The joys of meal planning

Now that I've decided what this blog will be, I'm bursting with ideas that want to be written. As tomorrow is Pay Day (which means that its also grocery shopping day!) I'll post about that. Grocery shopping...not Pay Day.

I'm not your average girl. I'm not a big shopper. The mall? Sure, I'll go. But I like to look then leave. I'm not a hang out all day and shop for hours kinda gal. Not in the least. Never have been!

But when it comes to grocery shopping...ahhh. That, I love. LOVE. I spend two weeks coming up with my grocery list for the next two weeks. I love meal planning and finding good deals. Most importantly, I love the results.

If you don't meal plan, you don't know what your missing. Not that it's a particularly fun thing to do(alright alright. I love it)...But it is very rewarding.

If you go to the store with a list in hand you'd be amazed at,not only how much less food you buy, but also in how much less you spend.

When I sit down with my notebook, pen, cookbooks and the ever wonderful Allrecipes I am able to decide what types of meals I want and how to re-use ingredients.

How many times have you bought...say, a bag of carrots. You need some carrots for some soup. Then, three weeks later, said bag of carrots is still sitting in your veggie drawer slowly becoming soggy? Yeah. I do it too. But when you meal plan, you can find more than one meal that uses carrots. Or any other ingredient.

Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse here. But if you don't do it...give it a try!

Liz

A New Look and a New Purpose

I had to revamp. Why? Because I have finally decided to make this undecided blog decided, that's why! I've decided to make this my 'official' cooking blog. I had a few cooking posts scattered here and there but now thats pretty much all there will be, and I'm excited!

Today I also have signed up to become a Daring Baker and a Daring Cook! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. The Daring Kitchen is a website where they host monthly challenges to cooks and bakers alike. At the end of the month, you can post your results and pictures on your blog, and on the website! I wish I had seen this site years ago!

I'm already telling my friends about the site and hoping that some of them join!

And now, I'll sign off here for I need to figure out what to make for dinner...Pierogis? Perhaps!

Happy Cooking!

Flat Iron Steak

I've never made flat iron steak before. Heck, I'd never even heard of it before I was perusing the cuts of meat that were on sale! But I thought I'd give it a try.

I found a recipe for a rub online at Allrecipes and with a (very) little tweaking I used what I had here at home and made me some steak!



This is, not only my first time making a flat iron steak, its also the first time I've ever made or even used a rub!



I read somewhere online that wrapping the steaks in plastic wrap is the best way for to marinate with a rub so I proceded to do that then stuck them in the fridge for four hours before cooking.

Here is my slightly altered version of the recipe:

Three Pepper Rub for Flat Iron Steak.
2 T. paprika
3 t. salt
3 t. brown sugar
1 T. chili powder
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. ground black pepper
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 1/2 t. ground cumin

Mix everything together and rub onto steaks!

** This covered 4 small steaks with a little left over.

Chicken Tacos

As it is so close to payday, the supplies in my kitchen are running slightly low. It happens. I had two chicken breasts left and I wanted to use them, but really didn't feel like cooking a big meal. Since I wasn't feeling fried or baked, I decided to go with...Chicken Tacos!

It was super easy...First I chopped the thawed chicken into small, bite size pieces. Next I just tossed it into the pan with some olive oil, cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes and some salt and pepper to taste.

My recipe called for a cup of lemonade, but I just used some organic lemon juice and water over the chicken and let it simmer. Once the liquid cooked down I was left with some delicious slightly spicy, slightly lemon-y tasting chicken.

Combined with some heated soft shells, cheese, salsa and home-made guacamole and topped with sour cream, these were a hit! My husband loved them and I wish I had had room for more than one!

I will definitely be making these again...with the addition of lime juice to the lemon juice...I think it will give it a good kick!