Cookbook love

Did you know I love cookbooks?  Recently I picked up Cooking Light's Real Family Food. 

The author, Amanda Haas, has a philosophy 'one family, one meal.' Meaning as you can guess, everyone in the house is eating roughly the same thing. Another blog I enjoy, Dinner, a Love Story, has talked about that principle as well. In a nutshell - pick recipes you think everyone will like, offer only good (reasonably healthy) choices, require kids to only try a bit/eat one part, involve kids in food prep, blah, blah.

She also shares her meal planning strategy: 1) She flips through her recipes and decides what to make for the week (including breakfasts and lunches each day.) She says this only takes 20 minutes - sadly this often takes me longer. Or maybe it just feels longer? 2) She then makes her grocery list based on these recipes. Once she's made the full list, she 'shops' in her pantry and fridge and crosses off what she already has. 3) Finally, she shops. What I found interesting was that even back in 2008, when Amanda first started this plan, she gave herself a budget of $200 a week to feed her family of four. Now, we are only a family of three (not including Cooper), but I don't come close to spending that much. She does mention that she prefers shopping at Whole Foods, and likes to add a nice bottle of wine or two to the list, so perhaps that is why. 

Anyway, her planning strategy is exactly the same as mine. I don't know if I should be impressed with me, or underwhelmed with her?  : ) Do you follow this routine for meal planning? Needless to say, this strategy often feels like a lot of work to me, which is why every once in a while, I just go to the store and buy food, without a lot of forethought. While that seems to usually work out too, I do ultimately like to plan. 

I like that in the table of contents there is a mini-picture of each recipe. So far we've enjoyed the carmelized oninon and proscuitto pizza and the roasted fingerling fries. Yum!

My mom once said that she was always tempted to buy new lipstick - and that she felt just the right shade could be life changing. I feel that way about cookbooks. Are you compelled to collect something?