Menu: September 26 - October 2

Ugh.  The Last Quarter Insanity seems to have started a month early this year.  It kinda makes me a little afraid of what the next three months will bring.  I mean, usually it's crazy with Girl's birthday and Halloween and my birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the end of the year stuff I do, but if it's going to be SO CRAZY that the Universe started hitting me a month early??  Ohdear.... maybe it's time to hide in my closet. 

Lots to do and my printer is broken.  Because, you know, NOW is when I need it most.  *sigh*  I do believe my head is going to explode any day now...

So, food!  Because, apparently, we need to eat.  Or so I'm told.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal (dry or with milk)
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     oatmeal and fruit


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches (tuna, peanut butter, whatever) and fruit
     bocca burger
     turkey burger
 


Monday
dinner: leftovers (cleaning out the fridge)


Tuesday
dinner: pasta, salad, garlic toast


Wednesday
dinner: Honey Mustard Lime Chicken (adapted from this recipe), green beans, corn nibbles, salad


Thursday
dinner: tuna burgers (adapted from this recipe), rosemary sweet potato steak fries, salad


Friday
dinner: beans and rice
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- chicken spaghetti casserole


weekend lunches and dinners
- chicken spaghetti casserole (adapted from this recipe)
- various leftovers
- probably tuna sandwiches if we need more food


Aaaaand, I think that's it.  I need to get a move on and tackle my day.  Maybe if I'm extra charming, I can coax the printer to work just long enough to get some vital stuff printed.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Please...?


Blue skies, world.

Menu: September 12-18

Huh.  September.  When did THAT happen?  Guess summer kinda ate my life. 

So, school's back in session (is this really the fourth week already? wow...) and I've been adjusting to (1) being by myself again and (2) getting things done.  The first is a easy, the second is... well, I'm getting better.

Speaking of getting better, I have a huge list of stuff I want/need to get done this week so I need to get off the computer and get moving.

So, food! Because it makes a really awesome bribe incentive for my family to do what I want when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal (dry or with milk)
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     Amish Breakfast Casserole     pancakes


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches (tuna, peanut butter, whatever) and fruit
     bocca burger
     turkey burger
 


Monday
dinner: spaghetti (making sauce from scratch, as in... squishing tomatoes scratch), garlic toast, salad


Tuesday
dinner: spicy orange and sesame chicken sandwiches (adapted from this recipe), salad


Wednesday
dinner: leftovers


Thursday
dinner: beans and rice, salad


Friday
dinner: meat loaf, green peas, roasted golden potatoes
extra: honey lemon cookies
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- disappearing chicken casserole


weekend lunches and dinners
- disappearing chicken casserole, broccoli
- various leftovers
- probably tuna sandwiches if we need more food

I think that's it.

Lots to do now.


Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 27 - July 3

Last week was... fun. Summer is, without a doubt, in full swing.

We didn't get to the roasted turkey legs over the weekend so that's shifted to Monday. The lentils and brown rice tacos that we didn't get to have been shifted forward to Wednesday.

There will be a few new recipes popping up in the near future. We've all decided we need to lose some weight so Girl and Husband picked out The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook this weekend while we were out. Some of the ideas they suggest are simply... not... going to be implemented in our weight loss endeavors while others are ideas I've been trying to get both Girl and Husband to embrace for a while. Since this is their idea, I am tentatively optimistic about the results.  It'll be easier for me to eat better if they're the ones wanting the healthier meals. 

Also, they think we should all eat breakfast in the morning. Amazing. I wonder why I never thought of that.

So! In the mean time... food. Because my family REALLY likes it when I feed them and it's so much easier to bribe convince them to do things when I have food.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     bagel and yogurt
Saturday: Amish Breakfast Casserole
Sunday:Oatmeal pancakes, turkey bacon


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches & fruit
     hot dogs
     chicken pot pie


Monday
dinner: roasted turkey legs (I still need to make some pomegranate molasses), french fries, salad


Tuesday
dinner: Apricot, Ginger, and Chicken Casserole, lima beans, broccoli


Wednesday
dinner: lentils and brown rice tacos, salad


Thursday
dinner: spaghetti, garlic rolls, salad


Friday
dinner: hamburger noodle casserole, broccoli, salad
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- all the chopping and grating for the Amish Breakfast Casserole
- Chicken Salad Dijon with grapes and apples
- mixing the Tasty Tuna Burgers (but not cooking them)


weekend lunches and dinners
- leftovers
- Chicken Salad Dijon with grapes and apples (plus fruit on the side)
- Tasty Tuna Burgers (plus Rosemary Sweet Potato Steak Fries and salad)

 

As I typed out the above, I realized that I've been remiss in posting recipes in my recipe blog so I'll be working on that some this week when I get the chance.

