Menu Plan for 3/29-4/2

I did not have to go to the store this week for any supplies for our meals. I have been trying very hard to come up with meals from what we have on hand or make a menu for 2 weeks when I go to the store so I have everything.  Grocery shopping weekly with two little ones in tow is just not my cup of tea.  Here is the menu:

--Chicken Azteca in the crockpot served over brown rice (another staple in our house)

--Creamy Spaghetti
        Basically spaghetti with a little bit of cream cheese in the sauce.  I have 4oz of cream cheese left over from last week that I need to use up. Thought this would be easy and the kids love spaghetti!

--Greek lemon chicken and roasted potatoes

         I plan to use an olive oil, rosemary, and lemon juice marinade for the chicken.

--For dessert one night (or a couple) I plan to make some rice pudding. I have about 1/2 gallon of milk to use up since today is milk delivery day.

And as for tonight, well, since I made a ton of food for the party yesterday I am taking the night off. Its Chinese takeout tonight for us! Yay!!!

Loving the outdoors

It has been very nice to finally have our backyard fenced in. I don't have to worry about the kids wandering off if I turn my back for a second, or taking the dog out on a leash. Plus, the kids love to chase the dog around the yard.  There have been some really great days this past month of nice sunny, warm weather. Perfect for letting the dog and the kids outside to burn off some energy. 

The boys have such a good time outside. We love to go for walks around our neighborhood every night that it is nice outside.  It wears the boys out and gives me some exercise.  Peytonn loves to look at the all the construction machinery from the new houses they are building. He is just so curious about trucks and bulldozers.  We also hope to get the boys a wood play center this summer for the backyard.  If anyone has one, where did you purchase it at, how are the materials, was it hard to put together, and would you recommend it?

What's for dinner?

I love playing this game. What's for dinner tonight at your house? Please include the recipe if you  can and what sides you are serving with it. This is a great way to get some new ideas for meals.

Tonight we are having Chili Cornbread Casserole.  Although I have some leftover chicken from a meal earlier in the week, so I will be using chicken in ours instead of ground beef.

I got this recipe from Mommy's Kitchen and here is the link to Chili Cornbread Casserole.

Lunch for the little ones

I've been home from work most of the week due to the babysitter being on Spring Break and I have been unable to find anyone with a free schedule to watch the boys. So, we've enjoyed the last two days at home, running errands, and playing outside. I don't really know why, but I was really struggling yesterday trying to figure out what to make for lunch. I started searching  Recipezaar and found a recipe for ham roll ups. I had made the baked ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner the night before and had a few pieces of ham left over.  Although, I didn't really want it to be the same exact thing that we had for dinner.  This recipe was great!! Take 8oz of softened cream cheese (I only used 4oz) and mix some chopped green onions with it.  Spread it on tortillas and place a slice of ham on the tortilla.  Roll it up like a cigar. 

Now, I'm not a big ham lunch meat person to begin with, but these were super yummy!!! The boys loved them and it was easy for them to pick up and eat.  And very little mess (unless you have a child like mine who decides to unroll it half way through to figure out what's inside!).

Here is the link to the Ham Rollups.
*Ok, after looking at the recipe, it says you put the cream cheese mixture on the ham slice and roll that up, no tortilla.  You can do it that way or put it on the tortilla for easy handling.

Meal Plan 3/22-3/26

It had been 2 weeks since we last went grocery  shopping and it seems like I could probably go a month without heading to the store, except to get some basic stuff like fruit/veggies, cheese, and bread.  I think I have stock piled so much that I almost feel overwhelmed at times looking at my pantry and chest freezer. My goal for April is going to be using up as much as possible from our pantry and freezer and making recipes/meals from ingredients that we already have on hand.

