Weekly Meal Plan - Week 2

I'm sorry this is late. I should have had this posted yesterday but really, Sunday afternoon would have been best. Unfortunately that didn't happen but here it is, nonetheless. I've taken out the breakfasts and lunches because I'm guessing they aren't as interesting as the dinners.

Monday: Leftover Italian Beef sandwiches (yummy Portillos!)

Tuesday: Chicken, spinach, tomato & mozzarella cheese
This is a recipe A invented and it's super simple yet very tasty. You can make your chicken anyway you like it. Tonight I sprinkled both sides of the tenderloins with Montreal Chicken Seasoning and then grilled it up on the Foreman Grill. While that is cooking, halve grape or cherry tomatoes, as many or as few as you want and then add them to a skillet over medium heat with about a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Let those soften up just a bit and then add half a bag of baby spinach. Cover the skillet and let that wilt. When your chicken is done, cut it into bite size pieces. Add the rest of the spinach and let that wilt as well. When all of the spinach is added and wilted down, add the chicken and a handful of mozzarella cheese. Stir that around until the cheese starts melting and then take it off the heat. The cheese will continue to melt a bit. Spoon it on your plates and enjoy!

Wednesday: Lipton Onion Soup Baked Chicken (I have an extra packet of the stuff) with mashed sweet potatoes (I never made them last week)

Thursday: Nachos made with Zesty Cheese & Bean Dip, black olives, salsa, sour cream and Tostitos Natural Yellow Corn Chips

Friday: Chicken Caprese - a Rachel Ray recipe recommended by my wonderful friend

Saturday: Chicken Pesto Pasta (I never made it from last week) & green beans

Sunday: Soft tacos made with Quorn and leftovers from the nachos and Chimichurri rice from Trader Joe's

There we go. Hopefully all goes to plan. The only day that might go awry is Sunday because we're (hopefully) going out with some friends we haven't seen in forever but I don't know what time of day and if it will involve eating so we shall see.


This is most likely what I'll be making on Monday of next week since I already have the stuff (can you tell I went to Trader Joe's this week?)

Monday: Asian Style Chicken Stir Fry and Chicken Fried Rice from Trader Joe's

I think I have one other rice side dish that I'll be making next week with some chicken dish since I have a bag of frozen chicken breasts and most are so huge that I cut them in half for us so they last pretty long.

Well I'll make another update next week. Hopefully I'll get it out a little earlier but if not, start with that Trader Joe's stir fry ;)

Weekly meal planning - week 1

A and I are trying to be more organized in the new year. He's taken on our finances and I'm doing meal planning. I originally found the idea at this website (Living Locurto) and in large part at this site (This Week For Dinner). Supposedly meal planning helps save money since you have a definite plan and helps you lose weight since you are writing out everything you eat.

Part of the idea for this week is using up food from the last time I went shopping. I figure everyone can benefit from new meal ideas so here is our weekly meal plan for this week:

Monday
B: (A-grapefruit, strawberries), (J-pear), (K-strawberries, blueberries, banana)
L: (A-leftover Chinese, watermelon), (J-bagel w/ butter), (K-string cheese, hot dog bun, carrots; she ate lunch while in the shopping cart today.)
D: Slow cooker beef stroganoff & broccoli spears and yellow squash

Tuesday
B: (A-grapefruit, oatmeal), (J-orange, oatmeal), (K-blueberries, apple, cereal)
L: (A/J-split a Progresso soup and half grilled cheese), (K-half grilled cheese & tomato soup with corn)
D: Turkey in cream sauce & mashed sweet potatoes

Wednesday
B: (A-grapefruit, strawberries), (J-orange, strawberries), (K-strawberries, peach, waffle)
L: (A/J-leftover stroganoff & broccoli), (K-noodles, carrots, hot dog (she wasn't a big fan of the stroganoff))
D: Sundried tomato pasta salad with chicken & peas

Thursday
B: (A-grapefruit, oatmeal), (J-orange, oatmeal), (K-blueberries, banana, cereal)
L: leftover turkey & sweet potatoes (Hopefully K likes this. If not, she'll have grilled cheese and carrots)
D: Uno's Pizza (deep dish pizza to commemorate the fourth anniversary of our first date) & veggie medley

Friday
B: (A-grapefruit, waffle), (J-orange, waffle), (K-peach, waffle, apple)
L: leftover tomato pasta salad & peas
D: Chicken pesto pasta & corn

Saturday
B: Waffles, bananas, applesauce
L: leftover pizza & veggie medley
D: food on the road (after Toy Story 3 on Ice - Yay!)

Sunday
B: (A/J-scrambled eggs, bacon & toast), (K-peach, blueberries, cereal)
L: leftover chicken pesto pasta & corn
D: (A/J-spinach salad with warm bacon dressing), (K-hot dog with bun, carrots, string cheese)

We always let K try our stuff and occasionally we're surprised by what she likes. However, we always have a back-up plan :)

All of pasta is whole wheat as are the hot dog buns ;) I'll post our plan next week, hopefully on Sunday instead of Monday in case you're looking for ideas. Feel free to post any recipes or meal plans you have going on!

