The Weekly Plan: Feb 7-Feb 13

It's Sunday! I used to dread Sundays. This is something that carried over from primary school days knowing that Monday would mean going back to school (not the best attitude, I know). Sunday was the definitive end to the weekend. I would wake up with a pit in my stomach and be in a grouchy anxious mood all day. The minute I'd roll out of bed Maggie would only have to take one look at me to know that I'd been hit by "The Sundays.'

About 3 or 4 years ago, Maggie and I worked together to turn this Sunday attitude around. "Why waste HALF of your weekend being sad that it is going to end,? Maggie rationalized. And, by this time in my life, "The Sundays" was just habit - something engrained in me, not even necessarily grounded in my actual feelings about Mondays (I liked my job! All my friends were there!). It was time to take back Sundays!

The first thing we did was initiate Mindful Weekends. Maggie and I are planners and doers. It's rare that we have a weekend where we aren't booked (a show, a camping trip, hanging with friends, errands, projects around the house, etc.). This is actually something that I LOVE about us. We have lots of fun. But our planning also used to incite anxiety in me. I would anticipate our plans and just freak out about them from the moment I woke up. Mindful Weekends was about actively forcing ourselves (ahem... myself) to experience the weekend moment by moment. This was revolutionary - and in time it dissolved "The Sundays."

So, now I love Sundays, and one of the great things about Sundays in Austin are the farmers markets. This morning I took Levi and one of our dogs, Jetta, to the Mueller's Farmers Market. It was a beautiful and breezy morning and we enjoyed the walk to the market from our parking spot which winded around a small pond. Levi chased ducks for a long time and Jetta whined anxiously on her leash as the ducks ate bread crumbs just feet away.

I intended only to get some parsley, but it's hard to go to a farmers market and not walk away with more than you planned. In line to make our purchase a couple told me how they grill sweet potatoes. GRILL! I snatched one to grill up tonight... because tonight is the Super Bowl!

Now, let me set things straight. I'm "Meh" about football, but I am "Woot Woot!" about snacks and Super Bowl Sunday is allllllll about snacks. Maggie is cooking up something along the lines of cornbread BBQ chicken pie (she's cooking it right this minute and it smells amazing).

I am going to throw together some homemade falafel, black bean dip, Pinch of Yum's Magic Green Sauce and GRILLED sweet potato wedges!

Meal Plan for the Week:

Veggie Burgers (recipe from Bon Appetit)
I am all about veggie burgers right now and I'm really excited about mastering a recipe that I can make regularly, make in bulk and freeze for later. What interests me about this recipe is that the base is wheat berries, which I've never cooked with before! Also, they are packed with mushrooms (porcini and shiitake) and I've been on a real mushroom kick recently. I look forward to seeing how they come out.

Lindley Chicken... AGAIN!
I'm telling you this dish is so tasty you'll want to make it every week also. Later this week I'll be posting the recipe so you can add it into your weekly rotation as well :)

Hope you all got through your "Sundays." Have you planned any delicious meals to get you excited about the week ahead?