Once a Month Cooking

For most of my married life, I loved to cook dinner. Really. I got such satisfaction from the whole process. I'd make menus and be so excited to go grocery shopping. Well, it's been almost 19 years and the truth is, I hate cooking dinner. I don't know what happened, but it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I dread it everyday. So, a couple weeks ago, I got the inspiration to try 'once-a-month-cooking'. I looked it up on the internet and got lots of good ideas and hints. Then, last week, I started my experiment.
It's only supposed to take one day to do all the cooking. Since I was doing it during the week, it took me longer. Between kids and errands, it ended up taking me 3 days. Let me tell you, after those 3 days, I didn't want to even think about cooking. But, the end result is wonderful!!!
Just look-

When I was done, I had:

Lasagna (2)

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Pot Pie (soooo good, if you want the recipe, let me know!)

BBQ Pork Chops

BBQ Chicken

Chicken Rolls

Tex Mex Chicken

Stir Fry Beef

Beef Stew

Roast

Also, hamburger cooked for:

El Pato

Burritos

Spanish Mac

Manwich

Stroganoff

Taco Soup

So, a few of the meals will take some preparation, like cooking pasta. And, some of them will be put in the crock pot. The stir fry is just all the ingredients cut up and ready to cook. Some of them really are experiments. Like the beef stew- I wasn't sure if I froze peeled potatoes if they would go brown. We'll see. The best part is that my menu calendar for the month of September is full and the meals are either ready to bake or most of the prep is taken care of. We've already used 4 of them and it's been great. I definitely plan to continue this- with a few changes. I'll cook on a Saturday, when Guy is home and can watch the kids. That way I can get it all done in one day. I'll also be better prepared with the groceries so I don 't have to run to the store to get something I forgot. I'll keep you posted on how the meals turn out.