meal plan tuesday 9/15/15

It's that time again!  Week One was a weird one for us this time around.  We had some family visiting and different things going on, so we had a lot of dinners at my parent's house.  So, it wasn't a great week as far as meal-planning goes, but that's life for ya'!

Week One

Monday - Family Dinner

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

Can you tell this is one of my go-to meals when I don't know what else to do?  Since I wasn't quite sure what the week would look like, I just planned for simple and fast things I could throw together without really thinking about.

Wednesday - Family Dinner

Thursday - Family Dinner

Friday - Beef Tacos

Just regular old ground beef tacos.  My husband was actually really happy about this one!  Sometimes I forget that it's the easiest and simplest meals that are some of his favorites!

Saturday - Pizza Night

Sunday - Leftovers

Week Two

Monday - Chicken Yakisoba

I've made this before and it is a hit!  It's easy to make and Makayla loves anything with noodles, so this one is good as far as she's concerned!

Tuesday - Family Dinner

Wednesday - Picnic Dinner

We were planning on going out to the lake and taking a picnic dinner, but just as we were about to leave, the sunshine disappeared and it started to rain.  Sigh.  So we gave up on our plans and threw a pizza in the oven.  It's a really good thing we like pizza!

Thursday - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

This was on our last meal plan, but I never did get to make it.  So we tried it this time, and it was super yummy!  I did cheat and use a jar of marinara instead of making the sauce, but it was still so good.  We will definitely make this one again.

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Creamy Tomato Soup

During the fall, it is almost always Soup Saturday at our house!  I love to have a pot of soup simmering all afternoon while the weather outside is crisp!  This soup is one of our favorites, and it goes perfectly with a grilled cheese sandwich.  Especially if the cheese is havarti and the bread is sourdough.....but that's just my opinion!  I taught Makayla how to dunk her sandwich, and she quickly mastered the skill!

Sunday - Birthday Dinner Out

It was my mom's birthday, so we went out to celebrate her!

Bonus Recipes

Berries on a Cloud

Y'all - make this.  It is so, so good.  I subbed blueberries for the cherries.

Lemon Bars

These were good, although I actually ended up enjoying them better the next day.  The first night, I thought they were way too tart, but the second day, I thought they were perfect!  So I don't know - maybe my taste buds were just off or something, but I will definitely make these again.

meal plan tuesday 9/1/15

Is it seriously September already?  I tell you, August just flew by at our house!  We are more than ready for some fall weather around here, and I am definitely ready for some fall-weather cooking. Give me pumpkin everything!

Week One

Monday - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

This one never happened, y'all.  I don't even remember now what happened to make this day so crazy, but I think I just threw some quesadillas on a plate for the kids and called it a night!  This looks so good though, so I will definitely be making it soon!

Tuesday - Family Dinner

Wednesday - Chicken Enchilada Casserole

We really liked this.  I served it with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro, and sour cream on top.

Thursday - Winger's Sticky Fingers

I've never heard of Winger's, but these were so easy, and so good!  I was afraid they would be too spicy, so I left the sauce off of Makayla's, and she gobbled them up.  We ate them with a regular ol' side salad.  I can see these becoming a go-to meal for me when I need something simple and quick.

Friday - Fish Tacos

Bobby made fish tacos for us with grilled Mahi.  This is one of our favorite meals to make during the summer, for sure!

Saturday - BBQ Chicken

Another grill night!  And what goes better with barbecue chicken than a loaded baked potato and corn-on-the-cob?!!

Sunday - Leftovers

Week Two

Monday - Roasted Garlic Pasta

Ok, so this one never happened either!  Apparently, ever since school started back, I just cannot get my act together on Mondays!

Tuesday - Family Dinner

Wednesday - Chicken Fried Rice

I don't really follow a recipe for this, but this one looks like a good one.

Thursday - Balsamic Salmon

I've made this before and it is excellent!  Although I must say, I love almost anything with balsamic vinegar!

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Hamburgers

Sunday - Pizza Night

meal plan tuesday 8/18/15

The start of the school year has made for a busy couple of weeks around here!  I've been happy to have a plan in place and all of the ingredients on hand so that dinner time is as stress-free as possible!

