What's on the Menu?

As I was thinking about what to make for next week's dinners and realizing that I had nothing so far, I wondered what my friends and family were cooking. And then I had the thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a recipe bank to so that I can continually have recipes on hand?" This is where you, my friends and readers come in. If you're up to it, I'd like to know what you're eating for dinner.

I enjoy cooking healthy meals for my family, but seem struggle each week to come up with new recipes. Each week, I shop for a week's worth of groceries, meaning I need 4-5 recipes at a time. (Friday is our pizza night, so that's always an easy one.) While we are not terribly picky eaters, I do have a some criteria for our meals:

Budget Friendly

With Branyon still in school and me staying at home, we have a very limited grocery budget. To stay within our budget, I take advantage of weekly ads and coupons. I don't think that this means we can't eat wholesome and nutritious food. (More about this later.)

Kid Friendly

As those of you with children know, finding nutritious meals that your child will eat can be somewhat of a challenge. I do my best to make every bite count by packing in nutritious veggies and whole grains.

Body Friendly

I'm by no means the epitome health, but being in good health is very important to me, so this is probably my top criteria. By body friendly I mean, I rarely use boxed or packaged items and try to use the freshest, most wholesome ingredients I can. I steer clear of hydrogenated fats, don't use anything with artificial colors, and rarely use food items with artificial flavoring.

We also don't eat alot of meat, which can present a small challenge to get the needed protein and unwanted fat and calories. We've had this life-style for nearly 2 years and so far, I have been successful with us only eating meat 1-2 times per week and still meeting our nutritional needs. (I think not eating as much meat also helps to cut down on groceries and gives us an opportunity to try new things) As you'll see from my recipes, our primary source of protein comes from legumes and vegetables, with dairy to give it a boost.

What I have planned for this is to post my recipes (well, they are not actually mine, but the recipes I'm using) and try to note the local Austin-area store that gives best price for the ingredients. If you choose to add you're recipes, you don't have to go into great depth, and even if you don't have a weekly meal plan or only have what you had for dinner last week, I'd love see the recipes!

So, let's get started! I have created a calendar (http://www.my.calendars.net/weeklymeals) that should allow us all to make posts for a given day. To make a post first click on the day you want. Next, click "Create" on the upper left-hand side of the page. Then, simply enter your text (the actual recipe or just the title) in the box titled "Calendar Text". (There's no need to enter a start and end time.) Finally, click the submit button. Now you can view the calendar and all the recipes!

So far, I've only posted what we've had for dinner this week. As I come up with next week's meals and grocery list in the next few days, I'll post it, too.