And I believe that's it for the food this week.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 20 - 26

WOO-HOO! Last week worked great. We cooked what was supposed to be cooked and we ate it! Not only that, but I made a chocolate-cherry ribbon dessert for the weekend and it was great. I've already started considering way to tweak it to make it better suited to our tastes.

I'm hoping for success again this week and just to make it more of a challenge, I'm planning breakfasts and lunches, too.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     hard boiled eggs and fruit
     turkey bacon
     toast
     bagels
     fruit

Monday
lunch: LUNCH OUT (Red Robin after orthodontist appointment
dinner: tuna casserole, broccoli, salad

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, salad, fruit
dinner: hamburgers, fries, salad

Wednesday
lunch: chicken nuggets, salad, fruit
dinner: easy garlic broiled chicken, mashed potatoes, green peas

Thursday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, salad, fruit
dinner: lentils and brown rice tacos, salad

Friday cooking all weekend meals today
lunch: foraging
dinner: leftovers

Weekend
- roasted turkey legs (first, I'll have to make some pomegranate molasses), french fries, salad
- baked black bean and salsa chicken (an adaptation of this recipe), rice, broccoli

I believe that's about it.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 13 - 19

Things didn't go quite as planned last week. Life happens. I've shifted a few of the missed meals forward to this week (and next week) and am hoping I've figured how to avoid the "omg-too-many-leftovers!" situations that have been causing all the problems.

It's late, I'm tired, and I think I'm being kidnapped tomorrow. I need to be in bed so I'll make this short.

Food... because I'm supposed to feed them. Or something like that.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
- whatever can be found (actually, the husband is probably fending for himself since it'll be a miracle if Girl or I are out of bed early to actually eat breakfast)

Lunches
- haven't got a clue. Probably a lot of foraging this week.

Monday
dinner: disappearing chicken casserole, broccoli, salad

Tuesday
dinner: leftovers

Wednesday
dinner: chopped beef stroganoff, broccoli

Thursday - GROCERY DAY
dinner: cheddar mac & ham casserole

Friday
dinner: DAD COOKS! YAY!!
additional cooking (what I'll cook): weekend meals

WEEKEND MEALS
one: shepherd's pie
two: asian orange chicken, rice, salad

And that's all from me. Time for sleeping.

Sweet dreams, world.

Menu: June 6 - 12

We're getting better with actual eating of what's planned, but there's still quite a bit of work to be done in that area.

School releases the animals into the wild kids for the summer Friday with an early release time. As always, I have no idea what sort of impact that will really have on my days. This year, Girl wants a "social life" during the summer. I'm not yet sure what sort of Mom Magic I'm going to have to work to make that possible. I'm still trying to find out exactly what she wants.

So, food... because we always have food. My family is so much less growlish and bitey more pleasant to be around when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
- whatever can be found, including white cheddar popcorn and cheesecake (nothing really planned this week, I'm tumbling some ideas around in my skull)

Lunches
- haven't got a clue. Most likely, it'll be leftovers or sandwiches with fruit. Or maybe just a bowl of white cheddar popcorn and some M&Ms.

Monday
dinner: skillet chicken parmesan, green beans, crescent rolls, salad
additional cooking: pasta sauce

Tuesday
dinner: sloppy tater joe casserole, broccoli, salad
additional cooking: sloppy joe sauce

Wednesday
dinner: asian orange chicken, rice, salad

Thursday
dinner: shepherd's pie

Friday
dinner: DAD COOKS! YAY!!
additional cooking (what I'll cook): potato skins, plus weekend meals

WEEKEND MEALS
one: meatloaf (still tweaking this recipe), mashed potatoes (using potato guts from potato skins), green peas
two: lentils and rice with fried onions, baked falafel patties with yogurt-tahini sauce, salad

I think that's all. Any guesses on which meal will be skipped/shifted to a future date?

Much to do today and I'm running out of time.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: May 30 - June 4

Last week's menu went a little awry around Wednesday. The Asian Orange Chicken meal got bumped, so did the Skillet Chicken Parmesan meal, and, well, actually, the rest of the week. Things got weird. It happens.

I've been using Plan To Eat to plan my meals (and grocery lists) since November so last week's explosion of meals not cooked isn't much of an issue. I simply pulled those items into the coming weeks and all is well.

So! Food. Because my family really likes it when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cold cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits


Monday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Tasty Tuna Burgers, french fries, salad

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Chopped Beef Stroganoff, broccoli

Wednesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Chicken and yellow rice, salad

Thursday - GROCERY DAY
lunch: leftovers (or take out, depending on how long the shopping takes and how hungry I get)
dinner: leftovers

Friday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Baked Ziti, salad

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Lentils and Brown Rice Tacos, Salad

Sunday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: leftovers


I believe that's everything. I'm still working on indexing my recipe blog and adding more recipes there. I'm also still trying to figure out if I even want to keep it since most everything I put there will undoubtedly (eventually) be added to my Plan To Eat account/cookbook. Eventually, everything will be all orderly. Eventually.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: May 23 - 29

It's been almost a year since I've updated this blog. A lot has happened in that time. A lot that I'd just as soon not delve into here. This isn't the place for it. Instead, let me just say that, as a part of my grieving process, I'm making extra efforts to blog again. Creating, it seems, is my way of coping with a lot.

