Archive for the 'Menu Plan Monday' Category

Menu Plan Monday

Since we moved to Regina, our meals have kind of sucked. We had a psychotically crazy July and now Noah and I both started working full time. We’re going to make an effort, though, to have non-instant a-little-more-healthy dinners. This is a start

Menu Plan:

Sunday (vegetarian meal with Tali): Spaghetti with tofu tomato sauce, garlic bread,a raw veggies
Monday: Chili (with an option of a sloppy joe)
Tuesday: Chicken burgers and pasta salad
Wednesday: Shepherd’s Pie
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Burritos

Menu Plan Monday: Need Food

Since moving into our current residence, the cooking has gone down hill fast. Our kitchen is small and we do not have a dining room set. We’ve eaten a lot of “good enough” meals.

This has to change. Starting today. Our meals may not be perfectly healthy, but at least they’re going to be meals!

Monday: Sandwiches and salad (it’s too hot to cook!)
Tuesday: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Wednesday: Slow cooker beef stew
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Homemade pizza

Baking:
Coffee cake
Banana bread

Menu Plan Monday: It’s about flippin’ time

Sorry, this is not the exciting post. Although some may find it exciting that I FINALLY did a MPM post.

Monday: Tuna Fish Cakes, Roasted Red Potatoes, Spinach salad
Tuesday: Stir fry (in my new wok!)
Wednesday: Widow’s Dinner - Ann’s DELICIOUS pizza
Thursday: Tomato & Spinach Pasta Toss
Friday: Something in the crock pot …

Menu Plan Monday: It’s about time!

This Week’s Menu:

Monday: Roast with smashed potatoes and steamed vegetables
Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Wednesday: Widow’s dinner*
Thursday: Bagel tuna melts with soup
Friday: Homemade pizza

See more menu plans here.

I know, I know, I’ve been really slacking on the menu planning thing. I’ve been a tad bit preoccupied lately with this whole moving and moving and moving again thing. I’m planning to move in exactly a week. I doubt we’ll actually do that, but I want to pretend that we are so that I’ll be ready with time to spare.

I spent the day in the garage. I know, fun hey? Well, the fun part was moving the Corvette in and out of the garage. That car is WAY too fun to drive, even if I only get to move it a couple hundred feet. (By the way, is anyone interested in a Canary Yellow 1976 Corvette? It’s for sale! And we have to sell it before April 30th …) I cleaned the garage literally from top to bottom. I swept, I organized, I made the SELL pile ginormous, I made our garbage cans overflow.

The last couple days have consisted of going into areas that are not frequented and putting the majority of the never-used-but-have-kept-for-some-stupid-reason items in the SELL pile. I want to move as little as possible. Obviously we’ll keep all the things that we need and/or are precious to us, but I’m trying to make life easier on my husband, the mover.

To make our lives easier and more peaceful, I am the packer, Noah is the mover. If you know me well, you know that I get easily irritated, mostly by the people I love the most. Ironic, I know. So, if I’m the only one packing, then I know where everything is and I don’t have to get annoyed that Noah didn’t “do something properly”, meaning that he didn’t do it how I wanted it to be done. (I might have a Type A personality.)

Noah thinks this is a grand plan. He plays with Liliana and watches baseball, and I pack. It’s a great arrangement if you ask me. At the moment, our TV room is packed with empty boxes, something like this. (That pink thing is a link. Click on it. Hi Debbie!!)

Somewhere in between all this organizing, never-ending packing, and cleaning, it will be Liliana’s first birthday. Can you believe she is ONE already?! Her birth seems so recent. I can remember bringing her home and waiting in anticipation for Chelsey (my cousin) to have Maya. The girls are six days apart, but were due 1 day apart. Apparently late babies run in our family.

It also seems like no time at all since this kid was one.

Kaylie's First Birthday

Stupid red eye that I forgot to edit out. Stupid old non-digital camera for inventing red eye.

I know, I know, the cake is awesome. It’s too bad that I don’t live closer to OMSH so I could get her amazingly talented daughter to do a cake for me. She rocks.

I’m afraid that my cake decorating skills have not improved in the last six years, and Liliana’s cake will not look much better than Kaylie’s. It’s a good thing we’re moving closer to Noah’s parents soon, his mom makes cakes that look and taste perfectly delicious.

Have I bored you to death yet? Well at least you’ll sleep well tonight.

I’ll end with one of my favorite pictures of the week. My crazy Kaylie.

Crazy Kaylie

*Widow’s dinner is something that a couple friends and I started because my husband works late, Debbie’s husband has been out of town training, and Ann’s husband is with our Lord in heaven. We get together and enjoy Ann’s AMAZING pizza and let our children beat eachother play nicely in the basement while we share our weekly struggles, joys, sorrows, and journeys.

Menu Plan Monday

mpm8.jpg

This week’s menu:

Monday: Sweet and Tangy chicken, rice, corn,
Pumpkin rolls
(with some changes) - this will be for Mommy Kaylie Baking Time (guess whose idea that was!)
Tuesday:
Burgers at the Widow’s Dinner at Ann’s
Wednesday: BBQ meatloaf, smashed potatoes, steamed veggies
Thursday: Leftover buffet with Sidekicks
Friday: Homemade pizza

See more menu plans here.

