Menu Plan Monday...

This past week was SUPER crazy. None of our family lives close, so we have to mail all gifts. I've mailed 7 packages (with one to go) and almost 60 Christmas cards last week. Hopefully this week will be a bit less rushed. We went into D.C. last Monday to see the national tree, too. I only made one meal that I planned last week. Now, the good news is that we didn't eat out, we just made fast things at home. The other nice thing is no shopping this week!! So, yes...this is essentially the same menu from last week. We did try the kielbasa and cabbage skillet and really liked it. I served it with fine egg noodles, buttered. Logan loved the noodles and kielbasa and I put some of the cooked carrots and bell peppers in with it...he ate it right up.

Also, I wanted to share with you a new favorite thing of mine. I honestly can eat this twice a day and don't get tired of it!! I got this from an online friend, Tina. She got it from her friend, Julie Disser, who wrote a raw foods cookbook. I'm telling you....I love this salad!! Now, I don't mix up the whole thing since it is just me eating it. I keep all the veggies chopped so when I want this salad, it only take a couple of minutes to mix it up.

Fresh Kale Salad

1 bunch fresh kale ( may add red chard, swiss chard and collard greens)
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt or real salt (I use kosher)
1/2 cup red bell pepper diced
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper diced
1-2 ribs celery diced
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1 avocado diced
1/2 cup sprouted or canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 TBSP pumpkin seeds (I use sunflower ones because I can't find pumpkin)
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

To remove stems from kale, take each leaf in hand, fold it in half lengthwise with the stem in the center, nd with the other hand, gently pull on the stem. You can also use a knife to separate the leaves from the stems. Once the stems have been removed, stack the leaes on top of one another and chop nto very thin strips. Add the kale (and other greens) to a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and then work the salt into the kale with your hands. The kale will wilt and take on a soft and pleasant texture without loss of nutrients involved in cooking. Add the other ingredients and toss well. Serve immediately.

Here is a before shot of the kale.  This is about 4-5 cups of loosely packed kale.

And here is what it looks like after working the salt into it.  

*=new recipe

• Breakfasts: I'm making a crustless quiche* that will last a couple of days, oatmeal, cold cereal, toast with jam

• Lunches: chicken salad on whole wheat tortilla, ham and cheese on whole wheat tortilla, pb and j, chicken strips, pasta, salad

• Monday--meatloaf, creamed spinach* (for me), mashed potatoes, corn

• Tuesday--spaghetti squash lasagna style, bread, salad

• Wednesday--pumpkin chicken enchiladas*, rice, beans, salad

• Thursday--chicken broccoli cheese casserole*, salad--I was excited to find the casserole recipe, because the creamed soups actually have a good amount of carbs in them

• Friday--chili rellenos casserole, rice and beans (for the boys), salad

For more menu plan Monday fun, head on over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Meals...Using What We Have

I'm just going to list some meals not sure what order we'll have stuff in yet. This is using the stuff in our freezer and I will still add in some things that we just really enjoy (like the kale salad). This is using up pretty much everything in the freezer except for the 16 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken breasts....I'm only using those in three meals in this plan. There may be a few things left that there is enough for more than one meal, but I figured I'd make all this and then take inventory and start again. It will be pretty empty after this, though!

I'll just keep this list for us to choose our meals from and add to for the week if there is something we're really wanting. I just wanted to plan out what we have to use it all up.
 --steak gorgonzola frozen meal, dinner rolls
--kale salad
--French bread pizza (Italian sausage from freezer, sweet peppers, onion, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese
--spaghetti (from leftover sausage and sauce from pizza), green beans, carrots
--breakfast burritos
--fish sticks, pasta roni, green beans
--chicken noodle casserole, steamed broccoli
--sweet and spicy wings, fire roasted veggies, potato wedges, onion rings, seasoned fries (using up the little bits of stuff that isn't enough for one meal alone....LOL!)
--butternut squash pasta
--baked chicken (using a Kraft kit in the fridge), black eyed peas, carrots
--chicken fried tuna steak with jalapeno cream gravy, rice medley (frozen side dish from Trader Joes), fire roasted veggies, broccoli
--smokey bbq chicken, beans (using ham hock in freezer), corn bread, corn on the cob
--pasta with meatballs, salad
--chicken caesar salad
--turkey/dressing casserole (using turkey, corn bread cubes and bread cubes in freezer-->making homemade dressing and omitting cranberry sauce), green beans--->the turkey was bad, so we didn't have this meal
--stroganoff pasta with meatless meatballs
--lemon chicken, pasta roni, steamed veggies
--fajitas (using steaks in freezer)
--stir fry (meatless chicken tenders, sugar snap peas, stir fry veggies), brown rice, wontons
--buffalo chicken meatballs, mac and cheese, broccoli
--patty melts (using h.b. patties in freezer), chips, fruit
--tilapia parmesan, sauteed veggies

ETA:  Looking back at my blog, I noticed that sometimes I would give a review of a new recipe that I tried (usually it was on Menu Plan Monday).  I really liked that looking back, I had an idea of if we cared for the meal.  :)  So, I decided to try to update when we try a new recipe!  