I suspect (hope) this renewal of blogging will begin as a trickle of skimpy posts that eventually develops into a small but steady stream of more interesting and detailed posts. And I will more than likely miss a week or two during the first months (or, at the very least, be late with the posting) as I reintegrate this task into my weekly routine. Though, truthfully, finding my writing voice again is more of a concern to me than missing or being late with a post. I started losing it last January and lost it completely over the last six months.

Or maybe I just need to reconnect.

Anyway... food...

While I still plan the weeks Sunday through Saturday, I'll be listing the menus here as Monday through Sunday for one very simple reason: Sundays are ALWAYS "leftover" days. I try to cook enough food on Friday to carry us through to Sunday night. I get two days I don't have to cook and my family still gets to eat. Win-win. Listing Sunday through Saturday meant starting the week by re-listing what I had previously cooked or listing "leftovers". Neither option appealed to me, so I reached for another option. I'm kind of quirky that way.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Monday
dinner: shepherd's pie

Tuesday
dinner: shepherd's pie leftovers

Wednesday
dinner: Asian Orange Chicken, rice, broccoli

Thursday
make early in day: pasta sauce
dinner: Skillet Chicken Parmesan, broccoli

Friday
dinner: LEFTOVERS
cooking for weekend:
- Spaghetti with Fresh Tomatoes
- Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions (Mujadarrah)
- Baked Falafel Patties with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
- Middle Eastern Tomato Salad

Saturday
lunch and dinner: FORAGING ON WHAT I COOKED FRIDAY

Sunday
lunch and dinner: FORAGING ON WHAT I COOKED FRIDAY

And that, I believe, is all.


Blue skies, world.

Menu - July 12 - 17

Okie dokie, then. Last week was all sorts of fubar for all sorts of reasons. With the husband out of town, the kid and I pretty much just foraged all week. Neither one of us felt like eating much anyway.

So! This week...

The husband is back in town and I have high hopes for this week but, eh, we'll see. It's not even noon on Monday and already my day is scrambled.

I recently borrowed the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (their website is here) and had hoped to try their method of bread mixing/making today but I don't think I'll get to it. Not today. I'll shoot for Wednesday or Thur...oh, not Thursday. Grocery shopping is on Thursday. Maybe Friday, then, since Fridays are cook-a-thon days anyway. We'll see. When I do get to it, I'll take some pictures and share my thoughts.

Oh, and I'm dropping the chores list from the menu because that's not what these menu posts are about. They're about food. So... menu!

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cold cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits


Sunday
lunch: IHOP (after the Minions movie)
dinner: frozen pizza/foraging


Monday
lunch: tuna sandwiches, fruit
dinner: parmesan pasta bake, salad


Tuesday
lunch: chicken legs, rice, random veggies and/or fruit
dinner: fish, broccoli, corn, salad


Wednesday
lunch: chicken legs, rice, random veggies and/or fruit
dinner: hamburger noodle casserole, salad
baking (maybe): bread

Thursday GROCERY DAY
lunch: ---OUT---
dinner: leftovers


Friday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit
dinner: tacos
cooking for weekend: chicken spaghetti casserole


Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, fruit
dinner: chicken spaghetti casserole (trying for the first time), salad

The chicken spaghetti casserole is finding its way onto our menu for the first time but I've heard such great things about it. With luck, it'll stay in the rotation of weekend meals because I just don't have enough meals in that category. (No, really, I don't. I need more recipes that serve 6+ people.)

So, that's the our meal plan for the week. What's in your menu? (Am I the only one that reads that question and immediately thinks of the Capital One credit card commercials "What's in your wallet? Ugh. I need to go bleach my brain...)

Blue skies, world.

Menu (and chores) - June 27 - July 3

Last week's menu went a little awry around Tuesday. The chicken with honey-orange sauce never got made. Neither did the beans, rice, tuna patties, or hoe cakes. We only resorted to eating take-out once, though, so I still count the week as a win. Sometimes life just gets a little hay-wirey.

The husband left town yesterday morning and won't be back until Thursday morning so Girl and I are happily eating leftovers and not having to put much effort into the feed of ourselves until later in the week. Even then, it's not going to be much effort. It's summer, after all.

So... menu... but first... I'm adding chores and activities to my menu this week as a trial to see how it works out. I'm not adding my daily To Do List; no one has the time (or desire) to see that mayhem. I'm just adding...highlights.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cold cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits

NOTE: We still have corn on the cob and peaches in the refrigerator, so all meals will be added to (or not) as desired (or needed). There's also a fairly good chance of me baking some bread this week.

