Menu Make-over: making healthy meals even better!

Well, after 2 years of eating the same food, we decided it was time for a change. Partly b/c we were tired of some recipes, but also b/c we've discovered some allergies in my daughters that were making some recipes hard to fix.

So, this time I had made up a rating system for our current recipes. Mom, Dad, and older daughter got to rate each item from 0-3. Our three year old added a point to items she loves. As it turned out, we are keeping all the items that scored 7 or higher and getting rid of anything 4 or lower. Some of the middles may be back-up meals--I'm still working on it. Since I had 6 menus before I cut it down to 4 this way and am adding in a few other meals. I'm also planning one lunch meal a week (as in preparing something instead of having leftovers or Almond Butter and Jelly sandwiches.)

I'm also making several other improvements. My new menu includes when I'm buying a whole chicken to cook in my slower cooker and make broth. And that week has a soup recipe and a meal that requires chicken and broth for the sauce. The rest of the chicken and broth I can freeze.


My latest health improvement is making bread as I received a grain mill and Bosch mixer for Mother's Day and my birthday. YEAH! The fresh ground flour in recipes SO good. So, my menu includes making dough once a week for bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, and even hamburger buns (not all the same week!)

Another improvement is I'm actually planning on which meals to double and freeze and including this in my recipes and grocery list. AND I'm actually typing up my recipes and putting them in a binder in page protectors. (I did this the first time I made menus--but not with the second, most recent menus.)

I can't wait til I'm done! I'll have my very own cookbook. I plan to type up all my recipes I use and store my cookbooks away for the next time I decide to tweak my menus.

If you didn't catch my earlier post on menus, see Menu Planning Simple and Easy for how to get started.

So, anyone want to join me?

PS--I'm been on a summer sabbatical from blogging! Hopefully I'll get back to blogging more soon.