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!