The Gorsuch Gang

Oprah Cares About My Time

// March 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Grub

(No, I’m not talking about her new reality show, the Big Give.)

Recently I posted a rant about how I feel I never have enough time to cook and that I’m always buying extra groceries in the hopes that I’ll create something. Several nights ago I was flipping through the new issue of O, The Oprah Magazine and found a short brief about two websites that will help you simplify meal planning and organize your shopping lists. Relishrelish.com (RR) and Mealmixer.com (MM) are two online sites that, for a subscription fee, help you do just that.

I was somewhat intrigued so I checked them out. I have to say that I was impressed with the organizational aspect of them, because I am an extremely organized person. (OK – I absolutely LOVE to organize!) On RR, you can choose your meals from an available list of recipes and indicate the servings needed, whereas on MM they create meals for you based on your taste, diet, family size etc. MM lets you import recipes and edit them as well. Once you’ve picked out your meals, both provide you with a nifty shopping list which indicates how much of every item is needed for each recipe. RR actually tags each ingredient so that you can tell which ingredient is for what recipe and if you choose not to make that specific recipe, you simply don’t buy the item.

However, I wasn’t that impressed with the actual recipes. Both sites feature simple recipes that, at least from appearance, wouldn’t take that long to make. RR specifically tells you that their recipes are of the 30 minute variety and from the examples they show, they provide very short directions. Those types of directions scare me a bit.

I used to belong to eDiets.com and they had a very similar meal planning function. They would actually pick your meals based strictly on the diet you chose which, they have hundreds to choose from on their site.

I don’t think these sites are for me though, as evident by me using the past tense when referring to eDiets.com. I wasn’t big on the recipes to choose from and call me crazy, but I didn’t feel like paying someone money to do something I could easily do if I would just take a little more time to plan out my meals and shopping. (And not get grand ideas about making intricate meals on a week night.) However, both RR and MM have free trials if you want to give them a shot.

Tired and Hungry

// February 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Grub

Every two weeks I plan out my grocery list with grandiose ideas of creating new and exciting meals. I might even flip through my collection of cookbooks or check out some other food blogs for ideas. I’ll ponder about trying different recipes that may pop into my head or try to invent new ways of improving old recipes. My shopping cart is usually filled with good intentions, but sadly those barely come to fruition.

I simply don’t have the time or have the desire to stand over my stove every night of the week. Working a 9 to 5 job and trying to work on my food creations is sometimes too much to handle. And on top of trying to be creative all the time, I have to consider being healthy too. Oh and I also have to worry about fitting in the gym and trying for that pesky first child during week. I end up falling back on easy favorites like stir-fry or roasted vegetables most weeknights, but even then it’s usually me who’s reaching for the take-out menus by mid-week.

My husband is supportive though and fully understands when I just want to order pizza or Chinese. He’s even attempted to cook recently, but that ended with him grabbing an apple and beef stick for himself and leaving me once again ordering take-out. (There’s been talk of him actually taking a cooking class, but again we’ll see how that goes.)

I’m just frustrated that I can’t focus more time on my hobby. Especially now that my blog is taking off and I’ve got more ideas coming to me everyday. Thank goodness for the weekends when I can indulge in my food fantasies. This last Friday in fact, I tried one of my favorite soups in a different way. Roasted Broccoli and Goat Cheese Soup hit the spot with some crusty bread and herb butter. I have a plan for Sunday night as well and I’ve made sure that all the household chores are done beforehand. The rest of the week is up in the air, as usual!