Menu Plan Monday #13 - March 29 - April 4

Wow, a new week. It was a Mexican theme last week. However I was also all over the map figuring out things for the renos, fixing my massively leaking dishwasher (thankfully I'm getting a new dishwasher with the renos....the mouse chewed a hole in the hose, but I taped it up to last until our new one), meeting with our reno guy, meeting with our painter, meeting with our electrician....all in one day, ordering the flooring, meeting with the tile people, ordering the tile, meeting with the people I'm getting my plumbing fixtures from and getting a timeline for when all that will be in. And to top it off I put my back out on Saturday night...the night my hubby picked up an extra graveyard shift and so today I've been in a fair amount of pain and I'm currently sitting with an ice pack on my back. I have to make it into work tomorrow as I only go in once a week and I have a few things that must be done. But I'll be phoning the chiropractor and making an appointment.

SO, my menu for this week. I'm going to do a few things I missed last week and a few newish things...

MONDAY - Taco salad....yum yum...looking forward to this

TUESDAY - Fish....Sole....baked with rice and veggies...simple and light

WEDNESDAY - moved from last week - Black Bean quesadillas

THURSDAY - Hamburgers with salad

FRIDAY - moved from last week - Mighty Migas

SATURDAY - Not sure as my folks are back from their trip and the boys are going to a hockey game in the evening - something simple - all our ceilings are getting painted today...so it might be dinner out

SUNDAY - Pancakes

My plan is to lay low this week...but with saying that I have to head to the states and get to the local Rona to pick out a tub. Ahhh, renos, gotta love how they turn your life upside down

here are my cuties...because they are just so cute

For more great menu plans check out the Organizing Junkie

RandomCity

Finally Friday!
I've had a crazy busy week. But I'm so happy with all I was able to accomplish. I didn't stay to my menu plan super great, but I'm not worried. Life is going to be crazy this next while with the renos. Painting has started....the outside of our house is getting painted when it's not raining....and today the doors inside were painted...super excited about it! I forgot to take before pictures...but I'll post some after pics when I get a chance to take them in the daytime. I've managed to purge some things and tidy somethings. I'm feeling good about what I was able to do this week.
Tomorrow will be more painting and pressure washing outside and I will be cleaning, purging and doing laundry. Feel free to stop by the house of craziness if you want an amazing cup of coffee!

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Chicken Taco Soup...it's so yummy. I've actually been told that it looks terrible, but I assured the person it would taste good and they ate it and liked it!
So this soup was on my menu for tomorrow, but I switched it up and made it today. I'm so glad I did...I had a day...and not having to think about dinner was fantastic in the end.
Things are just crazy here with the renos that we are going to be starting. My kitchen is packed up, I had a friend over to see if he could do some electrical for me (YAY he can!) and I had the painter starting on the outside trim today..all in all...it was a long and busy day and my kids are starting to feel the effects of me taking them out everyday for running around. They have been fantastic and patient, but tomorrow we are sticking close to home and relaxing.
So, Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup. Serious so easy and soooo yummy. It really does not look any type of good.
So I realized I misplaced my recipe..yes, an actual recipe that I use. So I threw it together from what I remembered...here goes.
I threw three boneless skinless chicken breasts into the slow cooker....frozen. I tossed in a bunch of taco seasoning, some ground coriander, some cumin and some thyme. Then a can of re fried beans, a can of black beans and a can of stewed tomatoes (normally I would use diced...but I only had stewed). I would actually ad a can of corn, but I didn't have that either. I diced up an onion and a couple stalks of celery. I added enough water to cover it all and cooked it for about 6 hours or so. About an hour before dinner I took the chicken out and shredded it and put it back in.
I served it with sour cream, avocado, taco chips, cheese and fresh cilantro. I had many people in and out of my house today and they all commented on how good it smelled. And it tasted amazing! It's so easy and I always forget that..I need to make this more often.
I'm totally looking forward to a layed back tomorrow. I do have some things I need to do, but I think I'll do them after Phil is around to watch the kids so I'm not hauling them around again.

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

I'm tired. Very tired. It was a struggle for me to want to make dinner tonight. I had the menu to order Indian in my hand. But God is good and I let Him know I just couldn't do it, I just didn't have the energy to make dinner, to make it thru the evening. In ten minutes I had this amazing surge of energy and I cleaned my kitchen and made dinner. I know it's God's strength that got me thru. It sounds silly, something so small like needing energy to make dinner, why would it matter to God. It matters to Him because He LOVES me and He wants to help me in everything, even the things that seem silly and small. I just need to ask Him. And so do you, just ask Him, He's waiting.


So tonight was....drum roll please....easy peasy....Chicken fajitas (I never know how to spell that!)and I didn't manage to even make anything to go with them.....
But wow, they were good.

