60 dinners

      I get asked often what I do all day.  I have a baby who takes 3 naps and sleeps 4-5 hours a day.  What do I use my time to do?  I stay busy.  I have always been someone who keeps busy.  I don't sit around and watch tv or surf the internet (very often).  Of course, I do laundry, clean the bathrooms, shower, etc., but that doesn't fill up all the time he sleeps.  I like to have projects going on to help me use my time productively.  My latest project has revolved around our dinner menu.  I have an awesome cookbook that my sister compiled of recipes she uses and has collected over the last 5 years or so.  I was kind of stuck with what to make for dinner, so I decided to use this cookbook to my advantage.  Lindsey also showed me a great website  called ourbestbites.com that has TONS of yummy recipes on it.  My mother-in-law gave me a the best bites cook book for Christmas, without even knowing I loved the website.  So, I've been using all these great things to make lots of new dinners.  Some turned out great, some not so much, but it has been fun to experiment.  I haven't made the same dinner twice since I started keeping track in November.  Some days we have had leftover or gone out, but I've been keeping track of what we've eaten every day.  My goal was to get at least 50 dinners and make it through January.  I ended up with 60 dinners and still have 7 ideas that I haven't made yet.  This has been a fun project.  I think its about time to start cycling some of these meals through again, but I still plan on making 1 new recipe each week. 


November


15 Haystacks
16 Wingers Chicken Salad
17 Stroganoff
18 Italian Chicken
19 Tuna Noodle Casserole
20 Fajitas
21 Pork Tacos
22 Asian Chicken, Fried Rice
23 Pizza
25 Chimichangas
26 Teriyaki Chicken (test kitchen)
27 Spaghetti and Meatballs (test kitchen)
29 Beef Stew
30 Hamburgers

December
3 Chicken Alfredo
4 Sticky Chicken
6 Hawaiian haystacks
7 Sloppy Joes
10 Tortellini
11 Sweet and Sour Chicken
12 Chicken Tacos
13 Elbow Macaroni Chicken
14 Cheesy Potato Bacon Soup and rolls
15 Meatballs and Rice
16 Pork Chops and Potatoes
18 Bruchetta Chicken
19 Baked Potatoes
20 Lemon Garlic Chicken, pasta toss
21 Chicken Pot Pie (best bites)
23 Sweet and Sour Pork (Best bites)
24 Funeral Potatoes and Ham
25 Taquitos (best bites)
26 BBQ Pork Sandwiches, roasted potatoes
30 Egg Rolls
31 Nachos

January
2 Impossible Cheeseburger Pie
3 Spicy Pork Pasta (best bites)
4 Asian Cabbage Salad, Teriyaki Chicken (best bites)
5 Pizza Rolls
7 Scones/stew
8 Chicken and Rice
9 Navajo Tacos
10 Macaroni and Cheese
11 Lisa’s Chicken Salad
12 Chicken Cordon Bleu
{Utah trip}
18 Quiche
19 Mongolian Beef
20 Steak sandwiches, homemade buns
21 Chicken sandwiches, Caesar salad
22 Gyoza
23 Smothered Burritos
25 Spicy chicken casserole
26 Italian chops
27 French dip sandwiches
28 Spicy honey chicken (best bites)
29 Café rio salad
30 Chicken crescents
31 Chicken Spinach Stromboli (best bites)

February
1 Cashew chicken
2 Taco Soup

Recipes I have that I haven’t used:
Enchilada Casserole
Fried Chicken
Chicken nuggets
Chicken noodle soup
Lasagna
Chalupas
Chile