dinner this week...

I did meal plan this past week…but I didn't follow through with each meal like I had originally planned.  Laziness/illness toward the end of the week changed our plans.

I did make Mix and Match Mama's BBQ Joes (pictured above) and they were SO good!  I made them earlier this week and actually had one again tonight.  This will definitely be made again.  Geoff and I ate them on the garlic Texas Toast…but the kids ate them on just regular buns…which was fine by me because everyone ate what was put on their plate!

We also had just regular spaghetti and meat sauce this week.  We had that 2 nights.  ;)  So cooking did end up being pretty light this week.

Up this week:

-PW's Pot Roast and Creamy Mashed Potatoes (and I may make some homemade bread in my bread maker too!)

-Mix and Match Mama's Ranch Chicken and Roasted Red Potatoes  (we were supposed to make this week, but didn't)

-I made beef stew last month and froze half…so I may thaw that and make some cornbread one evening.

-Lasagna.  We may not eat this this week, but I already have most of the stuff to make it and do not want it to go bad... so I will definitely make this week in 2- 8x8 pans and freeze for a later date.

for dinner this week….

4th week in a row of meal planning!  Whoo-hoo!

And I'm still getting most all meal ideas from Mix and Match Mama.

So this is what we had for dinner this week:

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta.  Geoff and I thought this was SO good.  The only thing I'll change next time is to cook the chicken in less than a cup of broth because I like for the sauce to be a little creamier.  I ended up adding a little cornstarch to this to thicken it up.  But bottom line…SO good!  Only bad thing (which is kinda a big deal)….not one child liked it.

And this baked potato soup.  ohmygoodness.  Delish!

These Baked Burritos were definitely a WINNER!  2 out of 3 kids ate the actual burrito (I left the chives and jalapeño out of theirs….and the 3rd child ate the meat mixture on a crispy taco.  And there was no complaining.  I made these with ground turkey.

(I'm definitely not a food photographer.  ha!)

Still up this week:

Ranch Chicken with Roasted Red Potatoes

BBQ Joes

Meal Planning….again!

I'm heading into my 3rd week of meal planning.  This is practically unheard of.  This is an accomplishment for me for sure!  And it has been pretty great because I am reaping the benefits in so many ways.  Staying more on budget…but mostly…feeling more like I've accomplished something by being a better mom just by having dinner on the table…. and good leftovers for lunch the next day….. and great meals to send off with my husband to work.

This week my meal planning took me about 45 minutes.  I know that's looooong…and I think eventually it will get easier.  (I hope!)  But it is what it is now.  So what kept these 2 busy?  Beans and rice. (uncooked)  For a full 30 minutes.  Did it make a mess?  Yes.  Huge!  But it swept right up.  And did I mention it occupied BOTH of them for 30 minutes???

Red Beans and Rice….I used a can of Fire Roasted Tomatos instead of regular diced tomatoes because that was all I had on hand…and I think it added a little bit of flavor to it.  I don't know for sure…but regardless…this was pretty good and hit the spot.  We also just added our own red pepper sauce on our plate so that it wouldn't be too spicy for the kids.  Brown rice would be healthier, but this kids eat white rice, so I'm choosing my battles.  The kids ate the rice and sausage (I think Nolan ate the beans, too).  And…. I got another message from Geoff while at work saying that it was the best red beans and rice!




I mentioned last week that I made these Sweet Corn Chicken Tostadas.  I also mentioned that they were good and that Grace really liked them.  Truth is…that first night I just thought it was O.K.  I put the chicken mixture, cheese and chives on my taco….and it was good.  But the next day….I took my tostada and put a layer of bean dip…a layer of smashed up avocado (with a generous sprinkling of sea salt)….then the chicken mixture, cheddar cheese, and chives.  And ohmygoodnes….SO good!  The corn really adds a lot to this, too.  Try this!

BBQ Brisket- one night we ate it over Baked Potatoes with a salad and bread.  Then on another night…we had BBQ Brisket Tostadas.  This potato looks pretty ridiculous.  Ha!  It's a small potato, but really the perfect size.  Those really large ones…we never eat the whole thing.  I filled it with lots of butter, cheese, BBQ brisket, and ranch dressing.  But what it's really missing are the chives!!  We had this on Wednesday night before we had to leave at 5pm for church…..so we were rushed.

