sweetpeacooks's Profile

I plan five meals every week and have been doing it for so long, I'm lost at the grocery store without my list. There's just two of us so I mostly make stuff that has four servings--two of us at dinner and then lunch the next day. I don't like to eat stuff more than 2x a week. I try to have a balance of meatless and meat, and some recipes that are more or less off the cuff or easy and some that take a little more time/are entirely new. And I try to carry over ingredients that went uneaten the week before. I also picked up a deep freeze on craigslist to pack stuff away that we don't eat at once.

This week features applegate hot dogs and tossed salad; chicken and veggie kabobs with rice; pasta with uncooked tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella; beef and bean tacos with avocado and maybe some rice; and something else I can't remember. And a cookout on Saturday with the usual fixings. I painted an old chalkboard found at a yardsale and use that to keep track of what I've planned as well as an ongoing shopping list. It's a little type-A, but we have far fewer nights of "Chicken, again?" or "what the heck are we going to make for dinner?"

I'd wet the pan, then give it an ample dusting on the spot with baking soda. Let sit a nice long while--I'll leave it a day or so--then scrub off. Usually works for me.

We don't love our IKEA Kivik--it's the same one in the photo above. The cushion covers are always sliding down so there's no nice line of trim--it's a saggy mess. We fix them all the time and they just slide down. I even tried to velcro them to the cushion--no luck. I wish we'd ordered a different couch--our options were limited because of our tiny entranceway and didn't want to wait the 8 weeks ordering a couch was going to take. Just a heads up!

So are you tenting the chicken, essentially? that'd do it.

I'm not much of a resolution-maker, but I've been mulling over making one this year--for us to eat dinner at the table most nights. We have a long living/dining room and have somehow ended up eating the majority of our meals on the couch, watching the simpsons. While that's fine now and again, I'd rather we don't do it most every night! So tonight, soup and spinach/artichoke grilled cheeses, maybe a bottle of red and some candles, all at the table.

We also have the Kivik in Teno gray, purchased because our entryway is very small and we didn't want to wait 8 weeks for a new couch to come in (our old one was relegated to the garage when we couldn't get it through the entryway to our house). We don't find it too scratchy, but it does slide like crazy on the cushions, particular the seats. We gave up on keeping the little cord trim in an even line at the top front of the cushion--it slides down constantly. By the time we paid for delivery, the couch was only a couple of hundred bucks less than the sectional at the local furniture store, and we wished we'd had more patience!

We're usually pretty good by eating our leftovers, freezing and re-purposing. But man, I cleaned out the fridge last week and cringed at all that was tossed. In our defense, I'd gone back to work, had a birthday, we'd had some family issues....but still! When things make their way to the back, or have been there too long and become invisible, that's when we have problems. But the biggest culprit? Because of all the stuff going on, we didn't stick to the meal plan--that stuff goes bad, and goes out the door.

I did a news fast a year or so ago when it was all getting to me. Amazing what breaking away from the 24-hour news cycle of tv and computer can do for the psyche.

Can you tell me what your fridge is and if you like it? We'll eventually replace our 14 cu ft white fridge with a stainless model, but there are few options, so I like to gather opinions. Thanks!

What did you end up doing for the floor? It's pretty, but I can't tell what it is :)