What to Eat....There's a Menu on the Fridge

I got tired of it....coming home and, not sure what to eat, ordering out. Sound familiar? Throwing something together is not near as difficult as deciding WHAT to eat.....and that's where the hubby and I get stuck. You try to eat healthy and save a few bucks there goes your best intentions, out the window as you stop at the fast food window or order pizza for supper. Last week I had enough of the last minute "I didn't make anything? How about a Chinese night?" the day after the "I didn't make anything...we're having pizza tonight" calls and made a menu. More like a plan...like D-Day. Momma is cooking this week!

I found this blank calendar from Cegeon.com. Just print it, add your dinner ideas, and put it on the fridge. I took it a step further and added where the hubby could find the ingredients in our well-stocked but not always well-organized pantry and freezer. I even left open one night for a night out. 

Voila! It worked! The first week went so well the hubby and I sat down TOGETHER and planned the next week's menu. It was nice to have his input. It became OURS instead of mine. 

The menu can be printed for use or just use a piece of paper. Do it when you are not stressed for time. Remember what you have in your pantry or consider what you have to pick up to make the menu work. Keep it flexible...there will be times that delivery IS the best choice and that's OK. Every night of it is not. I don't want to be so close with the delivery kid that he thinks he is part of the family...not that I don't like him. Nothing personal. 

Take a little stress out of dinner time and every drop less of stress is welcome. 

Creating Traditions

Well, the holidays are over and life starts to normalize, at least for me. The decorations get stashed, work gets back on schedule....you know, normal. This year, though, I did something I hadn't done in years. I had a dinner party. We invited friends and family over and celebrated. Everyone brought something, pies, cake, wine and I cooked, then I cooked some more. We even ran out of chairs. So much fun. I even made these cute little coasters to give out as gifts to everyone and they loved them.
The success of the holiday dinner got me thinking I need to make this a tradition. Now I know there are a lot of folks who have family get-togethers every week. When I was growing up we had them for all occasions. If Grandma wasn't cooking we were going out to eat.
Living far from family makes it hard to keep those traditions. You have to fight to keep them. The success of that one dinner inspired me to have another and it was successful, too.
As the older generation dies off, some of us have to push to keep these all important traditions alive. So here it is. Put down the cell phone. Come to the table and eat there, not in front of the TV. In fact, turn off the TV. Nothing on the tube or on the phone is more important than the family. Use your manners. Remember to say "Thank you" and "Wow, dinner's tastes great" and mean it.
Simple things but very important to do. After a while it will be a habit and soon it will be a tradition.
I'm already planning next year's Chanukkah party.

Unpaper Napkins

Having done away with paper napkins in my home years ago, I was happy to find people who embrace the idea of unpaper napkins. When I did it, I was considered a firebrand, one of those long-haired hippie folks. The first time I made cloth napkins, I just grabbed some fabric from my sewing closet, a pair of pinking shears, and cut some squares. Imagine my surprise when I found the way Etsians do napkins! I've made some cute ones but check these out! Here's some examples: Jazz Brunch Cotton Napkins by ME2Designs I love the colors in this fabric. It makes me think of New Orleans and Sunday brunch. Set of four cloth Hanukkah dinner napkins -AprilAdelsonDesigns Sweet napkins just right for potato latkes or jelly doughnuts! Owls and Trees Fabric Napkins from thepurpleoctopus The colors are so vivid, absolutely lovely. They would look great on a Thanksgiving table. I am so glad people are using cloth instead of buying paper. It saves so much money, not to mention trees. We all have to do our part, but these Etsians show how doing our part can be done so beautifully!