Menu Plan Monthly

We are surviving! Ethan is adjusting really well now a days to his baby brother (even though there are still hitting and scratching going on daily), and I'm getting used to 2 kids too. It's hard right now because Zack wants to be held 24/7, but Ethan needs mama time too. I did order a Sleep Wrap on Friday, so hopefully that will get here soon and will help! I don't have much time to post today, but I did want to contribute to menu plan monthly!

Here is what I'm planning on for the month of January. Craig's birthday is on Thursday so I'm just thinking of grilling up some burgers with some yummy condiments.

Italian Pepperoncini Sandwiches with melty cheese on sourdough rolls
Lasagna and Texas Toast
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Lemon Pepper Chicken with rice pilaf and green beans
Spaghetti and meatballs
Bourbon Chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Honey Lime Enchiladas
PW Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries
Thai Peanut Pork with lime and coconut rice
Meatloaf with roasted potatoes and veggies
Chili and Cornbread
Hot sauce chicken with grilled green beans and rice pilaf
Cafe Rio Pork with cilantro lime rice
Burritos with the leftover pork and rice
Tomato and Pesto Pizza

Menu Plan

I LOVE that it's finally feeling cool outside! No more 90 degree heat, woohoo! Last night was the Halloween carnival downtown and we were planning on going, but by the time Craig got home from work there was only a half hour left of it :( I would of just taken Ethan myself, but by the end of the day my back is killing me and I have bad sciatica....yay for pregnancy. Ah well, there is a Halloween celebration at Superfranks on Friday, and on Saturday there is something at the Great Mall...so we can take Ethan to either of those hopefully.

I also finished my Princess Leia beanie on Tuesday, I'll take some pictures and put them up ASAP. It's FAR from perfect because I was in a hurry (for the carnival lol) so I used double crochet on the bun part, but I really should of used single crochet because you can see some stuffing showing through....and the whole thing is just a tad to big. But I still like it :)

Here was our menu for the week:

Monday:
Sloppy Joes using plain 'ol manwich because I accidentally opened the can on Sunday instead of the chili can. Oops. Along with corn on the cobb.

Tuesday:
Some leftover frozen BBQ beef that I had frozen and thawed. It was just a pulled pork recipe I added some Sweet Baby Ray's to.

Wednesday:
Slow Cooker Spinach Pesto Lasagna. SO GOOD! I wasn't sure how lasagna would be in the slow cooker, but it was excellent. I've been trying to do one meatless dish a week to save up some money, and this is perfect...both Craig and Ethan loved it!

Thursday:
Leftover lasagna.

Friday:
Cinnamon Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin Sage Grits. I've never made this but I've had the recipe for a long time and it looks nice and fall-ish :) I don't think any of us have had grits though!

Saturday:
Slow Cooker Orange Teriyaki Chicken. I'll probably make this early on in the day to much on this weekend. This might change though, I hate to make a big amount of food when I have dinner planned the next day. I might do Rachael Ray's Pumpkin Penne instead, we'll see.

Sunday, Halloween!:
Pumpkin Chili (variations on this recipe)
Cranberry Cornbread
I'll probably make other Halloween themed treats today too :)

Dinner Review and Updates

Dinner last night was slow cooker chicken cordon bleu, and it was a big hit woohoo! I like when slow cooker things are a hit, it's so easy lol. The only thing I did differently was sprinkle pepper, garlic and rosemary on top of the chicken before I poured the soup on. Craig requested that this goes in our "rotation", and Ethan ate a bunch of it! Ethan also ate a bunch of the broccoli and cheese which surprised me though.

I received a sample in the mail of Quaker's Life Cinnamon Roll Raisin Pecan bar from Walmart, and I just ate the for breakfast (I'm sure I'll have a second breakfast in about 2 hours or so haha) and it was good! I was worried that it was going to be to super sweet, but it was just lightly sweetened and the cinnamon flavor really stood out. Only 150 calories so not bad at all.