The chicken noodle casserole was very good!  We made it with Reames frozen egg noodles.  They didn't taste very good plain, but were really good in the casserole.


The buffalo meatballs were good!  I put celery in them as well as the onion and skipped out on serving them with any dressing, just the buffalo sauce.  I put a little of the hot sauce into the meatball mix, too, and put them under the broiler to brown them up a bit.

Menu Plan....Tuesday??

Well, I'm a day late this week and I really don't have much to share. How's that for a plan?

Yesterday my hubby flew out on a last minute trip to CA to see his grandmother. She was hospitalized a little over 2 weeks ago and we were told she wouldn't have long to live. She does seem to be doing better, but with hubby starting a new job soon, he won't have any time off for a while. If he was going to go, it had to be now. So, Sunday night the ticket was bought and he left the next day. So, that leaves me and the boys. Last week when I bought the kale salad ingredients, I bought enough for us to have it a couple of times, but since hubby is gone, there is still enough for me to have it twice. Also, hubby pulled some hamburger meat out of the freezer that I needed to use, so I did that tonight.

Below is my dinner for the week. For the boys, I have mac and cheese (hubby made a batch of homemade on Sunday), hotdogs, various kinds of sandwiches, and oatmeal.

Tuesday: I decided to try this burger out! Yum! I almost didn't pause long enough to take the photo! (I made two, so will have the other to eat this week as well.) I cooked the onions longer than she did and I used Cholula instead of Tabasco...I just like it better!



Wednesday: kale salad (Easy because I have all the veggies ready to go except for the kale!)

Thursday: leftover burger

Friday: ??? Hubby comes home!

Saturday: ??

AWOL on Menu Plan Monday.....

It has been a while since I've participated in Menu Plan Monday. I've still made a plan and mostly followed it, I just haven't been posting it here. Actually, until the last few days, I hadn't been doing much of any posting here. Things seem to be getting back into a routine, so I'm trying to get back to posting!

In case you are curious, I'm down 16 pounds on this diet in the 9 weeks I've been on it.....I've ventured off course for a couple of weeks (eating right some days, but not on others...and not eating my snacks like I should), but I'm back to it!! I didn't gain during that time, so I am happy about that. Edited to say---today was weigh in day so when I got up I weighed and am down another 1.5 pounds, for a total of 17.5!!

*=new recipe

Sunday--pepper steak and sauteed veggies

Monday--leftovers for lunch, kale salad for dinner

Tuesday--miso soup for lunch*, kale salad for dinner

Wednesday--miso soup for lunch, honey balsamic chicken and acorn squash for dinner

Thursday--leftovers for lunch, Korean beef and green beans for dinner

Friday--leftovers for lunch, Thai chicken (adapted to fit in diet) for dinner

Saturday--leftovers for lunch, salmon patties and simple peas for dinner

For more, head on over to Laura's!

Menu Plan Monday--Christmas Edition

We have finished all of our wrapping and stocking stuffing, so we won't be rushing around to get that done!! YAY!! Bad parents that we are, we've never done the whole Santa thing with our boys. This year Logan is just starting to catch on. He knows that Santa is a guy who gives gifts to everyone (said he saw that on Polar Express). Recently while we were out and someone asked him what he asked Santa for, he told them Santa never brings him anything...LOL!! So, here is my dilemma....do I start the Santa thing with him now...at 5 years old, or do I just let it slide?? I thought about doing it this year with the gifts I hadn't wrapped yet, but then I realized that Logan was with me when I bought Lucas the Pat Pat Rocket. So, I guess if I want to do Santa next year I will have to think ahead. Gee....I never realized this whole Santa thing took so much planning ahead!!

• Monday--leftovers---->making sugar cookies and other various goodies today!!

• Tuesday--Merry Christmas!!--Italian cheese balls, green bean casserole, turkey breast*, cranberry sauce, salad, rolls, and we might just have to try this pie!!
  