Week One

Monday - Sweet & Sour Chicken

We love this recipe!  Since we like a lot of sauce, I increased the amount and made a few slight changes to it: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.  I poured all of the sauce over the chicken and cooked for the normal time, and it was perfect!

Tuesday - Shrimp & Grits

This day ended up being a crazy one, so I never did end up making this and we just had Monday's leftovers.

Wednesday - Family Dinner

Thursday - Smoked Sausage and Potatoes

This is a simple, easy to make recipe that we have fairly often.  I use red potatoes and do not peel them like the recipe says. This is good for dinner, but I also make it for breakfast sometimes.  Bobby and Makayla love it with runny eggs on top!

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Chicken Enchiladas

These were good, but definitely not my favorite.  We had yellow saffron rice, black beans, and pico de gallo with them.

Sunday - Pizza Night

Week Two

Monday - Spring Pasta

I've made this before and it's a good one!  I grilled up some chicken to go on top since we like meat around here, but I'm sure it would be just as yummy without.  I also subbed panko bread crumbs for the french baguette and skipped the food processor step.

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice

Ok, this one was really not good, but I'm pretty sure it was my fault!  It was so overcooked - the chicken was dry and the rice turned into mush.  I think my slow cooker gets really hot and cooks faster, so I just needed to adjust my cooking time a lot, which I didn't!

Wednesday - Family Dinner

Thursday - Dinner Out

We went to the Open House at Caleb's school this night, so the kids and I had a quick meal at Chick-Fil-A beforehand, and then met Bobby (who was coming from work) there.

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Daddy's in Charge

I was out of town this night, so daddy was on dinner-duty!

Sunday - Cheese Quesadillas

Since Bobby had to go in to work and I wasn't going to be back yet, my brother watched the kiddos and made them cheese quesadillas.  My kids could eat these every night!

meal plan tuesday 8/4/15

It's time for another Meal Plan Tuesday!  Here's what's been cooking at our house:

Week One

Monday - Honey Dijon Chicken

This was so good!  I will definitely be making this again!  I served it with mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, which I thought were the perfect sides for it.

Tuesday - Family Dinner

Dinner at my parent's house.

Wednesday - Chicken Caprese

This was super easy to make, and we really liked it.  It went perfectly on top of orzo.

Thursday - Taco Pie

This is an easy recipe that my mom used to make when we were kids.  I tried searching for the recipe on pinterest, and while I didn't find the exact one, there's a lot of similar versions out there.

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Chow Mein

This one was just ok to me.  It was definitely easy to make though!

Sunday - Anniversary Dinner

We had plans to go out to dinner this night for our anniversary, but Bobby ended up getting a terrible migraine, so we stayed home and had leftovers.

Week Two

Monday - Spring Pasta

I woke up not feeling so well (seasonal allergies) and I was really dragging all day, so I ended up just throwing a frozen pizza in for dinner.

Tuesday - Family Dinner

Dinner at my parent's house.

Wednesday - Antipasta Salad

We love this salad that they serve at Bucca di Beppo, so I made a copycat version and served it with garlic bread and marinara sauce.

Thursday - White Chicken Lasagna

We really liked this one!  Makayla had swimming lessons right before dinner, so this was the perfect thing for me to make ahead and then let bake while we were out.  I love walking through the door and smelling dinner already waiting for us!  I did sub fresh spinach leaves for the frozen spinach.

Friday - Leftovers

We actually made it out for our anniversary dinner (take 2) this night, and the kids had dinner at my parent's house.

Saturday - BLTA Sandwiches

Not much better than a bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich in my opinion!  I made them on yummy sourdough bread, and we had oven baked french fries.

Sunday - Family Picnic

We had a big family picnic dinner at the park before my baby brother was baptized!

meal plan tuesday 7/21/15

I have to start out by saying that I never did get around to making a meal plan for this first week.  It has been a long time since I have let that happen, and it was a really good reminder to me of why I started meal planning in the first place!  Yes, the world kept on spinning and yes, my family still ate dinner every night, but it made an already busy week that much more hectic, and we ended up eating meals that were not as good for us.  So I made sure I had a plan in place for week two!