But as for this week, here is our meal plan:
--Mini ham and cheese sandwiches (AMAZING!)
--Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
--Homemade White Castle Sliders

If needed meals:
--Shrimp Scampi with pasta
--Smothered Southern Pork Chops

I had almost everything to make each of these meals this week. The only ingredients I got a the store today were ham, swiss cheese, velveeta cheese, and King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.  Since it is just me and the two little ones for dinner, I try to double up on ingredients if I can. For example, I really wanted to make those yummy ham and cheese sammy's for dinner one night and the recipe calls for Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. Now, obviously the two boys and I are not going to consume 12 rolls in one meal. So, then I remember reading a post by my friend Melissa over at Committed Housewife that she had made these sliders for her family for dinner one night. I found the recipe and they also called for Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. Bingo! That gives me another use for the other half of the package of rolls. Buy one ingredient and use it twice, money and time saver!

The rest of the shopping trip was dedicated to the menu for Peytonn's birthday party this weekend. Total I think we spent just over $100 and we should be good for 2 weeks.  Also, Sunday is milk delivery day (yay!). The boys get very excited when the milk comes or when its our turn to go to the farm and pick up/deliver the milk. One of the families that we share the driving with is heading out on Spring Break this week.  They asked us if we would like some of their milk since they will be gone. ABSOLUTELY, I said! We usually go through 2-3 gallons per week and lately I have been forced to buy a gallon of organic milk from the store because by Wednesday or Thursday we are out of our raw milk. The nice family gave us an extra gallon of milk this week and for free!! Woot! The entire top shelf of my refrigerator is filled with jars of milk and nothing else. Love that and love free things from generous people! :)

New bag

I have been carrying the same Vera bag since July of last year and although I LOVE my bag, it's time for a new one.  I was searching blogs this morning and came across the Moms Need To Know blog. I was reading through her posts and then came to one about Vera bags and a discount code. Score!!! I went to the Vera website through my  Swagbucks homepage so that I could get the points for my purchase.

Select colors are on sale for $35 for the Vera Pleated Tote. I got this green color, I have seen it out in public and I love how vibrant the green is. Plus, it was on sale! Also, you can get another 20% off using the code save20sale at checkout. Total with shipping, mine came to like $38. That is super cheap for a Vera bag!!

I am really liking the pockets on the side, it will be easy to stick pacifiers in and cell phones. Plus it has a zippered top which helps keep everything secure. Heaven knows I have bent down to help one of the kids and here comes all of the contents of my purse all over the ground! I need a zippered top purse.  Not to mention, it helps keep the kiddos out of my purse. They are both chapstick stealers. :)

Any ideas?

I need some help. I received an Amish Friendship Bread starter and it is due to be made up tomorrow.  The problem is, when you make it you get like 4 separate starters to hand out. I was wondering if anyone had any variations for this recipe that would make it different or a variation where it will only make one loaf or enough for one starter? 

I think I have seen some recipes out there for variations, but I want to see what you all have in mind. Any help is appreciated! :)

Bike Trailer

I've been wanting to get a bike trailer since last summer, but with finances, pregnancy, bedrest, etc in the way, we never got one. Peytonn is still learning how to pedal a bike so just a bike seat for Bennett was out of the question. I have been researching bike trailers and looking around at used children's stores and have not been able to find one. Only jogging strollers and let's face it, I'm just not a jogger.

I found that Dick's Sporting Goods carries the InStep brand bike trailer and went to the store to see it in person. Sucky pretty much sums up this trailer. The "seat" that my kids are supposed to sit on isn't even flat, it like a hammock. Imagine the "he's touching me mom!" kind of bike rides we could enjoy with that piece of crap. NOT! And especially for the over $200 price tag of it, NO THANK YOU! So, back to the drawing board. I started searching Amazon and reading reviews. I found some "definitely out of our price range" nice/good reviews bike trailers, but none that I could hardly convince my husband to let me buy. Then I happened across the Schwinn Joyrider. It actually has a real seat, that's padded! GASP! It has a huge screened in canopy and enough room for 2 with harnesses. And it has a space for their helmets and storage in the back. Oh, and it converts easily to a double stroller. Great! I'll take it! And I did! Sadly, it takes 2-4 weeks to ship and should be here sometime the first week of April. I also ordered Bennett a bike helmet from Amazon b/c heaven forbid a retail store should carry an infant bike helmet. Here is our beauty:I like the colors too! It's not bumblebee yellow! I can't wait to try it out. I'm sure the boys will love it and I'm sure my butt and thighs will love the workout! :)

