Friday Fixins'

With all the sickness and vacation we got a little lazy around here.   But I mean what can you expect when every single member of your family test positive for strep?  Nobody wanted to do anything but sip motrin from a straw.

We are finally feeling a little caught up.  Spring break has really helped with that.  I haven't had to unload the dishwasher once.  The laundry is caught up and the patry is full.  We've even had time to catch a couple movies, picnic by the river and ride some horses. 

And if that wasn't enough I baked about 5 dozen cookies this morning.

Anyways, the need for organization is still present.  The kids have been wanting to eat breakfast at all different times of the morning and the mess and constant asking for help to pour the milk, is really, quite frankly driving me nuts.  So we sat down and made 2 weeks of menus breakfast and dinner. 

I make a menu of breakfast so that the kids who don't like that particular days food can "prep" for it.  Does that sound mean?  It makes me crazy when my kids don't want to eat the same thing.  So, if one doesn't LOVE oatmeal, she will learn to tolerate it and eat more fruit that morning.  The tears and attitude don't last long once they realize what's on the menu is all they are getting.

Hey, they might even be a better person for it.  Nobody should get their way all the time!

Week 1 - Breakfast
Friday- German Pancakes, fruit
Saturday - Eggs, Toast, fruit
Sunday - Cereal and toast  - we have early church, enough said.
Monday - Pancakes
Tuesday - Oatmeal, toast, fruit
Wednesday- Eggs, toast, bacon
Thursday - Waffles, and green smoothies
Week 2 - Breakfast
Friday - Cereal and toast (kids demanded it)
Saturday - Pancakes
Sunday - Cereal and toast
Monday- French toast, fruit
Tuesday -Oatmeal, toast, fruit
Wednesday- Eggs, bacon, toast
Thursday - Blueberry muffins, fruit, green smoothies

Week 1 - Dinner
Friday- Beef Taquitos, broccoli, beans, pineapple, spanish rice, salad
Saturday - Bean burros enchillada style, salad, leftover fruit and veggies
Sunday - cheesy scalloped potatoes with ham and corn , amazing buttermilk rolls, salad, fruit, banana cream pie
Monday - Taco salad, fruit, FHE treat - mini pizzokies
Tuesday - Spaghetti, french bread, salad, fruit
Wednesday - Chicken stuffing cassarole salad, fruit, rolls with leftover dough from Sunday, vegetable - don't know what yet, waiting to get my bountiful basket.
Thursday - DATE

Week 2- Dinner
Friday - Leftovers from week
Saturday - Homemade pizza, salad fruit
Sunday, Beans, tortillas, salad, fruit (if you think beans are boring, wait for a post later in the week)
Monday - Goulash, salad, fruit, veggie, roll? maybe depends what the scale says! FHE Treat - homemade popsicles
Tuesday - Beef Tacos, mangos, salad, spanish rice
Wednesday - Tostadas with all the fixins, fruit salad
Thursday - DATE NIGHT!!!!!

Friday Fixins' on Sunday

On Valentines we got home late in the afternoon from a LONG trip to California.  We went to the National Ag Expo (sounds exhilarating right?) in the ever exciting town of Tulare.  I grew up just down the road in Visalia so it makes for a nice trip home to visit family as well.  We hung around town and ended the trip at 6 flags Magic Mountain and Santa Monica! 

We got so lucky with our trip to Santa Monica.  It was gorgeous weather and we stayed in such a luxe hotel.  How could you not have fun with a pier like that?

Anyways, with a 9 day vacation comes 9 days worth of laundry and 5 days of missed school work.  Haven't cooked too much this week.  Hit up some restaurant deals this week just to get back on track.  I'm back though to share!

Friday - beef taquitos (using the same concept from last Friday with the chicken taquitos), guacamole, broccoli, salad.
Saturday - DATE NIGHT - so much fun!
Sunday - Big ol' pot of pinto bean - a family staple.  Burrito bar, tortillas, green chili, onions, tomato's, cheese, sour cream, guacamole.  Green beans, and salad
Monday- Homemade Pizza.  Pepperoni, ham and pineapple, salad, fruit. FHE treat Oatmeal Carmelita's
Tuesday - California Enchiladas, beans, salad, cantaloupe
Wednesday - Using up the pinto beans - Tostadas with all the toppings, pineapple
Thursday - Date night!  (This is traditionally our date night.  We got thrown off last week)

Oatmeal Carmelita's

1 cup flour
1 cup oats
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of chopped pecans
1 bag of Kraft caramels, unwrapped
1/2 cup of milk or whipping cream

Mix flour, oats, sugar, soda, salt, and butter.  Press half of the mixture into a 11X7 pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  While baking melt the unwrapped caramels and 1/2 cup of milk or cream in a sauce pan over medium heat stirring constantly.   Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips and pecans on it.  Pour on caramel.  Sprinkle the remaining flour and oat mixture.  Bake an additional 15-20 mins or until light brown.  Allow to cool before cutting into bars.  I usually have to throw this bad boy in the freezer to speed up the cooling process!

