imperfectly courtney

Everyone has those “What’s For Dinner?” moments. You know, the ones where its like almost 4pm and the kid is crying “I so so huuunkkkyyy (hungry) mom!” Before I started actually writing out my menu plan I would stand in the pantry door way praying for inspiration to strike. Inevitably I would end up having to run to the store to get something or we would just end up eating out. For those of you who haven’t tried menu planning… What are you waiting for?! It isn’t as complicated as it sounds. An easy way to do it is to write down some of the classic dishes that are reoccurring in your…

So, funny story… Yesterday I had put a roast in the crock pot after church to make some shredded barbacoa. The last part of cooking was almost done and I just had to saute the peppers, onions and jalapenos. I was sooo excited about this meal because I had been smelling it all day. I literally dreamt about it as I napped on the couch. I go to start cooking up the onions. Just a few minutes after turning the stove on the power goes out. (after freaking out for like 5 minutes that I didn’t pay the bill) We discovered that nearly 200 houses in our area were without…

Today was a doozy. Well, to be honest, this past week has been one for the books. I’m trying to get back on track and one way of doing that is getting on board with my Menu Planning for the week. This is something I’m trying to master. I’m horribly notorious for attempting to plan meals and forgetting a “few things” here and there and running back and forth to the store all week long wasting time and money. I’m trying to become a once a week shopper and hopefully I can become even more effective and not have to go even that much. Menu planning is something I’m trying…

Have you heard of pinterest? it’s kinda changed my life. a place to visually collect what I would normally “bookmark”…. plus its categorized…. brilliant! It makes it easier to want to “try” new projects. In the past week or so I’ve tried several new things, but tonight I found one that was so simple and I had everything on hand so I just tried it real quick. It’s simple, but I think its going to make it easier to have healthy snacks. Basically you take yogurt and put it in an ice cube tray and freeze it. Then put a few frozen yogurt cubes in a ziplock baggie with your fruit…

Ok, so like a week ago (before the teething meltdown of my daughter that seemed to last forever) I tried to make whoopie pies for the first time. They are, apparently, a traditional amish treat. My husband had some amish friends when he was younger so he knew about them. I didn’t know what they were until we got married. I never really thought about trying to make them, but a few weeks ago I was watching Paula Deen (love her!) and she was making red velvet whoopie pies. I’m a sucker for all things red velvet, so I was intrigued. Once the show was over I promptly forgot about…

I do a minimal amount of meal planning. Basically I have a few recipes that I would like to make through out the week and a few regulars we repeat and I go shopping for those ingredients early in the week. I knew I had a large bag of potatoes that I wanted to use (last time I didn’t use potatoes in time they went bad and made the whole house smell). I had planned on making shepherd’s pie but realized around 3:30 in the afternoon that I had used all our vegetables earlier in the week when I made Chicken Pot Pie. With a baby napping I couldn’t run…

sometimes i wish i could just download all thats going on in my brain straight to the screen… kinda like when you “sync” your phone and computer, ya know? i know i wrote about writing more, but everytime i sit down to write i don’t know what to say… or maybe its just that i don’t know how to say it. or maybe the problem is i just don’t have anything worth saying. or i get to easily distracted… or maybe i’m just lazy… can you tell i’m searching for excuses? seems like those are too easy to come by. often times i think of excuses before i even need…