Menu Plan Monday #6

Last week went well, for meals anyway....for my sanity it was another thing. However, Friday rolled around and well, I need a new plan for Friday's I think. Perhaps I need to do a meal from the freezer.
Anyway,
Monday was the spinach pasta and the sausage, that went well, no pictures as it was a pasta from costco and I didn't think to take pictures
Tuesday was the chicken soup, not a great soup as I noted previously

Wednesday was the amazing yummy homemade hamburgers with homemade sweet potato fries..I'll post the hamburgers this week

Thursday was the fancy grilled cheese and tomato soup

And Friday and Saturday were write offs and Sunday I made pancakes and eggs for dinner. Something my family really enjoys.
SOOO Week #6! I've discovered I have a lot of frozen tortellini for some reason so I'm going to try to use that up

Monday - I have some roast in the freezer so I think I'll do beef dips with salad - I'll pick up the flax buns again from Ralph's and the beef dip mix also

Tuesday - Baked Tortellini with veg and sausage and salad

Wednesday - Roast beef quesadillas- left over roast with veg and homemade guacamole and cucumbers and carrot sticks - I'll have to get the sour cream, avocados and veg

Thursday - Tortellini Alfredo with chicken and peppers, salad and bread - I'll do a homemade sauce and my company is bringing salad and bread. And I'll make an apple crisp

Friday - taco salad - I have the beef and beans already cooked and in the freezer

Saturday - I think we are going out for dinner if we get a sitter or we have my SIL and her hubby and kids coming for dinner so we might order in. Not sure yet we will connect later this week about that

Sunday - Pancakes - I like to do pancakes as I make a large batch and feed my kidlets peanut butter and jam pancake sandwiches during the week and they both love that.

I feel like this is going to go well this week. I don't think anything is to overwhelming but again, I didn't count on my kidlets being so difficult last week either. So fingers crossed and prayers sent up that they have a happy week. Best of luck to all those out there also trying to menu plan and save money! Check out the organizing junkie for tons of menu plans and great ideas

Chicken Soup

They say Chicken soup is good for the soul.....not so with this one! It was not so good.
I've had a challenging week with my kidlets and put in a call to my sisters today who each gave me some great advice and helped me to feel better about my little kids and that all moms have days/weeks of lots of discipline and more discipline and more uncooperative kids that cause mommy to want to run away, far far away. But I am still at home and I've not packed my bags. Both kidlets are asleep and my prayer is that they stay that way!
Okay, enough complaining about my little miracles.
So this Chicken soup...not so happy about it, but my husband took it for left overs all week, so that was a bonus! I used some chicken that was VERY freezer burnt and crossed my fingers that it would work out okay. It was fine and I'm glad I didn't have to throw that chicken out.
So here is a picture of the ingredients... (minus the chicken as it was cooking)

This is the first time I used a package to help me out. The package only called for cooked chicken to be added and then cook it for 12 minutes before serving.

I added carrots, turnip, onion and celery and then I had to add a lot of seasoning salt, pepper and some regular salt.

I poached the chicken in a shallow pan with a bay leaf (ala Rachel Ray) and then shredded it. I did 4 boneless skinless chicken breast as that was what was in my freezer burnt bag of chicken.

I then chopped the remaining veg and added them with the shredded chicken to 10 cups of water and added the mix closer to the end. I served the soup with the yummy flax buns that I picked up at Ralph's. I would have to say the only thing I really liked was the buns. Next time I'll just make it homemade rather then try to take the easy route.

Even if my kids are trying my sanity level this week (which is in question often anyway, my sanity that is). I remind myself that each and every day these two make me smile and laugh each day. No matter how terrible the day has gone. They are the gifts God has given me even with the dark valley I've been trudging thru for the past few months. God will not give me more than I can handle and that is something I also remind myself each day as I struggle thru my post pardum depression and search for answers. I also remember that God knows the plans he has for me. I know that all sounds pretty church rehearsed, but for me right now, right here, it's what I need to remind myself how to survive.

So here is a picture of my little kidlets who sat somewhat nice beside each other for at least 30 seconds today...long enough for me to get a picture with out one crying anyway!

Late Wordless Wednesday - Laundry

Sweet Potato French Fries

I've been trying to get sweet potatoes into my families diet instead of regular 'white' potatoes (which we don't eat a lot of any way).... to add some extra healthy elements.
I didn't have a recipe for the fries but just went for it and man they were GOOD!

You will need....

Sweet potatoes - enough for your family, I did 4 or 5 small ones (I'm talking about the ones with the DARK orange flesh, often called YAMS on the west coast).

