Me.

It’s been a long time, huh? I know. I feel it too. I need to get back to talking to y’all. It’s not that I don’t love ya anymore, only that I’m trying to get books written for y’all to read.

I’ve been cooking a lot lately too. I actually cook every day so… In my house we’ve gone with theme nights. At least that’s what I call them.

Monday: Comfort Food
Tuesday: Italian
Wednesday: Crock-pot
Thursday: Finger Foods (Pizza, Burgers, BBQ Nachos, etc…)
Friday: Mexican
Saturday: Salads and Leftovers
Sunday: Breakfast

This has helped me a great deal in dinner preparation. It breaks down things enough that I can try different things without having to rack my brain going through every food category on the planet. If I already have an idea in my head, it makes my life that much easier. It’s not as tedious as meal planning, because I still like the open-ended creativity without the planning, but it narrows things down for me. It helps my family too with making requests/suggestions…

Do you do meal planning to any degree? If so, what is your process?

Something else I’ve started doing lately is taking some of my herbal and flavored teas from Teavana and making quarts of iced tea. It’s finally starting to get warm out and while my typical beverage menu (for myself) includes coffee and water, I do love iced tea. I am a Southern girl, after all. This week I’ve made Watermelon Mint Chiller and Blackberry Mojito. I made a simple syrup (2 parts water to 1 part sugar for a slightly thinner syrup) to sweeten them with, and it’s been a very nice deviation from the norm. (I think I’m trying to channel Chrissie from Keep It Together with her iced tea)

I’m going to get back to writing now, but we’ll get together again soon to talk about what I’m cooking up or baking…

~lissa