Menu Monday on Tuesday

Another Menu Monday, well at this point its Tuesday, I promise I will post something different soon. I’m hoping to put together some tips for other work at home Mom’s and non-moms too, on how to overcome certain downfalls of working at home. But for now… here is our weekly menu and a slight update on where I am with my goals for 2014:

Monday: Chicken Stove Top Casserole

This is seriously the easiest dish I ever make, my mom used to make it for us when I was growing up, and now – I see why. You’ll need 2 Chicken Breasts (or 3 depending on your family – for us four, two works just fine) 8oz or so of Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Cream of Chicken, and Stove Top Stuffing. Boil the chicken breasts in lightly salted water. Drain and cut up into pieces. Bite size works best, nothing too big. Cream of chicken mixed with ½ a can of milk. Put chicken in a casserole dish, and the cream of chicken on top. Mixed steamable frozen veggies (or fresh ones – whichever floats your boat). Put those on top. Shredded Cheddar Cheese is sprinkled on top of that, and then a prepared box of Stove Top Chicken Stuffing goes on top. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes. And you’re done!

Tuesday: Spaghetti Night!

Wednesday: Pizza Night (kind of redundant on the spaghetti –I know. But the boys are having a procedure done and I don’t want to have to cook)

Thursday: Lemon Rosemary Crockpot chicken (Link here). This is a new one for me. So I’ll have to see how it comes out!

Friday: Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie. I’m creating this one on a whim, I’ll update with a recipe shortly.

Saturday: We are grilling out with friends. So grilled chicken and some veggies.

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf. (Link Here)

 

As for 2014 things are going pretty well so far. I’ve been working out lately, about 4 times a week. It’s helping a lot with my mood, and I have a great friend who is holding me accountable. I go over to her house at 6am and we workout. Sometimes it’s a Pilates DVD, sometimes it’s the Butt Bible DVD and some Xbox Zumba. Sometimes I’m at my house working out. Either way, it’s on like Donkey Kong. I’ve also started eating better and am working to cut carbs and gluten out. I’m not joining in on the health fad that seems to be going around, but my thyroid symptoms have gotten much worse, so I’m almost wondering if there is a reasoning behind it. Regardless – it’s worth it to at least try. I won’t cut it out of the boys’ diets but, I can minimize what is in mine. I’ve been MUCH better about making time for me. I gave myself a pedicure a few weeks back, and am in need of one this weekend.  I’m looking for some craft projects to do with my new Cameo Silhoutte and am going to make a trip to JoAnn’s this weekend for some supplies as well a fabric to start a baby blanket for my sister-in-laws baby shower! I’m working much harder on leaving my phone on the counter, and it really does help! Believe it or not. I haven’t quite mastered leaving dirty dishes to be done until the boys are in bed, but one step at a time here. I think it’s good for them to see cleaning is a responsibility, but I do recognize that I need to focus more on being in the moment than chores.

How are your goals or resolutions coming along so far? Are you still working towards them or have you cast them to the side yet?

More on meal planning

I wrote a few posts back ago on meal planning and how much it’s really helped my family out. I’ve been planning out meals now for three weeks and I’m finally finding myself using pins that I have pinned on Pinterest. Now, I would call that alone a success, since we all know that most of the projects or food ever, really gets done or tried out. And when they are – it’s pretty much fail status. Another positive, at least for me, is that we are eating more ‘real’ foods. Less unprocessed. It’s not a major goal we have to go completely whole foods, organic, non-gmo, gluten free etc etc etc. I mean, I do indulge in some Reese’s more often than I should. But – I want to use fresh foods, and I want to not use processed foods so much. And I’m referring to Betty Crocker boxed potatoes and Hamburger Helper meals. Don’t get me wrong, food is food. But I don’t want the boys eating foods that are that processed – and I really don’t see how it’s cheaper, at all.

I’ve noticed not only has meal planning saved me time, but it’s saved us some money and trips to the grocery store and it’s helped us come together and plan what we want for the week, not just last minute ‘this sounds good’ so I thought I would share what our dinners were last week, and what’s up on my menu for this week.

So last week – November 18^th – 24^th:

Monday: Teriyaki Chicken with Rice. I used a leftover bag we had in the freezer from extra’s I made a time before.

Tuesday: Cheesy Noodle Bake. This was my first try with this recipe, it’s definitely going into the rotation here but it did come out a little dry like other comments mentioned. I might try adding a can of cheese soup to it next time to help with this. Recipe

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday: Cowboy Casserole (Ground beef, seasoned like a burger, cooked. Topped with Baked Beans, and topped with cornbread – baked until the cornbread is done.

Friday: Chicken and Dumplings – recipe here. I added pepper and garlic to ours and it was pretty fantastic.

Saturday: My birthday dinner – My husband made this amazing chicken pesto pasta dish that won my heart over when we were dating. He kind of eye balls it. But its pasta, grilled chicken, sun dried tomatoes, peas, fresh grated Parmesan cheese and pesto.

Sunday: Papa John’s Pizza. (Our planned meal was slow cooker pork ribs, but they were forgotten in the freezer).

And this week: November 25^th – December 1^st.

Monday: Chicken Strips with Chili Peppered Fettuccine noodles and homemade Alfredo sauce.

Tuesday: Taco Pie

Wednesday: Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup (First try at this – recipe here)

Thursday: THANKSGIVING!!! Fried Turkey, Mashed potatoes, candied yams, broccoli casserole, corn, stuffing, Meme’s biscuits, and pies! YUM!

Friday: Either Leftovers OR Burgers

Saturday: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf (Recipe here – first try)

Sunday: Lemon Rosemary Crockpot Chicken (First Try – Recipe here)

Breakfast: Eggs, Applesauce, Pancakes, Oatmeal, Banana’s, Blueberries

Snack Time: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins, Graham Crackers, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I come up with our meals on most importantly on what we are in the mood for, I try to not repeat meals often because I get sick of them as does my husband and I’m sure the boys. Plus it’s nice to experiment to be honest and mix things up. Then I see what my local grocery store (Publix for me) has on sale with produce that week and what matches up to meats in the freezer.

Meal Planning - My new found friend

So, I've made new friends with meal planning. Seriously, I don't know why I ever gave this up, or let it go or whatever it was that happened. But this idea, concept, way of cooking is amazing to say the least.
I've been working really hard with our budget and our time to eat real foods. This doesn't neccessarly mean the completely organic, gmo free craze just that I try to incorporate real food into all of our meals. For example: breakfast I can make anything from scrambled eggs for the boys, or blueberry pancakes and I can pair it with fresh fruit that was on sale or I can do regular pancakes with crock pot applesauce. Which by the way is amazing, and beyond easy. I'll post a recipe I found on the bottom of this post. Lunch normally tends to be left overs. And dinner depends on what meat is on sale, paired with veggies etc. The Green Giant steamable veggies have been on sale lately at Publix and I've been a huge, huge fan of those because they make things easy and anything that makes life a bit easier is always appreciated.
The big goal behind the excitement of BLW (baby lead weaning) was to eat healthier and as a family. I absolutely love what this has done for us, the boys and our family. I cook pretty much daily, which can get frustrating at times but that's where the meal planning comes in. I sit down one night a week and see whats on sale at Publix and Target (we tend to get most of our meat from the commissary since its cheaper there) and pair it up with what meat we have in the freezer. Apples have been on sale a lot lately so I've been doing applesauce on homemade zucchini bread, or applesauce just as a side. I love applesauce and from watching the boys eat it - they really do too.

The wonderful thing I've found about meal planning is that it helps me, and it helps me know just what we are having for dinner but yet its flexible enough to mix up or around if I'm just not feeling like having chicken or pork that day. I also found that I enjoy cooking again, I used to love cooking before getting pregnant with H&L and lost that when it became hard to cook with the smells and bedrest and then once they arrived, its just been about survival. Things are finally settling down and with that it offers new opportunity to try new recipes and try new foods. If you haven't tried meal planning, don't be intimated by the pinterest pins either. It's much easier than anyone ever leads to believe. Here is a guide to how I do think out my meals:

1. What meat do I have in the freezer? What veggies/ingrediants do I have on hand? Example: I have two things of ground beef, 3 packages of chicken, a pork tenderloin, and steaks. I have a bag of potatoes, I have blueberries, a bag of apples, I have some biscuits in a can etc
2. What can I make? What sounds easy/appealing? What haven't we had in a while?
3. I write down ideas, search pinterest for ideas etc
4. I plan, here are some examples

• Taco Pie - Canned biscuits/crescent rolls and ground beef
• Mini Chicken Pot Pies
• Spagetti and garlic bread
• Grilled Chicken and steamed veggies
• Pork Tenderlion and mashed potatoes
• Chicken and Pasta with steamed veggies
• Steaks, sweet potatoes and applesauce

See - pretty easy and I'm all about easy. I've also noticed that by getting whatever I am making ready at the very, very start of the boys' afternoon nap all I have to do is pop it in the oven/warm it right before dinner time (5:30) and I'm good as golden. It helps keep additional clean up and dishes at bay, and gives me more time to devote to them. I really am hoping to find a good sale soon and get some freezer meals ready too. I made a meal earlier in the week and split it in half and froze the other half, so that's always an option too. Just isn't a good idea to do it with an experimental dish, try it first, then give it a shot!