What's for dinner?

The third step of how to WOW is BE PREPARED! Menu planning really is the key. Truly the hardest question to answer at 5:00 p.m. everyday is "What's for dinner?". If I don't have a plan my mind goes blank and if we are lucky enough to eat that night it definitely will not be WOWED, nutritious and often times edible! That is until I changed the question.

Years ago I attended a Dental Convention with my husband Mike. They offered classes for the wives and I went to a class taught by Vivian Cline. She taught about her Executive Home Management Systems and one of the many jewels I gained from her was the idea that women think categorically and if we plan around the way our brain works we will be more successful. When I was creating the WOW 101 Cooking Class Series I wanted to teach a Menu Planning Class to wrap things up and send people out the door ready to WOW.

I had a bit of a problem though...I was really bad about making out a weekly menu. It seemed that any attempt I had would leave me sitting at the kitchen table, pen and paper in hand, but just like the five 'o-clock scramble, I was drawing a blank. Nothing sounded good and nothing came to mind.

However the empty head and notebook is no longer because finally one day the light bulb appeared above my numb noggin...CATEGORIES! Don't ask what's for dinner, ask what can I make Mexican, Italian, Asian, Soup or Salad. Under these headings I could list several options and not experience the mind numbing, neuron munching menu planning of the past.

Many women of a greater caliber (and masters of the home CEO job I should have been fired from years ago) have figured this out a long time ago. But just like my favorite organizing technique from Julie Mortensen's Organizing from the Inside Out I had found my list to follow, my 123's and ABC's to menu planning. And you can too! Just make a list of types of foods your family likes to eat. It could be a varitey of ethnic dishes, family favorites, vegetarian etc. When I start thinking categorically my mind is wide open and so are the dinner possiblilites.

Look for for future posts with this specific menu planning concept in mind...and recipes too!