365 AWESOME DAYS OF PLANNING AHEAD

The other day one of my kids wrote on the family master calendar, “(His name) is Awesome Day”.  That kind of spunk deserved a door covered with post it notes detailing his awesome qualities as a person and acknowledgment of his valuable contributions to mankind thus far.  His response…“You mean if I put something on that calendar it happens?!”

Now wouldn’t that be awesome if I really had something like that in my kitchen? Everyone wants a genie lamp, me included. “Dinner is made, house is clean, I’m at the spa…that would be really nice.  But the harsh realities of life won’t quit, and quite frankly, I can tell little lamps or bottles all day that something is done, but you and I both know it won’t be unless I get to working on it.  But he did get his “Awesome Day” because by writing it down it took on the almost magical power produced by planning ahead.

PLANNING AHEAD MAKES IT HAPPEN THE WAY YOU WANT
And that’s really my point today; the incredible power of planning ahead.  365 days ago today I posted my first menu for Orange Tree Lane.  My goal? I wanted to make cooking and eating healthy food more understandable and do-able for busy families. So I wrote Weekly Specials to teach and inform.  I found and tested recipes that reinforced the Weekly Specials. I made videos showing how to put things together so that you can learn just by watching. I compiled 51 menus which can be personalized along with a shopping list by adding or subtracting any recipe from my archives.

SWEET SUCCESS
But guess what? I have rarely been able to enjoy the convenience of any of it because I’ve been creating the content.  There was one time when we were having guests for the holidays and I personalized a menu to include things I knew would work for them and for a crowd.  I kept the list of entrees I was ready to make posted in the kitchen, and each day I simply chose one and made sure I was ready to go by doing some of the prep work the night before or in the morning.  It was AWESOME.  I had accomplished my goal and was enjoying the sweet results of my own labors.

No genie lamp, but certainly the magical convenience of having everything I needed at my finger tips.  My son wanted something unrealistic, but what I created was realistic and it felt almost magical to plan what I wanted and then watch it happen.

CELEBRATION OF 365 DAYS OF PLANNING AHEAD!
For the one year birthday celebration of Orange Tree Lane (.com) I decided to look back over the year and pick some of my personal favorite recipes to compile for this last menu of the year.

* First, I loved Crock Pot Beef Tacos because it cooks while I sleep, takes minutes to throw together, tastes great, and I can add fresh avocado, spinach or cabbage and tomatoes when it’s time to eat.  Leftovers are great rolled in tortillas with some of the cooked onions and bell peppers and cheese for easy and healthy lunches.

*My second choice was Cheese Ravioli with Butternut Squash because I became aware of butternut’s amazing antioxidant powers and cooked it for the first time this year. Plus I have always loved ravioli and this dish is very quick and easy to prepare once you have practiced opening a butternut enough times for it to lose the scare factor. Once again I transformed leftovers into nifty lunches by putting them over a bed of lettuce and spinach leaves with a tasty vinaigrette.

*I chose Amazing Enchiladas for my third recipe because they taste wonderful and can be put together in 30 minutes if you buy cooked chicken or use the paired recipe system I developed which makes extra chicken on another night so its ready for this. Also, it’s easy to make extras to freeze or for lunches and they have less cheese than any other enchilada recipe I’ve ever seen yet don’t sacrifice taste.

* To round it off I included the Orange Tree Lane Carrot Cake recipe because it is delicious and healthy at the same time and it one of my favorite flavors.  And finally, I save so much time with OTL GF (gluten free) Bulk Pancake Mix.  We avoid all of the stripped down white flour, hidden hydrogenated oil and preservatives of traditional mixes, and I don’t know if it’s in our imaginations, but some of us feel less “puffy” and bloated when we reduce the amount of gluten we eat.  I even use this convenient mix to replace the dry ingredients in muffin mixes by just adding 1/3 c. more sugar and 1 Tbsp. more baking powder.

WHAT NOW?
So what’s ahead?  I am so excited because now that I have come full circle, I am going to do it again… only better.  Some of the recipes will stay the same and some new ones will be added. I’ll work on ideas for ways to get more vegetables in our diet, and share with you ways to make your work produce more results in less time.  And I’ll never stop talking about nutrition so that it is always on our minds and influencing our food choices.  And as always, you can get your menus personalized with matching shopping lists any time from the website. Sound good?

Join us for year number 2 if you haven’t already by making signing up at http://orangetreelane.com/. As a member you will be able to access all of the recipes, menus, and keep your own recipe box of favorites too!

Let’s travel this road together! Come see what’s cooking on the Lane,

Molly

Molly

For more pictures and extra posts from me go to http://otlane.blogspot.com/ .