who does your menu planning?

Everyone in our family loves to eat, so it's really a surprise that our kitchen is not as well-stocked or efficient as it ought to be. I haven't felt inspired in the kitchen in a long time, and have gotten into the (bad) habit of opting to eat out whenever I get a craving...

Homecooked meals are really a treat, or they should be, but how can you smile through sinigang, tinola, kaldereta and adobo EVERY SINGLE WEEK???

Our dear cook, Ate Hermie, may be getting old and lazy, and well she's had a new job to deal with since May (i.e. she Patrice's new yaya), so the blame cannot just rest on her... Doesn't keep everyone from complaining about the uninspired food at home though..

What do you guys do when you're sick of food at home? What do you even eat everyday? Does someone really have to take one for the team and labor over menu planning EVERY SINGLE DAY??

To think that, as it is, we have our lunch rationed from a Chinese lady from Greenmeadows...

Well well, today I finally decided to start somewhere and gave this messy menu planning business a shot--

STEP 1: Make a household eating profile-- List down the family's favorite dishes.

If it were completely up to me, I'd stock up on chocolate and fruits, but there are other mouths to feed in the house:
-diabetic dad, who grew up with my lola's amazing cooking (she died when I was 7)
-mom (now on vacation), who thankfully appreciates all kinds of food
-three brothers, all growing boys who eat meat and carbs and midnight snacks, and have friends over who are just as hungry all the time
-4-year old niece, who should be weaned from canned goods or anything instant and initiated into the world of vegetables
-4 househelps, who eat what we eat

Should be enough to work with the cookable items on my dream menu for now, and second guess everyone else's favorites (or better, I can just impose, haha).

STEP 2: Consolidate this list with the dishes Ate Hermie knows how to cook.

Output so far:

BREAKFAST
RICE WITH:
Fried tinapa
Fried boneless bangus
Fried Maling / Spam
Corned beef with potatoes
Omelet (plain, cheese, cheese with corned beef, vegetables: mushrooms, green bell pepper, onions)
Tocino
Tapa
Bacon strips
Adobo flakes
Longganisa (ilocos, lucban)
German potatoes w/ bacon (Flo's recipe)

SIDINGS: Egg (scrambled, sunny side up, boiled, poached), Sliced tomatoes, Red egg with tomatoes, Achara

FRESH FRUITS: papaya, pineapple, mango, watermelon, guava, grapes, apples, orange


BREAKFAST AND/OR MERIENDA
Oatmeal
Champorado
Pancake (plain, banana, chocolate)
Arrozcaldo
Suman
Taho
Corn (steamed, gata, grilled)
Kamote (steamed, gata)
Saging saba (steamed, minatamis)
Ginataang halo2 (no bilobilo)
Ginataang kamoteng kahoy
Cassava cake

SANDWICHES:
Pandesal with Quezo de Bola and Jamon
Chori/Longga burger
Wheat bread with Deli meat (Chorizo de Pamplona, Turkey), lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber
Grilled Veggie panini (eggplant, bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus on bread with pesto sauce, garlic sauce or just olive oil)
Burrito


SOUPS, APPETIZERS & SALADS
Pumpkin soup - not creamy
French onion soup (terry's)
Minestrone
Mushroom and Tofu Soup

Mashed potatoes
Baked potatoes with cheezwiz and bacon
Vegetable samosas (bananaleaf)
Dolmades (rice in grape leaves with yogurt dip)

Salads: Honey Mustard or Olive oil &Vinegar Dressing
Raw pineapple salad with chili, lime juice and cilantro
Salmon salad (gourmand)

Spinach/artichoke dip with crostini (italiannis)
hummus with pita bread
curry dip with roti

DIMSUM:
Chicken feet
Sio long pao (soup dumpling)
Siomai



LUNCH / DINNER

CHICKEN
Grilled chicken breast
Chicken kebabs with pineapples & bell peppers
Chicken curry
Baked chicken with tomatoes
Tinola with malunggay
Turbo chicken
Chicken barbeque (whole)
Fried chicken

BEEF
Nilaga with cabbage & saging
Kansi (nilagang Bacolod)
Callos
Kare-kare
Tortang giniling
Beef steak (bistek)
Salpicao
Steak (cooked with garlic & butter or grilled)
Corned beef sinigang
Kaldereta
Beef with oyster sauce and potato slices
Sweet and sour meatballs
Lengua (tomato sauce)
Yakiniku rice (UCC)
Tacos


PORK
Menudo with liver
Adobong liempo
Crispy pata
Lechon kawali
Inihaw na liempo
Patatim with puso ng saging
Grilled porkchops (italianni's)
Fried pork chops
Pork with tausi
Bopis
Batchoy
Babyback ribs (gastof/hawaiian bbq)


FISH / SEAFOOD
Sinigang na Miso/Salmon head
Paksiw
Ginataang Tilapia with Spinach
Ginataang adobong pusit (lola ludy's)
Kinilaw na tangigue
Fried tawilis with suka dip
Sauteed snapper (cafe med)
Grilled Fish with Herbs and Lemon or Calamansi
Steamed lapu-lapu (dampa)
Steamed dori fillet
Hot shrimp salad


PASTA
penne/angelhair putanesca
penne with liver pate (cibo)
spinacci cannelloni
spaghetti bolognese


PIZZA
pita eggplant/zucchini pizza (greca)
seafood feta pizza (fat michael's)
garlic & cheese pizza (shakey's)
4-cheese pizza
pepperoni pizza


VEGGIES
Ginisang Monggo with malunggay
veggie pho
fresh veggie rolls
crepe dracula (cafe breton)
laing with gabi bits
pako with gata
grilled tomatoes with garlic sauce (behrouz)


RICE
Garlic
Fried rice Bibimbap style: with fried egg, sesame seeds, seaweed, thin slices of carrots & cucumber, vegetables
Fried rice Chinese style: with salted fish, green peas, carrot cubes
Rice with knorr
Machang (no meat)
Callos paella
Veggie rice (sagada)
Nasi lemak


DRINKS
Fresh juice (buko, cucumber, orange, apple)
Iced tea
Orange Juice
Tipco
Honey with Apple Cider Vinegar in Water
Lemon Water
Lemonade
Fruit smoothie
teh tarik (hot and cold)
Tsokolate
Red wine
Fresh goat's milk (Mr. Moo's)
Choco carabao's milk (Mr. Moo's)
Strawberry milkshake


SAUCES/CONDIMENTS
chinese chili
garlic mayo
viet peanut sauce


DESSERTS

chocolate pudding
creme brulee (plain & flavored: lime!)
cheesecake
lemon squares
kalamansi muffin (real coffee)
dayap cake (choc kiss)
mango a la mode (jade garden)
halo-halo (razon's)
ube jam (good shepherd)
mocha gelatin (tita non/nels)
strawberry salad (sagada)
blueberries & cream crepe (cafe breton, cuisine)
flambe
roasted marshmallows


STEP 3: Organize. Schedule.

Looks like a pretty workable list so far. Will print as a real "menu" and try having the adults "order" their meals in advance.

Also, looking at that list is encouraging me to take a real shot at my 2008 goal of learning to cook my dream menu. It's already October, but three months is still a long time. :)