Bottom line: we’re all healthy, Elanor’s doing great, Brett and I are fine — it’s nothing relating to our health or our family relationships. It is something that’s really frustrating, though, and to be honest, kind of consuming. I just don’t have anything much to share that isn’t, well, about this annoying non-boring stuff. Ugh.

Anyway, moving on, because I’m bored and annoyed with myself as I write this, so I can only imagine how bored and annoyed you, like, two remaining readers must be.

I’m almost done editing Brett’s French Press post. I think you’re going to enjoy it. I’m sure it will give you a good insight into who Brett is, as well as give you a great guide for how to make a delicious press at home.

So, I am hoping to get that post up in the next few days. Until then, I’ll leave you with this scene, which happened a week ago as we were lounging on the futon, watching cooking shows on PBS, while Elanor and Brett were trying to recover from a cold. We’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows lately, which completely whets our appetites for amazing food and gives us inspiration for things to make here at home. We’re also lazy, though, so we watch these shows with an element of, I don’t know, masochism, because some of the things that these chefs make are, let’s face it, not going to happen in this kitchen, amazing and tasty though they may seem. (Especially the things that include meat. Poor Brett. I think he wishes I were not a vegetarian anymore. Oh well. That’s not gonna happen, I can tell you that for sure.) This scene sort of typifies that experience.

Jacques Pepin was on at the time. He’s become one of our favorite people to watch (we also enjoy Julia Child’s baking show). The following scene unfolded as we watched. It is definitely an insight into Brett and his personality and tastes, and it made me laugh.

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Jacques is chopping, cooking, about to add a bunch of onions, garlic, scallions, and celery to something sauteing in a skillet. We are gaping at his amazing chopping skills and wishing we could mince garlic and dice onion so deftly. He adds the onion and garlic into the skillet, and in his thick and charming French accent, identifies the mystery item already sauteing away.

Brett: What’s he got in the skillet?

Me: Bacon, I think he said.

Brett, with a massive eye-roll and a groan, as he falls back onto the pillows: God, I love this man.

Some notes, first, before I get started. First, this plan will pertain to dinner only. In general, we eat simple things for breakfast: yogurt, toast, granola, or, if Brett’s feeling fancy on the weekend, he’ll make some eggs or waffles or something. Same goes for lunch; we generally eat a lot of leftovers, although I try to keep a few boxes of Annie’s Mac stocked in my cupboard for Elanor and me to share if we don’t have leftovers. I rarely make something special for lunch; the fanciest I get is something like a baked potato or some roasted winter squash or something.

My general approach to meal planning is that I have a few staple meals or convenience items that are easy and don’t really have a recipe. I try to have the ingredients for at least one of these on hand at all times, and usually plan at least one easy meal a week. These are things like pasta with red sauce, burritos, frozen pizzas, and Annie’s Mac, essentially they are very simple things that require little to no effort to cook if we’re tired or it’s late and we don’t want to follow the meal plan. While each of those meals can be made more special or fancy, something I hope to highlight in future posts, at the basic level they are quick and simple and don’t require a lot of cleanup.

I also try to include a new recipe every week or two. I love sitting down on a weekend with my cookbooks and reading them to get ideas. I try to mark recipes that I’m interested in with a sticky note, or, if I’m looking at recipes online, I bookmark things that look good to a folder in my bookmarks called, well, recipes. I find that if I go through those recipes every couple of weeks, I can usually find some really good things. True, some are duds, but more often than not, I find really tasty things that get added to the regular rotation.

One more note before I dive in: I’ve had a bit of a conundrum with how to organize the meal pan and shopping list, so if you have a preference or would prefer something different, let me know. I’m open to suggestion. As it stands now, I’ll do this: I’m going to list out the recipes, including a link to a PDF of each one that you can print. I’ll then include a PDF of a shopping list for the week’s meals. This will NOT be broken down by meal, and it’s a complete list for all meals for the week, so if you are going to be selective about which meals to make, you’ll have to keep that in mind as you shop and as you view the amounts of things.

For example, if three recipes call for onion, I’ll just list Onions, 3, in the list. So if you know you aren’t going to make one of those, just note that you only need two onions. (Sorry if I’m overexplaining this…it’s been kind of a lot to wrap my head around as I’ve tried to figure out how to organize it. Call it Mommy Brain, I guess.)

So, without further ado, here is the meal plan, week one.

• Sunday: Burritos
• Monday: Channa Masala
• Tuesday: Ginger-Roasted Veggies, Fresh Herb Dinner Rolls, Salad
• Wednesday: Black Bean Soup & Cornbread
• Thursday: Potato Soup and Whole Wheat Beer Bread
• Friday: Sundried Tomato Risotto
• Saturday: Waffles, Hash Browns

Here’s the shopping list: Shopping List, Week 1.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I hope you enjoy it!