I have this cowboy stew in the crockpot already this morning!  It’s going to be a busy day.  Izzy has Bear at 11… and I have to give her a bath and get us both dressed and ready to go!  I am hoping to make it back and feed her in time to get her to school.

I want to try Sheryl’s recipe she posted yesterday.  It sounds yummy and if anyone doesn’t want to eat it they can eat leftover stew!

I have one more package of brats in the freezer (bought in bulk at Sams) so we’ll grill those Wed. night.  I am wanting sourkraut with them… no one else will join me for that treat, but I love it with hot dogs!  There will be pasta leftover from the night before to have on the side… and pretzels.

Thursday I’m making a batch of plain old spaghetti to be served with salad and garlic bread.  It’s always good, and always well recieved and eaten up!

Friday we’ll do carryout, maybe gyros for a treat for Matt.

IT was a long tiring weekend and it’s going to be a really hectic week.

I’m so thankful this Monday morning that Gustav is appearing to be less of a storm than originally predicted.  I realize it is still flexing it’s muscles down there, but just happy it’s not so bad… My prayers have been with those who have had to evacuate their homes and those who are in the path of the storm.  Living in Oklahoma means being no stranger to being in the path of storms.  The good news is that Tornados or severe weather seem to come and go relatively fast, the bad news is sometimes the results can be catastrophic.  I told Matt yesterday that if I was a native of New Orleans and had to vacate again to come back and realize I had lost everything. Again.  I would seriously consider relocating.  But, when interviewed I noticed most of the people planned to come back and do what they have to do.

Happy Labor Day.

Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the labour unioneconomic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, and it is popularly known as May Day and International Workers’ Day. movement, to celebrate the

 

 

Labour Day Parade in Toronto in the early 1900s

The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

We’re having a family cook-out down at mom & dad’s house tonight.  I think everyone will be there…  I have my food assignment and have already purchased it so I’m ready.  Today we are cleaning house!  I have given the kids a noon deadline to have their rooms clean and don’t tell them but have more jobs lined up when the finish!  I didn’t really clean much all weekend except for picking up, laundry and kitchen… so it all needs a touch.

Some of you asked if Matt had been to the dr. for his neck.  Yes, we went to the urgent care facility on Saturday night.  It seems to be smaller this morning and I’m hoping it’s gone by tomorrow when they call for the referral to the surgeon for cat scan and biopsy.  I think it is a swollen gland.  period.  But the doctor acted pretty concerned.

Bailey’s poison ivy is a little better today.  He started on a dose pack yesterday.  Poor guy.  There are some areas that poison ivy just shouldn’t go.  really.

Tonight is the cookout… so it’ll be burgers/dogs/grilled corn/chili/and sundaes for dessert.

Tuesday I’m cooking a pot of black beans and will serve them over rice with lots of salsa!

Wednesday we’ll have grilled brats with leftover beans on the side.  (I’ll use the beans to make a batch of black bean burritoes to freeze.)

Thursday I plan to marinate some chicken for me and the kids and grill it with matt’s salmon… some spinach salad and veggies on the side.

Friday we’ll most likely get pizza carryout… I can plan something for Friday but we usually end up getting pizza…

Have a great Monday!

I usually write my menu plan monday post as I go along… I don’t actually begin with a plan. Sad but true. This week is not different. I do know what I have on hand so that is part of what determines what we’ll have for our meals. I have two big bags of frozen chicken breasts. I am thinking chicken a couple of nights… some sirloin burger patties from Sam’s. So we’ll grill burgers one night. The salmon for matt… I made that for his Sunday lunch. I want to try a new recipe from a bloggy friend. I don’t really have any of the ingredients so it will require a trip to the store!

Monday… Marinated/grilled chicken, rice, green beans, salad

Tuesday… grilled burgers, salad, pretzels

Wednesday… Baked potato for me and kids (with toppings of choice), Salmon and salad for Matt.

Thursday… Beef Lombardi from Jenileigh

Friday… Chicken & potatoes layered in the crockpot. I saw the idea on this site!

I’d like to try this out over next weekend, I saw it at Sandra’s.

I guess that does it. Have a great week!

Things have been taking a healthy turn around here… Matt is eating healthier and I’m working my hiney off to make sure I make healthy meals for him… Not only to drop some weight, but to be healthier and live longer .

I bought marinated salmon to grill (melody had recommended some at Sam’s). I grilled it for him this weekend and he loved it. I won’t touch it! bleck.

This week we’ll grill a lot again. But I have a recipe or two to try.

Tonight I am going to grill chicken for me and the kids, and make Matt salmon. Some baked potatoes, roasted broccoli on the grill (I did it yesterday and it was delish. I just put the cut fresh broccoli in a pie plate (foil) and sprinkled a little EVOO and kosher salt. Covered with heavy duty foil and put it on the top rack). I’ll make a spinach salad too!

Tuesday I want to make this recipe for honey lime chicken enchiladas I saw over at Karen’s blog who saw it at Kim’s food blog. She said it was yummy and it sure looks good. This is not diet food. I will either make an alternative for matt, or try to make it lower cal by cutting the cream or replacing it… we’ll see. I’ll serve salad and veggies on the side.

