I
feel like we all get in a cooking rut and my hope is that these posts will help
pull us out! Trust me, I get knocked in the ditch when I'm planning out
menus all the time !
If
you haven't already - go "like" my Facebook page and lets start a
conversation each week on good recipes we’ve had. There’s nothing better than making something
so delicious and then sharing it with others!
I
want to warn you this week’s post is LONG!
So bear with me. I promise to
keep the proceeding week’s posts much shorter!
Let’s
Eat
August
24-29th
Breakfast
School is back
in session so we have two options for breakfast:
1. Eat at
school – free breakfast for all elementary students.
2. Eat at
home – because we are too lazy to get up early enough to make it to breakfast
at school.
Guess
what? If you guessed number two you are
the lucky winner of eating your breakfast at home tomorrow.
I get
bored with having recurring dishes and I just assume everyone else does
too. So here’s
how my week’s breakfasts are looking:
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Waffles, eggs, sausage
|
Eggs, toast, grits
|
Muffins and yogurt
|
Waffles, eggs, sausage
|
Kid Pick
|
I can hear
you – you just said, “I don’t have time for that!” Well shut your mouth and keep reading! Let’s
apply these options to nearly everyone….
Waffles –
if you don’t have time to pull out the waffle maker then buy a brand you
trust! Eggo, Udi’s, Van’s whatever there
are millions of brands of frozen waffles.
Eggs –
they take NO TIME to make. You can use a
mug to make your scrambled eggs – just spray it with cooking spray break your
egg into the cup and add in a tablespoon of milk, whisk it around and cook for
45-60 seconds in the microwave. When it
is finished “cooking” it will resemble an egg from McDonald’s in shape and
texture. Throw it on an English muffin
and you just made the cheapest McMuffin EVER!
Sausage –
you do know you can buy Johnsonville Links that are precooked? Oh you didn’t? Well you can and they are yummy. I prefer a turkey option but I can tell you
the Johnsonville Pork Sausage Precooked are really good!
Muffins –
make them the night before! But make
sure you make them and not the bakery. The ones you can make at home in 20 minutes
are way better for you than the ones you purchase.
Another
thing I take into account with breakfast planning is this….Snacking!
In a
perfect world we eat five small meals a day, are satiated and look like
Jennifer Aniston. Well, the world is far
from perfect and we tend to eat three large meals and then two large snacks and
have to fight from being Jennifer’s polar opposite.
A good
couple of rules of thumb for us adults– snacks
are small & snacks are between meals.
Plan your snack 2-2.5 hours after breakfast and a 1.5 hours from lunch. And no, a bag of M&M’s is not a snack
choice but a DUMB choice.
My
daughter has lunch at 11:30 this year.
She’ll eat her breakfast around 7:30 and be ravenous by the time lunch
comes rolling around. Therefore I’m loading
more protein and a few more dense carbs in her breakfast. (Thanks to snack time being at the end of the
day!)
My
breakfast will be a lighter version of hers (don’t ask me about my bagel
problem). Why? Because I’ll have a snack at 10am. I didn’t want to blow money purchasing separate
snacks for the kids versus the adults.
So here’s my snack outlook for this week:
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Fiber One Bar
|
Peanut Butter & Celery
|
Carrots & Light Ranch
|
Trail Mix/Popcorn
|
Fiber One Bar
|
Fiber One
Bars are, for me, a great option for the family. The kids will eat them and not complain and I
feel good that they are getting extra fiber in their diet. Don’t forget you can get various flavors and
appease nearly every palate. Little Missy is all into the chocolate while I kind of love the streusals! I have heard people say these bars make them extra gassey. Look, they don't me but if you are a Fiber One Farter then pick another option like Cliff or Quest. Just remember, don't eat them on an empty stomach (aka for breakfast).
I purchase
the Jif to go and Hidden Valley Lite Ranch to go cups specifically for lunches
that are packed for out of the home. Don’t
use those while you are home because that will kill your pocketbook. Stick to scooping out portion control sizes
from the regular canister.
Trail mix
is a great snack as long as you try to steer clear of the ones chock full of
candy. Look for dried fruit
options. I’m a sucker for M&M’s so
this is particularly hard for me. (Am I
craving M&M’s? Seriously, that’s the
second time I have mentioned them…hmmm)
Skinny
pop! We love Skinny Pop in our home and I think your home will love it
too. You can buy a regular bag for about
$3 or you can spend around $6 and get mini bags which are perfect for portion
control and throwing in the book bag or purse.
Lunch,
Lunch, Lady
I have
this weird love of food and making meals.
I get excited about making my daughter’s lunches. I know it is strange. Maybe it is something my late Mamaw passed
down to me – she was a true lunch lady at my middle school. Of course that was back in the stone ages
when the lunch ladies could actually make the food from scratch or semi
scratch. Today they government sends
them heat and eat and threatens them not to add seasonings. Oops did I say that? Look, I love lunch ladies and that’s all you
should gather from this paragraph.
This week
I found a blog post from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom that I couldn’t
stop going back to look at. So I decided
it was bread from heaven and I needed to use it as my blue print for my girl’s
lunch this week. I also think I will be
enjoying this stuff too. Here’s
the link!
Of course
all kids are different and I had to make some adjustments:
- No salami,
we’ll do ham.
- Tuesday’s
tostadas will not include the beans but instead ground turkey I’m saving from
the meal the night before.
- Thursday
we will do the mini pizzas but I like to make them on English muffins or bagles
instead of the chips.
- Friday
will be subbed with Sunday’s meal.
Ahhhh
flexibility is the secret of life I tell you!
We’ll also
put in some milk but have water in the lunch too. My kid is iffy on milk but it is important as
she’s growing!
Dinners… I mean it is the real reason you visited
today right?
This week
we’re eating some dang good food.
Tonight we’re
having meat loaf, asparagus, and creamed potatoes. I’m saving some of the ground meat for lunch
on Tuesday. That way my daughter can
have tostadas!
Tomorrow
is my son’s birthday and he will be three. I like to cook whatever the kids love for their birthday dinner but this year we are going out! Little Man said he wanted spaghetti and meatballs so we're going to celebrate his day at a local Italian restaurant!
Tuesday’s
dinner is going to be grilled pork chops, corn, and roasted red potatoes. That my friends is good eating. Also, pork chops are on sale in my area this week at ALL the grocery stores.
Wednesday
night we’re having homemade chicken tenders, green beans, and mac and cheese
for the kids. Total kid friendly night, right?
Thursday,
my crock pot will be doing the dirty work as it makes Mongolian Beef.
Friday I
plan to celebrate a successful start to the school year by having the kids pick
the dinner they want to devour. The kids tend to want chicken noodle soup, not kidding. I always keep a few cans of Progresso's Lite Chicken Noodle Soup on standby. They prefer it over the regular condensed soup.
Saturday
is my husband’s choice unless he is at a Fantasy Football Draft.
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Out for the Little Man's 3rd Birthday!
|
Pork Chops, corn, roasted red potatoes
|
Homemade Chicken Tenders, green beans, and mac n
cheese
|
Crock Pot Mongolian Chicken
|
Kid’s Choice!
Maybe we’ll order out? Or maybe we'll have chicken noodle soup!
|
What I’m
baking this week?
Nothing,
we should have plenty of birthday cake around here for the next two weeks!
Have a
yummy week, friends! See you tomorrow
with Monday, May I!
