Organizing Your Cooking

For me, peace of mind includes being organized and having a plan.

That includes what I’m cooking and when. I find that if I have a weekly menu plan and shop for the week I face far less of a struggle at 6 p.m. when it’s time to start cooking dinner. (We usually eat at 8:15 p.m. – I know. An ungodly hour for most people.) The ingredients are all there. The recipe is there. I have everything that I need.

I also find that posting a glossy designed and printed version of the week’s recipes on the refrigerator minimizes last minute requests and grumbling. Everyone knows what the heck to expect–and looks forward to.

Of course, around here planning a week of food that everyone will eat is no small task. There are many food fetishes and dislikes. It takes some serious head-scratching and thumbing through my vast cookbook collection. Recently, I’ve hit on the idea of theme menus. We have had Greek Week, International Week and Vegetarian Week. This week is Power Foods Week.

The menus also give me an opportunity to introduce nutrition ideas into the conversation without being overly dogmatic–important for the receptivity of teenage guys. (Surprisingly, my 16-year-old son prefers “spa foods.” Imagine my surprise!)

Since I go to such lengths to plan and design the menu, I thought I might start sharing them. So here’s my menu for this week, the Power Foods menu.

Bon appetit!