menu Monday. You are what you eat.

I mentioned in my post last night that I had been in a sort of funk...

But I got so distracted asking for rain dances that I forgot to tell you about my trip back from the blahs.

For a few weeks now, food has been a low priority. Which is always how I can tell when I am struggling as I am truly food obsessed by nature. When I get to the point that nothing sounds good, or I just eat because I am hungry and wind up eating a ton of junk, I know I'm down in the dumps.

So, here we were with very little edible food in the house and a hunger in my belly saying, "well just maybe you should cook something..." We have been overly dependent on eating out, especially me... since by default I end up eating restaurant food five to six meals a week at work.

I could not decide what to make first. What a good sign. I went from not being interested in cooking anything to not being able to decide what recipe to try first.

I sat down at the computer, looking back at recipes from pinterest, pulling out some old favorites, checking to see what was needing to be eaten out of our freezer. I compared my work schedule: my only close the night that Pete is out of town. And suddenly, I was meal planning!

Okay, I'm a geek. But food speaks to me. And when I've been blah, I can usually whip up a few extra vegetables for the week and turn my spirits right around.

After a trip to the grocery store, I was all set to get started! Pete had bought some meats at the store a few nights prior so I got to just mostly shop for vegetables, which is my favorite part of the store.

When I came home, I made my plan. I clipped up the necessary recipes to my menu board and got some prep done. I whipped up a few things in advance so that, "I had a long day at work," didn't become an excuse for Wendy's midweek.

So, without further nonsensical blabbering, here is what is for dinner this week!
Monday: We are just about to sit down to sweet potato and chorizo enchiladas. (I got the recipe here: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/02/chorizo-sweet-potato-enchiladas-908.html) Its a new recipe for me but it has all sorts of things I love: sweet potatoes, chorizo, green chile sauce... Oh the smell is killing me! I better finish up this post quick!

Tuesday: I promised Pete eggplant parmesan weeks ago and I am finally going to deliver on that. We both love eggplant and I happen to make a pretty mean eggplant parm. I'm not committed enough to make my own marinara this week so its our favorite standby, sockarooni!

Wednesday: I'm a mid (11-8?ish?) so the slow cooker is all the rage. We are having barbecue pork sandwiches after slow cooking a couple pork chops all day. I attempted to make my own barbecue sauce last night, but it came out WAY too sweet so unless I can think of a way to tone back the sugar, I'll have to pop into the store for some sauce.

Thursday: I'm helping out at an event for a non-profit serving "hearty niblets" (literally, that is what the invite says. So it will be back home late in the evening for some leftovers (but it looks like we will have great stuff to choose from, eh?)

Friday: Pete flies off to DC for his reunion with his scout platoon from his first deployment and I'm headed to run a closing shift at the restaurant for what will probably be the busiest day of the year. So I'm not going hungry! I'm making up some black bean and corn flautas I saw on pinterest a while ago: http://www.phi-style.com/?cat=53

Saturday: Its a lazy day around the house with no husband to entertain me on my days off. And I'm making pizza for my day off from the restaurant! I'm enamored with spaghetti squash and so I just couldn't pass up this recipe: http://www.jennifervagios.com/2011/12/the-non-pizza-pizza-squash-style/

Sunday: We spend the day at the lake for Pete's grandparents 50th anniversary. No specific menu plans that I've been asked for, but one thing about Pete's family is they always throw one heck of a party, so I'm sure I won't starve.

I'm looking forward to some new recipes, a challenge to serve dinner every night and some delicious, pretty healthy eating in the meantime.

That's all for now friends, its time to enjoy!

moods of doom and gloom

Its been a few crazy weeks and I have been non-stop. A lot is going on at work, the housework seems always unfinished, both Pete and I have been stressed out leading to various miscommunications...

I've just been in a funk. And it was no secret. My boss noticed, my parents noticed... and poor Pete has been trying anything to catch my attention on focus off of whatever was bothering me.

And what has been bothering me you ask? I don't even know. I've just had a very full plate. And I like being good at things, having things that come easy, feeling success. As we discussed at lunch today, we all need small victories.

I took a couple days respite with some vacation time that worked out last minute and had 4 glorious days of not having to worry about the restaurant. But 6 days and nearly 70 hours later, I was desperate for my weekend to come. I had dreams and ambitions of achieving a fabulous adventure, cleaning the house spic and span, cooking wonderful meals, and maybe even having a fun date.

We were putting together our Saturday still lying in bed when Pete commented on his daily reading of the police blotter, "A fire just started in Waldo canyon."
"Oh, that isn't good." I responded. "There is so much overgrowth back there." Colorado is in this unique situation of having record high temperatures and record low humidity. Add that to the dry winter and spring and the situation isn't great. But, after that brief commentary, we put it out of our minds.

We were having trouble deciding if we were going to be outdoorsy despite the stifling heat or go to a movie when I walked outside to take the trash out.
A plume of smoke was rising in front of our beautiful mountain range. Black and ominous, and overwhelming. I looked at my watch. Only 2 hours ago Pete had mentioned the fire has just started. Holy crap this wasn't good.
I called Pete out to look at it. The already rather low mood of the day fell even further. We spent the day moving between facebook reports, news reports and going out into the yard to look at the smoke plume.

Our street at times, looked kind of like this

We talked to the neighbors more than we have... well, ever I think. "Did you hear how it started?" "Is Manitou going to be okay?" "Gosh, I can't believe how big it has gotten."

The mood was saddened. Depressed. One of the huge perks of our wonderful home are the beautiful mountains rising to the west of us. To see them obscured by smoke is heartbreaking. 

This was taken about three pm Saturday. Since then, the fire has grown to almost 3000 acres and nearly 10,000 people have been affected by evacuations. In some areas, these evacuations have been lifted and in others they have not. 

Unfortunately, this fire is small but take our attention is on it here because it is so close to town and so ominous. But currently, it is one of eight fires burning in the state, one of which (the high park fire in Fort Collins) is now the second largest in the state's history and has been burning for two and a half weeks. 

Just like my four day weekend, we need respite. We need rain, lots of rain, less wind, lower temperatures, and every willing firefighter available. Please pray, hope, cross your fingers, rain dance, whatever you can to send good vibes our forest's way. And if you have the opportunity to hug, kiss, buy dinner for or at least thank a fire fighter, do so... Because every bone dry matchstick like tree saved on our beautiful mountains will be a small victory. And with so much fire, even a small victory can be celebrated.