Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: MOPS Breakfast (yum!!)

Thai Chicken Pizza (carryover from…awhile ago – made it before, we liked it!)

Tuesday: Pumpkin Waffles

            Oven Tacos *new recipe

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                   Baked Beef Taquitos *new recipe

Thursday: Cereal

               Skinny Fettucine Alfredo *new recipe

Friday: Zucchini Bread (quickly becoming a household fave!)

        Sticky Coconut Chicken *new recipe

Saturday: California Breakfast Casserole

              Chicken Fajita Melts *new recipe

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Sorry I lapsed a week folks! Sometimes I’m just tired and other priorities take focus. I did cook fairly often last week, just more fly by the seat of my pants type cooking. I think my favorite throw together meal was a loaded baked potato with broccoli, chicken, pinto beans, and a touch of butter, cheese and salt. YUM!! will do again for sure.

Happy Monday…no doubts you, too, are praying for the Boston marathoners and first responders. My heart is heavy for them.

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–10 Uses for your Phone Alarm

Some background regarding this post…and just some fun FYI material. My maiden name was Roach (not as bad as you might think, but yes, I was excited to get married). And the Roach family, well…we weren’t the most punctual of families. Nothing horrendous, but we ran late more often than not. My brother and I would actually place bets on what my mom’s excuse would be when she was late picking us up from school. We thought it was quite humorous. So, naturally, I myself have this “running late” tendency. BUT…alas, there is hope!

My trick is to use the alarm on my phone….FOR EVERYTHING!

Here are the following things I use my alarm/timer for:

1. Morning alarm(s) for wake up

2. Reminder to drop off/pick up Cooper from preschool

(okay, it’s not like I’d FORGET…but this way I have a 5 minute buffer to actually get in the car so I’m not seriously late!)

3. Reminder to take medications (for me or my kids)

4. Time outs

(1 minute/year of age. Cooper’s is seeming awfully long these days)

5. Reminder that it’s time to leave the park, or play date, etc.

(you know, when you tell your kids 5 more minutes, and a half hour later you’re finally leaving? With the timer, it’s the fun little robot voice that’s the “bad guy”. And OCCASIONALLY, they actually are excited to hear said funny little robot voice and leave happily! Gasp! Imagine that!)

6. Reminder that I myself have an appointment!

7. Timer for dinner

(‘cuz let’s face it…sometimes you’re playing outside and won’t hear the oven alarm)

8. Timer for when my husband has to stop playing video games

(hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!)

9. Motivation to see how much cleaning I can get done in 10-20 minutes. Set the timer and you’ll be surprised (or not…sometimes it’s a bust, but more often than not, I work faster when timed).

10. Reminder to start crockpot meals. It’s the worst when you have it planned, and forget to start the crockpot and that day’s crockpot use is a bust. Man, oh man, what a disappointment!

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There you have it, folks. 10 more ways to utilize your phone alarm. May you be ever more on time my friends!

TTFN

Becky Nicholas

Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: Carrot Sweet Potato Muffins

            Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Salad

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Pancakes

           Rainbow Chard Tortilla Pizza *new recipe

and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert! (comment if you want the recipe!)

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie

Thursday: Leftover Muffins

             Artichoke & Red Bell Pepper Risotto

(Pampered Chef recipe, it’s delish!)

Friday: Apple Rings

        Cheddar Chicken Spirals

Saturday: Cereal or Eggs

           Thai Chicken Pizza

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Recap from last week…

dinners…

Monday: Thai Chicken Noodle Salad

**This was a new recipe for me, and if I were to make it again, I’d either put on less sauce, or omit some of the peanut butter. It was tasty, but MIGHTY rich! And that’s saying a LOT coming from me.

Tuesday: Chicken, Asparagus & Mashed Potatoes

**This is the second time I’ve made this asparagus “recipe”. It’s not like there’s much to it, but it’s DELICIOUS! Our family of 4 ate 2 entire bunches of asparagus, WITHOUT complaint! (well, Allie licked it, hehe)

Wednesday: Roasted Fennel, Carrots & Mixed Rice

**3rd time I’ve made this, also delicious! I add shredded crockpot chicken. It’s sweet, but nature’s kind of sweet! =)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Pork, Chipotle’s Lime Rice & Salad

**I made this slow cooker pork before, but it was WAAY more vinegar-y this time. It may have been because I shredded the chicken in the cooking liquids? I also would NOT pair it with the Chipotle lime rice again, waay too much flavor. I like both of them, just separately. I also ran out of cilantro for the rice when I thought I had some, totally disappointing. It’s amazing how such a tiny ingredient can have such an impact!

Lime-Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

**I have made these before as well, but didn’t let the butter cool enough this time, and had sort of flat cookies. Still yummers though!

Friday: Autumn Chopped Salad

**Have made it before, and will make it again! Delicious!

Saturday: Nachos (not what was planned)

**Two sick kids and a mom who was stuck in the house with the two of them for a week straight = not wanting to cook. So we made nachos and watched Wreck It Ralph instead. Superb decision!!

Sunday: Egg Salad Sandwiches

recap breakfasts & snacks

Monday: Cereal & Crispy Roasted Snap Peas

(cereal is ALWAYS a hit in this household…snap pea snack? A TOTAL and complete bust. Oh well.)

Tuesday: Healthy Whole Grain Zucchini Bread (gone in 2 days FLAT!)

Wednesday: Slammin’ Surprise “Green” Smoothie – a hit!

Thursday: Cute “Bear” Toast

(okay, this one threw me. My daughter didn’t want to eat the bear! She kept saying, “Eyes? Ears? Nose?” and wouldn’t touch it. So I gave her all the food items on the side, and she eventually ate EVERYTHING. So…definitely a hit!)

Friday: Scrambled Eggs

(Neither kid wanted them, but I stuck to my guns and they went hungry until lunch. Judge if you want!)

Saturday: Cereal

Sunday: Sticky Lemon Rolls

(DELICIOUS! Don’t get me wrong…these were tasty! But if I’m going to go through the effort of making cinnamon rolls from scratch, I’m gonna go classic next time. They were VERY lemon-y. I’d cut back the lemon juice in the glaze for sure!)

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update on picky eater

A definite improvement! We also tried a few new smoothies, Click on the pictures to try them yourself!

Pina Colada Green Monster Smoothie

Lime and Coconut Green Smoothie

Mango & Coconut Smoothie

Tofu Peanut Butter Smoothie

(This last one sounds GROSS…but try it. I liked it, so did my kids! Husband..could take it or leave it)

Becky Nicholas