I'm cooking again!

My thyroid surprised me and went berserk again, so I dropped my life and stopped cooking, cleaning, and exercising. Okay, so who am I kidding, it's not like I did those things on a regular basis anyway, but my thyroid making me feel yuck was just the excuse that I needed. Once I got back on medication, I started feeling like I could tackle cooking. (One of the meds I tried made me break out in an itchy rash but you don't want to read a blog about itchy rashes).

When my friend told me about their weeknight themed dinners, I decided to give it a try. There's a TV show and a blog called the FoodNanny. The idea is to pick a theme each night (i.e. Italian, Mexican, Soups, etc..) and then plan meals around the theme. The kids get excited because they memorize that on Monday nights it is Breakfast night, and on Tuesday nights, it's Italian. You get the picture.

Anyway, the foodnanny has a two-week planner and has recipes that you can use for the different themes. You can also put in your own recipes. Once you've planned out two weeks worth of meals, you can print your plan and print a grocery list based on the meals you've chosen. We've only been at this for two weeks, but I'm loving the new recipes and having things planned ahead so I don't fret all day about what I'm going to cook for dinner.

In the March Ensign there is an article about teaching our children the doctrine of the family. You can READ IT here. I thought that if I'm going to provide good family experiences and have opportunites to teach my children gospel doctrine regarding how we as Latter Day Saints feel about the importance and eternal nature of families, then what better way than at dinner time?

We've tried new things like Pad Thai and cream cheese wontons. I even found my new favorite recipe for cinnamon rolls. Okay, so I've never had a favorite recipe for cinammon rolls because I've never liked any of the recipes that I tried. These ones were superfabulousdeliciouso! Here's a picture -

Your mouth is watering isn't it? I know, too yummy. Anyway, having meals planned out has helped my family look forward to dinner time and has created a better atmosphere at the dinner table. I've menu planned before, but have never stuck with it for the long term. If I get all my recipes into the FoodNanny's planning manager, I think it will make it easier for me to make it happen. I love Allrecipes.com and use recipes from there at least once a week, but they make you pay money if you want to use their menu planner.