Week One

Monday - BBQ Salmon Salad

Bobby grilled some salmon that he had brushed with barbecue sauce.  Then we served it on top of a standard green salad - lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, cucumbers, and ranch dressing.  What really made this dish though were the cornbread croutons!  We baked a batch of cornbread, cut it into squares, and pan-fried it.  Makayla said that we needed to make them more often!

Tuesday - Family Dinner

We went to my parent's house and attempted to go camping in their backyard, so we made a yummy camp-out dinner of hot dogs and the Pioneer Woman's Baked Beans, and they were delicious!  I omitted the bacon and added beef smoked sausage instead.

Wednesday - Pizza

Since we were out that afternoon and I didn't have a plan, I resorted to a frozen pizza!

Thursday - Picnic Dinner

We went to the park for the very last Movie in the Park of the season, so we had a picnic dinner there.

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Chicken Sandwiches and French Fries

Simple grilled chicken sandwiches with fries.  I usually make french fries in the oven - I just cut up a potato and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper and bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, depending on how big the pieces are.  Fast and easy-peasy!

Sunday - Chicken Nachos

We hung out at my parent's house all day and had a big brunch after church, so that night when we were still there, we threw together a quick nacho dinner with some shredded Mexican-style chicken.

Week Two

Monday - French Dip Sandwiches and Onion Rings

Bobby made the best French Dip Sandwich that I have ever tasted, and we made Cook's Onion Rings again because, well, why not?!!

Tuesday - Date Night

A VERY long overdue date night out with my favorite guy!

Wednesday - Chicken Burrito Bowls

My dad had given me the leftover chicken from Sunday, so this was a great way to use it up!  This is one of my go-to recipes because it is incredibly easy, super versatile, and so yummy!  It's a great dish to make when you have any kind of leftover meat, and you can just top it off with whatever you have on hand.

Thursday - Coffee Rubbed Rib-eyes

Bobby's made these before and man, are they good!  I normally make some polenta or cheesy grits to go with it, but this time we had loaded baked potatoes and grilled corn-on-the-cob.

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Girl's Night Out

They had a free parent's night out where the kids take gymnastics, and since Bobby had to work, I met up with my best girlfriend who I had not seen in forever.  We rarely go out to eat, so getting to eat out twice this week was a huge treat for this mama!

Sunday - Grilled Sandwiches and Chips

I grilled some sourdough bread, and made a sandwich with goat cheese, salami, and sauteed red onions and red bell pepper.  Makayla and I love these! 

meal plan tuesday 7/7/15

Last week, I talked all about why and how I meal plan, so today, I'm talking about what we've been cooking at our house for the last two weeks!

I typically plan 4-5 meals per week.  We normally go to my parent's house for dinner once a week, and one night each week we will eat leftovers.  We stuck to the plan pretty well this time around - sometimes it changes a lot, and I've learned to be ok with that!

Week One

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo - This was simple to make, but I think it needed a lot more sauce.  If I make it again I will double the sauce recipe.

Family Dinner - at my parent's house.

Mushroom Caps - I've made these before, and Makayla and I really enjoy them.  This is a meatless meal, so I only make it when I know my meat-eating husband will be at work!

Picnic Dinner - We went to movies in the park this night, so we got there early and had a fun picnic dinner.

Grilled Hamburgers and Corn-on-the-Cob.  No recipe for this one, just a simple grill night!

Shrimp Rolls & Onion Rings - I had been craving lobster rolls for a while, but we had shrimp in the freezer.  So we used this recipe and just switched out the shrimp for the lobster.  We left the shrimp whole instead of chopping it up, added 1/4 cup chopped cucumber, and added a splash of vinegar instead of lemon juice. They were delicious!  We've made these onion rings many times before.  They are so, so good.  We've never tried a Cook's recipe that we didn't love!

Leftover Night!

Week Two

Barbecue Meatballs - I have made these many times before and they are so yummy!  Makayla gobbles these up as fast she can!  They are true comfort on a plate as far as I'm concerned.

Tuna Casserole - This is an old recipe that my mom made when I was a kid.  It's from her Better Homes and Gardens checkerboard cookbook that is probably 30 years old!  Nothing fancy, just a simple dinner that I know Makayla will eat with no complaints.  I think noodles are her love language!

