New Year, back to basics

During the Holidays, we host a lot. We had two major parties,(55 or more) and at least 3 parties of at least ten. It starts in November and goes right up till the new year. The one thing that nearly everyone comments on is my Menu black board. I got it at Pottery Barn about 5 or 6 years ago. It also is magnetic. Each week I sit down with my family and find out who is going where and try to plan meals. This is quite tricky with two teenagers and a husband who is a musician on the side. So out of self preservation, I bought this chalk board. It is really big. 47 inches tall by 37 inches wide.

I plan all my meals for the week and write them on the board. I have the board right when you come into the mudroom from the garage. People laugh and always tell me what night they are coming for dinner, based on what I am having. I started this to see if I could take some of the chaos out of my life. I just wanted to have a plan so that dinner didn't take up all my nights.

When I plan the meals, I usually plan to cook at least one meal to have for two nights. Then I will cook the item ahead of time (only if it taste good heated a second time. Sometimes it taste better.) Like these meatloaves that will be eaten on Friday and perhaps Sunday. I cook at least 4 at a time and freeze them all. On Friday morning I will take a meatloaf out. Friday night we will slice it up and heat it in a frying pan and serve it on bread. I live in a house full of men. They love meatloaf sandwiches. They get to eat something good before heading out the door to have fun on Friday night. Sometimes my teenager's friends have joined us and then the meatloaves are gone in a flash.

So all this prep really takes very little time (less than a hour to make 4 1.5 lb meatloaves) but buys us so much time during the week. I am all about getting more time for fun things. So laugh if you want at my silly menu board, but remember me, lets say, Tuesday evening when you are trying to figure out what to make for dinner and I am probably already eating!