I’ve been working on a new project lately, and it’s almost ready to launch.
The Sticky Menu Plan has always been a free menu planning system and it will always remain free to anyone who cares to follow it. However, sometimes folks need a little boost. I’m putting together a notebook to do just that. The Sticky Menu Plan Workbook is almost ready to provide the help some of you have asked for. It’s a menu planning binder that holds over 120 of my most popular recipes with their own stickies. It’s all organized so that all you have to do is pick what you like and place the stickies on the weekly calendar. Life happens, and plans change, so move the stickies around. That’s The Sticky Menu Plan!  Plus Packs, with more recipies and their own stickies, are in the works as well.
Now, here’s what’s been cooking on the stove around here.
I’ve had enough of all the holiday cooking. It’s time for some simple winter comfort food. Sometimes a little cooking goes a long way, especially when you’re cooking for two. That’s the case when I stew up a pot of My Chicken and Dumplings. That’s comfort food in the true sense of the word. A pot of dumplings simmering on the stove perfumes the whole house with a sense of warmth.

Meatless Monday didn’t happen. We went out to eat instead. Since Monday’s planned Spinach Quiche slipped to Tuesday, a little bacon slipped in too. What did I say in my last post about bacon? Oh well!
I did make up for the bacon with a new side dish. My Butternut and Kale Skillet is really hearty enough to be a meatless main dish. The leftovers were very good as lunch the next day.
Friday we enjoyed a revamped version of Tequila Lime Chicken and Shrimp. Without thinking, I used all my fresh lime juice in the marinade. When I was ready to prepare the Avacado Cream sauce that is part of the recipe I had no lime juice left. I just left it out, and you know what? Michael and I both liked it better that way. I’ve re-written the recipe to reflect that change.

I’ve always believed in the notion that recipes are just a guideline. Make it how you like it. That was the case with my last batch of Grillades. The recipe calls for sliced pork medallions, but I had just butchered a pork loin and had some cut into cubes. They may have looked different, but the taste was the same. Yummy! Brown rice served as a base to soak up all that wonderful sauce.
Now it’s time for me to go finish my Sticky Menu Plan Workbook.
Be thankful for what life gives you.
I am.