Family Dinner - at my parent's house.

Chuy's Chicken - I love the Elvis Fried Chicken that they serve at Chuy's, so I attempted to recreate it, and it was actually really good!  Maybe next time I make it I will attempt to write a recipe for it.

Leftover Night!

4th of July Cookout - We had a big cookout at my parent's house with our extended family.  I took Spinach Dip to snack on.  Y'all - this stuff is so good.  Make it.  And serve it with Hawaiian rolls.  You'll thank me!  I also made this Sangria, and we really enjoyed it!

Leftover Night - I knew we'd have extra leftovers this week from the cookout!

meal planning - the how

Yesterday, we talked all about why I like to meal plan, and today is all about the method behind my {organized} madness!

Here is how I do it:

- I make a menu plan for two weeks at a time.  Yes, sometimes things come up, but for the most part, I know what our schedule is going to look like for that length of time.  I've tried doing just a week at a time and I've tried doing an entire month at a time.  Two weeks is a good median for us.

- I keep an ongoing list of meals that sound good.  When I sit down to plan, I first look at the calendar to see what days I might have time to cook a more involved meal and what days I will need something quick and easy to pull together.  Then I look over my list of meals and fill in the days.  If I need any more ideas, I will browse through my pinterest board or go through my cookbooks.  I have a lot more than one cookbook now!

- Besides looking at our family calendar for any scheduled activities and commitments, I also look over Bobby's work schedule.  He is often at work during dinner, so on those nights I might plan something easier, or something that maybe I like a lot but isn't necessarily one of his favorites.

- Just as I make my menu plan for two weeks, I also grocery shop for two weeks at a time.  This one took me a while to figure out!  For some reason, I had in my mind that I just had to go to the grocery store once a week, no matter what.  But then we had one exceptionally busy week, and so I kept putting off the shopping due to lack of time. And what do you know - I realized that we could easily make it that long!  It does take a bit more planning up front, but eliminating that extra trip saves me so much time and money in the long run!

- My kitchen is pretty well stocked at all times.  I have used coupons, shopped sales, and learned my prices, and I will say - that part of it was probably the most time-consuming of all for me.  But now that I've built up our stockpile, it's just a matter of maintaining it, which is fairly easy.  I have a running list of items that we always keep on hand, so as any of those get low I simply add them to the grocery list. 

- For the two-week shopping trips to work, I had to really know how my family eats.  For example, I know that we go through about three gallons of milk in a two-week period.  If I only buy 2 gallons, we're going to run out, and if I buy 4 gallons, we'll likely have too much and it will go bad before we can drink it all.  Either way is not ideal, so, study your family and know what your eating habits are!  Sure, we run out of certain foods every once in a while, and no, it's not the end of the world.  But my goal is to always avoid any unnecessary needs or waste.

A few notes on how our family eats:

- While I am constantly looking for ways to feed my family healthy and nutritious foods, at our house, we eat fairly typical, normal food.  We live in the South - we like a good casserole every once in a while, and sometimes, we might even fry a little something.  I make no apologies for this!

- Bobby cannot eat anything with citrus or pork because it gives him migraines.  So, you won't see any bacon or lemon zest on our plates.  I've learned how to work around this, and we've found some pretty good substitutes for most things.

- Caleb is very selective about what he eats and is even brand-specific about some things - this is very common for kids on the spectrum.  (Read more about our boy here.)  Makayla eats just about anything.  So if I mention that Makayla loved a certain dish and I don't mention Caleb, it does not mean that I didn't feed him that night!  It's just that he almost never eats what the rest of us do, but has one of his preferred dinners instead.

- I joke with Bobby that he will eat anything as long as it has meat and bread, but really, it's not much of a joke!  He is a meat and bread kind of guy, and anything else is just extra.  So there's no vegetarian dishes for us, and almost every meal will have some kind of bread served with it.  Would it be a healthier option to skip the bread?  Of course.  But he works really hard, so if he wants bread, then I kind of feel like he deserves it!

