Revamping the family supper time.

Anyone that has a job, a spouse, children, pets, bills, laundry, growing grass, etc…  we know how hard it is to decide what’s going to shake down at dinner (i.e. “supper”) time. We postpone the inevitable until it’s 6:17pm and everyone is starving, so that the only solution is hitting up the pizza place down the street.

I am very familiar with the Johnny’s Pizza less than 2 miles from my house (Fun Fact: It was my first job!).

Eating out, or eating unprepared in any form, can do major damage to not only your waistline, but your checkbook too. We are trying to find the best solution for that, and I think I might have found it.

The best day of the week for me has been Sunday because that is “pizza night”. Every Sunday. Period. We know what we are making every single week, and it is such a nice break to have that already scheduled. I have tried to do weekly menus, but let’s face it, that’s just as hard as planning for the evening each day. I don’t know what to make that far in advance! I don’t know what we are going to be “in the mood” for, either.

Solution – Theme nights.

Yep. That works. I gave each day a category, theme, genre… whatever you want to call it. It gives me an outline to follow, but doesn’t make it strict and set me up for failure. I’m an all-or-nothing kinda gal. If I’m going to have a menu, I’m going to stick with it for the week, or I’m going to mess up one day and crumple the paper the plan is written on in the trash and go out for burgers. Theme night seemed to be a good idea for a little structure, but still have freedom to choose what I’m hankering for.

Here is what I came up with:

Monday – Mexican

Tuesday – Southern

Wednesday – Asian

Thursday – American

Friday – Italian

Saturday – Grill

Sunday – Pizza!

I’m pretty happy with this plan. Today I looked at the clock reading 4:00pm. I had no clue what I was making for supper, but I checked the plan and it said “mexican”. I investigated the pantry and decided I had everything I needed for tacos. Boom! Just like that, I had a plan.

Oh, yeah. But I had to make tortillas. That’s cool – every time I go to the grocery store I pick a package up, look at the ingredient list (too many chemicals!), look at the price (holy cow those are expensive!), and put it back down and tell myself I can make my own. A quick google search for a recipe and I was on my way.

I decided that I wanted my tortillas crunchy for taco salads, so I cut ’em up and fried ’em up 🙂

YUM! Don’t let the darkness full you, these are done juuuuust right. I actually made them with a white whole wheat flour that I order from King Arthur Flour. Whole grain chips are less guilt-inducing, even if they are fried!

The girls are always a little more receptive to eating new things when they get to participate in the cooking/assembly.

I ❤ Taco Salads 🙂

Rainy Day Goodness

It’s been raining here forever. And what is better on a rainy day than cheesy goodness? I had all the fixin’s for beef enchiladas, or at least my version of it, so here we go.

You see that picture? That one up there, with the four ingredients? That’s how I’m going to make some tortillas. Yes, I said it. I make my own tortillas. Why? Well, have you looked at the ingredient list on your favorite store-bought variety? Do it next time. Then look at how much you are paying for those needless, chemical ingredients. Those things are expensive!

So. Four ingredient tortillas…. Flour. Water. Olive oil. Salt.

Nice.

I’ve used whole wheat before, but this is spelt flour. Learn more about spelt here.

Formed it up into a little dough ball like this and let it rest a bit.

Then it was time to cook up an onion and brown the meat. I said these were beef enchiladas, but I kinda fibbed on that just a little bit. These are Bambi’s Momma Enchiladas. Never fear, though. If your man is not a blood-thirsty deer killer like mine, just go down to the grocery and get you a pack of ground beef. It’ll work the same, but yours will have more saturated fat in it. I like venison for this reason alone.

Now how ’bout those tortillas?

That’ll do.

From here on, I…

put a rinsed can of black beans in with the meat and onions

shred up some pepper jack and colby jack cheese

rolled up each tortilla with some meat and cheese

covered it with some enchilada sauce, chopped green chilis, and some more shredded cheese.

Done.

This is what it looks like after baking at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

Yum yum yum

This was the first time I’ve made “beef” enchiladas, as I usually do chicken instead. This was a keeper, though. Do you see that cheesy goodness? Perfect comfort food for a rainy evening like this.

Time to go to bed now. The goal is to get up and go for a run in the morning before work. I am about to commit to a race next month. I look forward to telling you about it in the next day or so.

‘Night Y’all