Yeah, I know. The month is almost half over, but like most things recently it’s taking me a little more time than normal to get into the swing of things. One thing that I’ve already got a handle on is writing “2012”. That was an easy shift and probably the first time in my life when I didn’t have to train myself to change the digits as I moved my pen. Of course, I don’t use a pen much anymore – it’s the keyboard now a days.

For anyone who’s been when this blog for any length of time [Hi, Mom!] I have actually done resolutions in January each year. Sometimes I do them in September, too, as a back to school thing. This year I’m going to continue to put out there a few things that I’m working on.

This one won’t be a surprise since it comes up again, and again and again and again and – yes, you get the picture. Meal Planning. It’s been difficult since day one. It’s my nemesis. If there’s a method out there, I’ve tried it. Now, I’ve added another layer and so far it’s working for us. I hate that I have to kill an entire day but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

I’m going to continue to collect recipes/ pictures on Pinterest. I’m also using a Theme Night idea as part of our plan so that we have a chicken night, pasta night, crockpot night, etc. Then we sat down with a monthly calendar and planned out a month’s worth of menus – except for weekends. Why leave out two nights a week? Well, we wanted some flexibility and we wanted to plan for leftovers.

The weekends also allow me to do some baking because we’re not going to buy store bought bread. I use the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes aDay method so bread is pretty easy to make. Dump ingredients in a bucket, let it rise, put in pan, and bake. I’m testing out softer bread recipes for school lunches – especially since Comfort has lost so many teeth and has a hard time chewing. So far the buttermilk bread recipe is working for us pretty well. I love the idea that our bread won’t have preservatives in it and I can just whip it up in my own bucket!

There’s more to come but it’ll have to wait. What are your plans for the New Year? Are you embarking on a new plan or just pushing yourself to stay on track?

Well, my crockpot has been on overdrive lately. First, there was the bushel of apples I got from our CSA. At least a third of which became applesauce or apple butter.

Then, I 'funcycled' [which is a contraction of 'fun' and 'recycled'] crayons. I went through the kidlet's crayon bucket and took every single broken crayon out of and striped the paper and put the various colors into my muffin molds in the crockpot. I'm not creative enough to have thought of this myself. Hop on over A Year of Slow Cooking and read how it should be done.

I did it in my silicone mini muffin cups and this was a slightly flawed idea. I think it would work well in good quality silicone but mine weren't. They worked okay but I had one rip in each batch. The cute part is that the crayons are a nice size for my kids little hands.

After a month of hard work my white porcelain crockpot was stained. I got the soap and scrubbed but nothing worked until I thought about how I clean my sink. I use Barkeeper's Friend.  Ah, this worked wonders. It removed the build up of sugar from the cooked apples and the spilled wax from the crayon projects. The only sad part was that I hadn't thought of this years earlier!! So, save yourself some time and elbow grease and just get some Barkeeper's Friend. It's amazing stuff. In fact, I'm not sure there's anything it can't do.

It's time to try meal planning again.

You're not surprised are you? I usually post something like this every four or five months and my efforts last a few weeks at best. I know this, too. I recognize the pattern.

So, what's different about this attempt? Well - it's a multi-prong focus using tips from Erin Chase's The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare and then populated with recipes from said cookbook, some family favorites, and other internet sites.

What exactly is this two-prong attack? I'll tell you but remember that it sounded better when I called it a 'two-prong focus' or whatever I just wrote. Erin, the $5 Dollar Dinner mom, talks about starting out with each night of the week already dedicated to a specific type of meal. We used this concept for a while when we had Taco Tuesdays, but now I'm expanding it so that my plan looks something like this:

Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner or Trip to Costco
Wednesday: Crockpot
Thursday: Pasta
Friday: Chicken
Saturday: Leftovers

I took out my blank template, wrote in the theme for the night and then began deciding what to make. I'm taking into consideration seasonal offerings especially since this is the first week of our CSA for the year. I also need to be realistic about what everyone will eat. I'm not about making more than one meal for the family so there needs to be enough available to everyone so that they can each be satisfied.

So far I have two weeks planned out and my hope is that I'll be able to stay a week ahead. I'm also hoping that this will make the remaining few weeks of school easier to handle because life sure isn't going to get simpler on it's own.

There's my plan. We'll see how it goes. If you don't hear anything that might be good news - or it might mean there's a need for another plan. If you have your own meal planning system and have something that really works for you, let me know. I have no trouble incorporating additional aspects into my new plan!

I have a feeling that some of my friends might be a bit tired of hearing me talk about new ways to use the crockpot - this is why I'm releasing this into the blogosphere for y'all. The might be some of the best news since I learned [and made several times] to make chocolate pots de creme in the crockpot. However, I'm not feeding that to my kids. This isn't an 'everyday' treat either but it is one of dh's favorites and it's one that I'm absolutely horrible at making.

Here it is.... Rice Krispie Treats!!! Yes, you can make these in the crockpot. No more standing at the stove and constant stirring. Just pop it all in the crockpot, stir when you walk through the kitchen and when it's ready dump into your pan. It's amazing. It's wonderful. I ate most of this by myself while I was stirring but no one needs to know:)

And just in case you want to know more incredible things you can do with your crockpot you really should sign up for the emails. They aren't as frequent anymore but if I didn't get them I wouldn't have known this was in the archives. This is definitely a Cool Idea!