Glass Half Full

I'm a Glass Half Full kind of person.  Life gives me lemons, I make lemonade.  I have always looked at life's lessons as good character building material.  I take life head on, with a plan in place, ready to scrap the plan and punt when necessary.

My menu didn't go according to plan last week.  I started good then I had to shuffle - my track star daughter wanted pasta on Thursday to be fueled for Saturday's meet (of course, how did I miss this?).  Friday came and my husband was at a 12 hour planning meeting, 6 AM - 6 PM.  When he called to say he was on his way home, the kids wanted him to pick up In-N-Out so we had burgers...uh oh...that was Saturdays plan.  Saturdays menu was going to pick up where Friday left off but after sitting in the sun all day at the track meet I didn't feel like cooking, let alone eating (you know the feeling - give me a glass of wine and let me go to bed). I picked up Papa Murphy pizza, which is pretty good for $6 2-topping pizza.

As I began the menu for this week, I had stuff left from last week so if you're following my menus, there are repeats....................................................................................................................

Sunday - Shrimp with pesto and fresh tomato (this was Friday nights' fish tacos)
Monday - Burgers and mac salad.  My carnivores love burgers so much they would eat them every night.
Tuesday - Flame Broiler on the fly.  I have had a rash since Friday...turns out to be shingles.  My husband was out mountain biking, one kid had soccer practice and it was freaking hot.  Take out was invented for days like these.
Wednesday - Barbecue Chicken and baked potatoes and artichokes (from the garden - I have 25 growing at the moment!)
Thursday -  Teriyaki Salmon and rice
Friday - Football game and Track meet - again, food on the fly.
Saturday - Spot Burritos.  The Spot is a vegetarian restaurant in Hermosa Beach.  They serve a Garden Burrito (steamed veggies, brown rice, beans, cheese) wet with Mexican Sauce (chili powder, onions, water, garlic) topped with sour cream and avocado.  We love The Spot and the kids love the burritos.

A note here...my menu planning is to be a guide but it is written in pencil, ready to be erased, shuffled, substituted or changed as necessary.  I'm flexible. As much as I love cooking, no tears or broken hearts here if I don't have to prepare a meal.

My favorite recipe of this past week was a Strawberry Tiramisu that I made for dessert on Sunday.  It is Bon Appetit's 2006 recipe.  The recipe says to let it sit for a minimum of 8 hours so the lady fingers absorb all the fabulousness and get soft, but it really needs to be overnight.  This recipe makes a 9 x 13 which is a LOT of tiramisu.  It was my food therapy while I coped with the misery of shingles. 

Have a good week!