Menu Plan Monday

Well, we completely fell off the menu plan wagon last week. I had a plan but many other things seemed to get in the way... laziness, forgot to thaw the meat, blah, blah!!


Anyway, hopefully this week will work out better. I plan to keep it simple and use my crock pot and an easy "go-to" recipe.


I'm linking up with I'm an organizing junkie for menu plan Monday.




Here's our menu plan for the week:


Monday-      chicken fried rice 


Tuesday-     leftovers


Wednesday-  Crock pot pizza, salad 
                  (this one is new for me)


Thursday-    leftovers


Friday-        out (date night)


Saturday-     Chili- for me!/ BBQ meatballs for my man


Sunday-       leftovers






So tonight I made this for dinner. It's super easy, quick and delicious. I actually found the fried rice recipe on a coupon insert and thought it would be good with chicken.

Heat 2tbsp. of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1.5lbs of cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast. After cooked through, remove chicken. Add another 2 tbsp. of oil. Add 2c. of minute rice, brown slightly for about 3min. Add two slightly beaten eggs, scramble until cooked thoroughly.


Add 1c. of chicken broth, frozen stir fry veggies, thawed, cooked chicken and 3tbsp. of soy sauce (I like 5-6 tbsp.). Bring to boil. Remove from heat and let stand 5 min. Enjoy!


It takes about 25 - 30min. total, including prep time!!


My husband and I don't really care for onions. So for the veggies, I actually used frozen peas and carrots and fresh broccoli and it turned out fine.
















         
          

Menu Plans for the Week

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Well, we started off our first week of the year doing well at sticking to our menu plan. I did alter a few days but I must say I was impressed with our determination. Usually, we start off well but succumb to the desire to just eat out either because I'm too tired to cook or I wasn't prepared to cook what was planned for that particular night.  So I'm linking up again with Laura over at I'm an organizing junkie. Hopefully we can keep this going because we really want to save, save, save and continue our debt snowball. 


As I went back to work this week, I realized that keeping our weekday meals simple is the key! My crock pot also helps to make dinner quick and easy. It feels good to come home and know that dinner is ready... that makes me one happy girl. So, this week I'll be cooking dinner with the help of my crock pot, again! 




Here's what we're having this week:


Monday-           Crock pot porkchops, cooked apples, and mashed potatoes


Tuesday-          left overs (I usually cook enough on Mon. to have it again the 
                       next night)


Wednesday-     Eating dinner at church this week!


Thursday-         Out- Date Night!!!


Friday-             Breakfast for dinner- Bacon, Eggs, and pancakes (hopefully I 
                       can convince my man to fix my fav- choc. chip) - Don't 
                       judge.... I know this is not too healthy.. heehee!


Saturday-          Copycat Cracker Barrel Chicken Tenders, Annie's
                       mac n cheese, steamed broccoli


Sunday-            Eating at church (mission team fundraiser)




Last week I tried a new crock pot recipe that we really enjoyed. The recipe is actually my aunts recipe that I have in a cookbook her church put together last summer... which I love because it also has several other family members recipes as well. It's nice to have so many of them in one place.


The recipe is simply called Crockpot Chicken Meal. It is so easy and delicious!


First, put four boneless, skinless chicken breasts in 1 cup of water. Then I sprinkled the chicken with salt, pepper, and an applewood seasoning. The original recipe calls for lemon pepper seasoning.

Then you take a package of corn niblets and wrap them in aluminum foil. The recipe also calls for4 whole potatoes wrapped but I chose to fix just corn.

Then place the corn/ potatoes on top of the chicken and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Before we ate, I heated up some green beans and dinner is DONE!!

This is definitely a new favorite that I plan on using again soon... maybe even try out different seasonings.

Have  a blessed week!! 

Blessed

Can you believe there is only about a week left in this month?! I guess I anticipate this time of year so much that it seems to come and go so quickly. Today was my last day of work for the week. We had a Thanksgiving chapel this morning and my students made me proud!! They quoted a Bible verse and recited a poem. They dressed up as pilgrims and Indians.... they were so cute and did an awesome job! I am SO thankful for my job! 


Speaking of being thankful.... my heart is full today! As this is Thanksgiving week, I have been really thinking about how blessed I am. Okay, so this sounds like I'm not thankful any other time, but I am, it's just that this time of year really helps me to stop and focus on the goodness of God. How he even cares about the little things in my life and how he knows me even better than I know myself. I am so thankful I serve a living God who is constantly with me and helping in this journey of life. 




