> What is Thyme for Cooking? > How does the Menu Planning work?
> How do the Dinner Recipes work? > How does the Shopping List Work?
> Who's doing this (About Me)?
What is Thyme for Cooking?
Thyme for Cooking is a Weekly Menu Planning Service designed to take the stress out of dinner. It helps you:
> Prepare a delicious meal each week-night, using fresh, seasonal ingredients
less than 30 minutes 'hands-on' time> Prepare a first and second course gourmet dinner on the weekends
less than 60 minutes 'hands-on' time> Eat a diet of healthy, natural foods that are easy to prepare
stop relying on packaged foods> Enjoy yourself in the kitchen
eating and cooking should both be a pleasure> Learn to plan and use leftovers
cook once - eat twice
I enjoy cooking and creating recipes. I think about and carefully plan our meals.
I do my grocery list, then do the shopping. On Thursday I can tell you what we will be having for dinner the following Tuesday.
I may plan more than most, but how can anyone successfully create 7 interesting dinners, week in, week out, with a minimum of fuss and waste, without careful planning?
The answer: Let Thyme for Cooking do it for you!
Each week you get:
> A dinner menu for each day of the week
> The recipe and cooking instructions for each dish
> A shopping list for all of the ingredients you will need for each menu
We eat a wide variety of foods each week. I use foods from my own garden or the local markets: we eat what is in season when it's in season.
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How do the Menus work?
I organize my cooking in three ways:
First: summer/winter and seasonal
I think all food tastes better in it's season ....asparagus in spring, roasted peppers in autumn. Even though I no longer live in the frozen north (Minnesota) I like to fix heartier, slow-cooked meals in the winter and lighter, quicker meals in the summer.
Second: day of week
During the week (Mon - Thurs) I tend to make dishes that go together quickly and don't require a lot of extra ingredients.
On Friday we always have a first and second course but still something simple.
Saturday is when I'll tackle something more challenging but I still try to be sitting down to the first course in under 45 minutes. Occasionally, in winter, the main course may cook for hours... unattended...
Sunday is easy but decadent: asparagus risotto in the spring, fettuccine Alfredo in the winter. (yes, these are both easy and under 30 minutes.)
You, of course, can have the Saturday dinner on Sunday; and the Sunday on Friday; etc. ....
Third: special occasion
I pull out all the stops. I may plan for days and cook for hours (not very often ) but I always try to have most of the work done before my guests arrive. All I want to do the night of the party is wander into the kitchen occasionally to take something out of the oven and put something else back in.
A word on desserts:
Yes, I love them and Yes, I occasionally make them (always for 'special occasions'). But I am a cook, not a pastry chef. I enjoy making things that, if I add 4 glugs of red wine instead of a teaspoon, still turn out great as opposed to stressing over whether or not my Soufflé rises (or falls). I have lots of lovely dessert recipes that I will send on request. For us, when we have dessert, we tend to do it the Spanish way: some fresh, seasonal fruit with a bit of yogurt; or the French way - buy it at the local patisserie or my favorite: some luscious, runny cheeses to help soak up the last of the red wine.
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How do the Recipes work?
Regarding the food:
One request I had from a friend when I started this site was to "tell me what to do with the other half of the banana". Many recipes call for small amounts of food that come in larger containers or half of something (like an onion... or banana). In the Weekly Menu & Recipes I take this into account and use up all of the ingredients during the week - or the next.
Regarding the recipes:
I cook for two (usually) because we are two: mon mari et moi. It has been a challenge to only cook enough for two people. Everything seems to come in plus sizes. We have learned that if I cook too much we eat too much (Hmmmm...no brainer there!) Now I aim to have just enough for our dinner - or enough for another complete meal ... or more. Some things just can't be made in small enough quantities but I still want to eat them so I cook, divide and freeze.
For those cooking for more than two: the recipes can be easily doubled or tripled. Starting in 2008 I will be giving notes at the bottom of each recipe regarding increasing for more servings.
And there are the occasional 'clean-out the fridge/freezer days...to use up the last 1/2 of the green pepper.