I've got the beanie part done of my Leia beanie and I'm about half way through the first bun, that is if the technique I'm doing to create it actually works lol. I've never seen a crochet Leia beanie pattern so I'm just making one up for Halloween. I figure I'll just wear a white tee and some jeans and be done with it....I need comfy since I'll be almost 36 weeks pregnant :P

For the past week I've been wanting to change my polish color to China Glaze Ick-A-Bod-Y for Halloween, but I'm dreading/procrastinating taking off Zombie Zest....I'm worried since it's a glitter it will take forever, and it's so hard to reach my feet now a days! Maybe we can see if we can squeeze in a pedi somewhere, but who knows....I hate checking the bank to see how the money is going lol.

The Friday before Halloween I'm going to take Ethan into Craig's work in his costume, and I'll probably make some candy corn Halloween bark to bring in since I have a bag of candy corn because I wasen't able to get around to my candy corn wreath. I'm not complaining though, I filled up my crafting time with Etsy orders! :) I LOVE the way candy corn looks, it's so festive....but I just cannot get into the taste. I really wish I could because I enjoy looking at it lol, but I guess it's better for the waist that way!

Crochet Christmas Gift Ideas

I've barely posted lately because this third trimester is wearing me out! It wasn't this bad with Ethan, but I could nap whenever I wanted to then....now I have an 18 month old to take care of :)

Since money is tight this year, I'll be making a lot of Christmas gifts for the boys. So far I plan on making these:
- 3 crochet lightsabers (1 for Craig, he'd kill me if I didn't make him one too haha)
- Gigi Giraf. I've started this one for Zac but it's on hold until I finish up 1 more project
- Desmond the Moose for Ethan, this designer has such awesome patterns
- Some textured/colorful stuffed crochet blocks for Zac
- Some felt/crochet play food for both

That's just what I have on my list now, I'm hoping that's do-able lol. I have a bunch more I'd like to make...but I'm trying to be realistic since I'll have a newborn soon :D

I also plan on getting us some nice stockings since ours are from Dollar Tree, but Craig wants me to crochet some. I'd love to, but I don't have time to do everything I want to already haha. Target usually has pretty cute stockings though, I cant wait until all their Christmas stuff is out!


Meal plan for the week:

Monday:
Garlic Chicken, corn on the cobb and rice pilaf

Tuesday:
Quesadilla Casserole
This probably will have leftovers, so it will screw up my weeks plan lol

Wednesday:
Slow Cooker A-1 and Dijon Steak
Mashed potatoes
corn on the cobb

Thursday:
Meatloaf
Broccoli and Cheese
Garlic Toast

Friday/Sat:
Slow Cooker Pesto Spinach Lasagna

Sunday:
Zippy Orange BBQ Chicken Pockets, I haven't decided what to serve these with yet though!

Pumpkin patch this weekend!

We are taking Ethan to the pumpkin patch for this first time this weekend! Hopefully today, but who knows since Craig works today. I cant wait to get pictures! I am planning on getting a cute shot with a pumpkin and printing it out to send to family as a Halloween card, but we'll see if Ethan feels like cooperating :)

I have some projects that I'm almost done with that I'll be posting this next week, and I'm hoping one of them will be either a candy corn wreath or candy corn garland....if I can get around to it between my Etsy orders. I cant believe the baby will be here next month!! I'm so excited to meet him, and I'm excited to not be pregnant anymore LOL. As much as I love feeling the baby move, I cant wait to get my body back. I got pregnant in 2008 with Ethan, had him in 2009....breastfed him until May 2010, and by then I was already pregnant with this one. So I'm kind of excited to be done being pregnant and nursing for a little while, just be back to myself :) That is until baby #3!

I went to Sally's to pick up China Glaze nail polish in Ick-a-body to wear as a Halloween pedi, but all the polish was on sale for like $3.29 so I ended up picking up the other 2 colors of the Awakening collection! I'm really loving Zombie Zest, and normally I'm not a fan of greens. I might even do a Zombie Zest mani this weekend since it's so awesome.

Meal Plan for the week:

Saturday:
Ground Beef Stroganoff and green beans

Sunday:
Grilled burgers and fries

Monday:
I'll be at my parents house for my Mom's birthday so it's crockpot day!
Chicken Enchilada Chili that I will add in some corn, cheese and sour cream

Tuesday:
Leftover chili! Maybe with some cornbread or something too.

