Happy New Year!

Twenty Twelve.  It has a nice ring to it.  Let's hope it's everyone's "year."

Are you a resolution type?  I am.   I may not always succeed 100% but my resolutions always seem to have a positive impact on my life/goals/accomplishments.  We'll see how I do in Twenty Twelve.

This year I have the usual "eat better, lose weight, exercise more" resolutions that seem to be roll overs for just about everyone.  But to help me  and my family attain these goals I'm vowing to do something that I've never been good at....MEAL PLANNING.

I am such a planner/organizer you'd think this would come easy for me but trust me, it does not.  Dinners, for the most part, are "winged" here at my house which often times means throwing something together at 6 PM or going out to eat because I didn't plan ahead.  I'm hoping to put a stop to that this year by following my friend Catherine's lead.  Every Sunday she plans her weekly meals and makes her grocery list with a trip to the store on Monday mornings.  She's agreed to be my coach.  :-)

The biggest obstacle I will face is going to be to get my entire family to eat the same thing.  My husband hates casseroles and isn't big on pasta which happen to be my favorite types of dinner (he refers to casseroles as "pre-chewed food") and my daughter will not stray from spaghetti, pizza and basic chicken/steak. They both eat red meat.  I do not.  I'm not crazy about the meat/potato/veggie thing (his favorite meal) but thankfully we both love soup. I am going to need a creative mix of menus and some very open minds.   I've explained to Meg that she will be required to take one bite of every food that I think she will/should like.  I know I 'll have to initially adapt her dinner according to the planned menu but I'm counting on an expanding palate.  

I did my grocery shopping for the week yesterday (yay!) for this week's menu....

Tues -  Black Eyed Pea Soup   (Made this last night pretty much according to the recipe but halved it,  no red peppers and substituted chicken breast for the turkey.  We both really liked it. I did not require Meg to try this one.  I'll save my battles for the things I think she will like.)

Wed - Baked Potatoes Topped with Veggies

Thur - Chicken Vegetable Tortellini Soup    (Meg will eat chicken and tortellini so I'll probably start her out with a lesser version made on the side.)

Fri - Bean Burritos  (Meg will get chicken in a hard taco shell...after she tries a bite of these.)

Sat - Turkey Burgers with Oven Fries and a Veggie

Sun - TBD

Randy is already laughing at me, convinced I will fail.  (He knows me soooo well.)  But I'm determined to get my family to eat better, reduce the "what's for dinner" stress and hopefully save some money to boot.  If you have any good recipes please share.

Wish me luck and here's to everyone's 2012 resolutions!