I chopped up chicken threw it in the pan with some grapeseed oil (or olive oil) and I added taco seasoning and lemon juice
I chopped up a whole onion, some colorful peppers and added them to the cooked chicken and I cooked them just so there was a little bit of crispness left in them
I shredded some cheese, put out the salsa, the guac, we didn't have sour cream so we used ceaser dressing and that added some good flavour and some fresh cilantro.
Assemble how you please on whole wheat wraps and enjoy them as the juice runs down your hands and you try to make sure the filling doesn't spill out because you filled it too full in the anticipation of the yummyness.
I usually just put the filling on my kidlets plates and they love it. But my little man had other plans...
He did really good with the wraps, I was impressed.
The little girly enjoyed her chicken too, honest. I know it may not seem like it by the look she's giving the camera, but she did


Everyone but the little girly is sporting new dos. This is the shortest for me yet! My little man is rockin the fo-hawk and I once again cleaned up my hubby.


for more tempting recipes visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Menu Plan Monday #12 - March 22-28

So I'm watching the Amazing Race and trying to think of what to do this week. I think it will be a Mexican themed week, I'm just feeling it and all the food I have in my house seems to lend that way. Let's see as I have no clue as I type.
My week was a bit crazy as I'm trying to figure out things for the house renos. We had the roofers here putting on a new roof...YAY and I'm trying to purge things from my house by selling them on line so that adds a bit of extra stress.
However a super highlight of my week was getting these in the mail
I won them from Ashley over at The Happy Little Home. It made my week!
So with all the chaos last week I think we did pretty well with the menu plan. I had good intentions to click pictures of the meals and I managed two.....
So here goes for this week...

Monday - Beef and rice Burritos topped with lettuce and veg- I have some beef mix frozen to use

Tuesday - Chicken fajitas with some brown rice on the side- I have every thing for this one

Wednesday - Black Bean quesadillas - this is a new one - Meat free with Cesar salad

Thursday - Chicken Taco Soup - so yum and so easy. I'm hoping to make bread to go with this

Friday - The mighty Migas....I made this before and my family really enjoyed it

Saturday - Left overs or Nachos - 'nuf said

Sunday - Of course Pancakes!!

Man, I'm hungry! Head over to the Organizing Junkie for many more ideas!

RandomCity

I made chicken soup yesterday. Turned out good. We had it for dinner tonight. My little man loves to help me cook, I let him cut up the Kale for the soup. I did supervise...don't worry.

It turned out yummy and I had some ham I needed to use up so I did grilled cheese and ham tortillas
Our roof was worked on today and it's half done. I am just so excited to be getting some things done on our house. I just can't believe it and I'm itching to get started on the inside!
But the weather was amazing today and we played outside after dinner. Gotta love the time change.
I just love it when the kids get along...it seems rare but it's amazing.

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Love

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

I'm a little late today in posting this. But I'm finding that as the kids get bigger they just naturally take up more of my time and sitting down on the computer is minimal during the day.

But better late than never.

This week...MMMMMM.....LASAGNA!

The perfect rainy weather meal with a good salad and warm bread

There are so many ways to make this dish, but I would recommend you always make at least 2 so you can freeze one. This is one of those dishes that easily doubles.


So I cut up some veggies and used 2 cans of sauce that I found on sale and then I add my hamburger...RAW...yes, you read that right. I don't precook it. Really, it's OK. I really prefer the meat done like this, it's so tender and you don't get those hard pieces of hamburger from prefrying it. Just be sure to break the meat up while the sauce is cooking. And here is my secret that I gleaned from the cook at a local pasta place here...CINNAMON. He said to add cinnamon to your pasta sauce, I've done this since then and it's always a hit. Just do a little bit, trust me, try it, it's good.

I put my two dishes side by side, just for you! So you can see how I layer it and create this yummy dish. You start with a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the dish and then lay the noodles on top. NOTICE my noodles are NOT cooked...they are not even those special ones that say oven ready. They are whole wheat noodles, nothing special. You DO NOT need to precook the noodles....EVER...serious, don't spend the extra time or the extra money for ones that say oven ready...they all are.

Then I add frozen spinach that I had wrung all the liquid out of and cottage cheese and another layer of noodles....that are not cooked...get it...not cooked, really trust...me...

more sauce...more noodles...that are not cooked...I think I've made my point with not having to cook the noodles...we are building trust along with this lasagna here

top with yummy gooey cheese as much as your heart is ready for. Cover the extra one, label and freeze.
Cook for an hourish at 350, ON A BAKING SHEET, trust people. You'll thank me when the sauce boils over the side of the dish. If the cheese is getting too brown, cover it with foil while it finishes cooking

Look at all this goodness. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or so. I'm so happy that this time my lasagna actually held up. I often make it watery, my family still loves it, but this time....YAY, it stayed together.

MMMM, goodness in the belly

Head over to see more Tempt my Tummy recipes....you'll be glad you did!

RandomCity

It's been a loooong day. But I still managed to make dinner! YAY ME!