Ok - major points to anyone who is still reading this!  My plan now is to start sharing our meal plans here on the blog.  Instead of sharing what we're going to be eating like a lot of others do, I thought I'd share what we did eat over the last two weeks.  That way, I can also share what worked for us, as well as what we liked, or didn't like, about some recipes.  I've been wanting to do this for a while, so we'll see how this goes!

meal planning - the why

When Bobby and I were newly married, I can remember my dad telling him that he'd better like Hamburger Helper and chocolate chip cookies, because that was about all that I knew how to cook.  And while he was simply joking around and we all had a good laugh about it, it really wasn't too far from the truth!

I slowly started playing around in the kitchen.  At first, it was with very quick and simple dinners out of the one cookbook that I owned.  I began to realize that not only was I a halfway decent cook, but I actually enjoyed the process.  But even more than that, I enjoyed putting food on the table that I had prepared and eating alongside the people that I care about most.  It quickly became a way for me to express my love, and that is the case even more so today.

Once we added kids to the mix, it became obvious that I needed a plan for my kitchen.  I am a type A personality by nature, so I am always looking for ways to do things in an organized and efficient manner.  But the bottom line is, the people that I live with like to eat, and they have even come to expect three meals a day, plus snacks!  So, if I'm going to have to feed them, I should probably do it well!

As I discovered cooking shows, food blogs, coupon sites, meal planning, and pinterest, I started to get lots of ideas and I tried a lot of different things until I have finally settled on what seems to work best for our family.  And since I love to read about other people's tips and tricks, I thought I'd share some of ours.  But since this post is quickly turning into a novel, stay tuned for our meal-planning-how-to!

groceries again

today i made visits to two grocery stores for triple-coupons.

yesterday, i spent about 2 hours making my list.

that's a long time.

that is why i take pictures and post about it, even though most people who read this blog (does anyone read this blog?) don't care.

next time i don't feel like doing it, i can look at this and remind myself why i do.....

this is a list of what i got for free:

disposable gloves - 2
parchment paper - 2
garlic toast - 2
frozen corn-on-the-cob - 2
frozen cut broccoli - 2
birds eye meals-for-two - 2
cookie dough - 2
chex mix - 1
butter - 2
mandarin oranges - 1
pineapple - 1
rice krispies - 1
rotel - 2
yeast - 1
chicken broth cartons - 2
wacky mac pasta - 2
tuna pouches - 4
pizzas - 2

and this was all really cheap or almost free:

beef broth cans - 3
brown sugar - 2
powdered sugar - 2
beech-nut cookies - 2
red wine vinegar - 1
sugar - 1
breakfast burrito - 1
bacon - 2
AA batteries - 1
cookie dough - 2
trix yogurt - 2
lean pockets - 2
fish sticks - 1
pie crusts - 2
canned veggies - 5
cooking soups - 4
mayo - 2

i spent about $25.00 for it all, and saved about $165.00!

i used this site and this site to make my list.

anyways, that's what i've been up to.

sorry for the unexciting post!

i'll get little man on here next time!

no green-thumbs here

this was our first year to attempt to plant a tiny garden all on our own. in the past, my dad has brought us plants and helped us plant them. this year, we went to lowe's and bought the plants ourselves and we planted them with high hopes that were tragically squashed right before our eyes. we planted tomatoes, jalapenos, different herbs, and some red flowers that i can't think of the name for.

what we thought was oregano ended up being tarragon, and i do not use tarragon very much at all, so it hasn't been much good to us.

we had no idea that you have to keep cilantro trimmed. apparently, if you don't, it turns into some kind of flower and then dies?!

our red flowers also died, for the most part. we aren't sure what happened there. maybe it was just too much sun, or not enough?

so all that to say, we were ecstatic when we were finally able to gather all of this from our sad little garden.....

and yes, we are aware that this is August, and we are just now growing this, but we are excited, nonetheless.

yesterday i jammed

strawberry jam, that is.

this was my first attempt at canning anything, and i must say that it was pretty successful. i got the recipe here, and it was super easy, just a little time consuming. but it is so yummy, so i'm thinking it was worth it!


i put in a little less sugar than the recipe called for, and i ended up mashing it a little at the end, cause it was still chunkier than i like for it to be.

this morning i had a piece of toast with strawberry jam and what i'm afraid is becoming a mandatory-morning-cup-of-coffee. yum!