Diaries of a Derailed Menu Plan

Well, it hasn't taken long for this week's menu plan to totally derail and take a different course than I had planned. You see, that's the case a lot around here. I mentioned this last week, but sometimes, we just go with the flow. Just because I make a neat and tidy plan, doesn't mean that I always stick to it. But truthfully, it is more than okay. The purpose of my meal plans is really to just use as a guide.

Monday, I packed up my work bag and headed into the office for the last half of the day. This was unexpected and not how I had planned my day. I was planning on going to the market mid-afternoon for our week's worth of groceries. (Plan, plan, plan...can you tell I'm a compulsive planner!?) On my way out the door, I grabbed some chicken thighs that I had in the freezer and set them out to thaw. I knew I had some avocado, tomato, bacon, and romaine. Grilled chicken thighs and BLT salad with avocado was dinner. This automatically slides Monday's salmon to Tuesday night, and you get the rest.

Fast forward to Tuesday evening, when it's time to start making dinner. Mark told me that he had salmon for LUNCH. Of course, I expected him to pay attention to the menu on the fridge and know that since we didn't have salmon on Monday, that he should clearly KNOW we were going to have salmon on Tuesday, and that he should plan his meals accordingly. Duh. Well, the menu was in my purse, a lovely place for it to be. I quickly threw flank steak in my go-to marinade and made a fresh chopped salad and roasted red pepper pistachio pesto to eat with our flank steak. The yummy Thai marinade that was the highlight and most drool-worthy item on this week's menu will have to wait for another week.

The moral of this story is an obvious one- just go with the flow. Granted, it's just the two of us and we don't have mini mouths to feed so for right now, this is what works for US. I learned from my mom to keep a well stocked pantry as well as fresh items that are always good to have on hand. The pepper pesto has become a favorite around here and pairs well with any meat and even on pizza. Pistachios, roasted reds, and garlic are staples around here. Fresh chopped salads are another thing that I'm always prepared to throw together. I start with a can of beans, a can of artichokes, and add any other fresh veggies I have! (it also makes excellent leftovers for lunch). Perhaps this is inspiration for another post- those items that I always replenish once they have been used.

So there you have it, real life in my kitchen. I'll work on a post with my kitchen staples soon! It makes dinner menu changes on a whim much, much easier.