Gosh Dernit.

This has been a horrible beginning to a fresh start. I should have taken a closer look at my calendar before declaring such a bold and public starting line. I have, however, stuck to my guns about cooking more. I just need to get my act together when it comes to posting them! A course in time management wouldn't be a bad thing either (wink). 

Highlights from this past week:

Outdoor Movie @ Tower Grove Park w/ Gretchen

I whipped together some linguine with tomato-almond pesto, popped some fresh popcorn on the stove, packed up our picnic backpack (thank you, beth miller), and headed across the street to the outdoor movie. The flick was Wall-E, which is in the top 5 of my favorite cartoon movies. Due to my retardiness, we arrived after the movie had already started. (woops, sorry Gretchen). We did get to enjoy the last 40 minutes of the movie though, and the beginning of an impressive storm front that came through that evening. The lightning was ah-mazing.

Menu Planning:
I suffer from a sick obsession of trying to see how empty I can get the fridge and "pantry cabinet" between grocery days. Last week, I based my menu solely off this trick. It was a sad menu...but I got us down to the nitty-gritty before Friday night's grocery run for this coming week. Last week looked like this:
Monday: Chili (cruel joke: it was over 90 degrees on monday)
Tuesday: Stir-fry beef with brown rice
Wednesday: Homemade Pancakes from scratch
Thursday: Baby pizzas ( I totally cheated: made pizza sauce from a can of tomato sauce+some spices)
Snacks for First Night of Community Group: The Great Pumpkin Dessert
Friday: Bratwursts on the grill
Saturday: I made Pioneer Woman Pot Roast and Red Velvet Cake for my Aunt's Birthday Party
Dinner with my cousins at The Royale
Sunday: Breakfast with cousins at Uncle Bill's Pancakes
Leftover pot roast for lunch & dinner.

We did a horrible job of taking pictures this week...and I only got one of our weekend with my cousins: Allison, Stephen and their two boys, Zack and Jake. We went to the Zoo this morning before they left town:

Jake and I at the Zoo

That's all I have for today. I have my recipes all ready to go starting tomorrow. I really feel like I have my head on straight and can step up on this blogging business.

See you tomorrow!

xo-