Tortilla Soup and My LOVE of Cooking...New Love

Last week we did something revolutionary. We went to the store on Saturday, bought everything we needed for a whole week, stuck with it, and didn't see the store again until Friday evening.  It was kinda amazing.

I sat down and wrote out our week of dinners on paper, planned the ingredients against what we already had at home, and away we went.

Once we got back I used our big over-the-fireplace chalkboard to write down our menu for the week, with a warning to Sunil that we would be sticking to it. And we did.  The only thing that threw us off was the a/c going out and that just swapped leftovers and something for the oven day (in this instance it was the Hanks' spinach, mozzarella and sausage roll).  It was great. It was easy. It is being repeated!

This week has started out very well. And it is all inspiring me to cook different foods rather than get tired and stick to our usual go-to meals - spaghetti, burgers, leftover spaghetti, leftover burgers, tacos, frozen pizza. This week's menu:

Monday - Honey Mustard and Panko-Crusted Chicken with Creamed Spinach

Tuesday - Stuffed Bell Peppers (with a little Sriracha for spice) and Cornbread

Wednesday - Chicken Tortilla Soup

Thursday - Tilapia, Salad, Roasted Asparagus

And it's been fun. I'm getting much more comfortable in the kitchen. Trying out spices. Measuring with just my hands (Yikes!). Very adventurous.

So tonight's adventure in cooking is tortilla soup. A truly new food. I can't say I've ever even eaten tortilla soup. I'm definitely stepping out of the comfort zone with this one. But, hey, it has cheese, corn, chicken, Ro-Tel...I don't know how it could go too wrong.

Besides, we've always got a frozen pizza in the garage freezer just in case.