Wednesday I’ll grill some lean burgers and serve them with baby spinach on top… pretzels on the side!

Thursday I’m making a batch of black beans to replenish the black bean burritos I’ve been making and freezing for Matt to have for lunch. We’ll have black beans over rice with fresh salsa for dinner.

Friday it’s back to the grill… more salmon for matt because it’s good for him (I wish I liked it) and either chicken or steak for the rest of us. Some roasted potatoes and salad.

The kids are heading out to school, one by one… It just seems odd for school to start so early. Everyone here, well technically not everyone… just Matt and Emelia are very sunburned from the slip n slide Saturday at church. There were so many people there it was crazy! They had almost 200 backpacks loaded with school supplies to give away and they were gone in the first 20 minutes. They served 600 hot dogs. It was a great outreach. The goal next year is to have 500 backpacks ready for the school kids. Matt helped all day and got so much sun, all the kids and teens at church yesterday looked like sore lobsters. I went up there around noon, it was my birthday. I left and had lunch with mom… and we went to JCPenny’s. She’s redoing her kitchen and wanted a new topper for her window. We decided to shop the fabric and make one instead of buying one. That’s the plan for today. It was a nice day.

Sunday morning Matt and Izzy stayed home from church. So I had a fun class with all the jr. high kids. We studied about things that are temporary and things that are eternal. We talked about what we would do if we found out we only had a short time to live… would we run buy a new fancy car to drive for the one day? It was unanimous that a new car would be our last priority and it was a great perspective into what is really important. From class we went to church and had the guest. Nathan Tasker is a singer/songwriter from Australia. He was awesome and his message between songs went right along with what we studied in class. I bought both cd’s afterwards. I have been listening to them a lot. He was so good and so are the words to the songs.

After church I grilled some burgers and corn for lunch… and then went down and colored and cut mom’s hair and trimmed dad’s hair… and made corn casserole for my SIL Terri. Her dad was in the hospital this weekend. They came over for dinner and a little birthday party.

Today I have plans to have lunch with my friend Laura. Her birthday is tomorrow and we always get together for our birthdays. I think we’re going to have German food…

Tonight I’m grilling chicken, a light dinner with some fresh broccoli.

I will grill extra chicken and have grilled chicken salad Tuesday (can you tell I’m on diet mode… after all the birthday goodies?)

Wednesday I’m going to make a batch of black bean burritos.

Thursday is brats and something light on the side.

Friday we’ll grill burgers.

(for more menus… visit orgjunkie.com)

So much to do this week… hopefully with the kids back in school things will slow down during the day enough to get some projects done. I have a stack of CADs calling my name… and a bed to make, and clothes to fold blah blah blah! Have a great Monday.

This weekend was pretty nice! I got to accompany Matt to take his final. Got to shop (tax free) at the mall… got to be there for his test results which were awesome! Had one of the teen girls over to do her hair for her. Had a fun cook out and swimming. Church was great. Me & the girls ditched class and ran to the donut shop, they read our lesson in the car and we had time to finish up while eating our donut holes back in class. I’m such a rebel. We had a nap today and tonight we had a potluck dinner at church. I picked up some pizzas while picking up a car load of teens. Talk about noise! I made delicious pork chops grilled for lunch…

This week I plan to utilize the grill.

I’m going to make the sticky chicken meal again (thanks Kim!)

Sticky Coconut Chicken

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless chicken breasts)

1 cup canned coconut milk
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Marinade chicken in coconut milk, ginger, pepper and red pepper flakes at least one hour (I let mine marinade four about four to five hours). Grill on barbecue.

Glaze:
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

While the chicken is grilling, bring above ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until mixture is reduced and thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Be patient because it takes a little while. But once it starts getting really thick, immediately take it off the heat! Glaze both sides of chicken the last few minutes of grilling and serve chicken over rice.

We’ll have burgers one night. Grilled.

Steak one night. With corn on the cob. You guess it. Grilled.

That leaves one night open… I’ll leave it that way to make room for a pizza or maybe leftovers.

Visit Orgjunkie.com to link your menu up and view hundreds more!

My birthday is this weekend! Hopefully I’ll get a day or two off from cooking , doubtful.

One last thing… today (Aug 4) is Izzy’s favorite therapist’s birthday!

I’ve been keeping up with this blog on my bloglines… and have decided to try a recipe given there. It’s pretty cool, she is cooking using her crock pot for a whole year. Every day. She even gives good descriptions of how the recipes turn out.

So, while I’m not sure what day these meals will happen… this is what I have planned for the week.

Cowboy stew (maybe not a great idea with the heat we’re having this week… but oh well)

Quesadillas … because they are easy and I’m on that kick right now.

Beans… because Matt likes them and thinks they are healthy.

Fajitas… we had them tonight and they were so good we’ll have them again!

leftovers…

So, that’s my week.

Monday … taco chicken!

Tuesday… Black bean burritoes!

Wednesday… Quesadillas!

Thursday… chicken & rice

Friday… pizza.