*-- I use a boneless turkey breast roast. Ball up some foil and place in bottom of cooker. Pour one cup chicken broth in. Rub turkey breast with olive oil, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper and place on top of foil. Cook on high for 3 hours or until 170° F. I used my meat thermometer to make sure I didn't overcook it.

• Wednesday--leftovers

• Thursday--pecan chicken, brown rice, steamed veggies

• Friday--turkey sandwiches, tater tots, salad

Breakfasts:

• cold cereal
• oatmeal
• breakfast sandwiches
• toast with jam

Lunches:

• pb and j sandwiches
• kale salad
• pasta
• chicken salad on whole wheat tortilla
• hot dog

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!! Here are the pictures of my boys that I included with my Christmas cards....





For more menu plan Monday fun, head on over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday...

It has been a long while since I've done Menu Plan Monday. I actually have a plan this week, so I thought I would post it. Nothing too exciting, but easy enough that I will stick to it!


************I've edited my post to include a link to the chili recipe that I made up. We went to the farmer's market and my husband picked up a whole bag of various peppers, so I decided to come up with a way to use them.


Monday--
kale salad

Tuesday--leftover fajitas

Wednesday--homemade chili, Fritos, cheese

Thursday--chicken salad (Cape Cod chicken salad from Costco) sandwiches on croissants and cole slaw (also from Costco in the deli area)

Friday--leftovers

Saturday--leftovers

Lunch choices (all served with a side of fruit)--

• cheese, pepperoni, crackers
• hummus and pita bread or pretzels
  
• chicken salad sandwich
• cheese rollup
• pot pie (Marie Callender's)
• English muffin pizzas
  

Menu Plan Monday...

Last week was a little off. Monday and Tuesday we were out kind of late and ended up just having faster things at home than what I had planned, so I have two carryover meals from last week.  

Here is a picture of the chili relleno casserole. I've made it lots of times and we really like it. Now, it isn't low in fat, but it is low in carbs!! The recipe says to use a 9x13, but I use an 8x8. Also, I use three 4.25 oz. cans of the chilies.

We also managed to try out a few new recipes.  Here is a picture of the veggies ready to be roasted for my Ratatouille Soup. Now, I do like eggplant, but I think next time I make this soup, I'll omit it. Maybe add some yellow squash to it. Perhaps I didn't roast it long enough, but it had a funny texture to it.  But, overall, I think this a very good soup.  I especially like that I can have almost 2 cups of it and it is only 32 grams of carbs!!


Ratatouille Soup (from this cookbook):

1 small eggplant (3/4 pound), cubed (4 cups)

2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

5 cloves garlic, sliced

1 T. olive oil

1 t. dried Italian seasoning, crushed

2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth

1 cup dried cavatelli (I used rotini because I already had some)

1 (15 oz.) can navy beans, rinsed and drained

2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1.  In large, shallow roasting pan combine the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and garlic.  In small bowl combine the olive oil, Italian seasoning, 1/4 t. salt, and 1/4 t. pepper; drizzle over vegetables, tossing to coat.  Bake in a 425° oven about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once.

2.  Meanwhile in a dutch oven combine the broth and 3 cups water.  Bring to boiling; add pasta.  Return to boiling.  Cook about 12 minutes or until tender.  Reduce heat.  Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and roasted vegetables.  Heat through.  

We also tried the spaghetti carbonara.  It was soooo good!!  Both boys loved it, too, so it will be a repeat in this house.  There is a lot leftover, so we can have it for lunch, too!!  

Spaghetti Carbonara (from this cookbook)

1 lb. dry spaghetti (I used one box of this)

1 lb. cooked bacon, crumbled (I love this---less mess and I get an awesome deal on it at Costco!!)

1 cup frozen petite peas

2.5 cups heavy cream

1 c. fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

1 T. fresh Italian parsley chopped (I just sprinkled in some dried)

freshly ground black pepper

1.  Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain and set pasta aside.

2.  In large frying pan over medium-high heat, heat bacon pieces until they begin to sizzle.  Add peas and cream.  Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat slightly, and boil gently for about 8 minutes.  Sprinkle in Parmesan cheese, stirring continuously until blended and sauce is slightly thickened.