But this salad……YUM!  I added the ranch dressing before eating.  But what really made this salad so good... was the fresh tomatoes…. and a light sprinkling of sea salt and crushed black pepper.  And also, the ranch dressing.  ;)

A couple more dishes coming up this week:

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta with Ceasar Salad

Monday is supposed to be a little chilly here…so Baked Potato Soup with Salad sounds fitting!

Chipotle Beef Chili

Baked Burritos

Meal Planning

I've been in a dinner planning/making funk for quite a while.  It got to a really bad point where we'd grocery shop each week…spend all of the allotted grocery budget  (and then some, at times)….then get home with said groceries…and have 'nothing' to eat.

Part of my problem is that I feel so defeated because I'll spend the time making the dinner…and then NO ONE will eat it except for Geoff and me.  I've gotten better about telling them they HAVE to eat what's on their plate or nothing at all.  Sometimes they force it down.  And sometimes I just give up.  But it's a work in progress and so for today…I'm good with that.

It does take some time to make the menu plan, but it really is worth it.  A good friend of mine suggested Mix and Match Mama…and I am so thankful she did!!  I have gotten most all of my recipes these past few weeks from her.  With the World Wide Web…we have so many ideas and recipes at our fingertips…but that's not always a good thing.  It's too much at times.  So I've been perusing her crock pot section and it's worked thus far.



Sweet Corn Chicken Tostadas.  These were good.  Grace ate a whole one!  So 1 out of 3 kids ate what I cooked.  Slowly, but surely!

I did not get a picture of the Crunchy BBQ Brisket Tacos…but they were SO good!  It was basically just brisket cooked in salsa, then shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce.  My mom makes the best BBQ brisket…and we usually eat it with cole slaw and potato salad and baked beans.  I never thought to put my BBQ brisket on a crispy taco shell with cheddar cheese and green onions.  But now I do.  Yum!

I also did not get a picture of this Sweet Corn Turkey Chili…but it was really good, as well.


Tex Mex Chicken Pot Pie.  This was good, but not a most favorite.  We did eat all of the leftovers, though!   I may make this here and there, but probably not on a regular rotation.  None of the kids liked it!  ;(






Fiesta Chicken and Rice.  This was good…and EVERYONE in the family ate it for dinner.  Win!!  The chives really add so much to many of these meals.




Sausage and potato chowder.  SO SO good!  Geoff even sent me a text from work saying it was the best soup.  Will be making this again!  The only thing that I'll change, though, is instead of adding 3 cups of broth to the crock pot…I'll just do 1.5-2 cups just to make a little thicker soup.

And my little helper was able to do a lot to help me.  He absolutely loves helping me.  It's the sweetest thing really.

Those tippy toes!

The finished product.  Yum!

Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Banana Pancakes from Ambitious Kitchen.  Clean-eating pancakes.  Geoff and I thought they were pretty good.  They tasted like banana-oat pancakes.  They are full of protein.  But…….. the kids did not approve.   Of course.

One Pot Spaghetti.  Geoff made this one night when I was working.  It was good, but I think I like regular ole spaghetti and meat sauce.  Cooking it in the crockpot is easy, yes.  But the noodles do soak up quite a bit of sauce.  I'm not totally discounting it though…on a busy day…this is a good recipe to have ready by the time I get home, as well as, something I can usually get all 3 kids to eat.



Up this week:

Honey Mustard Brisket Tacos
Red Beans & Rice

in the kitchen with Nolan

Last Tuesday evening….we'd had a full homeschool day and I was making a fairly easy dinner of just baked BBQ chicken and rice.  And I don't know if it was because of the fact that it was an 'easy' meal that I thought I needed to make something 'more difficult'….but I decided to make homemade sugar cookies for dessert.  Go figure.

The girls were playing in the other room and I decided to let the only other person in the kitchen with me help.  

This guy.

To say that he was excited would be a complete understatement.  (Those tippy toes!!!)

I let him pour in the sugar and then middle sister made her grand entrance for the addition of the flour.  

Nolan didn't want to share the spotlight, apparently.

But when I gave him that spatula.  Oh the joy!

At this point…he had not figured out the goodness that is cookie dough.  :)

Then enters biggest sister.  And the tears came a rollin'.

Ahhhh.  All is right with the world again.

Look at those TEARS!  ohmygoodness.

I should've thrown this one out…but I couldn't help but point out the 'last little taste' that I said they could all have.  Ha!

These 3!!

And then again…when there was no more.

Ok then he licked the spatula.