Friday Fixins'

Do you ever stumble upon one of those blogs that has a million followers and wonder how in the world you could NEVER have heard of them?

Boy howdy did that ever happen to me!  I was glancing through the most recent copy of my LDS Living magazine when I saw an article for a new cookbook coming out and the girls had a blog.  Well, the taquitos looked awesome,  {I’m a big fan of dipping my food}, so I made a mental note and never even read the article – no time! 

This evening between piles of clean towels and ones still covered in the most recent barfing adventures of my 2 year old, I started to jot down my menus for the next two weeks and {ah, ha hallelujah praises} my brain actually remembered something that I wanted it too!  Chicken taquitos!

[he is not this cute when he is throwing up]

So, I googled the website and found this awesome blog that has like 6 thousand followers, gorgeous content, and thought, “what the crap? How come I’ve never heard of them?”  {Sigh}  I felt so left out?

Perhaps you yourself are feeling left out too.  I’m telling you cute, cute, cute is the word over there at their blog!  Loved it!  Anyway, I now have about 47 new recipes printed out and waiting to try….too bad the majority of them are sweets…like this chcoclate mousse crunch cake.  I will never lose my 10 lbs., so long as there is this and French bread smothered in butter!

So on for this week’s menu:

Friday- Chicken Taquitos , black beans, fruit, salad, chips and guacamole

Saturday – Pizza!  So, so delicious!

Sunday – We haven’t had a roast in forever so we’ll be having crockpot roast beef, rice pilaf, salad, cauliflower, carrots, rolls

Monday -  Cheesy scalloped potatoes w/ ham and corn

Tuesday – 3 cheese manicotti, salad, broccoli, and fruit

Wed – leftovers or breakfast for dinner

Thursday – date night!

I love leftovers and date night next to each other.  Two nights off! 

Friday Fixins'

The kids helped me plan out the menu for the upcoming week.  It's a little different....

Friday - Minestrone Soup, salad, breadsticks with alfredo sauce, sparkling cider

Saturday - Pigs in a blanket, salad, broccoli, fruit salad

Sunday - Beans, tortillas, fruit, green salad, make sugar cookies together

Monday- Pizza (no weired kinds, just pepperoni and cheese, thick not thin crust) Salad, fruit

FHE treat - Banana Cream pie

Tuesday - Homemade fired up mac &cheese w/ bacon in it....don't ask  Salad, green beans, fruit w/ bananas

Wednesday - Salad night (got this idea from a good friend)  Basically variety of lettuce w/ every raw veggie I think my kids will eat.  I also get some sliced chicken, cubed ham, cheese cubes, and corn bread

Thursday - DATE NIGHT - kids eat cheese crisp / cereal / fruit / leftovers.

It always feels SO good to have the menu planned.  No wondering for the rest of the week!

Friday Fixins'

The #1 thing I do to stay organized is have a menu!  If I don't know what's for dinner I practically function.  Yeah, I love food, LOVE {cooking} food!  Adore eating food....dishes not so much.  I like to create my menus thursday and shop on friday's.  This way I guarantee I have what I need for the weekend.  When my family is home and we can soak up eachother for 2 full days, there is nothing I hate more than spending that precious time in the checkout line at the grocery store!

I recently read a blog post by one of the sisters from The Sisters Cafe blog and it reminded me of all the reasons I love cooking for my family and sitting around a table with them.  You can read Melanies post here.

Also be sure to check out her monday menu ideas here.  All of her ideas look so awesome, I'd love to have a seat at her dinner table!

You will see my menu has some quirks to it.  We have salad and fruit EVERY meal!  I also have themes to my planning, but I will go into that another time.  I also try to only serve meat for dinner once or twice a week.

My menu:

Friday - Date night!  WOO HOO!  Leftovers for kids!
Saturday -  New recipe from Pioneer Woman - steak sandwich and onion rings....sure to be delightfull!
        Salad, and fruit
Sunday - Lasagna, homemade french bread, green beans, salad, fruit
Monday - Homemade Pizza, salad, fruit
Tuesday - Pinto Beans, grilled corn salad, green salad, fruit, corn bread.
Wednesday - Baked potato bar with homemade chili, brocolli, green salad and fruit
Thursday - Use up Pinto beans with bean burros (that's what they call a burrito here in AZ) and tostados,
         Salad, and fruit.