cylinders. I know the salad made an impression because my wife gave me the ideal compliment, “this one’s a keeper”. Give it a try!
Summer Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1 | large | tomatoes, fresh |
| 1 | large | pepper, green |
| 1 | medium | avocado |
| 1 | medium | corn, roasted ear |
| 2 | oz | cheese, feta, crumbled |
| 1 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | Tb | cilantro, chopped |
| 3 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Chop tomato, green pepper and avocado into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Remove corn kernels from cob and place in bowl with the other veggies. Squeeze the juice from the lemon onto the veggies; add olive oil and stir. Sprinkle chopped cilantro and crumble feta cheese on top and add salt and pepper to taste.
Add comment August 12, 2008
Saving Money by Understanding Our Eating Habits – A Semi-rant
I was stunned this morning when my wife told me she saw that Americans eat 50% of their meals outside of the home. How can this be possible? I decided I would take a look at this and see where we can parley this knowledge into a plan that will save our families money and also provide healthier food. Taking into consideration the average family of four; two kids, two parents, both of whom work, the numbers are really surprising as to how few opportunities we have to gather our families around us and enjoy a good, healthy, family meal. I have chosen my timing on this to coincide with the start of the new school year… change is good!
Breakfast is a cup of coffee for the adults and maybe, maybe a bowl of cereal for the kids; probably more like a handful of overly sweet cookies and out the door. Lunch at school may provide proper nutrition depending on the local program and for us some form of fast food caught on the run at the office. So now we are down to dinner. Let’s see: soccer practice, ortho appointments, music lesson, etc. well that about shoots the week.
Where can we find the time to slow down the rat race? First stop breakfast; I know the kids barely make it to the bus on time now. Each year you receive a schedule of when the bus pickup is, so each year you are probably going through a time change anyway. I suggest you move the wake-up time 20 minutes earlier, thus providing a chance for a nutritional breakfast and perhaps a quick conversation with your kids. “Not going to happen, kids won’t get up”, are the inmates really running the asylum? Remember the purpose here is better health; make it happen.
We probably have little control over the lunch thing at school unless you pack their lunches and then you are not sure if they are eating it all or not. As for the adults this a key area where you can save calories and money . By scouting out the available food outlets and using a little will power you can come up with a better plan then the same old same old at BurgerWhatever. If they asked “would you like me to super-size you” instead of the fries would you still say yes.
Our real opportunites happen at dinner. Sure you have a very busy schedule but with a little shuffling and a little pre-planning it may be possible to have a couple of family dinner meals per week. Use this as a starting point and see if you can’t sneak in additonal meals. My bet is that once you get into proper planning habits it will become second nature and your family will thrive.
Add comment August 7, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Special Lunch
French Lunch
Color me a romantic. We have always enjoyed an easy, eat what you want lunch. Whether strolling, well you can’t just walk, in Paris or just as a quick Saturday late lunch thing; you really can’t beat the creature comfort of this take-with-you or buy-it when-you-get there meal. The photo above actually was taken when we returned from the Findlay Market, the oldest under-roof farmers market in the country. We arrived a little early, by Findlay standards, on Sunday. The vendors where still putting their wares out and we were on a mission to get some ground chuck from the local butcher shop. I guess it might have been because we were strolling (walking aimlessly) around to kill time that we began to think of lunch. Why don’t we pick up some cheese, olives , a baguette and some salami for lunch? Let’s get some grapes as well. Great idea!!!
So we had our “French Lunch”, not on the Rive Gauche but on our coffee table. Even though we had been together for the last 3 hours it was still special to take the time to eat the good food and talk the good talk. We have these lunches whenever the mood strikes us, usually in our busy lives we are not stuck enough so I guess that is why they are so special.
Add comment August 5, 2008
Emeals Member Survey
Emeals Survey
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Add comment August 4, 2008
