Meal Planning

Ever since I've lived on my own I've done weekly meal planning.  Actually, that's not true, there was a brief period where I didn't. Then my son's god mother introduced me to weekly meal planning and I haven't looked back since. As a matter of fact when I hear that people don't do it I think (no offense) surely there must be something wrong with their home keeping skills... and then I remember back to a day when I too was clueless.  For a long long time I've done this one way, but lately I've been changing it up a bit.

In this post I will show you a couple different ways I do meal planning and if you don't already do this, give it a try.

The original way or should I say the way I was taught was simple. I would sit down each week, and come up with a list of meals for each day and write them down.  I would write each night's dinner on the calendar for that week (i.e.  Monday- tacos, Tuesday- lasagna, etc, etc).  Then I would make my grocery shopping list according to what I needed for each meal. Then I was making just one weekly trip to the grocery store.  Easy. Peasy. This was nice because I knew exactly what I needed from the store and I knew what we were having for dinner each night.

This way works extremely well don't get me wrong but when you have an adorable 2 year old little boy who's not real fond of grocery shopping you have to find a way to make something easy even easier.  So I came up with this:

This way takes a little more prep time but so worth it in the long run specially if you have little ones who don't exactly make grocery shopping a fun time.

I now make menus out for 2 or 3 week stretches.  You could probably go for a whole month, but you will need to go again in about 2 weeks for fresh produce and such. So 2 weeks is what really works best for me.

So if I'm planning meals for 2 weeks I write down 14 different dinner ideas, complete with sides. Then I write down 2 weeks worth of breakfasts and lunch ideas.  I then go through my meals and make my grocery list based on what I just wrote down (checking my list against what I already have  my pantry so I don't end up with 10 boxes of spaghetti noodles!)

I keep this list in my file I have on my counter top and each day I look at the list and pick out what I feel like making from the list.  After I make a dinner I check the meal off the list so I know it's been made. (yes you could forget you made something over a two week period and I keep the list so I don't forget what all I had planned to make)

I also keep all my recipes for the dishes I'm making for that week or 2 in that file folder so I'm not trying to hunt them down each night before making dinner.  Once I make a dish the recipe comes out of the folder and goes back into my recipe box, folder, or book.

Now sometimes I do get lazy because planning 2 or 3 weeks worth of meals isn't always easy or my idea of a fun time so I'll only do a menu for one week. I do it exactly the same as for my 2 weeks only instead of coming up with 14 dinners I'll come up with 7. 

Also if you notice I have letters under breakfast and lunch. These are our initials.  Since we all tend to eat different things for breakfast and lunch it's just easier for me to list those out this way.  I also have a spot at the bottom where I list any dessert or special snacky type thing I might wanna make that week.

If you don't already do menu planning give it a try.  I'm sure one of these ways could work for you.  It will save you time, money, and your sanity at the grocery store and help end the "What am I gonna make for dinner?!" panic.

Things I'm Loving

Things around my house have been crazy busy lately. But that's a good thing.  As I have a spare minute I figured I'd share are a few things that I've been loving lately...

Taste of Home Mobile App

I've had a subscription to the Taste of Home magazine for as long as I can remember.  Love love love the magazine.  Their recipes are wonderful and I can make any of them for the first time and serve them to guests and not have to worry that they won't taste good.  So of course when I found out they had an app I had to get it! They have about a dozen or so recipes in each "collection" and they add new collections every so often. Usually around a holiday. It's really nice if your having a hard time of thinking something to make and it offers a lot of nice seasonal options!

Smoothie Cup

So, I'm not sure that it's actually called a smoothie cup but when I look at it that's what I think so smoothie cup it is! Anyways, I picked this up at Kohl's but I'm sure you could find them anywhere. Awhile back I got into making these Green Smoothies and I just LOVE them. I drink them about 3 times a week and recently started putting them in this so I could drink them on my way to work or on the way to dropping the kids off at school.

 This Picture

I took this picture of the hubs and my youngest on Mother's Day. I just love it.

*Disclaimer: I have not been paid or compensated otherwise to write this. These are my honest thoughts and opinions about the products and wanted to share them with you because I enjoy them and think you would too.

What's for L?

One thing I look forward to when I actually work my real job is LUNCH!!  Doesn't take much to please me... No, but really when I'm home with the kiddos I may not always have the time for a real HEALTHY adult lunch.  My intentions are always good to eat something healthy but sometimes it just doesn't pan out that way.  When I work I know I have to preplan my lunch for the week or else I starve :) So I  will make a big batch of something or other that's loaded with veggies and other good for you things for me to eat throughout the week. And yes sometimes I do this when I'm home too, but being home can make me lazy because I think oh I'll be home I'll just make whatever at lunchtime.... and that kinda thinking gets me into trouble and has me eating hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch . BLEH.

Anyways one dish I do like to make when I'm home because it's so easy and quick to throw together at lunchtime is this broccoli salad.

All you need is:
Broccoli
Cherry Tomatoes (halved)
Carrots (cut into bite sized pcs of whatever shape your little heart desires - sticks, coins, etc)
Cottage Cheese (I use lowfat 2%)

All you do:
Throw desired amounts of veggies in bowl and toss with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.

ah...YUM!



Double Dare Squares

When we first moved into our house we had the pleasure of living next to some of the greatest neighbors one could ever imagine living next to.  It was an older couple, both retired from the medical field, and parents of 6!  Not too shabby when you're raising little ones of your own to have some experts right next door hey?! They had hearts of gold and were always welcoming our family into their home, sending over leftover desserts, helping out if we needed a hand, just all around great people.  They were also great for conversation!

