Menu Plan Monday

  Do you like to make a menu plan on Mondays?  I do.  I don't always have one but when I do, what a difference it makes in my week!  

Here's a recent one of mine.  I hope you find something helpful.   

MONDAY:  Chicken and Dumplings, baked carrots
     I cook boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in chicken broth in the crock pot all day.  About 30 minutes before serving I use the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box to make dumplings.  I plop the dumplings right into the crock-pot and they always turn out great.  For the carrots just pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, cover a cookie sheet with carrots and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Bake until soft (approximately 45 minutes - or less, you just have to check them).  

TUESDAY:  Steak, pasta, peas
     This is one of my short-cut meals.  I serve this when I'm limited on time.  I use frozen fajita steak strips and a couple of envelopes of Knorr pasta and a bag of frozen peas. 

  It makes a yummy meal and is quick.

WEDNESDAY:  Homemade pizza 
     Anyway you want to do it - here's one of our favorites.  

THURSDAY:  Pork chops, cheesy potatoes, corn, green beans, and yeast rolls
     I usually marinate my pork chops in Italian dressing overnight and then cook them on the grill.  If you want my recipe for Cheesy Potatoes you can find it here.  Cheesy Potatoes rank in our family's top 5 all time favorite recipes.  

FRIDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread
     Another short-cut meal if you don't have time to make homemade meatballs.  (You may find several short-cut meals on my menu plans in the weeks to come.  With a little infant nursing every few hours my time for cooking has been temporarily altered.)  There are several varieties of frozen meatballs at the grocery store.  We like Armour.

     I put my spaghetti sauce in the crock-pot in the morning and add the meatballs to that.  After cooking all day they are simply delicious.  All that's left to do is cut up a salad and boil some pasta.  

SATURDAY:  Breakfast for dinner- eggs, bacon, and biscuits
     Easy peasy and the whole family loves it!

SUNDAY:  Chicken salad croissants, crackers, and fruit
     Everyone makes chicken salad their own way.  Here's mine.  I like to get the croissants from SAMS or COSTCO.  

MONDAY:  Sloppy Joes, tater tots, carrot sticks
     This is an easy meal.  Just throw your Sloppy Joe ingredients in the crock-pot in the morning and let it cook throughout the day.  When dinner time comes you can simply scoop it onto hamburger buns and serve.  Need a good Sloppy Joe recipe?  Here ya go!

TUESDAY:  Taco Soup
     We love Taco Soup!  Do you?  I love to use my crock-pot for dinner as often as possible, especially during the summertime.  There's something so relaxing about knowing that dinner is cooking away in the crock-pot while I am doing my daily work.  Taco Soup is easy and tasty.  I normally serve it with chips and salsa but most recently we ate it with cornbread my girls made.  It was super delicious and I was super excited that my girls wanted to make it.  They love to cook and bake and are becoming quite a big help in the kitchen.  Yay! 

WEDNESDAY:  Grilled Chicken, green beans, Cheesy potatoes
     I know, Cheesy Potatoes again.  Honestly, my family would eat them every night of the week.  For this meal I marinate boneless, skinless chicken breasts in Italian dressing all day.  When my husband gets home from work he throws them on the grill.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

THURSDAY:  Pork Barbecue Sandwiches, coleslaw, potato chips, carrot sticks
     Another quick and easy meal you can do in the crock-pot.  I'm not turning my oven on much this summer.  :)

FRIDAY:  Ranch Chicken Tacos corn, chips and salsa
     This recipe makes my family so happy.  Recipe credit goes to my sister.  She served this to us once when we visited and my whole family loved it.  Everything you've seen so far on this menu plan is super simple and this meal is no different.  I have to keep things simple during this season of life.  I've got a busy family with people coming and going in different directions plus a new little one.  I can't be fussing with difficult or time consuming recipes.  You're probably busy too.  Hopefully this menu plan will help you out. 

     I sometimes get into a recipe rut.  Does that ever happen to you?  This coming week I've got something fun planned.  I've saved many years worth of Taste of Home magazines and I'm planning to go through them and find new recipes to try.  My husband loves to do this too so I'm going to give him a stack to look at as well.  It will be fun to see what he picks out.  If I find something particularly wonderful I will be sure to pass it on to you!  Many of my favorite recipes have come from Taste of Home and I'm excited about finding new ones in these old magazines.   

Have a great week!

Weekend Recap

Hey everyone!

Can you believe it's Monday afternoon already?  How was your weekend? 

Here's a little recap of ours:

Nic saw the neurologist on Friday.  We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and it was mostly bad news.  Nic was placed on total brain rest for 48 hours.  This is a VERY difficult thing to do and we are trying to do everything we've been told to do to the best of our abilities.  Total brain rest means a dark room, no reading or talking, no TV, or radio, or even siblings in the room.  It is a most difficult thing to do.  After the initial 48 hours of total brain rest we are told to give him a little break and then do another 24 hours and so forth and so on.  We were also told due to the risk of second impact syndrome he can never play soccer again.  This is extremely hard for Nic to understand.  

On Saturday the girls were asked by a very special friend to be flower girls in her wedding.  I had known this was coming for some time, but they didn't.  They were thrilled!  

Sunday we helped with a shower for the special friend mentioned above and it was lovely.  Our bride and groom to be were very happy with their party and it was so much fun to work with other ladies to put it all together.  I have a few pictures of the cupcakes we did.  The stand was cut from logs (thanks to dear friends) and I couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out.  

My honey is improving.  He rested a lot this weekend and is slowly getting better.  I can't wait until he feels like himself again.  I took him to his favorite place for lunch on Saturday and he was delighted. 

