Monday Muchies - Meal Planning

I'll admit it. On any given week, you might find me in the grocery store three out of seven days. Prior to having "the littles" this wasn't really a big deal, nor was it a bad thing or a frustrating thing. I actually ENJOYED  going to the grocery store,  wandering through the isles, and searching for inspiration. Prior to the littles, you would find me, almost daily, salivating over recipes on my lunch break and envisioning dinner for the coming evening. We rarely ate the same thing twice, sure I had my favorites (coconut chicken, chicken parm, beef and bean chili....blah blah), but I truly loved love culinary experimentation. Since the boys have come along, it seems I am experimenting less and less (even though they will eat most things). I attribute this lack of kitchen creativity to a couple of things:

1) It just isn't easy or pleasurable to run to the store with twin toddlers, especially when there seems to be a shortage of carts which will accommodate TWO little guys who desperately need to be strapped in. Although, I am quite certain people revel in the comedic relief of watching me struggle through the isles with one baby in the Ergo and one in the cart, while BOTH are trying to thieve things off of the shelves, it would be nice if the experience were a bit more relaxed. :~)

2) I am horrible at meal planning. I actually LOOKED FORWARD to the daily meal planning and running to the store prior to preparing dinner for the evening. Unfortunately, that kind of spontaneity no longer has a place in our lives. Boooo.

So, I am going to try, like REALLY try, to make a weekly meal plan. A plan which allows for creativity AND helps us keep our collective family sanity. In addition to making meal time less stressful, planning ahead may also help to make meal time more healthy, which is good....I guess....if you like that kind of thing. :~) So far I am only planning for dinners (we can wing breakfast, lunch and snacks, right?), but maybe in the future I will become even MORE organized. I would like to present to you, my loyal followers, with this weeks meal plan, or "The Yummy Plan" if you will. Enjoy. (link to the blank plan and all main dish recipes follows the image)

If you would like to join me in meal planning, you can download the blank version of the Wordy Bird Designs "Yummy Plan" here. Our family's plan has been laminated and is proudly displayed on the fridge, where I can write/ erase to my heart's content.

This week's recipes: Pasta Bolognese, Catalina Chicken, Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin (left overs will be used for sandwiches, thanks Megan), and Beef Stroganoff.

Adventures in Cooking for Kids

I know this doesn't have much anything to do with design, but believe it or not, my days are spent mostly doing the normal stay at home mama activities (ie: cooking, cleaning, chasing kids, tripping over random toys, etc). Being that it is a new year, and most people jump on the "new year, new you" train I decided not only would I hop aboard, but I would drag my (mostly) willing family along with me. For me, this means the following: we joined the local community center and intend to use it and, maybe the most important change, we are planning meals and intend to actually cook them. :~) I'm not going to lie, not every.single.meal is going to be super healthy (read: Grandma's chicken spaghetti is tonight, which actually contains Velveeta, sorry all you "non-processed" people.), but they will be homemade and the hubs and I could use a little practice with portion control. So, just in case you want to jump on the healthy(er) train with us, I would like to share a bit of what I have already cooked or am planning to cook.

Veggie Muffins. Yum. I made these yesterday while the boys were napping. I halved the recipe except kept the broccoli the same (by accident). They turned out pretty well. I think they are delicious, the (little) boys, however, are not quite as impressed. They ate them, but with a definite "I know something is up with these" suspicion, which is strange considering they actually eat all of the ingredients under normal circumstances.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks. Again, yum. These were today's lunch. I thought there were QUITE yummy, but I do love me some fried baked cheese (who doesn't right?!). I changed the recipe a bit, in that I only used half of an eggroll wrapper for each stick (cut on the diagonal) and I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled a bit of salt prior to baking. Yet again, these were more well received by yours truly than "the littles", granted little-E had been throwing a WHOPPER of a tantrum for a good 30 minutes prior to lunch, so he wasn't really in the eating mood. I was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm, normally cheese=good and dipping food=SUPER good!

Black Bean Burgers. These will be dinner tomorrow. Honestly, I don't make these enough. They are SO yummy and one of my all time favorite vegetarian recipes. I do absolutely nothing different with this recipe well, strike that, I think I have added corn a couple of times, but it's really quite good as is. I serve the burgers sans bun with sour cream, salsa and a side of store bought sweet potato fries, so SO good! Now, hopefully the littles will feel the same...sigh...toddlers.