Meal Plan 2/8 - 2/14

This is my first meal plan post, so I thought I'd include a little bit of info about my family and our weekly eating routine.

We are a family of four, but only three "real" eaters (my baby just started eating baby food, but if you've ever tasted that stuff...). My older child is 2 and although a great eater for his age, naturally does not consume as much as his parents do. I meal plan from Monday through Sunday, which may not be a technical week, but it is in my book. :) Typically, I try to make meals that will give us leftovers for the next night, so that I'm not cooking every night of the week. Occasionally, I perform a restaurant mystery shopping assignment so that also eliminates some cooking for me. On Saturday evenings, we usually go over to my husband's parents' house to have dinner with them and my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and niece.

We love flavor, especially garlic! I cook with freshly minced garlic whenever I can. Chicken and turkey are my favorite meats to cook with but I try to cook at least one meatless meal per week. Cheese is another favorite ingredient - I'd take cheese over meat any day! I also love experimenting with cooking from scratch (pizza dough, cornbread, pita pockets, and cinnamon rolls are a few recent successes).

Monday - Restaurant mystery shop
Tuesday - Creamy Chicken 'n' Rice Soup (half being brought as a meal to a friend) with Salad
Wednesday - Children's Delight with Salad
Thursday - Leftovers with Salad
Friday - Tortellini in the Pink with Salad
Saturday - Dinner with family, bringing ???
Sunday - Leftovers with Marinated Broccoli

When I meal planned this week I forgot that Sunday was Valentine's Day, so I'm not sure yet if we'll stick with boring leftovers or not. One thing is for sure, we will not be going out on Valentine's Day! So much nicer to celebrate it when everyone else is not overcrowding the restaurants!

Don't forget to check back throughout the week to see these recipes posted.

Welcome to Cucina di Christina

For several months, I have considered starting a recipe blog, since cooking is one of my favorite hobbies (and conveniently, a quite necessary "indulgence"!) and we usually try at least 1 new recipe a week. But, since recipe blogs and sites are already in abundance, I figured no one would bother reading yet another food blog. But I was spurred on to actually taking the plunge after realizing that the last few times I've mentioned a recipe title in my Facebook status, others shows interest in it and/or request the recipe. I thought, maybe people will read my blog after all!

So here it is! I have imported some recipes from my personal blog and plan on adding new recipes each week. I also intend to write a series on meal budgeting, since I am occasionally asked to share how I do our food budget, so look for that sometime within the next few months. In the meantime, I'll try to sprinkle some money-saving tips into my recipe posts.

Also, I just want to mention that not every recipe I post is a particularly inexpensive one. As I plan to share later in my budgeting series, in my budgeting system I borrow from my budget and carry over surplus, which gives me the flexibility to make the occasional pricier recipe. But the majority of my recipes are individually very affordable, so I hope my readers will enjoy learning to make new dishes that are easy on the taste buds and on the wallet!