My heart is heavy, maybe even a little sore, but God is working in me.  I love the Lord Jesus more than I ever have.  He is so incredibly good to me.  I could write many, many paragraphs on all of the amazing ways He has shown us His love over the last months.  It is often the hardest times in life that bring about the sweetest fellowship with Him.  I haven't enjoyed these hard times but I am certainly thankful for what He is doing in my heart and in our family.  

Last Monday at this time I was sitting in a hospital waiting room.  It's good to be home today even if I do have to figure out a way to plow through all this work.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week I was at hospitals and Friday was more of the same.  I am thankful to be in my home this week.  The calendar looks (kind of) calm for the coming days.  I've got plenty of laundry to keep me busy.  I also plan on bringing the cooking mama back.  We've been scraping by on "easy" food for too long.  I think a nice dinner is in order tonight.  There's this nagging urge to go play at the park today, especially a park with a water feature since it's been close to 100 degrees lately and our air conditioning is out.  I may give myself an incentive (and the kids too) and try to fit in a little playtime today.  I feel like we haven't been doing enough of that lately.  I remember when my big kids were little we did lots and lots of playing at the park and going to summer movies and swimming at the pool.  With my little kids I feel we're sometimes lacking in that area since life is so much harder.  Mommies always have to figure out that balance between work and play.  That's my challenge for today, I guess.

I hope you are having a cozy Monday whatever you are doing.  If I (ever) get my patriotic wreath finished I will post pictures and a tutorial.  Independence Day will be here before we know it!  :)

Good Morning!

Monday morning, that is.

How's your Monday looking?

Mine's a monster!

I just read a facebook status that said, "I hate Mondays".  I get that.  I don't hate Mondays though.  I usually like the fresh start of a new week.  I usually like setting out my plans and contemplating all of the things I want to accomplish.  I usually look forward to trying to get more done than the week before.  Usually.

Today's a little different however.  I just looked at the family calendar for this week and nearly fainted.  Not only is there something (several things actually) written on every square, but I've even managed to double book.  There's a lot of school work to do, and a couple of optometrist appointments and several soccer games, a hair appointment, co-op day, a field trip, a party, an appointment for a physical, and a Good Friday communion service, among other things.  

I don't have our Easter menu planned or any of the food purchased yet.  Not only that, but I haven't gotten any of the clothes ready for Easter weekend except the pretty little dresses my mother-in-law sent for the girls.  Everyone needs shoes and so forth and since we've been stuck in a really long winter we haven't seen any pastel clothing in forever.  There are baskets to fill and groceries to buy, food to cook, a house to clean, errands to run, appointments, and oh yes...eggs to color.  We're reading a special Easter book this week too and believe it or not we really have to work at making the time to do that each day.  Easter really is about the cross, our Savior, His Resurrection and the grace of God!  It's not about clothes and shoes and eggs, of course.  We just have our special traditions that go along with this holiday and I'd like to work everything in this week.

I don't plan on letting this Monday intimidate me.  I've decided what I'm going to do.  Here's my list of how to survive a little too busy week.

• Take time to pray.
• Concentrate on one day at a time, one thing at a time.
• Use the timer for cleaning jobs.
• Make lists and enjoy the good feeling of crossing things off.
• Go to bed at a decent hour and get up early.
• Get everyone to help.
• Stay calm.

If I can stick to this list we will not only survive the week, but it will be a great one.  I hope you'll have a great week too.  Make it cozy!

More About Monday

Remember Garfield's saying from the 80's, "What's the big fat hairy deal"?  That is how I often think of Mondays...Big Fat Hairy Mondays.  Monday mornings I ask myself, "where do I start?".  
I have to clean up the house from the wild and woolly weekend.  I have to figure out a menu plan for the week, if I haven't already.  The kids have to be put back on schedule and we have to set some goals.  I've mentioned before I set monthly goals.  I also like to set weekly goals, and sometimes goals just for the day.  Goal setting keeps me on track.  


If you have a tad of trouble getting going on Mondays here are a few things I do to get the week rolling.

1. Spend some time praying and talking to God.  Thank Him for his goodness and commit your work to Him.  This prayer time can take place in the shower if you are short on time.
2. After you have showered, make up your bed and get the first load of laundry started.
3. Wake the children and have them start on their Bible time and chores while you fix breakfast.  Monday breakfast should be something quick and easy.  Today I served oatmeal and yogurt.
4. Give the kids lots of hugs and kisses.  Don't get so task oriented that you forget to love on them!
5. Figure out what you are serving for dinner tonight.  If possible jot down a menu for the whole week.  Our dinner tonight will be a burrito bar, a super easy meal.  I mix taco seasoning into refried beans and heat them on the stove.  I make a "bar" with soft tortilla shells, chopped tomato, chopped onion, shredded cheese, sour cream and chips and salsa.  Everyone builds their own burrito.  Easy peasy!
6. Get the children involved and clean up the house.  I'm not talking major cleaning here.  Make beds, wash the dishes, take out trash and put things where they belong (and keep working on the laundry!).
7. Check the calendar.  Any appointments?  Get organized for the week ahead. Monday is our library day so I have all of the kids round up their books and reading logs and put them in a designated place.
8. Make a list of calls you need to make or emails you need to send and plan to do that when the children are resting in the afternoon.  (When hopefully it is quiet!)
9. Smile at the children, listen to praise music as you work, take time to play and read. 

"Your home life drastically shapes your children's lives.  When you make cookies, you aren't just fiddling around in the kitchen wasting time.  You are building people who grew up on those cookies- with that kind of warmth and experience in their lives".  Read the entire article here.