They have since moved down south but before they did, they left us with some wonderful memories and this wonderful recipe too!
 
The husband made these for us once and my oldest begged us to get the recipe from him. They are called Double Dare Squares, and I'm not sure why except perhaps because I double dare you to only eat one square??? Trust me, it'd be nothing to finish off a pan of these bad boys...

I changed the recipe just a touch.

Double Dare Squares

What you need:
2 cups (12oz pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips
9 cups (16oz pkg) mini marshmallows (or the majority of the bag if you have a 2 year old that needs a few handfuls of 'smarshmallows' before you get to making these)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use creamy)
1-1/3 cup rice krispies (the original recipe calls for 1-1½ cups roasted peanuts)

What you do:
Lightly grease 13x9 baking dish.
In LARGE sauce pan over low heat melt chocolate chips and peanut butter stirring constantly.
Allow to cool 5 minutes.
Gently stir in marshmallows and rice krispies (or peanuts).
Pour into pan, refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.
Cut into squares
Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

YUMMMMM!!!

The GREEN post

Green... weird how one word can take on so many different meanings... color, young, jealous, earth friendly, money...

Green Breakfast

Spinach for breakfast? Sounds inviting right?  Ya didn't think so. I had a hard time just pulling the bag of spinach out of the fridge before 8am until I tried this super yummy but extremely healthy drink.  Even those who don't like spinach will like this because well, you can't taste the spinach but you will reap the benefits of eating it! Sounds like a win win to me.

 Gather your ingredients

Combine in blender until smooth

Enjoy

Green Smoothie Recipe
1 banana (previously peeled, sliced and frozen)
1 spoonful of peanut butter
1 cup of almond milk (you could use regular milk but why not up the health benefits with the almond milk?)
1 single serving container of vanilla Greek yogurt (once again you could use regular yogurt but why not make it more healthy?)
2 handfuls of spinach

Put all ingredients in blender in order they are listed and blend until smooth.

Original recipe found at:Iowa Girl Eats

Green Nail Polish

Seeing as mint nail polish seems to be one of the in colors this season I figured I'd give it a try.  Since I wasn't quite sure I was going to like it I just picked one of the cheap-os up at Target.  I got the Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Mint Sorbet. I painted my fingers and toes.... While I'm not an overall fan of this particular brand of nail polish (it's thick and clumpy) the end result isn't too bad. 

While I didn't love it when I first applied it, I must say after a day or so. It's starting to grow on me.  It definitely won't be my go to color but I think it will make it into the rotation of a fun spring/summer color.

Green Cleaning

As I mentioned in a previous post about vinegar, I would like to start cleaning my house with more earth friendly products.  I have since then started to switch over to homemade 'green' cleaners and I must say the switch has been a lot easier then I thought it would be.  As a matter of fact over the weekend I cleaned with my store bought 'chemical' cleaners and I didn't realize how much I prefer the homemade ones.  Here's the recipe for the glass cleaner that I'm loving!

Glass Cleaner

¼-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent (I use Mrs Meyer's dish soap in the basil scent seriously this must be the best smell on earth as far as clean goes)

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 cups water

Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

At first I found this recipe to be too "wet" and I thought oh no that's going to streak my mirrors right up. In fact it does the opposite.

Also, try using newspaper instead of a paper towel to clean windows and mirrors... Much better results! No matter what cleaner you are using.

Green with Envy

My brother and sister in law moved into their new house this past week and I must I am green with envy of how much space they now have... Mostly all the closet space! Congratulations on the new house!! It's beee u tiful!

The Condiment Kid

Now that the 2 year old  lovely darling of mine has discovered you can add "stuff" to your food he's all over it.  It started out innocent enough as most things do when you're 2. A little syrup with your pancakes, Parmesan on your pizza, ranchup (my daughter's famous ketchup and ranch dressing mixture) on your fries. All normal things. 

Well now the child can't sit down to eat without putting something on his food. And apparently it really doesn't matter what. The other day he insisted on having Parmesan on his scrambled eggs (which wasn't exactly awful) and last night he wanted to put ketchup on his pizza (we convinced him Paremesan would be the better option here).  I can only wonder what he'll wanna try for today. But, I guess when you have some picky eaters in the house as long as the kid's eating who really cares right??

Homemade Finger Paint

What's more fun than finger painting? Not much if you're 2. I mean how awesome to color with your hands and make a mess at the same time. And...... it's super easy to make your own and if your little one tries to eat this, it won't hurt them.  Not that I would encourage the eating of finger paint but if they try and taste it no need to freak! I found this in an old cookbook of mine.

Gather your supplies (you probably already have all of these in your kitchen)

3 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup of Cornstarch

2 Cups of Water

Food Coloring (not shown...oops)

Mix together in small saucepan over a low heat until thickened.

Stirring frequently. Mine took about 15 minutes.

Let the mixture cool and pour into desired containers.

I used old baby food jars.

Add food coloring to each jar.  I used the Neon ones because neon makes things much more fun right?  I actually screwed up 2 of the colors though. The purple and pink caps looked fairly similar to me and this is why I have 2 purples and the brown color was supposed to be apricot, but I figured they are going to need a brown to make trees.

Let your little ones go to town!

This finger paint I felt was a little bit thick, but it actually seemed to work better for a 2 year old then the traditional finger paint.  But I would imagine if you add a little more water you could thin it out if you wanted.