Wednesday:
Pork Apple Potato Saute

Thursday:
Penne with Ricotta and Bacon

Friday and Saturday (leftovers on Saturday):
The infamous "Goop" which is just 2 cans baked beans, 1 can corn, 3 tbs bbq sauce, 2 tbs spicy brown mustard (or Dijon if I have it), 2 tbs worcestershire and some salt and pepper. Topped with a dollop of sour cream!

Review: Glucose Tolerance Drink

Just kidding.

I had to take my gestational diabetes test yesterday, which actually was kinda nice because Ethan stayed home with Craig and I brought my crochet for an hour of uninterrupted crafting time. I got to finish a whole beanie!

Today I think I will brave the library, they have a baby/toddler story time....I know Ethan wont sit there and listen, but he would like to see the other kids and just get out. We try to go somewhere every day because I'm always worried he's bored. He probably is int but I always freak that he needs more stimulation lol.

Dinners this week:
Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings. Which was amazing by the way!
Louisiana Red Beans and Rice
Tacos
French Dips


This is just a quick post because Ethan is waking up. Have a great day :D

I'm hungry.

If you play World of Warcraft, you'll understand that reference.....which means, my account got hacked! No idea how, but all my stuff and gold was gone when I finally was able to log in. Not only did they take my stuff, I got a 3 hour ban because they were spamming for gold selling sites. Yay. Luckily I was able to get everything back, but it still sucks.

Craig had a 2 day weekend last weekend! It was so nice just having him around, and you can tell Ethan loved it too. We took him to the fountain downtown to play, but he mainly just likes to people watch....along with doing his "yoga pose" lol. We leave for LA this weekend and I'm so excited to take him to the beach again!

I'll be bringing crochet down for the trip, so I'll probably start on my Pumpkin Crochet-a-long, and maybe Ethan's hoodie that I've been wanting to work on.

I've also had this Babette Blanket in my que on Ravelry for at least a year, and depending on finances this month I might get the yarn. We really need a blanket for the couch and I think this would just be to cute!

Dinner last night was Slow Cooker Marmalade Chicken Curry which was amazing, even Craig liked it! It was a little to spicy for Ethan though so he just had rice, a chicken strip and peas and carrots. This week has been a "use up what we have" week and so far so good! Last night I made Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta which was soooo good, but sooooo fattening with all the heavy cream I used lol. Ethan LOVED it though! Tonight will either be sloppy joes or meatloaf...and I'm leaning towards meatloaf since we dont have any cheese and we only have regular bread. Tomorrow is payday though woohoo!

Orders shipped, now do I nap?

Woohoo big order is all shipped out and I just got another order for a cupcake beanie! I think I'm also going to make my niece (that's so weird sounding to me lol) one for her 1st birthday.

Now I cant decide if I want to have a cup of coffee and get stuff done around the house....or take a nap. Ethan might be up at any time but I'm exhausted, so I'm thinking nap.

Even though the crafter in me says more coffee!

*yawn*

Or maybe sleep.

My parents came up for a few hours today so I was able to get a few errands done, like going to the grocery store and getting enough (well, almost) groceries for the week!! AND it only took half an hour! If Ethan was there it would of been an hour, minimum lol.

Recipes I'm making so far this week:
(I didint get to a few of these last week, there were substitutions so I'm making them this week)

Tex Mex Cheesesteaks
Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta
Chipotle Orange Pork Tacos
Bowtie Lasagna

Meal Plan

Here is what I'm thinking for dinner this week:

Monday:
Butter Chicken

Tuesday:
"Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich"

Wednesday:
This depends on if I can find canned pumpkin in the store...I haven't seen it yet but we'll see!
Pumpkin Chili
If not, then Bowtie Lasagna

Thursday:
Either leftover pumpkin chili, Bowtie Lasagna (or if there was no pumpkin and I made the lasagna lol) Chipotle and Orange Pork Tacos