Sunday
lunch: leftovers (oven-fried chicken #2, potato salad)
dinner: leftovers (oven-fried picnic chicken #2, potato salad) warm brownies and milk

chores: none
activity: take Husband to airport in morning, Unnatural History (8pm - Cartoon Network)

Monday
lunch: leftovers (oven-fried picnic chicken #2, potato salad)
dinner: leftovers (oven-fried picnic chicken #2, potato salad), corn on the cob

chores - me: wipe down master bath, clean kitchen (wash small appliances, clear counters, clean oven hood, etc.), work on Emergency Notebook forms, laundry (sheets)
chores - Girl: wipe down main bath, clean all cabinet doors (kitchen & bath), 30 minutes on bedroom
activity: latch hook lesson, mom writing time

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers (oven-fried picnic chicken #2, potato salad)
dinner: ground turkey burgers, baked beans, corn on the cob
baking (maybe): bread

chores - me: sweep and mop tile floors, work on Emergency Notebook forms, laundry (towels)
chores - Girl: clean light switches and door knobs, shake door rugs, sweep outside front door, 30 minutes on bedroom
activity: latch hook lesson, mom writing time

Wednesday
lunch: --OUT--
dinner: leftovers (turkey burgers, baked beans)

chores - me: wipe down master bath, balance budget, vacuum, laundry (light clothes)
chores - Girl: wipe down main bath, straighten bedroom closet, 30 minutes on bedroom
activity: GROCERY DAY

Thursday
lunch: leftovers, fruit
dinner: lemon chicken stir-fry, rice, salad

chores - me: dust, work on next week's menu, laundry (gentle cycle load, dark clothes)
chores - Girl: clean bedroom, dust bedroom, vacuum bedroom
activity: pick up Husband at airport (930am), pick up library book(s) on hold

Friday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit
dinner: black bean tostados, salad
cooking for weekend: shepherd's pie

chores - me: clean master bathroom, sweep tile floors, laundry (Girl's clothes, bleach, towels)
chores - Girl: clean main bathroom, sweep and mop main bath, clean toothbrush holder
activity: cook-a-thon (with reading during down times), Merlin (10pm - SyFy)

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, fruit
dinner: shepherd's pie

chores - me: laundry (jeans)
chores - Girl: clean out car (w/dad)
activity: nothing planned yet


I do believe those are the highlights. I left everything that appears on my daily list out, so there's no mention of my washing dishes (something I do several times a day) or clutter pick-up or exercise or arguing with Girl when she has a Teen Moment or so many other things. You'll just have to trust that it's all part of my day.

Blue skies, world.

Menu - June 20 - 26

Last week had both Girl and kitty on drugs and healing. Both are doing much better. Girl was negative for Strep and Meningitis (both were a concern because both are going around this area) and kitty's blood tests came back with some enzyme or another slightly elevated which could mean a whole bunch of things. Right now it's a "wait and see" game with her, with the possibility of more blood tests in the future. I'm still fighting off whatever sludge monster has decided my head is a great place for its summer camping trip.

I have great hopes that this week will be much different. Or, at the very least, hope nobody in our household will be sick. There are plans for a $1 movie and a free movie (Tuesday and Wednesday mornings), opening the latch hook kits (see post here), and at least one library visit. I have a running list of other activities that might wiggle their way into the week, too. I won't even mention the cleaning/chores.

I've been working on finding fairly simple (and large) dishes that can be cooked in advance to minimize my time in the kitchen during the weekend. So far, it's working out really well. Having the food already prepared for the weekends has got to be somewhere in my top ten list of best ideas. I get days off (sorta) and they get fed something besides tuna; major win for all concerned (well, except kitty, who no longer gets tuna treats on the weekends). I'm toying with the idea of cooking dinners in the morning during the week. The days can get really busy in the summer and sometimes I just don't feel like cooking, especially on low energy days when it hurts to move. Knowing dinner was taken care of before the day even got underway would go a long way toward easing some of the angst on low energy days. Or just days Girl and I spent aaaall day out running around in the Florida heat. Even if all I did was cook the main dish and do the clean up in the mornings, it would help. The vegetables that would need to be cooked at dinner time are a breeze to not only steam but also clean up after. Less after-dinner clean up = major win for mom.

So... menu...

Oh. And the pizza casserole we tried last week was a hit. The recipe still needs a few minor tweaks but other than that, everyone loved it.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits

NOTE: With about a dozen ears of fresh corn on the cob and a little over ten pouns of fresh peaches lurking about, all meals will be added to (or not) as desired (or needed). There's also the slight chance of me baking some bread this week. Maybe. Or teaching Girl how to make biscuits from scratch.

