Wednesday's "What We Ate Feb. 4-10, 2013"

I absolutely love our library. It is probably one of the best-stocked libraries I've ever experienced & I attribute that to the interlibrary loan system. From what I understand, there are a whole bunch of libraries in this gang that all let each other's patrons use their stuff. I can go online, in the privacy of my own home, reserve some book from who-knows-where library & get it delivered to my main library in like a day. Now only if they would deliver...

Another reason I'm in love with our library is that it's so relevant. I'm currently on the waiting list for some books that haven't even been released yet. Oooh. Our library is so hip.

One of the books that I got this past week is called The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying And Start Making. I'm not sure how I found out about this book (I'm sure I read about it on some one's foodie blog, so if it was you, thank you for the recommendation!) I'm totally a sucker for making as much as possible from scratch, all within reason ("within reason" is greatly influenced by my daughter's napping habits, my level of adventurousness & whether or not I have the energy to clean the kitchen again).

We are busy people, just like everyone else. Between house tasks, raising a crazy toddler, work & ministry obligations/events, somewhat time-consuming creations, & investing in relationships, John & I are pretty swamped (although we do seem to fit in super important things like watching an entire season of Mad Men in a week), so just the thought of adding more work isn't very appealing. But there is something to be said about making something from scratch-- knowing all of the ingredients, being able to alter them as you choose, & of course, saving some money.

We already make all of our own bread, yogurt, muffins, granola bars, graham crackers, granola, & other treats (don't worry John, you'll get some treats this week), as well as prepare dried beans instead of canned ones, can our own spaghetti sauce & salsa, but I think there's more I could get into. I just tried making our own whole wheat tortillas last week & that wasn't as challenging as I anticipated. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to try to experiment with a pasta recipe & a few different cracker recipes in the book. Depending on how those go, I might even get super adventurous & make my own ricotta or mozzarella!

Saturday's dinner: stuffed portobello mushrooms (stuffed with roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant, mozzarella cheese & balsamic carmelized onions) on grilled focaccia bread with sesame green beans

What We Ate Feb. 4-10, 2013

Monday: Avocado basil pasta
Tuesday: Easy eggs, rice, cheese, & spinach with whole wheat toast
Wednesday: Shredded chicken tacos with homemade whole wheat tortillas & cilantro-lime black beans
Thursday: Salmon & cheesy broccoli quinoa
Friday: Greek Gyros from Gracie's (we were celebrating filing our taxes!)
Saturday: Stuffed portobello mushrooms (stuffed with roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant, mozzarella cheese & balsamic carmelized onions) on grilled focaccia bread with sesame green beans
Sunday: Crockpot baked potato soup with focaccia bread

I've also been trying to get back into making these smoothies for Ruby & I for breakfast. Last week, I made a big batch of them & portioned them so I would have one for each day & they kept well enough in the fridge that I'm thinking about doing this more often. I like to pre-portion them in mason jars & use these sweet lids to keep them fresh until consumption.