Home Grown & MPM {Bonnie} 14 Dec 2009

Check it out !
We grew this little {big} beauty in our garden !
It was tasty.
I sliced it, sprinkled it with garlic salt and then sauteed it in a bit of olive oil.
PERFECTION !!
Mmmmmm ... wish I had some more !

There is another one growing but
it will be a few days before it's
big enough to pick
and eat !!

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Rory and I celebrated out 12th Anniversary yesterday !
I can hardly believe it has been that long. It has flown ... I guess we must be having fun !
ha ha. I'm kidding. It has flown ... and we definitely are having fun !

This week's menu is shortened.
We had a Christmas party Saturday night.
Went out for Moroccan last night.

So we'll start with tonight ...

Monday is SALAD night.

I'm not doing anything fancy. Just using up some silverbeet, chinese cabbage, carrot, tomato, and cucumber left in the fridge. I've got an avocado. And I'll probably saute some zucchini and I'm going to do some of these peppers too ! oh yum. I love these peppers ! Is it weird that I get so excited about veggies ? I don't care ... I just was wondering. I also got some Basa Fillets (fish) that I'll do in a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce, I think. Most likely with garlic. Just to make the meal a bit more exciting ... :)

Tuesday is BEANS night.

I am aware that it is summer here but I just love this black bean chili soup and can't stop making it !! I'm serious. It's so good. I've got to figure out what to do for corn chips once we go UNPROCESSED in the new year though ... Anyone ever made them ? I know you can do it from corn tortillas but I'll need to make them too ...

Wednesday is WHOLE GRAIN night.

I'm going to be trying a new recipe ... it's called Jewels of the Earth Quinoa Salad from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy ... a new blog I've recently discovered and like the look of ! The Salad has Pomegranate in it ! I'm excited to try it ... it looks so yummy !!

Thursday is CROCK POT night.

I'll be trying another new recipe. This one is from Chick in the Kitchen. I love her blog but haven't been to visit in ages. I have so many cooking blogs in my google reader ... I don't read through them blog by blog, I scan the titles and only click on the ones that catch my eye. It's too much any other way ! Often, though, while I'm there visiting, I'll have a look around to see what I've missed ! Anyway ... this one looks delish ... Crock Pot Indian Chicken.

I have stopped planning there as Friday is my normal shopping day and I want to get back on track with that. As well ... we'll be into visitors arriving and then Christmas and well ... I'll be planning all that soon ! I've got the menu set, the ham ordered, and soon I'll tackle shopping for the rest of it !! But ... you may have noticed that I'm moving to 'themed' nights. That is to help when I go unprocessed ... in a mere 17 days ! I'm hoping that having a 'theme' will help me narrow down choices and experiment with different things and keep the variety happening !! We shall see ! So ... the rest of the week's themes look like this :

Friday is INTERNATIONAL night

Saturday is FISH night

Sunday is BIG COOKUP FOR FREEZER night

So ... I'll cook something that freezes well ... to keep a stock for those 'need to grab something' quick dinners ... those nights could be tricky in the coming year but if I have home cooked, unprocessed meals in the freezer then my problem is solved ! I'll just need to keep my freezer stocked up ! That's the purpose of this Sunday night cookup !!

Soon I'll be bringing you my final 'report' on what I'm going to be doing next year. I've almost got it totally narrowed down ! I'll give you a list of what we will and won't be eating, etc ... And a few other things I've thought of ... like, what to do when we go to someone's house for dinner.

ALSO ... if you are a contributor to this blog ... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep contributing as normal. Just because I'm not eating certain things, doesn't mean I don't want you all to keep posting what you are eating !! I love that this blog is such a great collection of EVERYTHING so let's keep it that way !!