What's my motivation?

Meal planning can be hard sometimes.  How do people do it?  What guides them? When is the best time?  As the kids get older (and way busier!), I find myself planning more and more.  I try to do the whole "cook once eat twice" thing, though this does not always work.

In general, I cook three times per week, eat leftovers two to three times depending on the meal, and then one to two times per week is the "wildcard" meal (like grilled cheese and tomato soup, or breakfast for dinner, or pulling something from the deep freezer).  Here are a few key questions you can ask yourself when meal planning.  Note my answers are from last Thursday, just to give you an idea of how the conversation with myself went....

1.  What is happening tomorrow?
hockey way down south at an awful time on a Friday.

2.  What do I have in my refrigerator that needs using up?
cheese, bruschetta from the market

Lightbulb!  Pizza cuz its a fun friday thing!

3. Do I have ingredients NOW to make this work?
yes!  tomato sauce, oregano, garlic,  frozen cooked ground beef which I cooked and froze last week, cheddar, mozza, bruschetta....

4.  What can I do ahead of time?
make the dough, prep the pizza, freeze and cook it up tomorrow!

This line of thinking does not always work, but when it does the results are AWESOME!  

My girlfriend texted me that night after I told her what I was doing...

Bruschetta pizza topped with sliced bocconcini cheese

me: Made 2 pizzas for supper tomorrow since I work and we have that game down south!

her: U smart girl!

me: Smart. Maybe. High maintenance and wanting something scrumptious on a Friday? Yep, that's me!

So my motivation for this meal was definitely my need for good food.  When I think about it, this is likely my motivation for most things!

Cheeseburger pizza

Pizza Dough Recipe (keeping in mind that I start with a recipe and then don't use it)

3 1/4 cups flour (yes I usually use white!)
1/2 tsp salt (optional..sometimes I remember to put in, other times I do not)
1 cup warm water
2 - 3 tsp fast rising yeast
1 TBSP sugar
~1/4 cup olive oil

Method:
Place flour and salt in bowl. Set aside.  Now in a large 2 cup measuring cup (like those Tupperware shakers) fill to 1 cup (or just a bit more) with warm water.  Mix in yeast and sugar and pour over flour mixture.  Add olive oil. Knead slowly, as you may need to add more water or flour...depending on how it feels.  Should feel soft.  Cover with a clean lint free cloth and let rise for 45 min or so.  

Of course the best thing is to invite me over and I will show you all how to do the pizza dough!  All it takes is a bit of red in a nice glass....

This was delicious!

January again....

2016.   When did that happen?  Time to start fresh, start new.  Time to be in non-holiday mode...that means cooking for our family, driving to arena's, piano, driving my oldest to his job (yes he has a job now), and on and on and on.  I thought I would try and blog more this year and try and capture our dinners a few times per week, just to get things going and to get people inspired to cook simply but deliciously! 


Yesterday was piano day, which means eating super early or a bit later, depending on what else is going on. Typically I do slow-cooker Monday's, but the weekend was so busy with hockey and ringette that I did not have time to prep the night before.   Now I am okay with the whole concept of breakfast-for-dinner, and grilled cheese and tomato soup, but there's something about Monday's...I need to have it be delicious and full of good flavour.  Salmon!  That's it!  Cooks quickly, pairs nicely with....gnocchi (already had in my pantry).  Cooks quickly, and  can lightly pan fry in...brown butter and fresh sage (yes, I had those things on hand too).  And what veggies....zucchini from the farmers market, and a fresh spinach salad! Done!    And the "piece-de-resistance".....my homemade dill garlic lemon mayonnaise....so good you could eat it with a spoon (I didn`t do that.....but I coulda)

Baked salmon, gnocchi, zucchini and spinach salad

Baked Salmon
-start with a salmon fillet (I get mine at Costco)
-season with sea salt, ground pepper and fresh minced garlic
-rub all over fish
-garnish with lemon slices to bake
-bake at 375 convection, lightly covered with foil....I think I baked it for about 20 min


Gnocchi
- boil for under 2 minutes
-drain and quickly transfer to a butter-seasoned non stick pan
-fry on medium low until you get some nice crispy parts
-cut up fresh sage and toss in with the brown butter / gnocchi


Mayonnaise
-Get out your blender!
-put in 2 medium eggs
-juice of half a lemon
-1 - 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic (okay I used 3..but LOVE garlic)
-fresh dill (or whatever herb...if no herb its good with just the lemon and garlic)
-salt and peppa

Now blend this up....and open the lid of your blender and SLOWLY pour in vegetable oil.  Olive oil is a bit heavy, and while I love olive oil, I do not like the taste of it in mayonnaise.   Eventually your ingredients will emulsify and blender will make weird gurgly sounds...its done then!  Can store in the fridge for about a week, but never lasts that long in our fridge.  We use it to dip veggies, as a creamy salad dressing, spread on sandwiches....lots of possibilities!

And presto..dinner was ready by the time the kids came home (hubby picked them up!)

Happy cooking!