Menu for 3/14-3/20

Last week I planned four meals out and I only ended up making three. We just were able to eat the leftovers and I didn't need to make the fourth meal. So, this week I plan to make three, possibly four if I have to. Here is the menu for this week:

--Salmon with Rice and asparagus
--Shrimp Diablo with Penne and french bread and salad
--Porucpines with mashed potatoes and a veggie of some sort

My back up meal for this week if we need it is:
--Butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter sauce (this is a favorite in our house and both the boys LOVE it!)

I actually have everything on hand to make all of these meals, so no trip to the grocery this week! Yay! We are really good at stockpiling, so we could probably go about 3 weeks to a month without making a huge shopping trip. I am trying to make more meals out of what we already have instead of stopping at the store for this and that to make a specific recipe.

We also have a birthday party to attend this evening and I made this grape salad to take with us. This stuff is delicious and very easy to make! It's like crack, you can't eat just one helping. :)
--Grape Salad
I make mine in a 9x13 pan and put the brown sugar/pecan mixture on top of that. That way you get more of the topping in each serving.

Hodge Podge

It has been so nice outside this past week. Granted it did rain on Sunday, but it has still been in the 50-60's and most days have been sunny. I was home this afternoon and decided to walk around the house and check out the garden's to see if anything was starting to turn green yet. I discovered that my tulips in our front flower garden are starting to sprout up through the ground. I was so excited, this is a sure sign of spring!!It was so nice to see that little bit of green amongst all the brown! I also noticed that my veggies are starting to sprout as well. I love the pretty deep purple/pink that the beets are.

I also made some lasagna on Monday night, it was FABULOUS! I mean, even the kids ate everything on their plate (even though I added in some spinach!). Pretty much the only difference from a basic lasagna recipe was the cream layer. Instead of using ricotta or cottage cheese, the recipe called for 1 cup of chicken stock heated up on the stove. Then you add 8oz of cream cheese and wisk until creamy. Pour this on top of the noodle layer. Did I mention how amazing this was?!We ate it two nights in a row and only finished half, so I boxed up the other half of the 9x13 pan and put it in the freezer for another night. Tonight we are having marinated pork chops and veggies on the grill with whole wheat couscous and fresh rolls. This is the second time I am using the bread dough that I made earlier in the week. First time I made a loaf and this time I am making rolls. The loaf tasted really good, so I hope the rolls are just as good.

For the Love of Bread!

So, its no secret that I LOVE to make homemade bread. I mean, who can really resist the overwhelming scent of fresh baked bread in your home?! I certainly can't! I have tried many different recipes for fresh baked bread and I have some favorites, but today I decided to try something new. I usually make my bread on the weekends when I have more time, so I came across this recipe on 'Zaar for bread that I can make the dough and use it all week long. Essentially, you make the dough, let it proof for 2 hours and then you can refrigerate the dough and pull from it all week long. GASP! This sounds too good to be true!! So I thought I definitely have to try this one out!

I am currently in the "proofing" stage. I made it in my KitchenAid Stand mixer and I am letting it proof in that bowl. That way I can just put the lid on it and stick it in my refrigerator. I am super excited about it and I hope that it works and tastes great. It got a lot of great reviews, so I am hopeful for success.

Here is the recipe:

• 24 fluid ounces hand warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fast rising yeast (Or, 1 oz fresh yeast, added to a little warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar.)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 3/4 lbs unbleached white bread flour (6 1/2 US Cups)

Directions

1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl - the water should be tepid or hand warm - NOT too hot, as it will kill the yeast.

2. Add the yeast to the water and then the salt, mix well.

3. Add ALL the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or a dough hook until all the ingredients are amalgamated - NO need to over knead.

4. Leave the bread dough in the mixing bowl and cover loosely - I use a shower cap to cover my dough! (That is NOT used as a shower cap anymore, I hasten to add!).

