Mac-N-Cheddar with Broccoli

Dear Readers,

          Second day and second meal, although it is labeled #4 in Rachael Ray's Cookbook. It was rather a frustrating night. You see, our sauce turned soupy, we forgot dijon mustard and paprika, and it turned out to be a little spicy. Anyway, we're not perfect.

          On the better side, we decided to REALLY go Rachael Ray style and we added a garbage bowl. I had a fun time. Everyone in our family more or less liked our "simple" meal. Like I said, I had a fun time anyway. If you're going to try this recipe, don't use almond milk! It actually didn't take 30 minutes. Maybe that's because we weren't working fast like Rachael Ray does.

                                                                                 ~Sophia

 

Total Cost = $7.00 for 5 people

Scramblin' up some "wiches"

Dear Readers,

          We started a little early, so that in case of busy nights, we could make a pit stop to the local pizza place. "Scramblewiches" were first on the menu. Everyone in our family (five in all) loved it. We had a few critiques. 1.) the bread wasn't crisp enough, and 2.) too much cheese! Oh well. Mostly, I heard "Mmmm..." and "It's good!" A very delicious lunch, I say.

                                                                                     ~ Sophia

Mom's turn! We had a blast making this simple and delicious lunch. Here we are in the kitchen on this lazy Sunday afternoon...

I'm glad we started with an easy one. It's a good way to get our feet wet in this whole process. Here I am cooking the eggs with the smoked turkey, while Sophia is readying the cheese so that we can put the whole thing together. The outcome was delicious! Everyone loved the flavors, and here's the end result...

Total Cost = $11.00 for 5 servings

Week 1 Menu Plan

So, here we go! Week 1... out of 52 weeks... hopefully... Can you hear the positive vibes coming through?!

If you're following along with Rachel's book (or as my daughter so aptly corrected me, "It's Rachael" - I can't believe I made that rookie mistake on Day 1!), we will be listing the number of the recipes we are using from week to week.

Week 1 Menu Plan
(This is a short week as we are starting on a Wednesday and ending our week on Saturday.)

   #1 - Scramblewiches
   #4 - Mac-N-Cheddar with Broccoli
   #18 - Turkey Saltimbocca Roll-Ups (We have no idea how you pronounce this, by the way...)
   #40 - Mostly Green Curry Chicken over Coconut Jasmine Rice (Sounds divine to me!)

So, as the week begins, we will be posting pictures of our dishes and/or progress in the kitchen. That should bring some laughs! We are REAL people, cooking in a REAL kitchen... and I'm not talking a gourmet kitchen, mind you. Because, in fact, our kitchen is quite small, but adequate. So, if we can do it, you can too.

A Note of Introduction

Welcome to our blog! We were inspired to write a blog on cooking and creating memories. My oldest daughter, Sophia, loves a good challenge and has a love of creating yummy meals in the kitchen. And I'm always up for a challenge too!

We have chosen this next year, 2014, to begin cooking 365 days of "hopefully" simple meals using Rachael Ray's "365: No Repeats" cookbook. Yes, this is a total rip-off of The Julie-Julia Project... but, we thought it was a fun idea! And as my 11-year-old daughter is growing up, I'm looking forward to a project with her. Sophia is also an avid writer and will be contributing to this blog as well.

As we go through the book, we'll be sharing how much the meals cost us, as well the delicious-o-meter of each meal. We will be starting this journey on Wednesday, January 1st. If you'd like to follow along and do this challenge with us, you can pick up the book HERE.