Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Truth About Menu Plans: Part II

Having just pulled eighteen rubbery-no, downright gummy- muffins out of the oven, I feel a temporarily reluctance to write about cooking and my own "blithe" kitchen. The only blithe thing about this kitchen right now is my son, cheerfully eating the rubbery muffins and hopefully getting some nutrition out of all the expensive ingredients I so innocently threw in the batter. Was it the sweet potato? The extra carrot? The simple fact that I was experimenting and knew better?

In any case, my recipe for these muffins will be a few trial runs down the road. And recognize that any jaded comments below are a symptom, as any cook knows, of a recent failure.

But this post is about my menu-plan of last week, and in particular, about how well the plan worked. Did we actually eat the meals? Will any of the dishes make a future appearance at our dinner table? Were the menus too complicated, expensive, or impractical? The verdict is now officially in.


A May Menu

(Inordinately Influenced by Jamie Oliver)

Picadillo
Brown Rice and Tortillas (actually, sourdough biscuits)
Carrots Boiled with Orange, Garlic and Herbs
We ate this meal. We liked it. But it was a bit more complicated than I like, what with juggling all the ingredients for the picadillo and the carrots.

Jacket Potatoes with Smoked Salmon and Sour Cream
Simple Salad
We ate this meal. We liked it very much.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
Simple Salad and Pain Ordinaire
This meal is the puzzler. What should have been glorious was not. I could not get the tenderloin to cook properly, the potatoes were disappointing (sorry Jamie), and I spoiled the salad with too much vinegar. It was an excellent lesson that the simplest dishes are often the hardest to cook well.

Grilled Zucchini, Onion, Pesto and Mozzarella Sandwiches
Easy, fast, and messy. Also, somewhat boring.

Orangette's Green Lentil Coconut Soup
Bread
This dinner did not even make past the grocery shopping trip. Instead, we ate, as predicted, Annie's mac-n-cheese, peas, and a hoppy IPA. Delicious.


So there you have it. I did, in fact, learn a few things from this little exercise.

The first is that it would serve me well to take notes. I hate to take notes. But too many instances of forgetting what went wrong or what went well are making me reconsider my laziness. (The muffins are an unfortunate reminder). On a related note, I also realized that I should actually try to perfect some recipes and master some basics, rather than trying four new recipes a week. And the final lesson learned? That menu plans do indeed work for me. So I am going to keep making them, week after week, mistake after mistake, permutations notwithstanding.


8 comments:

  1. Axon, I have a great recipe for muffins - it comes from a cookbook called The Perfect Recipe. :)

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  2. If that's Orangette's Green Coconut Soup with Warm Spices do go back and try it - it's one of my favorites yet. And your point about not trying 4+ new recipes a week is a good one. I guess I get scared of repetition but it probably isn't that bad and would save a lot of time, no?

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  3. Oh, also, what about linking to recipes? Even if you don't endorse them we could see what was involved?

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  4. Hey Axon!

    Have you been on 101cookbooks.com It is an awesome website and I have tried several yummy (and healthy) recipes from there!

    All you need is a grain grinder and your muffins will be perfect everytime - nothing can ruin fresh ground grain! :)

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  5. Here the husband comments.

    Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, I get to sit and enjoy these culinary events on a weekly basis, for better or worse (nothing to do with the marriage vows so excuse the parallel). It is one of the many joys I get in this union.

    Truth be told, ax will critique these developments to no end and add more scrutiny then needed. It's like music...for me anyway.

    All to say...the muffins...save a texture issue, were quite tasty to Ro and I

    The picadillo, again a texture issue which i understand is quite important, was scrumptous...whose smells brought jealous mouths in the form of leftovers at work the next day.

    Hmmm, I'll stop there. I just felt the need to defend the 'muffins,' and well was sitting at the computer.

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  6. Just had to laugh at how often Sam and I have eaten that very same last-minute meal of Annie's and peas. It's a classic!

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  7. I often think a hoppy IPA can save any meal...
    that said we eat one of your actually consumed meals on a semi regular basis and I'm very very good at preparing it! Can you guess which one?
    meal plans...I might have to give that a shot though I'm weary of the thought that it will go the way of a budget...and that has gone, well, not so good.

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  8. This was delightful to read; I can totally relate! Menu plans have been working well for us, too, although they are nowhere near as inspired as yours! Regardless, you might enjoy Organizing Junkie's blog, where some 300 women post their weekly menus every Monday. I swear I'm not a paid advertisement...I just enjoy reading the variety of ideas. Plus, it keeps me accountable. :)

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