More Resolution Updates

I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the resolutions I made because they are all attainable. I have been cooking with the Simply In Season book for the past 3 weeks now, making 2-3 recipes a week. Pretty soon I will have made all of the "Winter" recipes! Here's what I've been up to the past few weeks:

A few weeks ago I made an Apple Praline Pie. I am probably the only American who is not a fan of apple pie, but this pie sounded tasty and it was. The "praline" part was pretty saucy but still it was like traditional apple pie with a carmel sauce. Yum!

Last night I made Oven Barbequed Chicken (the BBQ sauce was homemade!) and Apple Rice Stuffing. I wasn't so sure about the BBQ chicken before I stuck it in the oven but it turned out delish. It was literally finger lickin' good. The apple rice stuffing was also tasty. I particularly liked it because it was really kid friendly. In addition to having apples and rice (what's not to like?), there were a few tablespoons of brown sugar added to it. So the "stuffing" was extra sweet.

Tonight's dinner is Sausage with Apple and Roasted Winter Veggies. A winner all around. The sausages are browned first then simmered in apple juice nestled in a bed of apples and onions. Getting hungry? And everyone loves roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, tossed in olive oil and Italian seasoning.

You may notice I have been cooking with more meat lately. That is mostly due to the cookbook I've been following. I'd say slightly more than half the recipes have meat in them, but still 50% vegetarian is more than you'd get in the vast majority of other cookbooks. We are still using discretion with our meat-we've had about 2 dishes with meat every week. I am enjoying bringing it back into our diets not only because we are still using it sparingly (compared to the typical American diet) but also because it has broadened my options for cooking. Unless you get a vegetarian cookbook, you only get a handful of recipes that are vegetarian and once you weed out the soy based ones, you tend to get the same 4 or 5 over and over. So it has been fun having more variety.

On a note of the other resolution to take the kids on more outings-tomorrow we are heading to the mall after preschool, getting a soft pretzel and then hitting the play area for as long as the kids want. Friday is notoriously "Pizza Friday" so I have absolutely nothing to hurry home for. I'm looking forward to spending time with my kids, my beautiful, cute, precious kids, without worrying about anything else.