Getting back to good routines

One of the many things I love about my job is the way that the beginning and ending of semesters demarcate time.  With the end of each semester, there is a break and an opportunity for a new beginning.  And with the start of each semester, there is the chance to begin anew.  I am wrapping up the tail end of my Spring semester today — a few random make-up and early exams to grade and I’ll be done for six weeks.  With this new beginning, I am looking forward to getting back into some of my “good” routines — meal planning, blogging, and exercising.

I’ve been pretty slack about meal planning this year, which means more money is getting spent for less healthy meals and a bunch of produce lands in the compost bin.  It’s generally a good idea to start planning the week’s dinner by checking out what is in your produce drawer…  Mine is pretty full with lots of salad makings, a couple of big artichokes, some root vegetables and asparagus.  Next I look at my schedule to see which nights I’ll have more or less time to spend on dinner and which nights I’m planning to go out.  Then I check out the weather to see which nights are likely to be nice ones to grill.   And finally, I peruse the freezer, bread box, deli drawer, etc. to see what else I have on hand that needs to get eaten sooner rather than later.  My general idea is to start with Meatless Monday, try to have at least one fish night and not more than one red meat night, and, accept the fact that we’ll likely have pizza for dinner when I have plans to go out.  So, incorporating some other things which need to get eaten, here’s what I’ve come up with for this week’s dinners:

Monday – Rösti casserole with baked eggs and roasted asparagus

Tuesday – Grilled flank steak and roasted root vegetables

Wednesday – Chicken souvlaki with tzaziki sauce, greek salad, pita

Thursday – Pizza and steamed artichokes with red wine-roasted garlic sauce

Friday – Dinner at the lake

The links take you back to my old blog, Another Marvelous Meal.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day in the High Country.  Carolina blue skies and it is finally beginning to look like Spring. I’m thinking of hiking one of the trails out at Cone Manor this afternoon or at least do four miles on the Greenway.  It is a bit chilly this morning, but according to Ray should be in the mid-fifties this afternoon.  Pat on my back for a great start in re-establishing my good routines!  Next I can start working on getting rid of some of the bad ones I’ve settled into lately…