Meal Plan 2/28 to 3/7

So, this is my last "free" weekend on maternity leave. Menu planning will be a little... well, different for the next 12 weeks. Hopefully all 3 kids will thrive, I will enjoy being out of the house, and daddy won't go too crazy! We shall see.

This week, I got another Bountiful Basket. The pictures actually show two, because I picked up my sister's basket as well. We got: apples, bananas, oranges, blueberries, celery, carrots, avacados, lettuce, broccoli, English cucumber, and asparagus. Yum-O! The blueberries have already disappeared into two hungry kids' bellies, and the apples, bananas, and oranges will be cut up and delivered directly to their hands as well. Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits (Joe's too), so we will eat that with dinner tonight.

Breakfasts:
Omelets and blueberries
pancakes
cold cereal (cop-out for my first day at work!)
toast and eggs
cold cereal and fruit
muffins
eggs

Lunches will be finger-food for the boy, packed lunches for the girl, and leftovers for me and Joe when we work. There may also be days of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and frozen pizza for Joe and the boy.

Dinner (the good part!):
Broccoli cheese soup with apple cinnamon muffins and pineapple
Chicken/rice casserole and fruit salad
Baked Tater bar
Crockpot Italian Chicken, pasta, and steamed asparagus
Tacos (the avocados should be ripe...yum)
Brinner: Waffles or French Toast and fruit
Grilled cheese

Meal Plan 2/21 to 2/27

So this is late and scattered. Read the post about the baby blessing, and know that my mother-in-law was here until Sunday, and you'll start to appreciate the business of last week. LOL. However, I am still eating (so are my children) and therefore still cooking. My maternity leave ends this week, and I will be back to school next Monday, so if I don't update for a while... well, there's a reason for that as well. :)

Breakfasts:
Scrambled Eggs
Oatmeal Bake
Strawberries and Waffles
Toast and Eggs
French Toast

Lunches:
Quesadillas
Costco chicken and pitas
Grilled Cheese
Mac and Cheese
Picnic in the park (Sandwiches, fruit, veggies)

Dinners:
Pork chops, potatoes, and carrots (cooked in the pressure cooker--AWESOME!)
Mexican quinoa
Finger Food
Spaghetti
Chicken taco soup

It's going to be a good week.

How to have a party: Baby Blessing Edition

I love food. I love my family. My family loves food. Our parties, therefore, revolve around food.

In my religion, we bless babies when they are little. It's kind of like a christening or baptism, but there's no water. It's really sweet to see my husband give my newest arrival a blessing. Worthy priesthood holders in the family are invited to participate, and it's a great little show of love.

Little Miss in the blessing dress I crocheted. 

After, the entire clan showed up to my house for the food. Yum-O. We had chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, strawberries, grapes, sliced oranges, carrots, celery, cucumbers, ranch dressing, hummus, sugar cookies, mini carrot muffins, zucchini bread, lemon bars, brownies (made by my mom), banana bread (made by my mom), and chocolate chip cookies (made by my sister.) I bought the croissants (YAY, Smith's has safe ones!) but the rest was homemade. Yes, I was crazy. Still am. But I had enough food to feed the 40 people who descended: siblings, in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, and so on. My house was a bit of an insane asylum, but no one went home hungry, even though they did eventually all go home.

So, I will stop rambling, and link to the recipes I used. I definitely like some of these more than others, but they were all good!

Chicken Salad--I tripled this. And cooked the chicken in the pressure cooker. It got completely rave reviews, and all 60 sandwiches disappeared in short order. I especially like the crunch of the water chestnuts. (Although I had an allergy-mom moment, someone tasted it, then asked if there were water chestnuts, and my first response was, "Oh, no! Are you allergic?" They weren't, just curious about ingredients, LOL.)

Zucchini Bread (whole wheat, of course)--I've made this before, but this time I had Joe check for doneness, and the inside was still just a little gooey. Still good, though. I tripled it, and it made 8 small loaves. I replaced the oil with applesauce, and it stayed so moist and chewy.

Sugar Cookie Bars--I adore sugar cookies. Especially the frosting. Oh. My. Goodness. These are a billion times easier than the traditional rolling and cutting routine. The edges do get a little crispy while the inside stays soft and chewy, but cut the outer 1/4 inch off each side, and you've got a huge tray of sugar cookies in about an hour. Seriously yummy. However, true sugar cookies are yummier.