Friday:
Leftover pork tacos

Saturday:
Takeout

Sunday:
Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

A few days ago I bought a binder and some page protectors to make my own cookbook, and it's already getting super full! I've only really been cooking about 2 years, and I've made a few yummy dishes that I wish I had kept around the recipe....I tend to just make it off the website and then forget. But that is a problem no more :)

The French Onion Soup I made yesterday was pretty good, I've never had real french onion soup so I have nothing to compare it to. The only changes I made from her recipe was I only had red onions in the house, I added some worcestershire sauce and a little bit of flour. Oh yeah and I did saute the onions in the butter for a few minutes before putting them in the slow cooker, I just wanted to make sure it would be done. I had made this soup (although I'm not sure if it was this recipe) before and I remember it being reeeallly good....but I also kinda remember adding in more ingredients, like beer. I wonder if it's in my AllRecipes recipe box lol.

Meal Plan Monday

Here is the plan for the week, although usually throughout the week it changes some lol.

Monday:
Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes
Frozen sweet potato fries tossed with basil/salt/pepper and a dipping sauce:
¾ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
¼ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon lime zest

Tuesday:
An enchilada recipe similar to this one, I'll post it once I make it

Wednesday:
Leftovers!

Thursday:
Chicken with Scallion-Lime Sauce and Sweet Carrot Rice

Friday:
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Easy Quiche

Saturday:
Hopefully leftovers, if not then Chicken Spaghetti

Sunday:
Either leftovers or takeout!

Garlic Chicken

This is Craig's favorite dinner it seems like since he always requests it! It's super juicy and moist and I usually just serve it with rice pilaf and a veggie. Ethan doesn't like the chicken of course :P

- 3 Chicken breasts (I use the bags of frozen boneless skinless, so just defrost enough for your family)
- Italian Dressing
- Lawry's Garlic and Herb Marinade
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
- 1/2 cup flaxseed (optional but I like to pretend it's healthy then)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup white flour

Place chicken in a plastic bag (I sometimes do this while it's still frozen) and cover with 1/2 italian dressing and 1/2 Lawry's marinade.....enough to cover and add the minced garlic. I marinate it at least 4 hours.

Take 3 bowls and in them place:

Bowl 1: The 2 types of flour
Bowl 2: 2 eggs, beaten
Bowl 3: Bread crumbs, garlic powder and flax seed

Dip the chicken in the flour, then egg then bread crumb mixture.

I usually cook the chicken in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, but if I dont have the time I'll just cook it on a medium heat skillet for oh 5 minutes on each side or so....however long it takes.

Then eat :D

Pesto Chicken

This is the easiest recipe ever and it's so tasty! Even my 16 month old eats it and he's incredibly picky. I need to start measuring things and taking pictures now lol.

Pesto Chicken

- 3 defrosted chicken breasts or however many feeds your family (I just buy the frozen bags of boneless skinless)
- Half a jar of store bought pesto. I dont have a food processor so I dont make my own although I'm sure it's tastier if you do
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Parmesan cheese (I have the cheapy kind in the bottle)
- Enough cooked spaghetti to feed your family, I use whole wheat

Preheat oven to 350

In a seperate bowl, combine pesto and sour cream.

Place chicken in baking dish, pour pesto mixture over and toss to coat.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is done.

Make spaghetti according to package directions.

When the chicken is done I like to cut it up into bite sized cubes, but you can leave it whole if you'd prefer. I just toss everything in a giant bowl, sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese and serve. Super yummy!

I also make my son and husband garlic bread to go along with it....if I remember to buy it I even will serve a garlic loaf sometimes lol.

Recipes and no sleep!

It's 6:30 am, I've been up for almost an hour...and Ethan is not even awake! My sleep has been so terrible lately, I wonder if it's pregnancy insomnia.