Sunday
lunch: leftovers (pizza casserole)
dinner: leftovers (pizza casserole)

Monday
lunch: chicken legs, fruit
dinner: easy salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, lima beans, salad

Tuesday
lunch: chicken legs, lima beans, fruit
dinner: chicken with honey orange sauce, rice, green beans, salad

Wednesday
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: red beans, tuna patties, hoe cakes, salad

Thursday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: leftovers, salad

Friday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: potato bake, salad
cooking for weekend: oven-fried chicken (#2), potato salad,

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, fruit
dinner: oven-fried chicken (#2), potato salad, baked beans

Blue skies, world.

Menu - June 13 - 19

Last week saw the end of the school year... and my daughter and feline getting sick. My family certainly knows how to kick off the summer vacation. Sheesh.

Girl is on antibiotics and has slept most of the last three days. I expect her to sleep much of the next two or three days as well. Or sleep as well as she possibly can given the extent of her congestion. Her fever is mostly gone but the congestion is just... there. I fully expect her to be even more moody and miserable than her usual 13-year-old self when she is awake. Joy.

Kitty appears to be on the mend. After a visit to the vet, some blood drawn for tests, and a dose of antibiotics, she's eating again. She's also being more social than she was last week and when I woke up this morning (at 4am), she was curled up on my hip. We should hear back from the vet about the blood tests sometime today.

I should update my listed goals, however, finding the time to do that recently has been a little difficult. The thing about doing stuff not computer-related is that I'm no longer AT my computer all day long so finding time to do the dozens of things I was used to doing... a little difficult. Still, I'd rather be doing things and updating less than the other way around. And I seem to be slightly ahead of schedule today, so perhaps I'll be able to get that done later...assuming I maintain this momentum and continue to get stuff done.

So food. Because my family likes it when I feed them.

I will say this first, though: cooking the weekend's food on Friday during the day and having prepared food in the refrigerator has been making a world of difference in our weekends. Oh, we may still eat out... but it's by choice when we do, not because we're too tired to fix anything. The husband noted last night that he really liked the shredded chicken and rice being in the refrigerator. Actually, what he said was "This shredded chicken and rice thing? You can do that again." Yay me!

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     muffins (link coming)
     cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits

Sunday
lunch: leftovers (tacos or chicken & rice)
dinner: leftovers (tacos or chicken & rice)

Monday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwich, fruit
dinner: pasta, homemade sauce (a variation of this one in which I use tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and a variety of stuff commonly found in my kitchen), salad
stuff to do: get ham cheese and potato casserole out of freezer to thaw

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: fish, mac & cheese, broccoli

Wednesday
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: ham cheese and potato casserole (from the freezer), broccoli

Thursday
lunch: ---OUT---
dinner: leftovers
stuff to do: GROCERY DAY! Leave out ground beef for burgers when dividing package for freezer

Friday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, carrots, fruit
dinner: hamburgers, fries
cooking for weekend: pizza casserole (new recipe!)

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, fruit
dinner: pizza casserole

And now I need to get moving. It's 6am already and it feels like I'm falling behind.

Blue skies, world.

Menu - June 6 - 12

So far we've been real good about following the menus, with the exception of fish nights. We always work around fish nights for some reason. Maybe because I don't really like fish. I'll have to work on that. We need to eat more fish.

I've not been as good with lunches, but the listed items always get eaten. Just not on the assigned days. I either need to work on that or alter the way I list lunches. With Girl being home starting Friday, I'm not sure which would be best.

Anyway, school releases the animals into the wild kids for the summer this Thursday with an early release time. My schedule is about to get a world of crazier than it already is. My brain is already cowering in fear.

Oh, and the pancakes didn't work out so well for breakfast during the week. I'm not sure what the problem was. Perhaps I'll try it again another week with different execution plans.

So, food... because we always have food. My family is so much more pleasant to be around when I feed them.

Aaaaand, there are no links because my eyes are killing me and I'm too tired to post them then link them. I'll add links later in the week.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     muffins (link coming)
     cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits

Sunday
lunch: sandwiches
dinner: black bean tostadas (link coming), salad

Monday
lunch: pb&j sandwich, carrots, fruit
dinner: cheese-topped lemon chicken breasts, carrots, broccoli, salad

Tuesday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwich, carrots, fruit
dinner: meat loaf, corn on the cob, green beans, salad

Wednesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: fish, mac & cheese, broccoli

Thursday
lunch: Healthy Choice frozen meal
dinner: ???

Friday
lunch: sandwiches, carrots, fruit
dinner: tacos
cooking for weekend: chicken and rice

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: chicken and rice, salad

And now I need to sleep.

Sweet dreams, world.

The coming of summer

There's only four more days of school and with the end of school comes summer. As with every summer, we're planning a variety of activities and some down/free time.

