A month full of menu's and a view of my town

Hello Blogsters!!!! I am proud to say I finally have finished next months menu and I am psyched!
I have had several readers ask me what I eat and how do I decide what to serve each month.
I thought it would be fun to share my method and madness for organizing and shopping for a months worth of meals! Type A much....lol

First off when I decided to try ETL , it took me forever to get everything organized and to get my brain focused on a new type of food. I was so used to eating like a junk food vegan that I was not accustomed to cooking without oil, without margarine, or processed foods. I liked my unhealthy ways but my body didn't at all.
I would say it took me about 4 months to get situated and comfortable enough to start writing down my recipes. I mean really, I was a successful caterer for Pete's sake. I hated ETL for about 4 months straight and then things settled down, and my mind settled in.

I started liking the foods I ate without loads of margarine and sugar. I gave up soda again and again, but I can tell you, this time it stuck, I can not stand the stuff. When we go out to eat now I almost always drink tea or water.

Once you get it, it is hardwired in your brain. It will never leave you, when you go out to eat you can figure what you can have within seconds and then from there, make an educated choice of your meal.

Each and every month I go through a notebook that has all of my successful meals I have made for ETL.
I have never read Eat to Live, but a friend gave me the basics and I went from there.
I attempted at first to redo my already vegan recipes into ETL.
Some worked and some failed miserably.
Next I started experimenting with what sounded good to me, friends recipes and a few books that I found at my local Goodwill and book store. If it was appealing and my family liked it, it went into The Book, to be written out in long hand so I can read it. Most of my recipes are scribbles until I go over them at least thrice...lol
The menu I am going to write out for you is a combination of new recipes, tried and true recipes and my families favorites.
I make a menu out of a standard large desk calendar that I can write on and keep on my recipe desk. (Everyone has a recipe desk right?) I have my own little office just for cookbooks and recipes right off the kitchen, so I can work undeterred.
I have smoothies, breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners planned or 30 days of the month.
Yes, that is what I eat everyday. It goes like this...

7am-smoothie
9am-oatmeal
12 pm -lunch salad or leftovers
4 pm-snack of fruit and nuts
8 pm- Dinner
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I know you are going.... really? She really is this anal? Honestly...who does that?
ME....I do.
Hello I am Vivacious and I own hundreds of notebooks with test recipes, hundreds of recipes cut out of magazines, billions of post it note with idea's on them...

I am only going to give you a month's worth of dinners, because honestly...there is not enough room on this page for all of it.
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This is February's menu
1.Kidney bean stew with spinach salad or veggie tray
2. Black Bean Chili over baked sweet potato wedges
3. Vegetable rice enchilada's in chile verde
4. Navy bean soup with vegetable tray
5. Lentil Soup Italian salad
6. Taco soup guacamole salad
7. Zucchini noodle Lo mein with green beans and mushrooms
8. Taco style salad with Raw jicama chili fries
9. Mushroom/green bean unfried rice made with couscous
10. Southwestern hominy soup, an adaption of Vegan Epicureans
11. Falafel salad with baked poppy seed pita crisps
12. Eggplant noodle squash lasagna with homemade red sauce
13.Stuffed acorn squash with brown rice pilaf
14. Pad Thai salad with cucumber pickle salat and hearted beets
15. Walnut Lentil loaf, with puree of cauliflower and parsnip
16.Shepherds pie topped with colcannon/cauliflower potatoes
17. Seitan chops with tomato okra topper over brown rice
18. Jambalaya with corn salsa topping
19. Cincinnati style tvp chili with avocado salad
20. Black bean stuffed chili relleno over Mexican rice
21. Peasant soup with cabbage noodle, with brown jasmine rice
22. Sesame encrusted baked tofu, zucchini and bell pepper over w.w. orzo
23. Cabbage rolls with brown rice
24. WW Nooch alfredo with spinach and cremini, tomato pizza, veggie tray
25. White minestroni with massaged kale salad
26. Black beans and brown rice, with turnip greens
27. Homemade spaghetti sauce with winter mix veg, over couscous
28. Chickpea Mediterranean sauce over collard green noodles
29. Old fashioned style porcupine meatballs over celery root puree, with broccoli
30. Chickpea cutlets with roasted root vegetables
31.Forbidden rice soup with leek and cauliflower, vegetable tray
You will notice I made a menu for 31 days in Feb. when it has only 28, that is just in case I decide against a certain meal I can switch it with something else and not have to run out and buy new groceries.

I buy 1 month in advance for my groceries and then I shop weekly for run of the mill items like cat food, toilet paper and fresh veggies.
While we were out shopping today I thought I would snap some pictures of my town for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome to Nickerson...
They are putting in a new water main all through town.
Gotta love the rubble.
Entering town you can see the grain co-op across from my house..This is the long distance view.

Our hometown grocer. I buy most of my fruits here.

North West Main Street

South west Main street

The co-ops behind my house....

This is at the beginning of the street form my house. You gotta love dirt roads!

Close up of previous grain co-op directly in front of my house.

I hope you are excited about my month of menu's and enjoyed looking at my tiny town.

When I said Adventures of Veganism Midwestern Kansas, I meant it!
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Do you make up menu's at your house too?

What is your families favorite meal?