Snowshoeing and Climbing Mountains

As I was driving back to work from lunch today, a thought popped into my head. This thought has been bouncing around my head for a while now, and I think it's time to finally put it on paper.

I realized that I'm finally getting to do all the things I dreamed about when I was little. All I ever wanted to do was climb mountains, explore, go where ever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And I am living that life now. It all just fell into place after I removed all the external pressures.

Somewhere along the way, I lost myself. I became so entranced with being someone who wasn't me, someone that so many others wanted me to be.

I'm so glad that I am now doing the things I wanted to do when I was younger. It's kinda funny how my younger self knew what I should have been doing. If only I would have listened deeper.

I have so many plans, so many things I want to get done in my life. I want to climb bigger, badder mountains. I want to explore remote places, with very few humans around. I want to cook as much as I can, create as much as I can. Life is full of so many possibilities and I am so excited to see what I'm going to do next. 

You with me?

Meal Planning: February

I have been really terrible at sticking to my meal plans lately. I absolutely love to peruse through my cookbooks and see which recipes I want to cook. I’ll admit, I have an excel sheet with a lot of recipe names and their estimated times and what season the produce/meats are best and other miscellaneous information. I’m a bit of a data collector (you should see my hiking list! It’s at about 1250 hikes!), but for me it’s fun. And by creating a monthly meal plan, I’m less likely to eat out or eat bad food.

Salmon Pasta with Fennel and Kale

 

I like to give myself some wiggle room in my meal plan, so I usually only plan for 4 meals a week. That way I have a couple days for leftovers and a free day where I can make whatever I’m inspired to make, whether it’s from extra ingredients sulking in the fridge or when I spot a really great looking bunch of carrots or potatoes or onions or kale or… Well you get the idea.

Tuna and Chickpea Salad with Cucumbers

 

Most of the time, I pick a single part of my meal, like a side dish or a main dish and then pick simple accompaniments. For example, when I have a salad listed, I usually pair it with something simple like rice and pan seared steak or chicken or fish. Sometimes I don’t even follow a recipe, I just use it as a guideline and add my own interpretation (actually that happens a lot).

Soy Earl Grey Tea Latte with Raincoast Crisps

If I don’t have a meal plan set, then I typically am a bit looser in my definition of what’s good or what is bad.  I tend to eat out more, or just get the Chinese food from the deli at my grocery store. Over the past few months, I’ve really missed cooking, so I really want to try to squeeze it in better.  All of these recipes can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, so I should be able to spend my time more efficiently.

Salmon Rice Bowl with Peas

 

Anyways, here is my meal plan for the month:

Week 1:

Favas with Herbs

Corn Chowder

Saucy Steak (orange marmalade sauce over steak)

Gingered Sticky Rice

Week 2:

Salad Greens with Beets and Goat Cheese

Bistro Beef and Mushrooms

Fennel and Parsley Salad

Gold Squash Soup

Week 3:

Crusty Sourdough Bread with Parsley Pesto

Asian Chicken Wraps

Poached Salmon with Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Cool Jicama Slaw

Week 4:

Garlic Thyme Chops and Onion

Pork with Cranberries and Port

Rough Cut Breadsticks

Creamy Carrot Soup

Desserts and Breakfasts:

Apple and Vanilla Ice with Grapefruit Segments

Honey Toasted Fruit Granola

Maple Nut Oatmeal

Almond Bread

How do you meal plan? What are you planning on cooking this week?