Long Overdue

I am so bad at blogging! My excuse is that I've been working a lot on the business and that website. This week I sent out my 3rd weekly newsletter. I'm starting to establish a routine and method for compiling the newsletter and meal plan. I've thought a lot about this blog though and how I want to use it to supplement the website. Sometimes with the newsletter I feel like I'm a bit bloggy because I want to share something about my own methods in the kitchen or my own opinions, which I think is ok to certain extent, but would like that to be the exception and not the rule. I want to have good content/articles (not exclusively written by me) on the website that I can highlight in the newsletter and relevant news such as great products, other websites or articles and then helpful tips and tricks. So I want the blog to be the place where I go into a bit more detail about my own cooking and testing of recipes for the meal plans as well as where I can ramble on about the ins and outs of starting this business from the ground up.

So, in the business world I have launched the site, although it's incredibly light on content. My long term goal is that besides the paid subscription options, it will be an informative site; a portal to all of the great cooking/recipe resources on the web. I hope that over time, that quality content and high volume of subscribers creates compelling stats for advertisers.

So far I've got a nice handful of friends and family and a few people who I don't know but were referred to me, signed up as subscribers. I'm offering the first month free. I'm sort of like a pre-teen sitting by the phone constantly checking email and looking at my site stats to look for feedback from subscribers and see who has opened my emails and clicked on links. I am considering

I am looking around at online advertising options. And some advertising in local parenting publications. And I have to get my google ads going. I printed business cards and a few magnet business cards. I figured it was appropriate for my business to have fridge magnets. I've also got reusable grocery bags getting screened with my logo right now and should have them next week.

I am totally and actually in business! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

In the cooking world, I've been testing recipes. I'm trying each week to try a few dishes the week before I add it to a meal plan. Plus I've had other people try stuff for me too. I'm wondering how long I should wait to repeat a dish in a weekly plan. It's not uncommon in my house to make the same dish every other week and actually when it comes to grilling chicken or steaks; it can be 2 weeks in a row with the variation being in the vegetables/side dishes.

Some highlights-

Mushroom Casserole from 101 Cookbooks- I made this as a side dish with a whole chicken I roasted on the grill. I don't really eat mushrooms (but my husband loves them) and I loved this! I actually keep thinking about it and when I could make it again.

Roasted Chicken on the Grill- I roast whole chickens frequently and I usually like to make one on the grill a couple times a year. It uses up a lot of the propane, so I don't do it more than once or twice. It's a labor of love as it takes more attention than oven-roasting but the result is delish. And I have leftover in the freezer waiting to become soup. There is no link because it's my own recipe (of sorts) that I may someday write down.

Cherry Clafouti from Simply Recipes- Fresh cherries are for sale all over the place, we mostly just eat them fresh but I thought this recipe looked good and I was not disappointed.

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles from Joy the Baker – Made these on a Sunday morning. SO GOOD! I actually split the batter to leave bacon out of some of it and instead added some cinnamon and nutmeg per Joy's suggestion and those were good too.

Buttermilk and herb marinated chicken from Martha Stewart- Really liked this. Kids loved it too. Super moist and good flavor. I made it using buttermilk I had leftover from making the waffles.

Strawberry Panzanella from 101 Cookbooks- Yum! Brought it to a bbq, I thought it was great, husband thought it was great and we left the party a little early and not many other people had begun to eat desserts yet.

Cheap and Easy Turkey Stir Fry- This was my own concoction inspired by Savour-Fare and her 10 Minute Thai Style Turkey. I have actually made stir fry using ground beef a few times and thought an even leaner version would be to use ground turkey.

A few photos of my roast chicken…