And when I ultimately moved the dough to the other side of the room.

The time snuck up on me!  I mean…..I didn't even realize he was old enough to 'help' me in the kitchen.  Where did my baby go?   It was fun and messy and a lot of work and fun and messy.  

And worth it.

valentine's shenanigans

This post is just a smorgasbord of our Valentine's happenings.  And are in no particular order…as I am doing good just to get these pictures posted at all.  ;)

We decorated cookies the weekend before.  I sometimes like to save these things for the day of, and then life happens and it never happens.  We had a little time on this particular Saturday afternoon, so we went for it.  I had everything already on hand (even the sprinkles because they were leftover from last year).  I made the dough, cut out the cookies, and baked them the night before.  Sometimes it's fun to do it all with them….but sometimes they get burnt out and don't want to decorate.  So this time, I just decided for them…that they'd only help with decorating.

Usually I just 'supervise'...but this time I wanted to decorate a few, too.  And looks like I'm a little out of practice.  When Geoff got home, all of the cookies were combined to 2 pans...and he said, "I can tell which ones are your."  I said, "Which ones?"  He pointed to only 2 of them.  Ha ha!

Grace's cookies.

And Parker's.

Parker's school valentines.  I got the idea from pinterest.  This was easy and non-candy so I went for it.  I got the glow sticks from amazon, made this tag with picmonkey, then attached with red ribbon.  {I know I'm a little late with the whole picmonkey thing….but I just discovered it and LOVE it!}

I cut out hearts with card stock and gave the girls these glittered card stock strips and asked them to cut them into little squares and glue to the heart.  Grace did such a good job, and sadly I did not get a picture.  Parker decided to do stripes.  I was equally impressed.

Teacher Valentine.  Another idea from interest.  Found here.  I filled this popcorn container from Hobby Lobby (it was a 6 pack so I still have 4 to use later) with a movie gift card, soda, microwave popcorn, sour patch kids, and hershey bar.

"free" dress day at school (yeh- she's over me taking her picture so much)

A couple muffin tin meals throughout the week just for fun.

This picture is pretty blurry….but …

Geoff and I don't normally do Valentine's gifts….but I wanted to do a little something just to say…you know….thanks for all that you do and put up with.  :)  So when I saw this idea floating around Pinterest (I guess it is evident that I've been on Pinterest lately??) I really wanted to do a little something for him.  It only took about 15 minutes to put together…and I think he liked it.  And the rest of the family also enjoyed.  ;)  When buying candy for myself….I pretty much just go for the Snickers, Reese's, maybe a twix every now and then.  So it was kind of neat to try out some of these others.  My favorites are still my favorites….I didn't find any new loves.

Last Sunday I dressed the kids all up in their Vday best.  I wanted to get one sweet picture of all 3.  Yeh…well…it was 30 minutes past Nolan's morning nap time when we were due to leave….and so this is what he had to say about it.  I did, however, get a few pictures of just Nolan later in the week.

I'm trying to do a little more to help strengthen Parker's writing and reading…and possibly teach Grace the alphabet.  :)   I'm not sure if any of this will do the trick…but I wanted to do a few fun educational type things with Valentine's as the theme anyways.

So I found these 'write the room' printables free from Teachers Pay Teachers (I'm sorry I cannot find the original link!).  I'm not really sure about the whole reason for 'writing the room'….I know it's a writing center in schools…and I haven't quite figured out exactly how I want to do it here at home.  So I just did this one….and in doing this…it's given me a few ideas for future 'write the room' activities.  So I basically printed out these cards….and put them up in various places around the house….and she had to find them, then write them on her record sheet.  Each card had a picture, a word and a number.  The number told her where to write it on her record sheet.

I also made these alphabet hearts and hid them throughout the house.  They had to use this record sheet and when they found the letter on the wall- they'd color it in on their sheet.  Parker loved doing this only because she had to find the letters.  Grace was into it for about half of the letters.  But….she really doesn't know any letters so she lost interest quickly.  I know she'll be fine, but just feel a little guilt on how very little I work with her.  Like, not at all.  So I'm working toward changing this.  It's very slowly, but surely.

And poor sweet girl tripped over her baby brother and busted her lip SO bad when trying to run to find another letter.  Bless her heart.  Good thing is…now (2 full days later)…it is almost completely healed.

Lots of ice and rest helped.  :)

 (she was watching the iPad here….not just sitting alone)

And Valentine's Breakfast