One of the things we always try to include in our summer activities is a craft. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. Still, it's especially awesome if I can teach the kid something new and she actually enjoys it. This year, I'm going to teach her to latch hook.

Surprised how little my local craft supply stores actually had on the shelves, I turned to the internet. After much deliberation (and more than a little frustration) we made our choices.

Girl had a hard time choosing one. There simply aren't any goth-lite kits available. Everything is overly-girly (full of fluff, flowers, and/or rainbows), pure boy (sports related) or too childish or "old-looking" to hold the interest of a 13-year-old girl gothling. The other options were huge, over-priced kits that, while they appealed to her, simply weren't appropriate for a beginner's first project.

But! ...of course there's a but. What kind of entry would this be without a but?

But "mommy do good"! I found her something that really appeals to her. Caron has two pirate-themed latch hook kits. The one Girl squealed at was the pirate skull.

Now, not being entirely goth (hence the goth-lite and gothling terms I use when referring to her) she was attracted to a heart kit. Since I needed a kit to do as well and nothing else was appealing to me either, I decided to get the other one she liked. I'll make it for her. It's one of those things moms do. It's a heart with a glow around it.

Yes, yes, she's a walking contradiction. She's awesome that way.

Anyway, I ordered them earlier this week and both kits should be here by the end of next week so we'll be starting them before the end of the month. (I usually try to give her a few free days of nothing planned and sleeping in before we start with the summer fun.) With a hyperactive hurricane season being predicted this year, I'm sure there will be plenty of rainy days when we opt to stay home and latch hook or read rather than go out. Progress will be posted in my project blog, One Dream at a Time, but I will also post the end results here.

We're still hashing out the rest of the summer plans. There are movies to watch, books to read, places to go, household lessons to be learned (more on that later), and all sort of other mischief to get into fun to be had.

Blue skies, world.

Menu - May 30 - June 5

Last week was an inspiring success, so let's try again. Only maybe not so busy. And with actual writing this week. And more sleep.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     pancakes (trying batter in refrigerator & making 1-2 on demand)
     cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     toast
     biscuits

Sunday
lunch: leftovers (ham & cheese potato casserole)
dinner: leftovers (ham & cheese potato casserole)

Monday
lunch: sandwiches
dinner: pasta with tangy meat sauce, salad, garlic bread

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: skillet chicken parmesan, broccoli, corn on the cob, salad

Wednesday
lunch: pb&j sandwich, carrots, fruit
dinner: leftovers

Thursday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwich, carrots, fruit
dinner: fish, baked potatoes, green beans, salad

Friday
lunch: Healthy Choice frozen meal
dinner: pizza
cooking for weekend: sloppy joes

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: sloppy joes, oven-baked french fries, salad

And now I need to sleep.

Sweet dreams, world.

Menu - May 23 - 29

Last week was... weird. Girl got up and ate breakfast with me every morning. It got even more weird after that.

Mister returned safely.

The minor trouble spots for this week's menu are thanks to Girl's schedule. She's got all sorts of after-hours school stuff going on that has us not able to sit down at the dinner table at 6pm at least twice this week.

I'm managing to eat lunch everyday but it's not always what I had thought I'd be eating that day. Still... improving. Yay.

This week, I'm adding breakfast, but not in the daily grouping. Breakfast is too likely to change based on the amount of time we have in the morning. Or, you know, how we feel that morning. So instead of the daily 'map', I'm adding a selection of choices available this week. It's my plan to expand and rotate the options.

So... food.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     oatmeal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     toast
     biscuits

Sunday
lunch brunch: lemon ricotta pancakes
dinner: leftovers (pink beans, hoe cakes, tuna patties)

Monday
lunch: PB&J sandwich, fruit
dinner: leftovers, salad

Tuesday
lunch: Healthy Choice frozen meal
dinner: golden chicken, broccoli, corn

Wednesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, salad

Thursday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: fish, baked potatoes, broccoli, salad

Friday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwich
dinner: hamburgers, fries
cooking for weekend: ham & cheese potato casserole

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: ham & cheese potato casserole, salad

And now I need to sleep. It's been an exhausting weekend and my eyes are refusing to stay open any longer.

Sweet dreams, world.

Menu - May 16-22

Last week was good.

The weekend was...weird.

This week is starting out weird.

I like weird.

Mister is out of town this week. He woke me up a little before 4am so that I could be awake to lock the door behind him and also so that I would be up to get Girl up in time for school. I've been up - and productive - ever since. The majority of my task list for today is already done and it's not even 11am yet.

This week's menu presented the problem of him being gone. Girl and I don't eat much or well when he's out of town. We eat like the stereo-typical bachelor or college student, minus the take-out. With that in mind, and wanting to change that, I cleaned out the refrigerator on Friday to see what was still lurking about. As it turned out, not much. A head of cabbage, some pine nuts, some sliced almonds, and about a cup of ricotta cheese. Awesome. Quick look in the pantry (after the husband inventoried it for me); check. Freezers? Check. Time to make a menu!