Actually I think one of the reasons why is that I haven't been able to craft as much and I have so many ideas floating in my head that want me to make them now that it's hard to suppress the creativity LOL. I think I need to start making little beanies for ball joint dolls because they are small and quick....except I only know of my cousin who has one but she lives an hour away! Maybe I'll have her compare her dolls head size to a fruit so I can make some here, mail them to her and she can take pictures for my Etsy shop. We'll see :D

Here are some random recipes I've made lately:

- Crispy Chicken with Creamy Orange Sauce: I marinated mine in a marinade of lemon, lime, garlic, orange juice...and uh I think that's it. I kinda just threw things in there. It was amazing. Ethan wouldn't try it.

- Slow Cooker Sweet Mustard Roast Beef: While I personally didn't care for it (I think I just don't like roast beef to be honest) my husband said it was really good with a mild sweet flavor that went well. My 16 month old tasted it then threw it across the room. But he hates meat so don't take that as any indication of flavor ;)

- Cheesecake Brownies: BEST BROWNIES EVER. I used Ghiradelli double chocolate brownies and added vanilla into the cheesecake mixture. They are super rich but soooooo good.

- Quinoa and Black Beans: This was terrible. I think my taste has been off this week too but I thought this was disgusting. So I added in some cheddar cheese, lime, salsa and sour cream and made it "southwestern". I thought it was ok - Craig liked it and Ethan...again, wouldn't touch it.

- Quinoa with Sweet Potato and Mushrooms: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dish. But I love sweet potatoes, in fact I think I would make them almost nightly in different forms if I could....but Craig doesn't like them! How insane is that?! (he did also say he didn't like pesto but he requests pesto chicken almost weekly) He did like this dish though.

- Sweet Potato Burritos: This sounds so weird but it's SO GOOD. Craig of course didn't like it but it was one of my favorite meals yet.

- Spinach Ricotta Bites: I made these in the hopes that it would get Ethan to eat some veggies.....but nope it didint work. I think these make a tasty little snack but Craig just said they're alright. Can you tell we have different tastes? :) I added cheddar cheese and bacon to mine.

- Spicy White Lasagna: This was really really good, and normally I'm not a fan of sausage. Ethan even ate it!

Since I REALLY need to start writing my recipes down, I thought I'd post them on here to start off so I at least have them somewhere so I don't forget. I'll post these recipes soon, but here are some staples around our house:

- Pesto Chicken: It's just chicken that I bake with a half a jar of pesto, sometimes I even mix in sour cream if I'm really feeling daring. Then I mix it with cooked whole wheat spaghetti and yummyness ensues. Ethan actually ate the chicken last time I made it!

- Pulled Pork: YUM. This recipes was originally from Makeupalley, but I tweak it a bit and add less vinegar (Craig likes it that way) and just randomly throw in the spices for the rub. I'll look it over and see what I do so I can post it.

- Meatloaf: I used to just use those seasoning packets but that seemed so dumb since I have all the seasonings here. So last week when I made it I added my own seasonings, garlic, Italian breadcrumbs, worchestire and um...I'll have to check on the rest lol. But it was so much better then just a seasoning packet.

- Garlic Chicken: This is Craig's favorite recipe that he ALWAYS asks for when I ask him what he wants for dinner. It's evolved quite a lot so it's not quite as garlicky as it used to be....I like it better that way. I marinade chicken in a mixture of Italian Dressing, garlic and Lawrys Herb and Garlic Marinade which I really hate to use since it has high fructose corn syrup...but it makes for tasty chicken. Then I coat the chicken in a mixture of half whole wheat flour, half white flour, then egg, then a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs/flaxseed/garlic powder. Depending on how much time I have I either bake it at 350 for 40 minutes, or just cook it with some olive oil on the skillet. It's super juicy and flavorful and Ethan even took a bite of it last night when I made it!

I think this is the original garlic chicken recipe.

- Tacos: Tacos are easy around here, it's either chicken or that strips of beef ("sandwich meat" I think it says on the package) that sometimes I marinade in a mixture of salsa/lime/beer/garlic...but most of the time this is a last minute meal so I just throw the meat on the skillet with some taco seasoning and onions and call it done. We put it in a tortilla with lots of cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Super easy.

- Lasagna: I just use the directions on the box of whole wheat no cook lasagna noodles LOL. I do add in more seasonings, cheese and use more sauce and no water.