Lemon Bars--I like sour things. They rock my world. Unfortunately, a lot of lemon bars have a dish-soap aftertaste. These lemon bars are made with real lemons, flour, sugar, eggs, and so on. They are actually really, really, really easy. Unless you are like me and you get seeds in your lemon juice, Then you will be using a slotted spoon to fish for the little pips. Oh, or if you have hangnails. Squeezing lemons is a bit precarious around those. The end result is certainly worth it, however. These are gooey and decadent, but hold together well enough to be cut into cute little squares. They are also a great complement to all the super-sweet stuff.

Carrot Applesauce Muffins--There are a number of people in my family avoiding processed food and sugar for one reason or another. I made this recipe, only I baked them between 15 and 18 minutes in mini-muffin cups. My kids ate them for breakfast the next day, and LOVED that they each got THREE muffins.

I have the recipes for the brownies, banana bread, and cookies, but not uploaded anywhere yet. That will be my project for another day. Let's just say that even if you follow the recipe to a "T", the cookies won't be the same. My sister's love shines through those cookies. It's incredible.

Layered Jello

And the 50's pattern Corel plate adds something to the presentation of gelatin :)

My family has a love/hate relationship with Jell-O. My kids LOVE it. It's wiggly, sweet, and fun. It tastes good, is easy, and comes in bright, happy colors. It is also completely unhealthy, full of sugar, food-coloring, preservatives, and who-knows-what. There is very little redeeming about Jello--there are no necessary nutrients, so it is completely empty calories! So, on the very, very, very rare holiday occasion that I DO make Jell-o, I make it special. I make it layered. Oh, and to make it a bit less unhealthy, I make it with greek Yogurt. Let's add some dairy and protein to our sugar :).

I can easily fit 7 or 8 of these layers in my big, glass 9 x 13 pan, and this process takes a minimum of 15 minutes per layer. It's time consuming. It's a pain in the neck. It's worth it.

I have done this with sugary and sugar-free jello. In a billion color combinations. Red, white, and blue for Independence Day, Red and Green for Christmas, Reds and pinks for Valentines, Pink and White for baby showers, Rainbow colors for a start-of-summer party, blues and whites for a Frozen party, etc. 

For transparent (normal Jell-O) layers: 

1 small package Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cold water

--Dissolve the Jell-O in the boiling water, stir in the cold water, pour into pan, and chill until just set. 

For opaque layers: 

1 small package Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup greek (or regular) plain yogurt

--Dissolve the Jell-O in the boiling water, stir in the yogurt, pour into pan, and chill until just set

For white layer:

1/4 c cold water

1 packet knox gelatine

3/4 c boiling water

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup greek (or regular) plain yogurt

--Sprinkle gelatine over 1/4 c cold water. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Stir in boiling water and sugar, until completely dissolved. Stir in yogurt until smooth. Pour into pan, and chill until just set. 

Basically, you decide what layers you want. Don't do two clear layers in a row, because the colors get muddled and it just turns brown. I usually do a clear, then an opaque, or a clear then a white. Prepare the first layer (mine is usually clear), gently pour it in the bottom of the pan, and let it set. The first layer usually takes the longest because the pan isn't cold yet. About 1/2 hour. Then make your next layer, and when the first layer is just set (still a teeny bit tacky), gently pour it over the first layer, and chill for about 15 minutes, Repeat until pan is full.

Tip: I stir the goo for the next two layers when I put the first layer into the fridge. Then every time I put another layer in the fridge, I start the boiling/mixing process for the layer two behind it. It makes the setting in the fridge process faster, since the jell-O has come to room temperature. 

Tip #2: If I am doing the same color over and over, I will just stir up a HUGE batch, and just put the equivalent of one box of Jello in each time. So If I were doing stripes of clear and opaque pink, I would do 4 boxes of pink jello all together, mixed with just water, and 4 boxes of pink jello all together, then mixed with yogurt, Then I would scoop out equivalent portions of one recipe (about 1 3/4 cups) to set them in stripes. 

Tip#3: I boil my water in the microwave. I'm sneaky like that. 

Weekly Meal Plan 2/14

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Usually I enjoy this lovely break in hum-drum winter weather to celebrate love. This year, I am mostly wishing the days were a little longer, and that I didn't have to go back to teaching. It's going to be a rough transition for sure!

However, this week is still MINE (even though we are planning on blessing our baby in church next week, and will have house guests) with my baby and my food. So let the good times roll!!!

This morning, I made crepes for my family for Valentine's Day. It's something my husband really likes, and it's kind of complicated. My kids whined about it. Seriously. They WHINED because they wanted their berries on the outside of the taco! Then they each had seconds. I guess they were better than they originally believed.

