Four Nights A Week

One day after the holiday break, I tweeted that I had shopped at our local Whole Foods store and that the final tally was less than $150. That got quite a reaction, as in “are you kidding me?” In actuality the total, including 2 impulse buys, was less than $136.

Which got me thinking: I’ve been meal planning for many, many, MANY years now. My goal has always been to cook four planned meals each week. As I work long days outside of the home 10 months a year (as an elementary teacher), four planned meals seemed do-able — trust me, seven was not.

While I used to be a strict vegetarian, I sometimes do use meat now – mostly poultry or fish – in cooking these days. Both Adrien and I are committed to eating more sustainable food products, we buy locally produced foods whenever possible, we visit farm stands and farmer’s markets and have off and on belonged to local CSAs. Living in the tundra of New England is a challenge in that regard. 

Some of the recipes have come from my experimentation with tastes, but really I am more of a recipe finder who plans and cooks something from a cookbook, magazine or website that catches my eye. Therefore, there are references to the originator of each recipe in the blog and I’ve included links to my favorite food authors.

This blog started as a collaboration with my husband, photographer Adrien Bisson who created most of the photographs for the first year or so of posts. More recently, I’ve started creating my own images – with quite a bit of just-in-time coaching. The teacher (that’s me for those keeping score) has become the student.

So I hope you too might find some resources for cooking and eating at home. I welcome your comments about recipes.