Weekly Meals

Tomorrow my newest full-time job adventure begins. By full-time job adventure, I mean my career - weird. I anticipate being home fairly late every day this week. That anticipation had led to worrying about dinner.. that worrying has developed into a plan of attack. A dear friend of mine, Danielle, has recently been posting on Facebook about spending Sunday prepping casseroles and dinner for the week with her 2 adorable girls. We've decided to share some recipes and, in a way, split the planning duties for the week. Because of Valentine's, our menus differ a little bit (she's preparing some fab sounding Maple glazed cornish game hens, but I just anticipate having that time).. Here's what's on the dinner agenda for the week:

Fondue (definitely Monday for Valentine's)
Pizza stuffed Chicken (courtesy of Danielle & Paula Deen mag)
Mix & Match Baked Pasta
Pesto Pasta (That recipe is here)

Other than fondue on Monday, I'm not sure what days we'll have which. The last time I had a full-time job, I used to plan per day, but found ourselves unhappy. I like to buy what we need for these dinners, do as much prep work as possible on Sunday, and then cook whichever we're in the mood for on the day.

I am excited for our Valentine's meal of fondue. We love fondue, but are tired of paying an exorbitant amount for melty cheese, so I've found a few wonderful recipes and am having trouble deciding which to use. I know a lot of people say they aren't fans of V-day because they aren't in relationships, but I'll be honest, I love it... Always have, even when I wasn't in a relationship. I'm not necessarily on board with all of the commercialism hoopla, but I do appreciate that there is a specific day set aside to appreciate love. I believe that love can be any type of love: individual love of oneself, friendship with gal pals, platonic with opposite sex, relationship, and family. I also believe the best way to celebrate whichever type of love you choose to, is to cook (I have a Pavlovian aversion to eating out on Valentine's)! Cook a fabulous meal for yourself or loved one(s) and celebrate the love you have in your life!

Last year's Vday meal:


It was a skinny chicken cacciatore, over veggie tortellini, and a stuffed zucchini.. ya ya ya, we were in a healthy eating phase, but contrary to what you might think about healthy eating, this meal was delicious. Needless to say, fondue this year will be slightly less healthy ;)

My last bit is about the Mix & Match baked pasta. This sounds generic, I understand that. If you don't get the Food Network Mag, I highly, highly suggest you do. It is jam packed with recipes. Are all of them awesome, no. Is there a good amount of fantastic recipes, absolutely. The best part of the magazine is how it inspires me! This month's is an Italian issue and it is chock full of delicious-sounding recipes, paired with amazing photography. I aspire to one day have one of my photographs in this mag. My favorite part of this month's issue is the Mix & Match page. It's broken up into 6 categories: Pick a Pasta, Make the Sauce, Choose your Mix-Ins, Flavor the Sauce, Pick your Cheese, and Bake the Casserole. Between all of these options, the magazine says there's "thousands of possibilities". I'm going to give one of these a shot this week. I'll let you know what combination I pick and how it turns out. In the mean time, have a great St. Valentine's Day; hopefully, you're spending it filled with love ♥.