Garlic - a few cloves minced

Grapeseed Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Seasoning Salt

Fresh cracked pepper

Your oven at 350

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into french fry size


Mince up some garlic. I used 3 cloves, we really like garlic. I cut them up then put some salt on them to help mince them as the salt breaks down the garlic and used the flat edge of my knife 'squish' them up
Put the sweet potatoes and garlic in a bowl, add your oil, a few teaspoons of it and your salt and fresh cracked pepper and toss it all together
lay them flat on a baking sheet, I put mine on parchment paper for easy clean up

I set my timer for 15 minutes and then gave them a stir and flip and cooked them another 15 minutes.
They browned up nice and caramelized a little bit, they really were very good. My whole family loves them.

I served them up with chicken wings and salad.
I'm making the fries again this week as a request from my hubby!
This recipe and other tasty treats you can find at Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

Menu Plan Monday #5

Last week went great and I switched a few days around but then it was....Friday and things didn't go according to plan. I was able to get back on track Sunday night.

The highlight last week was the sweet potato fries I made from scratch. They were very very good! I'll post it later this week, but I'll let the photo tempt your tummy.

This week I'm still working on seeing the bottom of my freezer....I'm seeing some of it, so that's exciting!

Monday - Spinach and Feta stuffed pasta with farmer sausage and salad - I have everything for this one

Tuesday - Chicken and Veg soup with flax buns - I'll pick the buns up at Ralphs they are super good, I have the rest of everything for the soup

Wednesday - homemade hamburgers on the BBQ on the left over flax buns and sweet potato fries- other than the buns and sweet potatoes, I have everything

Thursday - fancy grilled cheese with tomato soup - I'll pick up the soup at Ralph's. I have the rest

Friday - Honey Garlic meatballs on rice with salad. I didn't make these last week so I'm moving them to this week

Saturday - leftovers or scrambled omelets

Sunday - flax and multi grain pancakes with fruit. I've been making a double batch of these and feeding them as peanut butter and jam pancake sandwiches to my kids for lunches and they love them.

Here it goes for another week. I'm not having any company for dinner this week. We need a low key week as it seems my kids are off schedule from so much company lately and in this house that means unhappy kids and stressed mommy. And again I'm going to try to get to making some bread...fingers crossed on that one!

Best of luck to all the others over at the Organizing Junkie that are busy with their menu plans. Head over there to see more menu plans that you can imagine!

And of course...the kidlets for your enjoyment...a rare moment of actually playing together

Slow BBQ'd Marinated Chicken Thighs

Wow, this week has gone by in a blur. It's Friday and I've not posted since Monday!! I'm sure all six of you were missing me greatly. It's been busy as I've had a lot of work with my 'part' time job and company over on two different nights this week for dinner and my friend and her kids over and we also went over to her house. So that's a bit busy for us. Oh and I did make cookies today also. Whew I'm tired just thinking about this week!
So I slow BBQ'd two batches of marinated chicken thighs this week for each of my nights of company. They turned out fantastic!!
The first batch I did in a home made plum chutney that a friend had made and 'forgot' at my house....I hope she didn't want it back! It was great!

I then dumped the chutney and the chicken together in a ziplock bag and marinated it for the day, squishing it and turning it around a couple times

At the same time I threw the other half of the chicken in the second marinade for later in the week and put it in the fridge

3 hours before dinner, I heated up and cleaned the BBQ.

Then I turned half the BBQ off and left the other half on high. Put the chicken, skin side up, on the half that is off and close the lid.

I checked it a few times to make sure it was cooking well and rotated any pieces that were cooking faster with pieces that were not. You do not flip the chicken and do not put it over the flames. Cooking it this way will give you a nice crispy outside and a very moist inside!

In the end, they will be pretty dark, but the chicken is not over cooked at all...the sausages are a different story....company was late sadly. So the chicken survived and the sausages even over cooked were consumed also

Girly loved the chicken!

Roasted Broccoli

I had a lot of good feedback about the roasted cauliflower, except for ONE person...and you know who you are....
So here is the roasted Broccoli...it's soooo good, really. MMMM

You need Broccoli, Garlic, Salt, Pepper and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used Grapeseed Oil as I prefer the taste)
A baking pan with sides
The oven heated to 350

Cut up the broccoli into bit size pieces and put into the pan and add the EVOO or Grapeseed oil and toss it together to coat the broccoli

Mince up the Garlic

add the garlic and the salt and pepper to the broccoli

Roast it in the oven for about 25 minutes. It will turn all brown and crispy...mmmm

My kids both loved it and the little man kept eating it up

And according to my Menu, today was the fish day...I really really don't like fish....still....really I don't. But it's what we do for our kids right.....try to teach them what is good for them....so I suck it up and eat it with out complaining...honest even with yummy sounding topping, I still don't like it...