The cabbage is now cole slaw. The pine nuts and almonds are lurking aimlessly for one more week. The ricotta cheese is hoping to be made into pancakes sometime before mid-June.

I've been playing with the idea of being in the kitchen less during the upcoming summer but still having food for us to eat without resorting to take-out or fast food. We have few objections to "leftovers". That led me to ponder cooking in bulk. Bulk/batch cooking would save time, both in the preparing of meals and cleaning up afterward. From there, I started thinking about the weekends. They're especially problematic when I'm planning menus. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is, weekends are problem areas... mainly because we prefer to spend our weekends doing things that in no way even remotely resemble work. Easing into the bulk cooking for the summer seemed like the smart thing to do but I was uncertain how or when to tackle this. Combining my two issues (bulk cooking + weekends), I came up with the idea to try cooking the bulk of the weekend's food on Friday. That starts this week.

As I said earlier, the weekend was weird. This resulted in me having to rework the menu I'd fretted over on Friday. Wee. No problem, though. I was up early this morning. Since I was reworking the menu anyway, I added lunches just so I know what I'm supposed to eat ('cause, you know, I might forget that I'm supposed to eat leftovers this week). Breakfast options... maybe those will find their way into the menu next week. Maybe. I can hope.

So... food.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Sunday
lunch: --
dinner: oven-fried picnic chicken, potato salad, cole slaw (this is why I had to alter the menu for this week. The whole head of cabbage made A LOT of cole slaw and we ended up with A LOT of leftover chicken. If Mister was going to be in town, it would be no problem but with just Girl and me, that leftover food will feed us for days.)

Monday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: leftovers, salad

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: hamburgers, corn, leftovers (we had a LOT of chicken leftover...)

Wednesday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: fish, mac & cheese, peas

Thursday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: breakfast OR leftovers

Friday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: frozen pizzas
cooking for weekend: pink beans, rice

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: pink beans, rice, hoe cakes

I guess that's it. I've got some laundry to tend to and some household paperwork to deal with and then... um... hmmm... Weird. I don't know what after that. Probably some writing and crocheting.

Blue skies, world.

A... mole?

So, apparently I'm a mole. I think it might be off a bit, but then again, maybe not. Not the way I've been recently.


http://www.animalinyou.com/survey.asp

Mole
Genera and species: Castor canadensis
Collective Term: A business of beavers

Description
It's easy to recognize the mole personality. For one thing, they have a pasty complexion and are usually seen in late night coffee shop, jazz bars, or underground clubs. To avoid drawing attention to themselves, they favor dark clothing and sunglasses and are the first people to volunteer for the graveyard shift.

The mole is a smallish individual with far more power than its flaccid body suggests, although its strength is more mental than physical. With its ability to focus on the job at hand, there is no situation from which a mole cannot extricate itself.

There's something compelling about the mole personality, and in the early sixties it was quite fashionable to be a mole in the form of a creative and philosophical beatnik -- expressing angst through music and poetry. Bob Dylan and John Lennon carried the mole standard into the seventies, but the fashion largely died and moles were forced back underground.

Moles are restless and although constantly engaged in activity, they never seem to get anything done and despite their drab appearance, they have extremely sharp minds and are excellent problem solvers. As reflected in their determined burrowing through difficult terrain, moles prefer solutions with straight lines rather than having to go around problems. When confronted with difficult issues, they never give up -- hacking away with dogged determination until the answer is found. This attribute makes them perfect for jobs in engineering, accounting or diagnostic work.

Sex is not the most important thing in the mole's life but if there is one animal personality that can push all the right buttons; it would be its soul mate, the bat. (like Yoko Ono) The bat and the mole share a love for dark intimacy and when these two get together, black magic is bound to happen.


Careers and Hobbies
Engineering
Songwriting
Grave digger
Researching
Music
Poetry
Coffeshops
Designing

Famous Moles
Bob Dylan, John Lennon.



So, um, just how does one pick up grave digging as a hobby?

Sweet dreams, I'm off to be before I get into any more trouble.

Menu - July 13 - 19, 2008

Yeah, yeah, I've been a serious slacker for several weeks. Sometimes life just demands that I be away from my computer(s) and be, basically, absent from most people's field of vision. That's just the way it works and I'm old enough to have learned not to struggle against it.

Not much has happened that I care to have posted for all the world to see, but there has been quite a flurry of activity of late. So! Random pros and cons from among the stuff I'm willing to share with the world. Mainly because I'm too tired to do anything but make lists. In no particular order, just as they fall out of my head.

Pro - my cousin hatched a beautiful baby boy over the weekend. Holding him in my arms before he was even 24 hours old very nearly eradicated more than a week's worth of stress and exhaustion, though I will be the first to admit that I was nowhere near as exhausted as she was. Or on the wonderful drugs the hospital gave her. Of course, that didn't stop me from sleeping for close to twelve hours last night.

