Lent is upon us, so I will make sure all the Friday dinners in the next few dinner planners are fish or vegetarian.  When I was growing up, my mom used to make fish every Friday even outside of Lent.  I still think of Fridays as “Fish Fridays.”  My mother had a very methodical way of doing her dinner planners for the week, and I didn’t understand the beauty of it until I started doing my own.  But she would do Meatless Monday (usually a hearty soup), Baked Ziti on Thursdays because she taught a class on Thursday nights and she would make the casserole in the morning and all we had to do was stick it in the oven, Fish Fridays, pancakes on Saturday mornings and hot dogs for lunch (no one’s saying she was perfect), and big pasta dinner in the middle of the day on Sundays, usually with my extended family.  She really only had to fill in Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Most of the time she did a version of roasted chicken and potatoes one night and pork chops or veal cutlets with pasta the other night. She worked full-time and she was still able to put a homemade meal on the table every night.  It’s all about having a system and planning ahead.

I have cooking classes Monday – Thursday this week.  Check my Insta stories to see what I’m teaching.  And then Friday I’ll be at Expo West for the whole day checking out all the new natural foods products.  That’s always a fun (calorie-filled) day.  My daughters are coming home for spring break on Friday night and I am BEYOND excited!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week!

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I am getting myself organized for the week ahead because it’s going to be a busy one!  Lots of classes this week and since Wednesday is the first day of a new month, I am debuting a new cooking class menu.  Even if  you can’t take my classes, you can always check my classes tab to see what I’m teaching and I always try to post a couple of videos from class on my Insta Stories. In some other news, you can pre-order my cookbook, Kitchen Matters, on amazon.com or from my local bookstore, Pages, in Manhattan Beach!  Pages will actually be sending signed copies if that is of interest to you.  🙂  The book comes out on June 13th!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

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Eeeek, I’m a little late getting this up, but I never had a chance to sit down at the computer the last two days.  This week I am looking forward to Valentine’s Day.  I’m going to spend the evening at home with my two favorite guys, my husband and my 13 year old son, aka Mr. Picky.  I sent care packages to my daughters with homemade granola and some other fun treats that I know they will love.

If you live in the LA area, you can catch my segment with Lori Corbin on KABC on Monday, February 13th at 3:00 pm!  We make individual chicken pot pies and a giant whole grain chocolate chip cookie skillet cake!  Have a wonderful week!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

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Happy Weekend, friends!  This week, I started a new menu in my classes and it’s so fantastic!  I know most of you don’t live close to me and can’t take my classes, but you can always check to see what I am teaching by clicking on this link. I hope to post some of these recipes soon.  After seeing my posts of the finished dishes on my Instagram feed, many people will ask me if the recipes are available anywhere and unfortunately I always wait until I have finished teaching every class over the month before I post the recipe online.  Stay tuned!  Today I’m making a gigantic batch of vegan queso to bring to a Super Bowl party tomorrow and I am doing a little prep for a TV segment I am taping with KABC’s Lori Corbin on Monday.  I’ll let you know when it airs!

Have a great week!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

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Chinese New Year begins today, January 28th, with the Year of the Rooster. I thought I would share some interesting information from my friends at the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) World Foundation have to say about this new year. 

“This is an energetically powerful time to make room for the new—a new life, new hope, and new beginnings. Can you sweep away old habits to make way for a new perspective?  To make the most of this energetic shift, you need ample energy to make the transition and tackle endeavors in the new year. This is a good time to rest and clean house in mind, body, spirit: your saved energy will serve as a springboard to the changes you’ll pursue in the year to come. 

Traditionally, this period of preparation begins a week before the New Year, followed by a week or two of rest. This used to give farmers time to prepare and recharge before the busy planting season. However, even in modern Chinese culture, everyone takes a week-long holiday at the start of the New Year, and celebratory parties last for two weeks. 

Every year has a particular kind of energy, embodied by 12 animals, according to the Chinese zodiac. This year is represented by the Fire Rooster—an exciting, eccentric, yet loyal, hardworking, and proud bird. The Rooster is a symbol of energy. Why does it wake up in the early hours, right before dawn? Why does it sing and dance when the Sun rises? It intuitively knows when energy shifts and changes in the Earth, and as a fearless leader, it has no qualms about letting the rest of us know. Are YOU ready to “wake up” and harmonize with the Rooster? If so, this might just be your year to dance with the Rooster.”

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PamelaSalzman.com will always be a political-free zone because #1) you likely don’t care what I think about politics and #2) it’s nice to know there’s someplace you can go to take a break from it all.  So here we are and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I still have a full-time job and a family to feed and I need to do my dinner planner today!  After I do a quick grocery run, I am going to do a little meal prep for the week, work on my book edits and then watch football while it rains like mad in LA all day long.  As if things weren’t already crazy enough out there, it’s actually raining in LA!  Have a great week!

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It has been so fantastic having my girls home from college, but they are going back this weekend.  Sad face.  I am already counting the days until spring break.  But life goes on, and so do work and school.

I wanted to mention that I am having some problems with my website loading.  I won’t be able to connect with my web programmer until Tuesday, so we’ll all have to hang in there a few more days.  Keep trying to load the page and it comes up eventually.  I apologize for the inconvenience.  I know it’s annoying to have to wait for a website to load. In the meantime, there are lots of delicious recipes you can make this week.

 

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