Welcome to my kitchen

About me:
I love to cook and create new things in my kitchen. I enjoy eating good food as well as making it. I try to be frugal, however, I do tend to splurge on some items now and again to try new things. Desserts are my downfall - I love making them. As there are just two of us eating currently, we do eat leftovers (or as we like to call them - planned-overs) quite frequently, or we use them for lunches. I try to be good about not wasting food, but I err on the side of caution when it comes to food I'm not sure about.

My Posting schedule is as follows:
Each week I will post on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I will occasionally post on Tuesdays. Below is a description of what you can expect each day...

Monday - Monday Menus
Each Monday I plan to post the meals we ate during the past week. Why the past week and not for the coming week/month like most blogs? I don't plan menus for each day instead I plan enough meals for about 2 weeks at a time, then I just cook what I feel like from the list. This way I don't have to adjust when my schedule is crazy and I don't have time to make the 'planned' meal. I instead always have 1-2 quick meals on my list as well as a quick fall back meal.
Each Monday I will post a poll for you to vote on which recipe you would like to see posted the following Thursday. If two recipes are receive the same number of winning votes I will post both recipes - however I will choose to post one on Thursday and will post the other recipe within a week or two of the poll (depending on my available free time). In the case that there is only one new recipe during a particular week (I try to make at least one new recipe per week) then I will not hold a poll, but post the new recipe. If a recipe that you voted for does not win, do not fear, I will probably make it again sometime soon. If you would like the recipe right away, feel free to post a comment or email me and I will get it to you (without photos of course!).

Tuesday - Tuesday Treats
Tuesdays I will be posting dessert recipes. It won't be every week, simply because I try not to make desserts every week.

Wednesday
Every other Wednesday is a Kitchen Tip day. I will be posting about a short-cut or some other piece of information that I think is important when cooking. In between kitchen tips I'll be sharing recipes for side dishes, mainly those that include veggies. I find that if I don't consciously try to make sure my family is eating vegetables, we don't.
 
Thursday - Recipe of the Week
I will post the winner of the recipe of the week poll from the previous week.  I use to hold the poll and then edit the photos and post the recipe in the same week, but due to demands on my time with my toddler, I have switched to holding the poll longer and posting the recipe the next week.

Friday - Foodless Friday or Food Friday Challenge
Random post about cooking, mishaps in the kitchen, other hobbies, Motherhood, etc.
Coming soon - once a month I will issue a challenge and give you two weeks to come up with a recipe to enter the challenge. (Challenges will be different each month and will include challenges such as use 3 given ingredients for a main dish; using ingredient x create a whole meal - appetizer, main course, dessert; etc.) I'll be announcing more information when I actually launch this - I'm just excited about it and wanted to let you know!