Con - the secondary hard drive on the computer on the desk is fried. This has been a hugely devastating blow to me because it's where I have... had... all of my graphics, my family history files, almost four years worth of writing research files, and a host of other stuff that was exclusively mine. None of it was backed up. It was a slave drive. It shouldn't have fried. I know better now.

Pro - I know better now, and am now the proud new owner of a 360GB external hard drive that is compatible with both my laptop and the computer on the desk. And it's all mine.

Pro - other than the research files (which I'll never be able to duplicate), none of my writing files were lost. I do have all my writing backed up on flash drives, and after last week, those backups are even current.

Pro - I have a dear friend that is such a wonderful computer geek. I'm shipping him my fried slave drive to see if he can salvage anything. I know better than to have any hope because when I kill computer parts I do a mighty fine job of it, but if anyone can coax that drive to cough anything up, it'd be him.

Pro - I've been toying with the idea of a new story and am quite eager to work on it.

Con - Getting any research done to further develop that new story idea is proving to be quite impossible for a wide variety of reasons, and that's driving me just a wee bit batty.

Con - Despite some fantastic ideas, I've gotten absolutely no writing done in the past month or so and I do believe my head is going to explode soon.

Pro - I've been holding off that skull explosion with massive amounts of book reading. You know, whenever I'm not having stress-induced meltdowns.

Pro - I got a new bra. I think I love it. I think I might have to order another in the same style but in a different color.

Con - My weight has been fluctuating wildly. My weight loss endeavors have not been going all that well, but what can I honestly expect when my eating and sleeping habits have been so wildly erratic?

I do think that's all I'm willing to share, so on with the menu.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Sunday
breakfast: waffles
lunch: sandwiches, chips
dinner: dinner out (Outback)

Monday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: leftovers / sandwiches, fruit
dinner: chicken fillets, mac & cheese, broccoli, lima beans, salad

Tuesday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns, OJ
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: flat bread melts (*note to self: post this recipe*), french fries (home-made), salad

Wednesday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: ??? (grocery shopping)
dinner: tacos, salad

Thursday
breakfast: eggs, grits, hash browns, OJ
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: mystery meat (I think it's boneless pork chops), rice, broccoli, salad

Friday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: beans (*note to self: post this recipe*), rice, corn bread (*ditto*), salad

Saturday
breakfast: pancakes
lunch: ???
dinner: shepherd's pie

Sweet dreams, world.

Menu - June 8 - 14

Crazy, crazy weeks. Mercy. What can I say? It's been crazy around here.

Highlights from the past few weeks (and tomorrow), both good and bad, and in no particular order:

• someone stole my baby red bell pepper plant off my front porch, in the middle of the day (between noon30 and 6pm this past Friday)


• K. got out of school for the summer


• A. made it home in one piece


• the computer armoire is in place and just needs me to finish putting things onto it


• the entertainment center has been moved. We decided to keep it in once piece (rather than cut 1/3 of it off) for now.


• we're in the process of running around town measuring chairs in various stores to see which will fit the best in the space we have made for a chair


• the majority of the stuff from the old desk is still scattered around on the dining room table, waiting for me to do something with it (find it a new home or trash it)


• the Webkinz site deemed the name of my Lil cow (Hortense) as "inappropriate" and renamed her to "Moo Moo"


• we got the math books (student and teacher's editions) that K. used this past year in math. Tomorrow we start our summer refresher course.


• I started writing again


• we got notification from the apartment complex that the rent will NOT go up if we renew the lease for another year, and we get $100 off the first month


• tomorrow K. starts getting up to walk with me at 530am

So. Menu. Because I'm really tired and if I don't get it done now, it won't be posted again this week.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

things marked with * are items we got in one of the boxes from Angel Food Ministries

Sunday
breakfast: oops
lunch: sandwiches, chips
dinner: take-out

Monday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns, toast
lunch: leftover spaghetti
dinner: pot roast (edited to add link to recipe), mashed potatoes, lima beans, salad

Tuesday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: flat bread pizza* (frozen)
dinner: pork chops, rice, broccoli, cauliflower & carrot blend*, salad

Wednesday
breakfast: pancakes (made from mix)*
lunch: sandwiches, pear halves*
dinner: salisbury steak dinner* (frozen), mac & cheese, peas, salad

Thursday
breakfast: eggs, bacon, fruit
lunch: ravioli, fruit
dinner: chicken*, rice, black eye peas, salad

Friday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: sandwiches, fruit
dinner: beef fajita strips*, flat bread, corn niblets*, salad

Saturday
breakfast: pancakes (waffles?), bacon
lunch: foraging
dinner: ??

Sweet dreams, world.