Crafty Fun

I decided this year to try and do more crafts with K. I hadn't really done any with her before because I figured she was too young but after seeing her coloring with chalk and painting away on her new easel from Great Grammie and Grampie I decided she was plenty old enough!

Here are some pictures of her latest creations:

Drawing with Daddy

Using chalk on the easel (chalkboard side, obviously)

She loves having people draw things for her then she colors them in

K wasn't the only one enjoying the chalkboard.
An adorable self portrait of Daddy :)

Painting! She enjoyed dipping her brush in
every color before actually painting the paper.

This was her first picture. I just put an old shower
curtain down, took off her clothes and let her go.

I thought she'd enjoy finger painting but anytime it
got on her hands, she made me wipe it off immediately.

A smile like that doesn't lie =D She loves painting!

This is the craft we did today. A toilet paper roll, black and pink felt, cotton
balls, black pipe cleaners and googly eyes...

...make a cute lamb. She calls it Lilly (of course ;) We found the idea HERE.

She loved gluing on the cotton balls, eyes and nose

She slept with it during her nap and now at bed.
I don't know how long this lamb is going to last.

Christmas with the JAKS

This past Sunday we hosted Christmas dinner. After it was all done, I turned to the Hubs and commented, "It's stressful and crazy but I know why my Mom does it." You see, my Mom hosts pretty much every major holiday at my parents house and it's not just for nine people like ours was, it's more like 30 or so. I don't know how she manages to pull off such amazing meals and wonderful opportunities for everyone to get together but some how she does, every single time. So, thanks Mom!

For our dinner I decided to go with the ever traditional Christmas feast of Chicken Parmigiana, broccoli, rolls, Texas sheet cake, Hubby's famous kolacky's (sounds like kolatchkies), and melted snowman cookies. All in all I'd say everything turned out pretty darn yummy. I think next year, to save ourselves a bit of time and headache, we'll make something that cooks in the oven instead of on the stove top but the chicken parm turn out so yummy that I really can't complain and considering we started out with only 6 chicken breasts and still ended up with leftovers (since we pounded them thin and then cut them in half) it was a good budget-conscious meal as well.

Here are a few picture from our day:

Chef Hubs cooking the chicken

My melted snowmen cookies. I was pretty proud of how they turned out.
You have to have a twisted sense of humor to think they are funny but I love them.
I'm not the best at decorating but that's the cool thing about these, you don't have to be!

I used Fruit Roll-Ups for the scarves and Mini M&M's
for the buttons. The rest is Wilton's decorating gel.

The Bear got a Toy Story Mr. Potato Head set. It comes with two "heads" and all the
pieces to make Spud Lightyear, Jessie, and Woody. She loves it. Thanks Grandpa!

This was another huge hit from Grandpa. After she
opened it she carried the comforter up to her room,
made me put it on her bed and then told me to turn
out the lights and close the door. She wanted to go
to sleep with it right that second!

This beautiful pink blanket was made by K's amazing cousin.
Isn't it awesome? I can't believe she made it! It's very soft and snuggly :)

Snow much fun!

Last night when we got back from picking up Daddy from work, K decided she wanted to play in the "deep snow" (as she calls it). Daddy was all too happy to oblige her. There was a LOT of running:

Kisses for Daddy

Icicles

I couldn't help myself

Nom nom nom

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This lovely guy was one of 5 cardinals right out our back door.

Here are two more. They are just such a
beautiful contrast to the bare branches and snow.

Our pretty outdoor permanent Christmas tree.

Our indoor Christmas tree looking out onto
our backyard. Yeah, we don't have many
ornaments on the tree.

A Christmas tree made out of an old magazine.
I saw this idea at:Just Like Martha

I decided to use it to store our Christmas cards.

Christmas lighthouse.
I don't know why there's a pig and goat with the set.

The Pooh train

Ornament display

The reindeer, mini tree and adorable handmade reindeer from Sis

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

And the kloche's are delicious!

K really likes her new Christmas present =D

While she doesn't look happy, she's actually giving a "big smile"

She was so excited to see Santa. She ran right up to him, told
him she wanted Buzz Lightyear and gave him a kiss.
We were very proud of her!

A quick plug for some very talented people

In case you are still looking for that certain perfect Christmas (or Hanukkah) may I please make the following suggestions:

One Crafty Broad - beautiful handmade crocheted gifts

Perfectly Paper - gorgeous handmade paper roses

Skahfee Studios - amazing typography art prints

Scentsy - Yummy smelling candles, etc.

Good luck and definitely check out these sites. They all make wonderful gifts for yourself or someone you love.