finding rhythm in the kitchen...

I feel like I've been chasing my tail a bit of late, which is why I haven't been about here much. Most of the time, I'm flat out exhausted. This bubba in the belly is really making me work. I spent a good few hours on the couch this morning, whilst Huckle busied himself with drawing, trains and whatnot. 

This seems to be happening regularly. Our days seem to go like this... Rise and make breakfast; Mama rest, whilst Huckle plays; mosey about for a bit; make and eat lunch; Huckle has a nap whilst Mama mosies about or has another rest; play outside; then four o'clock comes around and Mama freaks out "what on earth are we going to have for dinner!"; convince Huckle to come inside; rush about like a mad woman to get dinner on the table in an hour.

Let's say I'm not enjoying this last minute craziness and after reading Kate's latest post, I've decided it's high time to get back into the swing of menu planning. I make the majority of our food from scratch, which doesn't really lend itself to last minute crazy town. So tonight, I have a date with my cookbooks, a cup of tea and the couch. I'm aiming to write a fortnight of meals. I like to get a vague idea for lunches and snacks too, as we have 3 meals at home as a family pretty much every day. 

This does mean a lot of time in the kitchen, but I love cooking and have a few tricks up my sleeve to lighten the load. Some of my tricks are...

:: cook double amounts of dinner for lunch leftovers or to freeze for another meal

:: bake double quantity of biscuits or muffins to freeze and defrost when needed

:: use left over cooked vegies in omelettes 

:: make and freeze pizza dough for quick pizza nights

:: bake two loaves of bread at a time, slice the second loaf and freeze to use for toast

:: make big batches of pesto, pasta sauce and pizza sauce and freeze in portions

Do you menu plan at your place? What tricks are up your sleeve?

I've had a little helper in the kitchen most days, which has been both fun and a little stressful. But the outcomes have been delicious. We've mixed bread dough, made bikkies, grape pikelets (as seen below), sweet potato chips (below) and salmon patties. He loves to try anything along the way and is particularly fond of bread dough. Mmmm.

I'm off to boil the kettle and fetch me some cookbooks. I hope your week is coming along just fine and you're eating delicious things.