Menu Planning...the great Sunday Morning Adventure.

After yoga and a short puzzle of Sudoku, I'm ready to sit down and make some serious decisions. I usually need a grapefruit, cup of coffee, and a mug full of water for this task.

The week's menu is something that is frequently and occasionally, a heatedly debated topic in my house. My husband, B, is not vegan, although he puts up with and even enjoys (from time to time) my inventive creations. When asked to participate in the weekly-menu-planning-tradition, he frequently requests "big meat" or "something good." The "big meat" is translatable, but the "something good?" I like to think that what I've planned to prepare IS something good. I take the time to pour over my cookbooks/various websites, write out a list, and then go to Wegman's. "Of course I think it's something good." Why would I take so much time to plan, prepare, and make something that is "fair to midland?"

So far, my list contains a ton of spices I need to replenish and only two meals worth of food! I'm all out of inspiration. We're going to have Curried Potato and Spinach Soup from the Candle Cafe Cookbook. When making soups for dinner, I have to make sure they are hearty enough so I don't hear, "I'm going to KFC" an hour later. Also, I'm planning on making a dish that I refer to as New Hampshire Black Beans. Our friends, Caleb and Nikki made this for us when we were visiting them in New Hampshire and I fell in love. The heat of the dish is provided by pepperoncini and cherry peppers which is mellowed by fresh orange juice. We eat this dish with tortilla chips and guacamole.

I'm planning on the staples: Silk yogurt, bananas, apples, oranges, salad goodies. But other than that, I'm tapped out! This is partially because it's about to be spring and I'm not feeling the hearty-filling winter dishes I have been making. The lack of inspiriation also comes from the "I'm on a diet" thing. I'm completely content to eat baked potatoes and steamed veggies for dinner every night. B isn't down with this idea. We'll see how the cooking spirit moves me later in the week.

Why "My Inner-Geek?"

One of my closest friends L and I have had an ongoing debate regarding how to best keep/organize/utilize our personal recipes. For years, I've had this ugly little recipe box that reads "Kind hearts are the garden, kind thoughts are the roots" and it's uber-country looking. Of course, the recipe cards match the box (what's a recipe box without matchy-matchy cards?) and the dividers are not very useful to me.

I typically cook vegan fare so I had no use for the "Meats" category or the "Poultry/Fish/Eggs" section. Which brings a question to mind, if one regularly eats Poultry or Fish or Eggs, why are they lumped together? Wouldn't you have a ton of recipes for chicken that would need there own home? And, don't most casseroles (at least the ones in the midwest) have chicken in them? So, should they go in the "Poultry/Fish/Eggs" section or the "Casserole" section (it has that section too)? Then there's the section for "Microwave Recipes". I've never made an entire meal using just the microwave, unless you consider reheating leftovers preparing a meal. And to add to my disdain of The Box, I had random index cards and notes stuck in here and there with random recipes from friends or jotted down off the internet. I really don't like irregularity--hence, my inner-geek.

So, L and I went back and forth and used up all her daytime minutes over how to best keep recipes. There were several avenues to take: 1) a computer program 2) a 3-ringed binder 3) a little book you make yourself 4) random scrap papers shoved into a nasty-old ziplock bag 5) a Recipe Box. Here's a glimpse as to how the debate went...

1) Computer Program
the good: less kitchen clutter, very organized, searchable in various ways (ingredient search, time search), create shopping lists
the not-so good: must print each time a recipe is used, someone has to type everything in or make sure it's cut/pasted correctly, computer's are not 100% reliable

the commentary: I am all about less kitchen clutter and I love the idea of searching my entire database using one ingredient. However, I can't imagine printing out a recipe multiple times a year--that's a lot of paper. And then, what do you do with it once it's printed? Pitch it? I tend to like the look of a hand-written recipe (that's really strange, I know). And besides, my computer is not 100% reliable (thank you Ocho and a glass of water). L is also about less kitchen clutter but seemed to have the same questions about how to get the recipe from the computer to the kitchen. She tends to have a 'scrap paper' problem. So, on to the next idea.

2) 3-Ringed Binder
*there are a couple of 3-ringed binder ideas we discussed:
a) little plastic castles, I mean, little plastic sleeves that can hold the recipe cards (if you happen to find some non-offensive variety
b) just 3-hole punch 81/2 x 11 paper that you've printed or written the recipe on
the good: I think this idea could be nice but L and I were at odds regarding the indexing. It could be fun to have all different little recipe cards through out your binder.
the not so good: I don't want a huge binder sitting in my kitchen, it's just not very recipe-y.

3) Little Book
the good: total control over the index, how many lines to write one, categories, etc. it can be made as cute and practical as you desire
the not so good: time consuming to make, forced to make decisions that you'll have to live with for along time

the commentary: Although I know what I don't like about all the other recipe keeping options, I'm not totally sold on how I do want to arrange and categorize my recipes. L's sister keeps a recipe book similar to this option. From what I can gather, it has an index at the front and she writes in the name and page number of each recipe recorded. L thinks this is too much work. I love the cute/practical factor. L's not necessarily into the cute of cute/practical.

4) Random Scrap Papers Shoved into a Nasty-Old Ziplock Bag
the good: not time-consuming, preserve the moment/time period of when the recipe was recorded, cheap
the not so good: it looks like something that should be thrown away, takes FOREVER to find anything, you get distracted with the preserved moments/time periods and begin to reminisce-not cook

the commentary: I'm not a fan.

5) The Box
the good: keeps with tradition of recipe storage, doesn't take up too much space
the not so good: most 'boxes' aren't cute/fun, the cards may be to small for a particular recipe, the cards are always going to be matchy-matchy (they won't be produced forever, you know), bad food-type categories, I really could keep going here...

the commentary: L wants to use a little wooden box J made for her. She gave me her recipes (random scrap papers shoved in a nasty-old ziplock bag) to organize and put on cards. I haven't gotten around to this project yet b/c I'm not on board with the whole Box idea. L gave me the recipes at Thanksgiving, she has only asked for 1 so far and it's now the end of March. Hmmm.

Now I've made my informed decision:

I went with the cute/practical book. It's not perfect, I'm totally willing to admit that. I decided to categorize my recipes in 10 different ways. I made 11 different templates, one for each category plus an extra one for my last section--an informational area to include measurement equivalencies and the like. The content page lists each section and its corresponding color.

I tend to over-do a lot of what I do. It's not that I really believe I'm all that Geeky, but most of my friends think I'm a little over the top. That's why I called my recipe book A Testament to My Inner-Geek.