We pretty much had quesadillas half the nights last week. Emelia has become the #1 quesadilla maker around here. I need to go buy more cheese and stuff for them soon. The black bean burritoes were so good I am going to make a bigger batch and freeze some for later. They will be great for healthy snacks and quick lunches.

There’s been some questions about how we came to get the horse “Pinky,” for FREE! Well, around the fourth of July there he was on our property. There are acreages behind us, sometimes we will have a few cows out there and then they are gone… I thought maybe the horse was spooked from the fireworks. Matt said, “Jesus brought you a pony.” On Wednesday as we were leaving for church we noticed a car driving slowly in front of our house. Mom called (she was here with Iz) and said that a man had come about his horse. We talked on the phone and he mentioned that he had a stud that was twice Pinky’s size that was biting Pinky so he was looking for a new home for him and that that was probably the reason Pinky had run away. I told him we would love to keep him so he said, “he’s yours!” He said he would bring his bridle and stuff over and leave it on the fence sometime but hasn’t yet. We went and bought him a bridle, pull rope, feed, feeding bucket, brush and scoop etc… Emelia has been with me for all these purchases and because we have recently remodeled her room all pink she of course wanted all horse supplies to be pink. That’s how the horse got his name. Yes, it’s a little odd to have a brown boy horse named Pinky, but oh well! It works. The kids have ridden him once. Bareback. We haven’t bought a saddle yet. I guess that’s next. He is nice and calm. The goats must think he is a big dog because they pretty much run from him. I think eventually they’ll all be great friends.

I made a pot of black beans and a big batch of spaghetti Saturday which carried over to Sunday. That is always good! It’s good that there is a mpm meme for weeks like this… the ones where I have absolutely no idea what I plan to cook and need to make a plan so I can actually shop for the food to feed my poor hungry family. Just kidding, they are not poor or hungry. We are all blessed & highly favored…

I think tomorrow we’ll have burritoes to utilize the remainder of the black beans… maybe this recipe.

1. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes or until warm throughout.
2. Over medium heat, place oil in a skillet and then add onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos to skillet. Cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Then pour beans into the skillet, and cook while stirring for 3 minutes.
3. Cut cream cheese into cubes and place in skillet with salt. Cook for 2 minutes making sure to stir occasionally. Slowly pour cilantro into mixture.
4. Now evenly distribute mixture in the center of warmed tortilla and roll tortillas up.
5. Serve immediately or after cooled down.

Tuesday will be taco chicken! I heart taco chicken, especially in the crock pot! Here’s the recipe I use…

Taco Chicken…

chicken (duh?) I use frozen boneless skinless breasts

can of rotel, or cup of salsa

couple of cloves of garlic (pressed)

can of cream of chicken soup

can of cream of mushroom soup

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

mix all ingredients, pour over chicken, cook all day… serve over doritos with shredded cheddar cheese on top!

I guess now would be a good time to mention this week has been set aside at church as a week of prayer and fasting. I do plan to fast during the day and eat when the sun goes down. I know, it’s a modified fast, but it works well for us and it still leads to a more prayerful time during the day. There will be prayer daily at the church in the mornings.

So, Wednesday night I am guessing we’ll eat after church and so it needs to be something that can be made and ready for dinner. I will probably put some potatoes in the oven to bake and have something to go with it???

Thursday night is a girls sleepover at church. I’m technically not invited … it’s for teens, but I may crash it! They are going for a midnight trip to IHOP. I’ll order pizza for the fam before I go.

Friday I am going to make this with some yummy guacamole!

Taco Ring
3/4 pound extra lean (90%) ground beef
1 package low sodium taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded 2% shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons water
2 packages (8 oz each) refrigerated reduced fat crescent rolls
1 medium green bell pepper
1 cup salsa
3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced black olives
reduced fat sour cream, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef until no pink remains, drain any fat from pan. Remove from heat and let cool slightly (for 5-10 minutes). Combine beef, taco seasoning, cheese and water.

Unroll crescent dough; separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle on a baking stone (or any round pizza pan, but the baking stones really do work best, in my opinion) with wide ends overlapping in center and points toward outside. (There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center). Using a scoop or round spoon, evenly scoop meat mixture onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under the wide ends in the center of the ring. (Filling will not be completely covered). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

That’s the week… now I’m off to make a grocery list and see what I already have! Visit Orgjunkie.com for more menus.

This week menu plan monday is being hosted by heavenlyhomemakers.com while Laura is on vacation.

My week should look something like this…

Monday: leftovers! We have a taco chicken quiche and chili leftover!

Tuesday: beans. Matt watched the dr. oz show on discovery health and has gone shopping for healthy food.

Wednesday: leftover beans with baked chicken and corn on the cob.

Thursday: ww pasta with veggies.

Friday: carryout… gyros!

Happy meal planning. One thing I’ve learned during the last few months while dieting is that I have to eat to live… which means eat to fuel my body, keep from being hungry etc. Not look forward to food all the time and center my life around it. It’s been a helpful realization. I love yummy food. Just not all the time and not in excessive amounts.