This year, we’re having 18 at last count. Respectable, but nowhere as big as we used to have growing up — all my mom’s brothers and their kids would come to our house. And most years, we had a few “extras” as well — other friends or family we’d pick up along the way. [Nowhere to go on turkey day? Let me know. I just warn you, we can be rather overwhelming. And loud. And the after-dinner Scrabble is a match to the death.]

The guest list to date:

• Ashby, me, the 3yo [the 9yo will be with her dad this year]
• Ashby’s mom
• My parents
• Nashville sister and her husband
• Nashville aunt and uncle
• Nashville cousin C and her fiance
• Nashville cousin N and her son
• Murfreesboro cousin [I think.]
• Jackson aunt and uncle
• Whiteville uncle

The menu to date:

• Fried turkey [From the men's group at church.]
• Roast [Me. I haven't decided what recipe yet, though I really loved the one I did last year and apparently failed to blog about. I have no idea how I'll find that recipe again. And you thought I was blogging for you.]
• Homemade rolls [Nashville aunt]
• Broccoli casserole [Nashville aunt]
• Cornbread dressing [Nashville aunt]
• Green bean casserole [Nashville sister]
• Golden Baked Potatoes [Nashville sister]
• Chocolate chess pie [My mom]
• Mincemeat pie [My mom]
• Cheesecake [Me. I blame Twitter.]
• Some other stuff — possibly salad or hors d’oeuvres [Jackson aunt. She and I have to get together.]

Still to be figured out:

• How to sneak a healthy item or two onto the menu
• Who’s bringing the wine besides Nashville aunt [Volunteers for white? We already have lots of red.]
• What we’re having Wednesday night [Odds say it will be spaghetti, though.]
• Who’s cleaning up after dinner while I go for a walk [Don't be the one to point out how little I'm cooking on that menu.]

I’ve tried in the past to make a menu a week in advance. I use my Franklin Planner for a lot of planning like that, and it’s always bothered me that their menu and shopping pages start with Monday. Never mind that I reset all my electronic calendars to begin on Monday. It’s a personal issue — I usually have time to sit down and plan a menu on Saturdays. So I either use the days in the wrong order, or I waste a whole page with nothing but Sunday’s menus.

It’s a bad problem, I know.

But what I really want to work on is not having an exact menu written out for every day, but instead, at creating a schedule for the week’s dinners. Like:
Monday: Sandwiches
Tuesday: Breakfast
Wednesday: Pasta
Thursday: Salad
Friday: Grill

You get the picture — I’m looking for categories of food, so that it will be easier for me to think of quick dinners to make. I don’t need categories for the weekends. I either have more time to cook, more time to think, or both.  Frankly, for me, the thinking time is more than half the battle. I can make a quick dinner. I can make probably 25 or 30 quick dinners, maybe more. But to sit around and think up which one to make? And that I have the ingredients for on hand?? That’s not happening. Thus, I’m hoping to reduce my food thinking time during the week.

There’s this, too: As of now, I’ve spent about 2 years of my life as a vegetarian. But that means I have 23 years’ experience cooking dinner as an omnivore. And just 2 as a vegetarian. I’m still a newbie when it comes to the day-in, day-out planning and eating. I’m still spending an awful lot of time thinking, OK, what protein have I had today? What about the 9yo [she's also a veggie]? And what about the 2yo [he's not, but hey, he's a growing boy]. I’m a huge carb fan, and I could easily eat more than my daily recommended calories in white bread and butter. So I have to pay attention to that. As mentioned here before, the 9yo eats like 20 foods, so I watch her diet closely, too.

But I really am working to expand my cooking repertoire, entering my 3rd year of no meat. Because our society –and my training as a cook — is so meat-oriented, I find myself often looking a vegetarian meal and thinking something’s missing. The deal is this: You can’t just remove the chicken and still have a meal. It’s not like you have to do an even swap for some tofu, either. You have to say, if I’m not building a meal around a meat, what am I building it around? What anchors this dinner? What complements that? What would be a nice side dish? And does all that feel like a complete plate?

So with all that thinking, I’m hoping it will help to have a schedule to work from.