Regarding the menus
I actually post the menus and recipes a week later than I use them so if I have run into any problems or found an easier way to do something I can pass the tips on to you. And, if mon mari comes home with 2 kilos of asparagus (which he has done - more than once) my menu for that week might change a bit. Since I try to always stay true to my own cooking you may occasionally see some skewed weekly menus.
I rarely repeat a recipe during a season (3 times last year), unless it's one of my absolute favorites, and then only once....
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How does the Shopping List work?
Do you shop without a list?
Do you forget things?
Do you wander aimlessly down the aisles, calling home on your cell/mobile trying to decide what to buy?
Do you then end up buying something that eventually ends up on the
compost pile -
that is, if you had a compost pile?
Try a list, really, it does help...and it can save on stress (money, too).
Each week I will give you the list for the week's meals.
> Menu for the Week in the upper right quarter
so you have it with you as you shop> The Weekly Items to be purchased are divided into categories
fruit & vegetables; meats & fish; dairy; packaged goods> Staples, or Pantry Items are grouped so that you can easily check what's on hand
cross off the items you won't need to buy this week> There are numbers next to each item (1=Friday, 2=Saturday...7= Thursday)
you can quickly see what meal the food is for.> Blank lines for you to add your own items
breakfast, lunch and snacks
For those lucky enough to have a grocery service you can fax this off and have everything delivered ...wouldn't that be wonderful!
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Who's doing this (About Me)?
AKA: Too much information, feel free to ignore
The year of no repeats (almost)...
12 years ago we sold our house and decided to embark on the great adventure - moving to Europe.
Why? Why not?
We were ready for a change, and I had always wanted to live in a big, pink Edwardian mansion. The only way for us to do that was to move to Ireland where one could still buy big, pink houses and to run it as a B & B - or, in my case a B & D (bed and dinner - I hate getting up early so breakfast was out). With that thought in mind, and because I was bored to tears being no longer gainfully employed, I decided to organize my cookbooks (more than 150) and my personal recipes (don't ask). That not being enough of a challenge I decided to prepare a different main course every night for a year. The husband (in the future known affectionately as mon mari) agreed (freely, of course) provided I would repeat his favorites at least a few times. So I did. I had always tried to be a creative cook but this forced me to expand my horizons a bit, as well as forcing me to actually look at all of the cookbooks I had been collecting over the years - like the tome on Hungarian cooking that I bought at the Hungarian pavilion at a World Expo in the 80's. After doing all of this work - and duly cross-referencing it, I kept thinking that there must be a way to share all of the work that I love to do - and have time to do - with people who don't have the time (or know how) to do. And .....there you have it - Thyme for Cooking! Maybe my work will help some one else develop a love of creative cooking - or just have more fun in the kitchen.
What's with all the herbs?
I like the flavor of fresh herbs so have always had an herb garden: a 4 foot square in the Midwest (I never had rosemary survive the winter or get more than 6 inches high); a clump of chives and a thyme plant in the ground and basil in pots in Ireland; a rosemary bush the size of a small car in Andorra towering over my large sage bush and the rest in pots; and, finally, here in France, the herb garden of my dreams - 20' by 35'. I might have gotten a little carried away but what the heck. I now use a hedge trimmer on the chives and oregano and make and freeze enough pesto to last the year. In order to use fresh herbs year round I freeze them: see herbs They will last a year and can be tossed into rice or soup as it cooks for summer flavor in the middle of winter. If you don't have them, can't find them, or just don't want to bother, substitute dried except where I specifically say to use fresh. If you don't like a particular herb use another. If you don't like any don't use any. The flavors will be different but you are the one eating it after all - be flexible, be creative, and enjoy!
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Cooking for Two? Or more?
Our Weekly Menu Planner Service gives you healthy, gourmet dinners, carefully planned to reduce waste
and insure a wide variety of seasonal, wholesome foods each week.
All text and images are copyright © 2005 - 2008 Thyme for Cooking, K. L. Zeller.
All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated
