Love is an Adventure

Although I have a house of boys we are more likely to be found hiking, camping, and fishing than on the soccor, baseball, or football fields. We often joke we are a house of nerds, and proud of it. My brother was the ultimate jock. The coaches were sorely disappointed when his little sister came up the ranks. No hope to help the girls basketball team. Now Youth Legislature, yep, I was all over that.

Now, my boys are following mom and dads footsteps, ehehehehe, seldom any sports....

except tonight. Yep, Superbowl is one day you will find us wrapped around a ball game. Some of the boys like it...others eh, not so much.  Still, we enjoy a good game. Don't ask who we are rooting for, its usually supporting a family or friends team. This year, Patriots vs. Sea hawks...it's a toss up. My dad is Patriots fan and my father in law is all Sea hawks. Does that make us a house divided? Nah! Just a bunch of nerds having fun.

It gives mom an excuse to try new treats and some old ones too as we enjoy a snacks and finger foods. Last year was a hit, this year, not so much. On the menu, hot wings, little smokies with mac and cheese, chili con queso dip and caramel corn. My idea to cook things in mini crockpots missed the mark but the caramel corn is always a hit.

For the rest of the week here is what we have on the menu....

Homemade spaghetti

Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo

Chili Mac

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

 Pizza

Cream Cheese Taquitos

What are your superbowl favs?

While watching the superbowl I did up some word art perfect for February.

I hope you enjoy it.

Download them here:
4share

Dropbox

Recipe Organization

Project 9 of 52

Ever notice how much of a difference even little things can make in our lives. The crazy thing too, is sometimes it doesn't take that much time to accomplish. It's more a matter of just sitting down and doing it.

Well, this is the dilema I have been facing for a while. I love to try new recipes. You know the down home kinda cooking recipes. The ones with ingredients I have in the pantry; NORMAL ingredients. I print them off and give them a try. Most of the time they are successful. There have been a couple that we tossed and ordered pizza but hey, we tried something new. And my boys are great sports about it too. They have their favs and eh, not so favs but all in all the taste it all.

I toss the recipes that are anything but a big hit. I just put them in a sheet protector in a 3-ring binder. Until recently that binder was quite a mess. I didn't have enough sheet protectors and too many untried recipes. So I sat down one day, soaked in the vitamin D and fixed my problem. I didn't take a before picture but trust me...it wasn't pretty!

 I added the sheet protectors....tossed unwanted recipes...added page dividers and labels....

 I even typed them up in a fun goofy font.

 

 Such a simple thing but ahhh, it feels so good to have my recipes neat and tidy. It makes me smile to pull it out and use now.

 

I also love to plan my menu. I always have, even before we had kids. It frustrates me to start a recipe and find out I am missing 1 ingredient. Not to mention how it helps the budget and grocery shopping. 

I found these menu plans on Pinterest. They are 4 weeks at a time and slip in the front of my binder. 

I put the current menu plan on the fridge and leave the blank ones in the binder to be filled out next time.

I even color coded it with corrdinating tabs. I had to make it simple for my hubby and oldest son. They help stick with the plan more if I make it easy for 'em. ;-)

Now I just have to grab the post it for that week and do my shopping.

LOVE IT!

Horray! School is back in....

My boys went back to school last week. We all couldn't be happier. Mr. Matthew starts kindergarten this week so he has less than thrilled to not have his buddies to play with. He will join in the celebration this week.

As I watched FB I wondered if I was an enigma.

Unlike my friends who were missing their kiddos within the first hour, I was thrilled to have the quiet at home.

I had a reason to get up earlier. (Quite the deal when you work nights.)

Chores were done first thing.

I didn't have to field video game questions all day.

My house stayed clean (until 3:30).

I got my own chores done.

I even had time to myself to craft.

Uh, yeah, I was wondering if I was missing something. But I must say my boys were thrilled to get back as well. They enjoyed seeing their friends and new teachers. My oldest (nearly 14) enjoyed the added independence of being away from home. In fact, I still haven't gotten the "first day of school" photo. Gonna add that to my list for morning.

So with my celebration comes time for organization. I love structure. I love clean lines and spaces. I love organization.

Last year I shared how I fix lunches for my brood of 4 boys plus dad. I thought I would share a couple of other ways to have lunch made in a sec.

I work full time nights. It's tough going without sleep but it works for my family. I am able to be there for my boys when they need me. It does mean that I need to have be organized. Some mornings are better than others. I have a wonderful 13 nearly 14 year old who enjoys cooking and actually prefers to make his own lunch. (I know you're all jealous, don't hate me) He is wonderfully helpful with little brother lunches too. I try to plan things out to make those rough mornings simpler.

Several years ago this is what I used. I bought several stackable bins. I had a bin for sides such as fruit cups, desserts such as pudding, and drinks such as Capri Sun.

 The morning of school I would proceed to make the sandwich or whatever while the boys ran downstairs to pick out the rest of their lunch. It worked great. They got the choice but I had a bit of control over it. They knew they had to pick one from each bin. During the summer they could also pick their snack out of the bin. It worked great. 

Here is a link to Amazon to the bins I used. They are perfect.

This is an easy system to put together and the kids have fun being involved. The downside is things have to be prepackaged. I can't cut my own vegi's or have my divide up my own jars of fruit. The dessert is easy to fill but I have to be a bit more creative for the "sides". You can put crackers etc in snack size ziplock bags and toss in the bins. Even do this with crackers.

Check back tomorrow for another option. Then let me know which system you are using.

Top 10 Go To Recipes....

So I noticed a fellow blogger commenting about having no clue what to fix for dinner and asking for suggestions. It got me thinking what my "go to" recipes were. You know the ones....where you don't have to pull the recipe out....where you can make it without much thought and even less time....

YEAH!
Those dinners!

You know we all have them. 

The moments you go Awe Crap!

 Is it time to fix dinner already?!?

....Unless your clan is like mine and never stop eating. My kitchen seems to be an endless cycle of snack and meals. Kinda expected with 4 boys. Add in the friends (boys) that are always hanging around (and welcomed) and yeah, the kitchen never seems to close....

Anyway, here is my go to list. I hope it helps get you outa that awe crap rut....

In no particular order:

1. Spaghetti- the boys all love it and score, it's cheap too. Easy to fix from the pantry.
2. Fruity chicken salad- salad, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, grapes, Parmesan cheese tossed together, topped with poppy seed dressing and you are ready to go. Yep, even the boys enjoy it.
3. Hamburger Casserole- browned hamburger, shell pasta, green beans, corn, carrots, olives, cream of mushroom soup. Mixed together and enjoy. Great cooking from the pantry.
4. Pinwheels- browned hamburger rolled up and baked in biscuit dough like cinnamon rolls, topped with tomatoe soup or gravy. One of my favorite meals.
5. BBQ- anything thrown on the grill= easy, yummy summer meals
6. Taco Salad
7. Chicken Salad wraps
8. Roast- or anything tossed in the crockpot
9. Steak or chicken Fajitas- A1, Worcestershire sauce, onion, peppers, cheese, tomatoes, shells= YUMMY
10. Breakfast for dinner- my boys LOVE pancakes. It's a pantry staple and quick to fix. Add eggs or bacon and my troop is happy.

We buy beef and pork from a rancher friend (the only way to buy you meat!) and keep it in a big chest freezer. Just add vegis and we are good to go. 

So there you are. I have a few others but these will cycle round the month to fill the last minute holes or maybe just fill the hole until I go shopping again. I love to keep recipes on hand that come straight from the pantry. Helps my preparedness skills too.

School lunch ideas

With 3 boys in school lunches get a bit tricky. Thankfully my boys are not picky eaters but I am always looking for ways to improve their lunches without breaking the bank. Our elementary school has great lunches but the cost still adds up. The Jr. High simply doesn't serve enough food for my long and lean 13 yr old. He always comes home saying he didn't get enough. He opts instead to always take home lunch.Now, I don't mean to brag but he does spoil me...he makes his own lunch each morning. I will even offer but he says "No, I can do it". Of course he likes to cook but I still count it as spoiling. I do feel bad however when his lunch becomes monotonous. He enjoys meat and cheese sandwiches but day after day....yeah, let's mix that up a bit. 

There are lots of ideas out there. I have tried a few but this has become the biggest hit among the men in my house. We need 4 lunches each day counting dads. Buying that many fruit and pudding cups did not help my grocery budget at all. Not to mention all my bottles of home canned produce that continue to sit on the shelves. No more of that. Here is the system we are using to provide a variety of lunches, using my own stores.

These ziplock divided containers are fantastic. I just fill them up and the boys slip them in their lunch boxes and they are done. Walmart and such stores use to have these all over but I couldn't find any this time. Once again, thank you Amazon. I love how easy you can find anything you want online.

I ordered enough to fill all the lunches on the weekend for the coming week. I try to have 4 items: a fruit, a vegi, a treat and the entree.

Before my containers came had to use bags so I just prepped 4 of each item for the boys lunches. Carrots, grapes, pretzels, string cheese...whatever was on the menu. I prepped it all at once then placed them in the fridge together. All the boys had to do was grab 4 items. It worked well but the boys didn't keep their meals balanced at all and little man thought they were his personal treats to snack on throughout the day.

Once my containers came I was able to really get to work. It didn't take long at all. The best part is I was able to rotate through the food I had purchased for lunches (before little boys good devour it all) as well as rotate through our homemade goodies. Applesauce, fruit, pudding, jello, cookies...all from home.

4 lunches prepped for each day.

Carrots, Yogurt covered raisins, granola bar.

Yogurt, orange jello or grapes, pretzels.

Cherry tomatoes, applesauce, pita chips, rice crispie treat.

Cucumber strips, orange jello, mixed nuts, rice crispie.

I used fruit from my pantry. Then made my own jello and pudding and poured it directly in the container to set up. By putting the pretzels or chips or cookies in a ziplock bag I could put it in the container in the fridge (all ready to go) without them going soft.

The sandwiches get made the night before. Meat and cheese, BLT's, egg salad, chicken salad, PB&J...whatever it is. The salad mixes I prepped early too. Toasting the bread helped it not get soggy. Once the sandwiches are made the boys are ready to load up and go.

Believe it or not, very little, if any of these lunches return home. Just the container ready to refill when the weekend comes again.

Here is a list of items I put in their lunches. Hope it helps you too.

Entrees/sandwiches: 

meat and cheese sandwiches

meat and cheese kabobs

egg salad

chicken salad

wraps

PB&J

BLT's

Tunafish sandwhiches

pizza (we all eat the leftovers cold anyway)

salad in a bag

Carrots

celery sticks

cherry tomatoes

cucumbers

apples

applesauce

pears

peaches

grapes

fruit cocktail

jello (make your own cups)

Pretzels

pita chips

crackers

mixed nuts

yogurt covered raisins

yogurt

string cheese

Cookies

rice crispies

pudding (make your own cups)

Take a moment and plan it out, save money, and smile that your kiddos have one of the best lunches at school. Even dear dad is loving this system.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.

This weeks menu 10/23

You know how life tends to get in the way of all our greatest plans...

Yeah, that's where we are.

We are still working on finishing my craft/guest room. I am uber impatient! I think I am actually having crafting withdrawls! I have loads of projects waiting for some attention. With the holidays creeping in the itch to make something is getting stronger by the second. And of course we have run into a couple of snags in getting my room finished. First of all we need it for a special 12th birthday on November 1; then again on Thanksgiving weekend with lots of family coming to town. We planned everything out and even with a few hicups were making progress toward our timeline. 

Then last week my darling husband was put in as 1st counselor in the Bishopric in our ward. For those of you who don't have a clue what this means...it's...well, he's is basically the second one in charge of 300-400 people. It is a big responsibility accompanied with lots of meetings. He will be fantastic! He is a great leader and quite humble.

With all the changes and what-have-you we haven't gotten much done over the past 2 weeks. We are creeping along but I am worried we won't make our November 1 deadline. 

Hopefully we will make the Thanksgiving one. 

We just continue to work as much as we can (between DH meetings and my nights working).

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

In the meantime, I have fallen victom to another crafting hobby. 

Yes, I know, I am weak.
See I needed a new watch band and I did'nt want to spend $15-$20 on one so I thought I would just make one. Just enough beads for one little watch band. AHEM!? Uhmm, yeah. I will have a couple of projects to show you from this little dilema. I think it would have been cheaper to buy the band BUT not NEARLY as fun. hehehe. Thank Goodness! My dear hubby is supportive of my addictions. lol

So, this week I hope to post our progress on the basement and a couple of small projects. Just enough to tide me and you over til the big reveal and craft craze of my new craft room!

If you wanna stop by you are welcome to stay for dinner. This is what we will be enjoying this week.....

Oven Fried Chicken

Monte Cristo Delights

Meatloaf

Baked Potatoe Soup

Strawberry Banana Omlets

Breakfast bake.

The end of the week will be filled with Halloween Carnivals and Chili cook-offs. I thought we could have an extra special breakfast before all the sweets hit the tummies.

I will also be making a couple of fun treats....

Pear Raisin Pie

Jack O' Lantern Pops

And probably a pumpkin pie. Dear Hubbies birthday is on Friday so he gets to decide. We are not big cake eaters so I suspect his birthday treat will be something pumpkin related. YUMMY!

Ohhh, and in case you were wondering.....

Only 63 days til Christmas! Horray!

This weeks menu 9/25/11

I haven't posted my menu lately but managed to get it together earlier today so here you go....

Beef Stroganoff

Chicken and Rice Soup

Turkey Roast

Grilled Chicken Tenderloins- Mommy's Kitchen

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Homemade Pizza

Several of these have been on my menu but for whatever reason get bumped so they are back on for this week. Hopefully that will save some on the groceries since I know I already have the stuff.

I am hoping to do some baking this week and try some more yummy fall recipes. Anyone have some suggestions of their favs? There are so many to choose from!!

Menu and new cooking blogs!

With the addition of 2 new blogs I am excited to try some new main dishes. Not to mention cooler weather means we and enjoy our favorite soups and chilis!

This week at our house....

Homemade Pizza

Turkey Roll Ups from Mommy's Kitchen

Roast, potatoes and garden carrots

Meatloaf from Country Cook

Chicken Rice Soup

Taco Casserole

For Desert I plan on trying a new Lemonade Pie from my dear friend. hmmm, maybe I will make that tonight! She promises it is refreshingly delightful! We will see and I will post pictures and the recipe.

Now I have to put a shout out for The Country Cook. I found her blog through Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck link party. I love cooks that stick with basic ingredients in my pantry. They are even better when they remind me of growing up on the farm and in the country. It all comes down to comfort food for me but these are the biggest hits with my boys too. They haven't lived on a farm but they love to visit my uncles farm. Something about the dirt in your toes and the thrill of riding a tractor....

but I digress....

The Country Cook has lots of fun recipes that look great.

Shhh, please don't tell dear hubby she even has a recipe for "Magic Shell" ice cream topping.

He loves the stuff that will freeze on your ice cream. All my boys devour it (I know this is a common occurance) and I haven't boughten it in a while which means they could go through some withdrawls when I buy it again!

Or her Hamburger Steaks and gravy

Then for desert try her Shorcut Cheese Danish, I plan on trying it!

Ooh, Yummy!

These will be great recipes for my boys to learn to cook with too. At 11 and 9 they are wanting to learn to cook more. Love that! It helps that they have been watching food networks "Chopped" show with dad. It becomes a joke if your dish is chopped or not. Makes me smile and welcome them into the kitchen. I will have to have them pick a night to help cook and let them go at it while I supervise. Before long I will have them searching blogs for more great recipes to try! Who said having all boys was tough?!

Check out The Country Cook for your cook!

This weeks menu 8/21

I planned this at the beginning of the week but never got a chance to finish posting it. With school starting I find my evenings jam packed with dinner, homework, scouts, and work. And we've only been in for 2 days! Hopefully we will get the evening routine smoothed out. Mornings are not a problem for us, it's the evening. We wake early enough to have spare time in the morning but there is only so much to cram into the evening hours.

BBQ Chicken

Cabbage rolls

Burrito Casserole

Beef Stroganoff

Chicken Nachos

I want to make oven fried chicken for Dear hubby for lunch, anyone have a great tried and true recipe. I know it's simple but I have never made it. Please share if you have a great recipe. Dear hubby could use a smile in the middle of a rough day.
ENJOY!

This weeks menu 8/14 & Cafe Rio Dressing!

We will be visiting family this weekend so our menu is short but I have a couple of recipes to entice you this week....

First, at Casa del Johnson's you can join us for......

 Antipasto Picnic Salad from Taste of Homes

 Garden Chicken Salad from Taste of Homes

Pinwheels

Spaghetti

Tacos

Now for a recipe to make your friends drool. I love Cafe Rio's pork salad but the dressing is half the delight. I have the recipe for the pork but didn't realize that I had the recipe for the dressing too. Thank you to my Relief Society friends in Idaho. The put together a small recipe book to give as birthday gifts last year. We moved before my birthday came up but I had been looking forward to this treasure. Ward cook books are some of the best! I begged a copy and they had sympathy on this country gal. I often forget it sitting in the top of my cupboard but always pull it out when I'm in need of inspiration. I was delighted to find this recipe. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Cafe Rio Cilantro Ranch Dressing

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix

3 Tbs salsa verde

1/2 tsp tabasco sauce

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

2-3 small cloves garlic

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup sour cream

grated lime peel and juice from one lime

buttermilk to thin to correct consistency

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. Serve with Cafe Rio Sweet Pork.

~ENJOY~

This week menu 8/7/11

I enjoyed a lovely birthday of relaxing and visiting with friends yesterday. My request was to not cook and not do dishes. I am proud to say my house of boys delivered! Dad cooked and all the boys pitched in to clean up.

I had planned the menu already so here you go. Hope this helps give you some ideas....

Burrito Casserole
Grilled Chicken with vegis
Chicken Nuggets
Taco Salad (I have lettuce ready in my garden!)
Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken
Grilled Ham and Cheese- extra yummy on homemade bread!

Next month we will be purchasing 1/2 a cow and thankfully restock our freezer with some beef. For now we are using chicken more because it's simply cheaper. Thankfully there are oodles of recipes for chicken. Plus it is lean protein.
I am looking ohhh, soo forward to fall.
It is my favorite season, warm days, cool nights and the BAKING!! Oh MY!
And guess what?! Fall is just around the corner!
ENJOY!

This weeks menu 7/31

I am looking forward to fall baking and cooking. In the heat of the summer I don't want to stand in front of the stove, who does. Dear hubby gets tired of all the sandwiches he eats everyday at work and although I love a great salad the boys could be spared from eating leafy greens 7 days a week. The result is a total drain on my menu planning. I am longing for some yummy soups, casseroles and chili's. Not to mention they are some of the easiest menus to cook. Soups are great for using all the leftovers in the fridge, a little of this a little of that and voila! Fall is coming and I will soon get to enjoy yummy baking and what have you......

For this week you may join us at Casa de Johnsons for 

Olive Garden Night

Nachos

Chicken Bacon Pizza

Cabbage Wraps

Teriyaki Chicken Noodles

BBQ Chicken Wraps 

from Real Mom Kitchen

This weeks menu 7/24

Most weeks I don't mind which day we eat what. This week, however, we have lots going on and I wanted to coordinate my meals with the evenings activities. Hopefully this will make life easier for me. We are also trying to eat fewer carbs. This is a bit of a challenge considering most of our meals are a meat, vegi, and starch combo. Last week wasn't too bad but my grocery budget was a lot bigger than I am used to. It's been a while since I bought steak at the store. We usually get 1/2 a beef from my uncle in the spring. We weren't able to this year. Lets just say, OUCH! Meat is expensive! Perhaps thats why I lean more to the chicken meals........

Monday

Omletts

Tuesday

Work BBQ at the park

Wednesday

Parmessan Chicken Salad

Thursday 

Chicken Fried Steak

Friday

Camping

Saturday

Oven Fried Chicken 

Baked Beans

This weeks menu 7/11/11

I was able to get my Bountiful Basket this weekend so I will be able to fill in our main dish with great fresh vegi's. We will be out of town again over the weekend but I am hoping to take some food with us so we don't spend so much eating out. Not to mention the havick it causes our bodies. I feel so sluggish when we eat out several times while out of town. Maybe some sandwiches, chips, & fresh produce..... Perhaps I will even take some rice and chicken to zap in the microwave while we work at our old house.....

Grilled Turkey & Swiss Sanwiches

Sesame Noodles

Pizza

Sweet and Sour Chicken with fried rice

French Toast

Spaghetti

Leftovers
 I am also going to have to do more planning for lunches. I usually just use leftovers for lunch but of course summer time changes all the rules. Not to mention dear hubby having Friday's off too. (he works 10 hour shifts) It's nice to have 3 day weekends but lunches are becoming a bit of a challenge. Call me crazy but I just don't feel like cooking a big meal twice a day. That is not usually a problem but the quick meal/food items are disappearing around snack time. Hmm, I'll have to scavenge my cookbooks and have my shopping list ready for next week.

Menu plans 7/5/11

The week is already under way but I thought I would post my menu anyway. Summer is sizzling. We have been busy with swim lessons, vacations, day outings and a crazy work schedule. All of this hasn't helped my plan for blogging. I hope to get back to it this month. I'm sure all you blog friends have been missing my weekly menu, crazy boy antics and craft frenzies. ;-)

I was also thinking I miss my 52 projects. See back when I started blogging I found so many ideas I wanted to try I became overwhelmed and didn't know where to start. I decided to focus on one project a week- thus leading to my 52 projects. It really was nice to have some direction. Not to mention how satisfying it was to do my post of a years of fun! With that I am hoping to get back to doing a project each week. Look for lots of fun to come.

Dinner at the Mi Casa's

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad

Basil Pork Chops w/ salsa pasta & beans

Taco Ring

No shopping trips for me this week. I will be recovering from our weekend out of town. 

Be prepared, school shopping is just around the corner!

This weeks menu 5/29

A couple of months ago I chose to cut my hours back at work. They didn't have a "part time" position but rather a "as needed" slot. At the time they were always needing more help and numbers were increasing. I could get all the hours I wanted and needed....fast forward a couple of months and I am worried they have over compensated by hiring too many people. Time will tell but for the next month I am incredibly stressed about if I will get any hours let alone the part time hours I need. It is so nerve racking!!! Needless to say, I will be scrimping everything down that I can. I am thankful we are used to eating from the pantry but that does mean we already have that tightened down. We will see how much better I can do especially with summer upon us and little boys home who seem to have hollow legs!

Sunday

Clam Chowder (yes, it's STILL raining)

Monday

Meatloaf (we had spaghetti instead last week)

Tuesday

Lasagna

Green Salad

Wednesday

leftovers

Thursday

Soup and Sandwiches

(it's suppose to be rainy again)

Friday

Rice and bean burritos

Saturday

BBQ (keeping our fingers crossed for sunshine!)

Last week I did manage to stock up on some of our summer treats. The freezer is full of  popsicles and ice cream. And I laid down the law- only ONE per day! Yeah, I know, wishfull thinking! Now you know why I work nights, I have to police the boys snacking! lol

This weeks menu 5/22

I haven't been able to get my Bountiful Basket for a couple of weeks. I chose sleep over loging on. I work nights and after 24+ hrs awake I just couldn't get up after my first hour of sleep. Hopefully tomorrow I will make it on and manage to get a basket. I have been able to clear out the vegi's and fruit though. Plus it is good to pull from the bottled supply in my pantry.

I had dear hubby help with input this week. He has managed to get out of any input (I prefer to have the families suggestions) for a couple of months now. It does alter just a bit what my plans are but at least when I am too busy or wiped out to cook he knows what the plan is and can help.....

Monday

Chili

Cornbread

Applesauce

Tuesday

Pork Chops

Green Beans

Mashed potatoes

Wednesday 

Chicken and Wild Rice soup

Rolls

Peach Cobbler

Thursday

French Toast

Bacon

Friday

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

Saturday

Meatloaf

Scallops potatoes

Fresh vegi's from Bountiful Basket (hopefully)

I have been busy chasing boys and enjoying some time reading. I haven't yet learned how to do all that I WANT to do while doing what I NEED to do so I have neglected my blogging a bit. 

This week I hope to have several posts though. 

Joann Fabric opened in town- HORRAY! So I have some projects to share from my shopping there.

The sun has peeked through the clouds a couple of times so I will be able to share some outdoor gardening.

I also pulled the sewing machine up and finished a refurbish project just in time for summer.

I am hoping to finish a redo project I started a couple of months ago to share.

And I'll be sharing a special soon to be 9 year olds birthday bash.

So stay tuned, I'm hoping to make it a great week!

This weeks Menu- 5/15/11

Here is what I have planned for this week. I will have a few things to get. I think the only things will be sausage, roast beef, and porkchops. I didn't get my Bountiful Basket yesterday. I am hoping to finish up a few stragglers in the produce bins and then restock them on Saturday. Friday and Saturday hubby is taking the boys on the Father and Son's campout. There are certain times that are great about having ALL boys. Times like bathroom breaks at the restaurant and Father Son's campout weekend! Mr. M just turned 3 so dad may try to beg out of taking him (between you and I, I highly doubt he will be able to once Mr. M learns they are all going camping...) Either way it will be a great weekend with some quiet for MOM! The cherry on top is that Joann's is opening on Friday here in town. Yeah! I've been waiting. I want to get some projects done. Now I won't have to drive so far!

So add to my shopping list some camp food and hopefully I will be done.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Sketti

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Rice and Beans Burritos

Sweet BBQ Pork chops

French Dip

Turkey Casserole

What are your plans for this week? Anything yummy in store. Let me know whatcha got! 

Inspire me! 

This weeks menu 5/9/11

I'm a way late but thought I would share anyway. I have planned 2 weeks menu. My shopping list was still short but there are some great sales going on right now. You can check them out at PYP. By stocking up during great sales I manage to cook from my pantry most weeks. Instead of shopping Walmart for dinner I shop my pantry previously stocked from great sales! It's a great feeling to know I can feed my family without a single trip to the store when times are lean.

Chicken Enchiladas

Turkey, potatoes, green beans

Turkey noodle casserole

Clam Chowder

Chicken Nuggets

Olive Garden Zuppa Soup

I will post next weeks menu on Sunday. I bought a couple of Turkey's with the November sales and have had them sitting in my freezer. While browsing the freezer and storage I realized I should cook one of them. The end of this week will be nice but it has started out raining and cool. Perfect for soup and comfort food. I may make some changes and break out the grill again this weekend but that will depend on if hubby is up to it. He is the grill expert, which I totally enjoy! It means a night out of the kitchen for me!

What's on the Menu this week....

Here is what I have planned to cook from my pantry this week...

Monday

Taco Soup

Tuesday

Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas

Corn

Wednesday

Sasame Noodles loaded with vegis

Thursday

BBQ steak 

Potatoes

Green Beans

(unless someone has a great meatless recipe for me.... )

Friday- dinner with friends

Dutch Oven BBQ Ribs

Dutch Oven potatoes

Green salad

Saturday

Ward Dinner- maybe make a potatoe salad

I am wanting to reduce the amount of meat we eat and sub 2 days a week for meatless dishes. Partly for health and partly for cost reasons. We are truly a meat and potatoes family- hello, we grew up in rural Idaho! I know there are lots of yummy meatless without knowing it's meatless recipes out there but I couldn't find them. Someone care to help me out? We enjoy vegis so this shouldn't be too big of a jump for us. Dear hubby is a pasta guy anyway. I know the options are endless with that (a couple of weeks ago my whole meal plan was about pasta since I need to cycle some of it through my pantry).

My grocery list is nearly non-existant with this menu. I plan on scouring the fridge and freezer for vegis waiting to be used in the soup and noodles. I am baking whole wheat bread, cookies and banana bread today. We still have lots of apples in the fridge and some gogurts for snacking.

Mr. M is my milk drinker but after finding 8 cavities before the age of 3 we are cutting back on the milk in between meals. And YES, I do brush his teeth, FAITHFULLY! *ugh*! With cutting back on his milk consumption we still have 2.5 gallons which should last us until next week. Eggs- check, cheese-check....flour, sugar, all the staples in my pantry- CHECK! Looks like a good shopping week. All I will have to worry about is the great coupon sales. Gotta love LOVE that!