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…

Mid-Memorial Day Weekend Post

Wanted to take a few minutes to just jot down some random thoughts. Having a very laid back weekend, the first one in I don't know how long. There are certainly plenty of projects we could undertake this weekend, but we're not. My wound-too-tightly side of my personality will probably resent that in a few weeks, but for now, it's nice. We're washing and folding laundry while watching Giants baseball on tv, or washing the car, going over to the softball field to practice pitching and going out for ice cream and playing Guitar Hero on the Wii. Leisurely enjoyable activities. A little bit of chores mixed with family time.
In the midst of that my brain is always running a million things through it. Random thoughts about the business, about food, about finances, about life in general. So I'm going to take a few minutes to just off-load the items worth making note of.

-I have been tossing slogan/catch phrases around. Something along the lines of "Never again worry about 'what's for dinner?'" Or e-mealplanning.com - the answer to "what's for dinner?" I want something that can easily get my brand message across if I were to create an ad or on a business card. Or even a car magnet.

-Promotional materials. I am going to shop around for items I can use to spread the word. Reusable bags for sure, maybe a magnet sign to put on my car, maybe mouse pads. I have a couple opportunities to create a donation for a fundraiser (one a silent auction, one a raffle) and so I'm thinking about creating a bag of goodies that would include a month of complimentary service. So I want some swag with my logo on it.

-Recipes. A topic never not running through my head. Either I'm thinking about where to search for more sources, when I can work in testing some myself or when will I take some time to write out my own recipes. 85% of what I cook is from my head. Actually, it's probably more 95%. A lot of that inspired by recipes I have read, but unless I'm baking you'll rarely see me in the kitchen with a recipe on the counter. With preparing for this business I'm using recipes more because I am testing the recipes I come across, but usually I have a variety of cooking techniques and I just use those to create our meals.

-Fitness/losing weight- Along with trying to get a food-related business up and running, dealing with a nutty toddler, a busy 10 year old and a husband who commutes 2+ hours a day to work, I've been waging a war on my weight. Since mid-January I've lost 22 lbs. My goal is to lose another 20 by the end of the year. I made my goal realistic and planned to accomplish it slow and steady. I've worked my butt off (literally) at the gym. In my profile, I actually wrote the fitness was one of my interests. 2 years ago I would have laughed at that. I have always liked being active and got way, away from it. But now I read Shape magazine and go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week. When I'm not at the gym, I often find myself thinking about when I will go again and what I'll do there. BUT, I still love food, and it's sorta hard to try these new recipes and make sure I lose weight at the same time. Although they are not unhealthy, but this week I've been following a food plan outlined by my trainer to jump start my metabolism and get my body into fat burning mode. So I haven't tried any new recipes since I need to follow this strict plan. But I have tried to get creative in how to prepare the same damn meals every day. I feel pretty good about what I've made and how it's tasted. (another set of recipes I will have to find time to write down)
So with my own weight loss work in mind, I need to incorporate that into the meal plans I will create for the business, with a focus on naturally low fat or healthy foods. Not utilizing commercially created low fat foods (who really LIKES low fat mayo or cheese? ICK!) but helping people easily fix fresh, healthy meals that they will enjoy.
One of my dinners from this week- grilled talapia, a saute of carrots, zucchini, asparagus and English peas, and salad of baby greens and heirloom tomatoes. Most of the veggies came from my Farm Fresh to You delivery. I felt so good about what I made and how organic it was. Nerdy, I know, but I was proud.

Progress

So I'm incredibly anxious to "open my doors" for business, but there are still so many things to get done. I'm terrified to not be prepared enough for clients. I don't want to start off winging it and always playing catch up. Yet, I know there is something to be said for letting things progress organically and not having every detail set in stone. Hmmm...how do I find a mix of that?
First I must continue to research, write and obtain content for the site. I don't want to start advertising and sending people to a site that is so sparse. I have to write out my marketing plan. I have a lot of resources and ideas for where I want to advertise, how I want to promote myself, but it's scattered and not written out in one place.
I would also like to secure a few more people willing to be my test clients. I have a good group of friends testing recipes for me, which has been so helpful. Their feedback helps me to decide to which recipes to use and which to pass on. And I have to continue to research and find more to be tested as well. But I would like some people willing to either follow my basic service meal plan or be a custom plan client so that I can "practice" on them. The feedback would be so helpful as well as just being able to test how I want to run things.
I do have a bit of a time crunch to make some progress on the website content because I agreed to pay for a sponsorship of my daughter's softball league and so in a few weeks I am going to need to have the site updated with more information.

With that, I should get back to work.