Another Slow Cooker Meal

All new mommies should use the slow cooker because lets be honest, who really has time to cook when you've got a new baby in the house?? I do all the prep work in the morning during Holden's first nap, we have a house that smells great the entire day, and my husband thinks I'm an amazing wife! Last night I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches (although I forgot to take a picture of the actual sandwich). My husband said it was mouthwatering good (I don't know because I'm a vegetarian and had a veggie burger). I added a little extra BBQ sauce than the recipe called for and a dash of hot sauce. Since we have left overs, we are having tacos tonight! I bought pinto beans, cotija cheese, avocado, and cilantro. This whole meal planning thing is working out so well!!

Meal Planning 101

Dustin and I used to be the worst at eating out, wasting food, and spending thousands a month on food (thousands might be a slight exaggeration, but we did spend A TON of money on food). Then I stumbled across Pink Pistachio's meal planning guide and thought hey, I can do this. So armed with my new years resolution to be a better wife and cook for my husband who commutes an hour each way to work, I decided to give it a shot. Instead of heading to the grocery store and winging it like I usually do, this time I looked up recipes, figured how I could make one meal last for two and how to best utilize all ingredients, and shopped with my list in tow and a little more direction than usual (no more ummm that looks good). Meal planning is a bit more challenging since I'm a vegetarian and Dustin isn't, but to make it work I just choose meals that can go either way (think salad with or without chicken) or I just throw a veggie burger on as my main dish and eat the sides. This is our second week of meal planning (so in no way am I a pro), but I have to say meal planning is awesome! There's no more what are we having for dinner? or I'm so hungry, but there's nothing to eat. Dustin loves having each meal prepared for him, I love the praise I'm getting from making the meals, we are saving money by eating almost every meal at home, and no food goes to waste (we literally had an empty refrigerator at the end of last week where we used to have a full refrigerator of rotting fruits and veggies). We have spent around $130 at Whole Foods and Sprouts both weeks which is pretty good for us.

The key to meal planning is choosing one or two meals that you really want for the week and then working the other meals around that.  For example, I made ribs one night and then we had tacos the next night with the leftover ribs.  I also got a whole chicken, put it in the crock pot with lemon and rosemary and it lasted for quite a few meals (chicken sandwich, chicken taco soup, chicken salad).  I definitely recommend giving meal planning a shot.

Slow Cooking Obsessed

So I'm not much of a cook, but my husband is amazing and loves cooking so I've basically resigned to let him be the chef in our house. When I first got married I decided to be a good wife and start cooking meals for him to come home to (since I worked from home), but after Holden was born that goal completely went out the widow and my husband would come home ad cook our dinner after s long day of work and an hour long commute to get home. Holden's bath and bedtime all happen between 5 and 6:30 (around te same time my hubby walks in the door so it's hard to prepare a meal that he can come home to. So this week I've started using the crock pot and although he said he didn't mind cooking in the past, he has been ecstatic about having meals ready for him after work. My first attempt this week was ribs and it was a HUGE success. The hubby was so impressed and it was one of the simplest meals I've made (and thats coming from a vegetarian who has no idea how to cook meat!). You have to try this recipe.