              Shout to the Lord, all the earth, Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 
              Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. - Psalm 100




This Thanksgiving I'm very thankful that I'm able to spend time with my family and enjoy all the wonderful, yummy food that my mom will be cookin' up! I'll be bringing the pumpkin roll, again! That seems to be my job every thanksgiving... not that I mind because I think I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Hopefully, I'll be helping mom out in the kitchen when we get there. Oh, and the shopping.... I always go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. When Trevor and I got married, we decided it was easier to alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas every year with our families. So, this year I get to shop with my mom. And yes, we get up early and are usually ready for lunch by 9am.... heehee. I'm also hoping to get my family to play some board games on Friday, after the shopping of course.... oh, and the nap and dinner.  Ok, so we'll see. But mom if you're reading this.... pull the games out and dad  - chinese checkers... although you're usually the only one who can beat me (heehee)! I'm also looking forward to a little getaway with my honey tomorrow. I'm SO excited!! 


I hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving and remember to cherish the special times that God blesses you with your loved ones. Treasure the memories and  maybe even start a new tradition. Also remember those who are less fortunate, and be a blessing to someone else. Share the love of Christ with someone by sending them a card, inviting them to your Thanksgiving dinner, or taking dinner to them. Pray and ask God how He would have you reach out to your neighbors or those who are hurting. 


Well, I'll leave you with my pumpkin roll recipe. It's very easy and delicious! I'll have to show you a picture next time.... I'm not making it until later tonight..


Pumpkin Roll

ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 C. pumpkin
1 C. sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ginger
3/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg


Beat eggs till frothy. Gradually add sugar and lemon juice. Add pumpkin. Combine flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix until well blended and add to pumpkin mixture. Spread on a 15x10 waxed paper lined jelly roll pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15min. Turn onto dish towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up and cool.

Icing:
6oz. cream cheese
2C. powdered sugar
4 tbs of soft margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat until smooth. Unroll bread, spread with filling and reroll.
Refrigerate.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Weekend Adventures

I love the weekends! Don't misunderstand, I really enjoy my job but I also really enjoy the weekend. Lately, the weekends have been quite busy but in a good way. This weekend started off by Trevor and I having our date night. We enjoyed a drive on the Parkway, dinner, and some shopping. Oh, yeah, we even watched a movie.... shew...that's a lot for one night. Anyway, the highlight of our weekend was traveling on Saturday to see our nephew play football. He is quite the little football player and we were so glad we were able to spend some time with him and the rest of the family.

                                                                    the "game" face




Oh, I almost forgot to mention that his team won their game and are going to the championship.

This weekend also consisted of more cooking with apples. I was finally able to make applesauce and I was surprised at how well it turned out. I was afraid I might not have the right kind of apples but I used golden delicious and it worked fine. And actually, it was very easy... which makes me happy :) ! So here's how I made it...


First, I sliced and peeled about 10 medium sized apples.

Then, I tossed them into a pot with about a cup and a half of water on medium heat for about 35-40 min.  After the apples had cooked up I added, (I'm not really sure on this part because I was guessing), about a 1/2 C. to 3/4C. of sugar and a few dashes of cinnamon....  because my man likes cinnamon applesauce. Then I used my Kitchen Aid to blend it all together.

I completely let it cool before I put it in the refrigerator. I was really surprised at the taste! It was really good.

Here are the other two apple recipes that I made last week:

Apple Bread

3C. chopped, pared apples                                                   
3C. flour                                                                                 
1 tsp cloves or nutmeg (I used both)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 C. sugar                                                                         
1 1/4 C. veg. oil                                                                        
4 eggs, beaten
1T  vanilla
2tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients  and beat on low speed for 1 min. Beat on medium speed for 1 min. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Cool  for 10min.

Apple Crumb Pie

4 C. sliced apples                                    
1/2  C. melted butter                                
2/3C. sugar                                                    
2T flour                                                            
3/4 tsp cinnamon                                            
1/4 tsp nutmeg                                               
1-9' unbaked pastry shell

 TOPPING:

1/2C. flour

1/4 C. brown sugar

1/4C butter

Pour melted butter over sliced apples and soak a few minutes. Combine sugar, flour and spices. Remove apples from butter ( reserve any that is left and use in topping). Coat apples with sugar mixture, pour into pastry shell. Combine topping ingredients and crumble over apples. Bake 400 degrees for 40-45 min. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Have a blessed week!