5. Allow to prove for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

6. The dough can now be stored in the fridge or you can use the dough to make a loaf of bread immediately.

7. If baking a loaf of bread now, pre-heat the oven and place a baking sheet or pizza tray in there. Tear off a large ball, about the size of a small melon, and knead it for about 1 minute with floured hands and on a floured board, Shape it as desired (Rolls, Boule, Baguette or Bannette) or place it in a greased and floured loaf tin. Allow to prove and rise for a further 20 to 30 minutes. Slash the surface with a sharp serrated knife if you wish, see photos. You can add a glaze or special finish at this point.

8. Bake at 225C/450F for 30 minutes or until well risen, brown and the loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside. (If you wish, you can add a bowl of boiling water as soon as you put the bread into the oven – this steams and bakes the loaf to give a good chewy texture and keeps the inside moist.).

9. Remove the bread when baked and cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter, cheese, jam, hams and cold cuts, or slice when cool for sandwiches. Also wonderful when toasted the next day.

10. Store the excess dough in the mixing bowl, loosely covered, in the fridge or somewhere cool until needed – this will keep for 2 weeks, but I find it has all gone by 7 to 10 days! This amount of dough will make between 4 and 5 loaves of bread, depending on the shape and amount of dough you use.

Menu for this week

I am trying to get back into menu planning. It used to make my life so easy and less stressful when it came to dinner time. Here is our menu for this week:

--Lasagna w/ sourdough french bread and salad
--Creamy sour Cream chicken casserole
--Grilled Pork Chops with grilled marinated veggies (peppers, onions, and eggplant)
--Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice casserole

These are in no particular order and I only did 4 b/c most of those dishes I will make the full version of and we can eat the leftovers on another night of the week. We are also participating in another Co-op this year for our fresh fruits and veggies. We will get them from a local farm and they will be organic, not to mention what we get from our own veggie garden. In the future, I am going to try to plan my meals around what veggies we get that week from the Co-op to help maximize the usage of all the veggies. Our Co-op will be starting this month and usually in the beginning we get lots of salad mix and asparagus (yum!!). I absolutely love asparagus and love to grill it and roast it in the oven. Even just steamed with some lemon juice and salt is delish!!

You can search Local Harvest to see if there is a Co-op in your area if you are interested. Or visit your local farmer's market as much as possible to help support the local farmers in your area.

Spring is here?

I think Spring and Fall are my most favorite times of the year, each for different reasons. I adore Spring time because its like that glimmer of hope for warm sunshine and beautiful flowers. After a long winter, I love the excitement that I get over a nice sunny 50 degree day. It makes me want to start my garden and work in the current flower beds that I have. Things are going to start getting greener and signs of life are going to start emerging from the brown that surrounds us.

I ordered my seeds about 2 weeks ago for my vegetable garden this year. They came in the mail about a week ago and today I finally got them started in my indoor planter. I am trying out the planter from Burpee.com, which is also where I bought my seeds from this year. The seeds I got were beets, green beans, green onions, radish, heirloom tomato, and cherry tomato. I got the 72 cell tray, so that means 2 short rows of each seed.

Since yesterday was a nice day, I was able to get out and clean out the old veggie plants from my garden and get the soiled tilled up. I plan to add some more compost to the bed before I transplant my veggies into it.

We also decided to finally put up a fence in our backyard. We have been wanting to put up a fence since we moved in over 2 years ago, but with time and money, we are just now getting around to it. The fencing company came this morning and put up the posts for the fence. They will allow the cement to harden for a few days and then should be back on Monday to board it up. We got a wood privacy fence with a scalloped top. We plan to stain it a dark cherry and seal the wood this summer sometime when hubby gets home. This is what they started today:

P.S. That's the "nature area" behind our house. Besides being a big weed pit and collecting people's trash that has blown away, its not much of a nature preserve. Hence why I don't mind putting up a fence to block our view of it. You'll notice the nice Huggies box in the first picture. Very classy!