best laid plans

what I actually had for dinner

what I was supposed to have for dinner

I had really respectable intentions for my meals this week.  I even drafted a rudimentary dinner line up (although you can see that it fell apart a bit when I got both bored and overwhelmed and decided I couldn't possibly plan for NEXT weekend).  I had Allie's cooking magazines marked, and I made sure to include every last necessary ingredient on my grocery list to minimize the chances of straying from the plan.  

And then I devoted a sizable percentage of my weekly adventurous culinary spirit to some seriously successful biscuits and meatballs yesterday.  And after a day of being up to my elbows in goo, I think I lost a little steam.  Plus, I realized there was no way I was setting my alarm for one single second before 6:30, making a shower AND crock pot prep unlikely if I wanted to get to work on time.  

So spicy pork lost out to hygiene (I'm sure my coworkers would be grateful if they weren't such heathens themselves), and I figured there was no harm in swapping Tuesday's and today's planned meals.  

I was still on track, albeit a slightly parallel one, when I sat down to copy Allie's food magazines before cooking dinner.  One of the first recipes I had dog-eared was for buttermilk pancakes.  I happen to have just enough buttermilk sitting in my fridge.  My sweet tooth has returned with a vengence after winter.  And I love breakfast for dinner. DINNER = DERAILED.  

I threw some fruit on there to make myself feel a little better about a dinner swimming in maple syrup.  And there's turkey bacon for protein.  Let's just say there were a few more than 2 slices involved, but I got hungry while I was making the pancakes.  I mean, who can turn down "thin and crispy" turkey bacon (which reminds me, I need to write a thank you email to whatever genius at Oscar Meyer decided to manufacture that)?  

I feel just the tiniest bit guilty about succumbing to the siren call of syrup, but whatever.  This whole adventure is about becoming more comfortable and self-sufficient in the kitchen (and, you know, religion, too).  And I think being in a quasi-sugar coma will actually prove helpful as I battle Comcast to get my cable back in working order.