What a cold week....

Well I have a long weekend coming up and I can not wait.  Off Friday and Monday!  I am hoping to get a lot done.  We have been cooking at home, but we did go out last night on a gift card.  Emily's making a ton of round cakes for two seperate birthdays this weekend and I could not even find the kitchen last night.  But we still roasted a chicken and the kids ate that and I have left overs.  But with even this little trip out we have cut our going out by 3/4 at least.  I have beans and hamhocks in the crock pot for tonight.

This is my new endevor....cooking once a month....kind of.  Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg have put together a new book with more family friendly meals.  I admit to being a food snob and I hate cooking with cream of what ever soup...but they have a section in this new cookbook for more upscale recipes if you want to call them that.  They have several menu plans that are for two weeks of meals.  I believe that this is much more doable for me than an entire month.  So I am going to give that a try and see how we benefit from it.  I know it will do great for the weekends and Sunday dinner. 

My mom always cooked a huge, yummy, wonderful Sunday Dinner every single Sunday.  I look back on it now in total amazment that she did this.  And she was not the only one, many women did.  Mom would get up at the crack of dawn or earlier...she would fix a big breakfast from scratch-biscuits, gravy, fried eggs, potatoes and bacon.  Clean that up and get dinner in the oven.  Round bone roast with potatoes, carrots and onions, huge salad or some type of green veggies, corn, and home made dinner rolls and gravy.  Sometimes it would be a pork roast or sauerkraut and kielbasa, or Fried Steak and gravy.  I stand in awe of what my mom did, I struggle with sandwiches after church!  So I am hoping that this will help me recreate some of those famiy favorites for after church.

So tomorrow is shopping day and then Sat. is cooking day with Emily.  I will post more details tomorrow.