Did you check out the video yesterday? Liliana’s been a walking machine. I think she’s finding out that walking to get into trouble is way faster than crawling to it. She’s such a little monster.

Menu Plan Monday: Using what’s left

In six weeks, we shall leave this house. I do not desire to take a thousand pounds of food with us (the less we have to move the better), so I am trying to use up what we have before we go.

We are hoarders. We have way too much food. It’ll take us a year to go through it all.

Okay, maybe a couple weeks if we buy nothing else, but let’s just pretend, okay?

menu plan monday

This week’s Menu:

Monday: Spaghetti with peach Jello for dessert
Tuesday: Canned soup & bagel tuna melts
Wednesday: Slow cooker roast with smashed potatoes
(Noah will be eating that while the girls and I go to our Widow’s Dinner)
Thursday: Leftover buffet with a Sidekick or two
Friday: Lean Cuisine Skillet Sensations in a wrap

I know this menu sounds super healthy, but at least we’re cleaning out the cupboards and deep freeze! I’m also going to make a lot of smoothies because for some reason we have a ton of frozen fruit in the freezer!

****

More to come today … come back later this afternoon! 

Menu Plan Monday: Let the tantrums begin

Menu Plan Monday

This Week’s Menu:

Monday: Fajitas
Tuesday: Widow’s dinner at Debbie’s
Wednesday: Chicken in the slow cooker served smashed potatoes (that’s what we call them here) and vegetables
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday or Sunday: Tacos

***

Liliana is usually a nice kid, especially when you let her do what you’re doing.

video game kids

But then there are the times when she’s wreaking havoc while sucking her soother upside down.

havoc

And then she goes to touch the fire poker.

If we say “No Liliana”, this is what happens:

spaz

And then some of this.

freak out

And then a little of this.

tantrum

Don’t you just feel so sorry for the little monster? 

Like I said before, the terrible twos should be fun.

Menu Plan Monday, Watoto, and 2 sick kids

mpm

This Week’s Menu:

Monday: Hamburgers and potato salad
Tuesday: Third weekly Widow’s Dinner
Wednesday: Sunday Wednesday Chicken Stew (from the February/March 2008 Taste of Home)
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Homemade Pizza

Today I had the opportunity to watch the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda, Africa.

watoto

I let the choir in the church to start setting up and had the opportunity to watch as they transformed our church for their concert. I stayed around for a couple hours to answer questions, open locked doors, and help them where I could.

When the children came in (they had been napping in the bus), I got to say “Hi!” to them as they went to the practice rooms upstairs. Later, as people were filing into the sanctuary before the concert, one of the little African boys was handing out programs. As he handed one to me, he said (in the sweetest African accent), “I remember you!”

It totally made my evening.

The only part about the concert I did not like was the fact that my family did not join me. Kaylie and Liliana are both sick. Kaylie’s got some sort of cold and is totally and completely out of it, and Liliana has snot coming out of various orifices on her face.

Oh the fun.

I had a friend call me to tell me to watch out for German Measles, because she just found out her daughter has them and we spent an afternoon with them last week. Apparently they’re contagious for 1 week before symptoms and 2 weeks after.

Oh goody.

Luckily, my children have been immunized, and will hopefully avoid that kind of sickness.  Liliana has been up already five or six times since she went to bed three hours ago so tonight should be a hoot.

Menu Plan Monday

mpm

This Week’s Menu:

Monday: Chicken Quesadillas
Tuesday: BBQ Beef sandwiches on Homemade bread
(Well, that’s what Noah is having. Kaylie and I are having PIZZA! with Ann and Debbie!)
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Homemade Barbeque Chicken Pizza
Saturday: Mommy Kaylie Time baking! (these and these and this)

Menu Plan Monday: A real Sabbath Sunday

Menu Plan Monday

This Week’s Menu:

Monday: Bagel Tuna Melts

Tuesday: Soup and Scones

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Roast

Thursday: Leftover Buffet

Friday: Slow Cooker Stew

Saturday: Chewy Granola Bars and Banana bread

I’ve discovered that dinners on Wednesday - Friday are not very well prepared because I do not get off work until 5:00 pm. Therefore, I’m going to try to take advantage of my slow cooker on those days. Also, I’d like to start baking every Saturday. Kaylie absolutely loves to bake with me and I like to have something that just she and I can do together.

Today was Sunday. News to you, I know. The last couple Sundays, we’ve been recovering from and/or preparing for house showings. Today we did not have one. I was so relieved. We had four last week, and six this week. I was stoked for the break.

Kaylie went to Grannie and Papa’s house after church, and Liliana went down at 12:15 pm for an almost-3-hour nap. Noah and I thouroughly enjoyed the silence. We sat around and did nothing. It was a truly Sabbath Sunday. A day of absolute rest. So relaxing.

Kaylie came home just after Liliana woke up and the two of them giggled the rest of the afternoon away. I love how well they get along. Love it.

Lunch and dinner did not involve any cooking, so I did not spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen. The most work I’ve done all day has been running up and down the stairs to switch the laundry that hasn’t been done in two weeks because of all the showings. I know I could have done one load every day, but I’d rather just get it all done in one day.

I’d love to have a Sunday like this every week.

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