3.  Mix pasta and sauce together in large serving bowl.  Garnish with chopped parsley and black pepper to taste.

Now---on to this week's menu:

*=new recipe

Monday--chicken tacos (shredded chicken with green chilies), salad for me, beans and rice for the boys

Tuesday--steak, twice baked cauliflower*, green beans

Wednesday--chicken sandwiches (similar to Marlboro Man's second favorite sandwich), chips (I'll have mine in non-sandwich form with a salad)--I'm using lemon butter chicken that I have in my freezer and microwaveable bacon. I know it won't taste the same, but I'm really trying to use only things I have on hand this week.

Thursday--Beef stroganoff, brown rice, steamed veggies

Friday--Marla's maid-rites (on buns for the boys--whole wheat tortilla for me-->kind of like sloppy joes), tater tots (for the boys), salad

Lunches:

• Ratatouille soup
  
• kale salad
  
• pb and j
  
• leftover spaghetti carbonara
  
• turkey sandwiches
  

Breakfasts:

• cheese toast
  
• oatmeal
  
• toast and jam for boys
  
• toast, eggs, bacon
  
• pancakes for boys
  

For more menu plan Monday fun, head on over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Super yummy!!

I know I've posted both of these in the past, but I am posting again, because I love them that much!! Plus, Pioneer Woman is having a giveaway and for what ever reason, I can't get my post to show up. I'm posting this and then just posting the link in my comment to enter her contest. Go check it out!!

Penne a la Vodka Sauce
(the notes are from my sister)
1 package sausage (Italian Turkey)
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 large can crushed tomatoes (28oz.)
¼ cup vodka
½ teaspoon salt
½-1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
¾ cup fat free half and half
1 cup skim milk

Cook garlic in olive oil for about 2 minutes, add sausage; cook until sausage is browned. Add tomatoes and vodka and simmer for about 3 minutes (this cooks off the alcohol). Season with salt and hot red pepper flakes. Add the half and half and milk and simmer 2-3 minutes. Serve over Penne Pasta.

Freezing instructions: Cook as directed above. Allow to cool and store in freezer bags. Thaw in the refrigerator 24 hours before serving. Heat the sauce in the microwave, on the stovetop or in the crockpot (High 2 hours or Low 4 hours). Serve over Penne Pasta.

The original recipe called for 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, but we altered the recipe to be lowfat. We also are using turkey Italian sausage and the original called for Italian or Breakfast sausage.

Weight Watchers Points: (sauce only)
1cup= 4points
½ cup=2 points



I like to serve this salad with pasta. Super easy and yummy!!

Spring mix greens, bell pepper, celery, green onions, pumpkin seeds (I use sunflower seeds and slivered almonds, but my favorite is the pumpkin) and olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and sea salt for the dressing. You can make this salad a meal by adding an avocado and garbanzo beans. YUM!! I also eat this with kale, but my husband doesn't like the kale.

Spring Cleaning....

I know it isn't spring yet, but I've started my spring cleaning already! Friday I cleaned out the pantry, Saturday I cleaned out the freezer and deep freezer, and today I filed, sorted and shredded the paper pile ups. While cleaning out the freezer, we also took inventory of the freezer items. This time I'm hoping to be better about planning our meals and crossing things off as we use them. I didn't inventory lunch items or what was in the freezer in the kitchen, though.

 4 steaks
1 package hamburger meat
1 package meatballs
1 package chorizo
lots and lots of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package whole grains and veggie blend
1 package fire roasted veggie blend
1 package roasted corn
4 ears of corn
1 bag chicken tenderloins
2 packages Louisana hot sausages (Shaine is pretty much the only one that eats these, so I won't plan means with them)
1 package habanero pepper jack chicken sausages
1 package thick cut applewood smoked bacon
3 packages Trader Joe's rice medley
2 packages Trader Joe's confetti rice (lemon grass, baby corn, and ginger)
1 package Eggo waffles
9 8 packages grilled chicken breast strips
1 package meatless meatballs
2 1 package bacon mushroom swiss cheese chicken sausage
1 package fully cooked beef brisket
1 package maple breakfast sausage
1 bag eggrolls
1 package beef salami
1 package Flounder fillets
1 bag green beans
1 bag broccoli
1 package breaded cod fillets
1 ziploc turkey taco meat
1 ziploc hamburger meat with green chilis
1 ziploc cooked ham slices
1 package marinated roast (I don't recall what this is exactly, but realized we missed writing it down when I sat down to type this up)
1 box cookie dough 

Here are a couple of pictures of my pantry, too.

I still needed to put some recipe boxes back in.  I went through my cookbooks and got rid of a few, too. We can see what all we have much more easily now.  With a larger pantry, I have a bad habit of buying too much stuff to fill it with.  Then it gets hidden and goes bad!  I was also trying to clear it of some of the less healthy stuff.  I didn't get rid of everything, but a large portion.  I don't plan on buying store bought cookies once what we have is gone.  Instead, if we want cookies, we can make some homemade ones and then only bake a few at a time.
 

