Charlie’s and my first “just-the-two-of-us” trip to the zoo. Charlie’s first movie. My first 3D movie. A quiet, chilly morning . . . complete with a tuckered out toddler and a very content mommy.
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Meal Planning, Yo!
(My grocery buddy. He was really enthusiastically saying “Cheese!”)
Oof. It’s been busy.
. . . The (mostly) good kind of busy, though. We’ve had playdates and seen grandparents and turned Charlie’s room into something that actually resembles a child’s living space. We’ve done laundry, paid a few bills, and even managed to watch a couple episodes ofSupernatural.
Miraculously, throughout all of this, we’ve actually been eating meals cooked at home. I’m pretty amazed, myself. Although last night we ordered takeout, it was purely by choice and not as a result of “not having anything good to eat.”
How could this possibly have happened? I actually have all of our meals planned through October 18th.
Seriously, this is almost newsworthy. Maybe it’s not. But, whatever, I’m pretty proud of myself. Anyway, I thought that since I had them all written down, I might as well post my meals in case someone out there needs a little inspiration. Like I’ve done in the past, I’m simply writing down the meal’s name and the ingredients needed, since almost all of my recipes are available online. I’ll post a link to the ones I can, and give a quick description of the recipes that mainly live in my brain. I’ve started the board “Meal Planning Booyahs” on Pinterest, if you’re interested in following it. I’ll use that board to only pin the recipes I’ve successfully made and will make again. As always, please comment or email me if you want anything in more detail!
This is what was initially planned for last week . . . Due to things like unforeseen amounts of leftovers, some recipes got moved into the next week, but, oh well. This was the plan:
Kale and Kielbasa Casserole
1 Onion, Butter, Potatoes, Polish Sausage, Kale, Flour, Milk, Cheese, Dijon Mustard, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Nutmeg, Breadcrumbs
I used Pepperjack cheese in this, and thought it gave it a nice kick. I also would suggest boiling the potatoes and blanching the kale the day before, as this took A LOT longer to make than I had wanted. It was really, really good, though, so I’ll definitely be making it again. I also didn’t use all of the sauce, as the blogger said it was really soupy. And, holy crap, I just realized as I typed this list that I forgot to put in the Dijon mustard. Somebody make it with the mustard and tell me how it goes.
1 pkg. Whole Wheat Spaghetti, 1 pkg. Feta Cheese, 1 can/jar Spaghetti Sauce, 1 Box Trader Joe’s Breaded Eggplant Cutlets, Garlic Bread of your choosing
Super easy, really tasty. I bake the eggplant till it’s almost done, then spoon a little red sauce on each cutlet. (You could totally do this with chicken, too.) Then I sprinkle some feta cheese on each and throw it back in the oven till it’s melty. Toss the spaghetti with the sauce and put the eggplant on top. Put it in your mouth. (After it’s cooled a little.)
1 bag Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, 1 bag Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice
Totally a “cheater” meal. Just prepare according to package directions and chow down. You don’t have to use Trader Joe’s stuff if you don’t want to or don’t have access to it. I’m sure you can find similar frozen Chinese meals in the grocery store, but TJ’s doesn’t have any MSG or nasty preservatives in it.
Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Olive Oil, Butter, Flour, ½ and ½, Milk, Celery, Onion, Carrot, Garlic, Chicken Broth, Cooked Chicken Breasts, Packaged Gnocchi, Spinach, Salt, Pepper, Dried Thyme, Nutmeg
This turned out AWESOMELY. (Apparently, “awesomely” is totally a legit word, as Word did not give me the red line. Sweet.) It fed me, my Mom, my Aunt, my Dad, and Paul . . . and we ate out of big bowls. This meal will go a long way. The blogger suggests using Rotisserie chicken, but I just baked boneless, skinless chicken breasts and shredded them. I accidentally bought a pint of ½ and ½ instead of a quart, so I subbed in a pint of milk to make up for it, and I don’t think it suffered at all (not to mention added significantly less calories).
Like I said, our week changed a little bit, so I only ended up using four of the things that were initially planned. I don’t want to post anything I haven’t made recently, so I’ll update you guys after next week’s round is done. This week’s menu seems to have used a lot of packaged foods, but it’s not the norm . . . it’s just how it worked out this time. I find that I have the most luck if I plan a couple “semi-homemade” meals along with all of the scratch-made stuff.
We’ve got to be realistic, right?
Kitchen Help
I’m not sure if all of you are familiar with pregnancy legend and lore, so I’ll fill you in before I launch into this . . .