I've been so excited with the renovations we have been planning. I stopped by the lighting store today and left with an idea for my bathroom lighting, but nothing for my kitchen. It will be so amazing to see it finished!
So tonight I made chicken with a Cesar salad. It was yum. I really like this new pan I picked up at Costco
It has the grill on one side and a flat on the other. It's great. I'm thinking of getting another because I just love it so. Two is always better then right?
Anyway, I marinated the chicken in an amazing Italian dressing from a local restaurant. WOW, this was so tasty!

And so easy for a fast dinner. I bought the dressing premade and it was not a favorite of mine, but it was okay.
The kids enjoyed it to

Menu Plan Monday #11 - March 15-21

Another week! I think that my family has kicked the cold...FINALLY! We still have a few lingering coughs and sniffs, but overall we are all on the mend.

We had a bit of a crazy week between colds and deciding to renovate and finding quotes and all that goes with that. We stuck to the last weeks plan pretty well...until Friday, I was just done. It was a long week. As you can tell by the lack of blogging.

Here goes for this week....

Monday - I have some chicken marinating so it will be BBQ Chicken and Cesar salad with some rosemary bread

Tuesday - Chicken Soup - my hubby requested this one again. He loved the one I made last week and said it was perfect for leftovers for his dinners at work

Wednesday - BBQ Hamburgers with Cesar salad again....I bought a huge package of romaine lettuce from Costco...don't ask!

Thursday - We are going to tour my hubby's new work warehouse so we will be out for dinner

Friday - Chicken Tettrazine from the freezer

Saturday - left overs or grilled cheese

Sunday - pancakes of course!!

I will leave you with this simple post and of course some pictures of my cuties!

Check out the Organizing Junkie for some ideas!

Menu Plan Monday #10 - March 8-14

Here I am at another week of Menu Planning. I've been thinking about my menu for the week this week and I think it will come together as I type!
Last week went REALLY well, I changed a few nights around but we didn't order in for dinner at all! A first I think!! I didn't end up making the steak, but rather BBQ Ribs that were on sale at Costco. I'm not a fan of ribs, but the rest of my family loves them. I don't really have any fancy pictures for you this week as my whole family was sick last week with colds and I forgot all the time to take the pictures. My lack of blogging last week is a result of a sick family and tired and stressed out mommy. Fingers crossed this week is a much happier week. At least that as been my constant prayer today!

Monday - The pasta I made the other week and froze, with a salad.
And we have some company coming for dessert so I think I'll do an apple crisp.

Tuesday - Homemade Chicken soup - to help the sickies get better! Not from a mix this time...I'll make it from scratch

Wednesday - Taco salad. I have some taco meat frozen

Thursday - BBQ Steak with sweet potatoes and salad

Friday - left overs

Saturday - BLT's with left over soup or just salad

Sunday - I have my family coming for lunch possibly so I'm not sure what we'll do...we might not get our pancake fix!

Pretty uninspired this week! But for more inspiration head over to the Organizing Junkie for hundreds of menu plans

A year in Review

I'm sure you're thinking I'm 2 months late in posting this. But I'm not.
Today We celebrated my little sweet angels first birthday. So last January and February I was still in a holding pattern waiting....until March 2nd...9 days late. If I'm honest she was much later in my mind as my first due date was February 11th and it was changed to February 24th. If you have had this, it totally sucks and you feel pregnant for way longer. I had a high risk pregnancy at 30 weeks as my I was hospitalized with my liver shutting down. But God is good and after 9 months of being sick. My sweet girl was born.
She is one of the funniest people I know. She loves music. Any hint of music and she's dancing. She'll turn her little music player on in her crib and dance herself to sleep. She wakes up with smiles and kisses and you can see her excitement to start the day. She loves to play peek-a-boo and thinks it's just way to funny. She loves our animals and walks after them all day calling them by their names. At 12 months she's almost walking full time and has a dozen or so words she uses and more she just repeats as she hears them. She loves her brother but is learning fast how to fight back and hold her ground. She loves all food (except boiled eggs...go figure) and has discovered how to feed the cats from her highchair. She brings me joy and makes my family complete.I hate to say I don't remember much of the year as I've struggled with post partum depression. And there is much I want to share regarding this illness. But it's not time yet. I'm still in the midst of discovering what God is teaching me in this difficult time. But God has given me this amazing girl to bring me joy in my dark days.
PPD is a terrible illness that I encourage any mother or anyone dealing with depression to seek help. It's absolutly not something you can just suck up and ignore. It's a real illness and needs real treatment. God has been carrying me and the verse from Jer 29:11, He knows the plans he has for me...NOT TO HARM ME....this has been how I've survived the last many months. God is Good all the time.
I've just starting meeting with a mentor and it's amazing. She challenged me this week to be thankful FOR ALL THINGS. Really all things, even PPD, even when my kids spill apple juice over the entire floor. Thank God for it, as hard as it seems and even pointless. Thank God for all things. Try and let me know how it goes for you. I'll let you know how it works for me. It's certainly put my focus on God today as I have been thanking Him for many different things that make me feel at my wits end.