I cooked a lot last week, so starting the week out, we are eating up any leftovers. Monday--kale salad (we had this last week and still have plenty of veggies chopped and ready for more!) Tuesday--fried potatoes with squash, zucchini, and onion topped with sausage (leftovers) Wednesday--fried chicken and not sure what sides yet (leftover chicken from Popeyes)

Getting organized....again!!

A couple of weeks ago, I did a major clean out of the pantry.  It's been a long time since my pantry has been so clean and so empty! And yes, I do realize that my pantry isn't really empty. It's just that it was overflowing before! I threw out a lot of junk.

 I've also been working hard to do better at making yummy meals for us. More nights than not, we would just throw some random thing together for dinner. There isn't anything wrong with that, but I prefer to follow a plan. If I have something planned, we are a lot less likely to just go out to eat. Part of this planning has me prepping some of our fruits/veggies for the week in advance. I must admit, I don't really like getting it all ready to go, but I figure if I'm going to do a little bit of it, I may as well do it all and get it over with. It makes serving up the fruit or making a kale salad go so much faster!

Another change made recently in our kitchen is a new fridge and dishwasher. When we remodeled our kitchen, we ran a line to have a fridge with ice/water in it. All this time we haven't put that to use. A few months ago I was browsing Craigslist and found a fridge I liked. They just happened to also be selling a dishwasher, so we picked up both for a good deal!

I think the fridge is much easier to keep organized and I'm loving having the water/ice in the door.  I also love that there is more space in the door to accomodate our love of condiments!  :-)

The freezer I haven't found a good way to organize.  I would have loved one of the types with the double door fridge on top and freezer on bottom, but I'm just not willing to spend that right now.

Another change is that my husband bought me a grain mill and new mixer (better for making bread) for mother's day/our 12 year anniversary.  We rarely buy each other anything, but these were something that we've been wanting for several years.  Because he knew I'd likely never bite the bullet and buy it myself, he did.  The buckets in the pantry with the red and blue lids are our wheat.  We have pretty much made our own bread for several weeks now.  I have bought a few specialty loaves, but for sandwiches and such, we've been making our own 100% whole wheat bread!

Menu Plan Monday--

I didn't do my meals in the order planned last week, but I did get to all but two of them. We are headed in the right direction!! We didn't have the beans/potatoes/cornbread, but I ran out of potatoes and I remembered that I have some white cheddar cheese to use up, so planned in the pumpkin enchiladas.


Monday--leftover chili cheese fries

Tuesday--grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (It just sounds good!)

Wednesday--chicken and rice casserole, carrots, Syrian green beans (carried over from last week)

Thursday--kale salad
(Since posting this originally, my husband has tried it and loves it, too! YAY!)

Friday--pumpkin enchiladas, simple peas, rice (We've had the enchiladas once and really liked them!)

Saturday--leftovers

Anything we don't get to this week will be carried over to next week.


For more menu plan Monday fun, head on over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Fridge Photos....

This week's Flaunt it Friday challenge is to share pictures of the contents of your fridge. Lucky for me, I cleaned it out earlier in the week!! Being that this is our first home, this is also our first fridge to own...LOL! In all of our apartments, we've had the wire shelves in the fridge and a spill on the top shelf meant it would drip all the way to the bottom. I LOVE having the glass shelves. If something spills, it should be contained to that shelf only....especially because there is a slight lip on it. Amazingly enough, we've been here for almost a year and not had a spill to test my theory!! But, what I do find strange is all the crumbs. How does that happen?? It isn't as if I put food in there without it being in a container!! Anyhow...on to the pictures.....



Oh---I think by the looks of it, this picture of the fridge says that we love condiments...LOL!!


Here we have some ingredients for my new favorite salad!! I washed the kale, used my salad spinner (that I just bought on Tuesday...thanks, Tina), and bagged it in serving sizes!! I also wash and chop the celery and have it handy for salads or for just a snack!! I also have a Pink Lady apple. It is by far my favorite apple!! Truly, I typically don't like apples...especially not the skin, but this one I love....skin and all!!

Here are some apples that my husband spotted last time we were at the store. They really do taste (and even smell) like a grape!! They weren't in my fridge yet, but I wanted to share them with you all.


Head on over to Themommykelly's blog and join in on the fun!!