My Month of planned meals,

I am a bit burnt out on cooking. I'll share my plan with you and I actually have lots and lots of leftovers in the freezer so it's not really a big deal that if I don't cook because I have stuff in the freezer.
I cooked less and less as my morning sickness ampted up and didn't cook what so ever for a while. Then I started cooking a bit here and there until 2 weeks ago where I have been cooking from scratch at least 2 meals a day and often more.

Here is the meal plan:
Dinners, I picked 6 genres plus leftovers night then 4 main dishes in each.

American, burgers, pot pie, BBQ, roast

Italian, pizza, red sauce, white sauce, pasta e fagoli

Mexican, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, nachos

Indian, chickpeas, tikka, rajmah chawwal, queema

Leftovers

Soup night chicken noodle, Tuscan bean soup, veggie lentil dumpling, pumpkin shrimp

Fish, curry, creamed tuna, lemon pepper fillets, fish tacos

Lunches, I did the same basic thing. 

Soup and sandwiches

                               Tomato and grilled cheese

                                Bbq and dry veg soup

                               PB&J and potato soup

                               BLT and minestrone

Hand pies

                               beef hand pie

                               mushroom hand pie

                               chicken and kale hand pie

                               lentil hand pie

Mac and cheese

                               With black beans and carrots

                               With TVP and corn

                               With bacon and green beans

                               Texmex

Fried rice

                               Veg

                               Shrimp

                               TVP

                               pineapple

Wrap sandwiches and crudités

                               Tomato and cheese

                                Creamy avocado and white bean

                               PB and sunflower seeds

                               Hummus and grilled veg

Left overs

Stuffed veg

                               Cheese stuffed tomatoes

                               Cabbage rolls

                               Curried lentil stuffed squash

                               Blackbean stuffed sweet potato

 For snack I picked 14 things that I knew we could repeat happily.

Snacks

1)      Nuts

2)      Fruits

3)      Muffins

4)      Pretzels

5)      Popcorn

6)      Granola bars

7)      Trail mix

8)      Applesauce

9)      Cheese ball and crackers

10)   Chili con queso

11)   Pinwheels

12)   Bean dip and corn chips

13)   Cheese carrots and crackers

14)   Pumpkin butter and crusty bread

I did the same with sweets as snacks and knew both could be saved if we didn't do them at all or didn't want a second time in the month.

Sweets

1)      Pecan pie

2)      Cookies

3)      Cake

4)      Stewed apples

5)      Pumpkin bread

6)      Pear crisp

7)      Bread pudding

8)      Chocolate mousse

9)      Fruit cake

10)   Apple turnovers

11)   Cream puffs

12)   Carmel apples

13)   Nut brittle

14)   Spice cake

Because we really prefer variety and I prefer spontaneity talk to my husband about what choices are left out of the week genre wise and then we decide on what main dish to serve. The only problem is I am tired after 17 days of cooking 2 or more full meals a day, exceptions being leftovers. 

Giving Myself Credit

Let's face it, unless I congratulate myself or ask my 10 year old to, I wont get any at home. I have social media accounts so I can put, "I put my socks on." up and solicit accolades but I'd really like someone, especially my family to say to me on their own "Wow! I really see you have made a difference!" Since that's not going to happen and I would like actual sincerity it was a pleasant feeling to open my long neglected household notebook and feel pride, May Allah guide me ameen, in my work.

I had made the thing, when my oldest son was off to his dad's house for about a month in December. At first I spent my time sleeping in, watching TV, lazing about. Then I began to get busy. I got the house clean and amazingly it stayed pretty much clean. I tackled long over due projects like washing the curtains, dusting the laundry room. Well, I don't remember if I did the latter during that time but I found I was increasingly happy. I decided redoing my household notebook and making it very attractive me pursued my to use it more often. I bought a large photo album and crafting supplies.
I should tell you I am of the "good enough is good and done" camp and so it was unusual for me to be so meticulous in doing something.
I made minute details on things like a 2 inch cut out of an oven, a 1 inch cut out of grapes, and lettering using tiny silver beads to imitate bullets for the finances heading. My divider pages have texture and color schemes.
I was so refreshed that when my son came home, schooling was much better. I also got pregnant, I remember conceiving my 1 year old, with in a week of my son coming home.
And really, it is such a good thing because I got back to who I was, not just the wife and mom but the other part of myself.
Now, with a toddler and pregnant again I am very much absorbed in the demands of babyhood. I look forward to when I can start and finish a project in a day, focus uninterrupted for hours on a task and clean house and even if it doesn't stay that way, all I have to do is supervise to get it back to order.
I do enjoy the phase I am in, watching my abdomen grow, celebrating my toddlers accomplishments but I know that this is temporary. That one day there will be just me.