Anyway, on to this week's menu:
Breafasts:

• crepes
• waffles
• muffins
• oatmeal bake
• muffins (leftover) and eggs
• waffles
• oatmeal bake (lefover)

Lunches: 

• leftovers
• finger food
• Nachos
• quesadillas
• sandwiches
• pita wraps

Dinners:

• grilled cheese sandwiches
• Roast beef
• Finger Food
• Pizza
• Spam Surprise (I will have to blog this later... I find it gross)
• Baked potato bar
• Mac and Cheese

Taco Soup

This soup might just be my kids' favorite meal. My daughter actually eats the soup, and my son really, really, really likes the tortilla chips. He might eat a few of the beans in the soup as well. You might call this taco chili as well. It's quick, easy, and incredibly filling. It's also extremely versatile.

To start off, you brown some ground beef and onions. I add in some veggies here, too. Zucchini is great in soups like this because it is so mildly flavored and absorbs other flavors. Then add seasonings (taco seasoning, or others of your choosing), some cans of stuff, some beef broth, and let it simmer. Yup, that's it. Top with cheese and tortilla chips for a delicious, filling, and fairly healthy meal. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 to 1 lb of ground beef

zucchini, carrots, celery, or other yummy veggies, diced (optional)

1 packet of taco seasoning

2 cans kidney beans

1 can of sweet whole kernel corn

1 small can of diced green chilies (optional)

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 c. beef stock or water

First, cook ground beef, onion, and any veggies in olive oil in a big soup pot. When beef it cooked through, add taco seasoning and stir well. Add 2 cans of kidney beans (I drain them, but you don't have to. If you don't drain them, don't add the beef stock/water later.), a can of corn, a can of diced tomatoes, and some diced chilies (or a can of Ro-Tel is awesome, too.) Add enough water or beef broth/stock to replace the water drained off the beans (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups). Bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve with cheese and chips. Devour. 

Weekly meal plan February 7 to 13

I got bountiful baskets again. YAY!!! So much goodness. Zucchini, green cauliflower, purple(?) potatoes, asparagus, butternut squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, lemons, red pears, oranges, apples, and kiwi. DELISH! I really enjoy kiwi, but hate picking them at the store, so that has been my treat this morning.

This week's bounty. Mmmmmm.

Also, I discovered hummus this week. I tried it while pregnant, but it was gross! When I tried it not pregnant, well, let's just say I ate the costco-sized bucket in a week. I will be buying more to dip those delicious veggies in. (Plus more of the baby carrots I bought last week at Costco.) It truly is a delicious thing, and I've heard easy to make, but I'm not ready to try that (yet). 

Now for the meal plan:

Breakfasts: 

• French Toast (as made by Joe!)
• Zucchini bread/muffins-- I haven't tried this recipe, yet, but most things that can be quickbreads are an easy conversion to muffins. 
• Oatmeal--the mushy kind, as per daughter's request
• Eggs
• Waffles
• Muffins (leftover) or toast
• Oatmeal Bake 

Lunches: 

• Leftovers/quesadillas
• Grilled cheese sandwiches, veggies, and fruit
• Quesadillas
• Leftovers
• Finger Food
• Mac and Cheese

Dinners:

• Mac and Cheese  with cauliflower and apples
• Lasagna, salad, lemon bars, bread, fruit salad, and roasted asparagus
• Tacos
• Pizza and raw veggies with dip
• Crockpot roast beef, taters, and carrots with sauteed zucchini
• Roasted Chicken, potatoes, au gratin, butternut squash
• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Weekly Meal Plan January 30 to February 6

Yikes! What a weekend! Joe worked mornings, so I had all three kiddos myself. Thank goodness for my Moby wrap, because we still got the grocery shopping done! Saturday night, we had a fun time when my 2-year-old nephew came to play. Sunday (as everyone knows) was the BIG game... and the awesome commercials, so it was more family get-togethers. So even though I've had a menu plan since Saturday, I am just now putting it on the blog. LOL.

Breakfasts:

• toast and eggs
• cereal
• waffle-eggs and leftover oatmeal bake
• waffles
• leftover oatmeal bake
• eggs
• cereal and toast

Lunch:

• Costco chicken, veggies, and hummus
• Grilled cheese
• finger food
• macaroni and cheese
• sandwiches
• finger food/leftovers

Dinner:

• Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream
• Superbowl party: Sandwiches, fruit salad, veggies, strawberry "footballs", jalapeno poppers, hummus, chili, rolls, etc.
  
• Chicken Corn Chowder
• Crockpot Beef dip Sandwiches, veggies
• Chicken Spinach Tortilla Pie
• Taco Soup and Tortilla chips
• Quesadillas/Enchiladas (with the leftover beef)

Should be a delicious week!