Meal Plan Monday (On a Tuesday, because that's just how I roll)

I'm going to get a bit nostalgic on you. Have you ever associated the smell of a certain food with a certain place or time in your life?

For me it's rosemary.

Back about a million (ok, 7) years ago, when Gabe and I were younger and Ella was about a year old, we moved into a "furnished with everything" apartment. Apparently, everything also meant a spice rack.

I had never used rosemary for anything before. I think the first time I used it involved chicken and potatoes. Now, back then, I was a pretty shoddy cook, but that particular dish turned out pretty good.

In the last two weeks, I dried some sprigs of rosemary and the very smell took me back to 2007, and that little apartment. I was working 80+ hours a week, and so I rarely every cooked, but I wanted to. Oh, did I ever want to.

I used to make snide remarks about ladies who stayed at home with their families (because, believe me 80+ hours a week in a miserable environment makes you miserable and hateful), but I think some part of me craved that so much. That safety. Being able to give something to my family other than whatever was left of me after work sucked out just about everything.

Fast Forward Seven Years.

I still work. It's not 80 hours a week, but it contributes to the household budget and has gotten us through some pretty rough times. I homeschool our now 8 (!!!) year old daughter and I live a pretty busy life. The main difference is that I cook our meals almost every single day.

If you've made it this far in this already-way-too-long post, congrats! I do have a point, I promise :)

Every Monday, I'm going to try (see how well it worked this week?) to show you my meal plan from Monday to Sunday. If you want or need recipes, let me know. I'm still fairly new to this blogging thing.

Monday: Chicken Stew
Tuesday: It was going to be Mexican eggs and bacon but I hurt my ankle at work. So, McD's.
Wednesday: Salisbury Steak. I've never made that before, so I'll update with recipe.
Thursday: I'll be attempting to make that breakfast-for-dinner day
Friday: Beef Stew.
Saturday: Chicken Soup, probably in the crockpot.
Sunday: One-pot Spaghetti

If you find yourself on the panicky end of meal planning (been there!), you can check here every Monday (or Tuesday, if I'm not being particularly punctual).