Changing Our Family Menu

I've been up since 5:30 am. In the last week or so, I've decided to revamp our family menu and add in Italian dishes which I feel comfortable doing with a cookbook I found at my parents' house.

Country Italian (Famous Brand Name) Cookbook, from which I have written down about 20 new recipes I want to try. My copy should arrive today and I'll be making the visit to the grocery store to get supplies. I'm excited and not intimidated at all, the recipes seem very doable and tasty.

In fact, when my mom took Danny and I to Olive Garden, I saw a few menu items that are in the book! What reassurance! I took the time at my parents to write down the recipes that I felt I would want to do right away this month and the ingredients that I will have to buy. I practically read the cookbook from beginning to end, lol.

I also had my mother take me to the grocery store to educate me further about meats, it has been confusing to me when I go to buy a piece of meat that I've never used before only to find out it has different names at the stores. I also tend to buy cheap but not really looking at price per unit, just the end price and realized this is not always the cheaper way in the end. A larger piece of meat may be lower in unit price and higher in the price tag but if cut it can last longer. She showed me a huge piece of pork that could be cut into 2 roasts and 2 servings of chops that was $30. The $30 tag would have had me ignoring the meat but realizing that I could get that many dinners out of it, I understand now.

Can you believe I'm actually excited to go grocery shopping? My dh is too, especially after finding out that I plan to incorporate sausage and country ribs into our dinner menu. I also plan to start making soups which will stretch our food budget a little further. I feel like I'm finally in a comfortable place with cooking, at least mentally I am, lol. I still have to make these meals and see how the family likes them. I think it will be a welcome change and I'm not going to shy away from using spices just because I think it'll make something too spicy. I will try it and see before deciding that. Which is a HUGE leap for me.

I also want to try making some specialty breads, which I'm sure I will talk more about as I learn more. I can't wait for the mail to get here today!