Apparently, when a pregnant woman moves into her 2nd trimester, she becomes full of energy and awesomeness in general. The woes of the 1st trimester are behind her, and the mounting physical difficulties of the 3rd trimester are months away. Her skin begins to “glow” and she can supposedly move mountains while washing dishes and providing scheduled craft times that result in perfect macaroni pictures of Albert Einstein.
I’m pretty sure I missed the announcement for whatever 2nd trimester train I was supposed to hop on. I’m tired. My body hurts, and I’m pretty much at a loss right now when it comes to entertaining my 2 year old. All I really want to do is turn on some cartoons and snuggle Charlie while I sleep.
I’m well aware that that’s not something that I can do all day. It’s just not okay. But it sure would feel nice at the time.
I have an idea, though, and I need you guys’ help.
Charlie loves to help me cook. He likes to put vegetables in bowls as I cut them and line things up on trays before they go into the oven. When I’m done cooking dinner, he gets mad because he can’t help anymore. This is absolutely something I need to take advantage of.
I always look at those “once-a-month-cooking” websites and think, “Man, that’s a nice ideaand all, but how in the hell do they actually make that happen?”
Well, I’m not really interested in cooking an entire month’s worth of meals in one shot, because I really don’t want to be eating frozen food all month . . . but if Charlie and I could spend a couple hours a day making a few meals, I think it would totally solve my child-entertainment/not-wanting-to-make-dinner problem.
Here’s the deal, though. I have pretty much zero crockpot/casserole recipes in my repertoire. I don’t want to make any cream-of-shwatever-soup stuff. Paul’s not a big fan of casseroles anyway, but I think he’s just got stroganoff and chicken-and-rice stuck in his brain. I know there are some tasty, non-artery-clogging casseroles out there, and I would love to have a stack of them in my freezer. What’s that, you say? Betty Jo had a baby? Good thing I’ve got a casserole in my freezer! You say you don’t feel like making dinner tonight? Let me just whip this baby out of the freezer here . . .
Aaaaand you get my drift. When Charlie gets bored and we’ve already watched 2 Little Einsteins in a row, I can say, “Hey, buddy, you want to help me cook?” and he’ll say, “Yep,” and we’ll frolic happily in the kitchen productively. Right?
Anyway, I’m reaching out to you, my friends. Do you guys have any tried and true casserole/crockpot recipes to give me? I don’t really want any links to “365 days of slow-cooker” things, because I can find those on Pinterest. I’m talking about your favorite recipes that you love to make over and over again. Please share them in the comments, as I know I’ve got friends out there who would be just as interested as I am! Thanks!
23 Weeks and Stuff and Things
A quick, little update, as I have quite the weekend ahead of me. When will I be able to sit down at a computer to blog again? Oh, gee, I don’t know, but the next time I do, it will be IN OUR NEWFLIPPING HOUSE!
That’s right, ladies and gents, we are moving back to the big city this weekend! As in, next week, since Paul is right smack-dab in the middle of school, I’m going to be crash-landing back into routine-ville. Or at least, into trying-to-get-into-a-routine-ville.
Now, when I say crash-landing, I don’t mean “Oh holy crap, we’re crash-landing and I’m the only one conscious on this plane and I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE THIS THING!” I domean “Good thing I look good today, because when I crash-land this thing, the news is going to be there, and I’m ready to flash them a smile so big it cracks their cameras.”
So, yeah, it’s not like I’m excited or anything.
In baby news . . . well, I’m pregnant. Now, I’m definitely NOT complaining, and knock on wood, but this has been a relatively uneventful pregnancy so far. And thank God for that, because not being in Omaha, close to my OB, I’m incredibly thankful that the most I’ve had to do is call with questions about antibiotics and leg cramps. I’m 23 weeks this week, so we’re a little over halfway there. My body hurrrrts, and I’m tired, but Peanut #2 is quite the kicker. It’s like I’ve got a little Kevin/Kevina Bacon dancing around, telling John Lithgow he just doesn’t care.
I mean, clearly, there’s no John Lithgow in my stomach . . . that would be . . . you know what? There’s no need to go any further with that one.
ANYWAY, I’m very excited, and a little nervous, because stress is inevitable. It’s the good kind of nervous, though, and nervous as a full family unit is always much better than nervous as a separated family unit.
And, Omaha friends? Who’s ready for some Karaoke!? Look at your calendars! We’ll discuss!