Menu Plan Monday - Jan 20, 2014

What a weekend!! Our Seahawks are going to the Superbowl!! We watched an amazing game yesterday, complete with a new dinner recipe that I can’t wait to share with you all.

Photo by Alana Joy Photography

This morning was a tough one for this mama. I signed my last gingerbaby up for kindergarten this morning. I can’t believe our bean is going to be five next month! I was pretty proud of myself. I may have gotten a little misty, but I didn’t cry when I signed her up…

This week’s menu doesn’t have any fancy new recipes on it, but it has some meals that I’m hoping I can have the girls incorporate into their menu plans. Miss A has never has Thai chicken, or stir fried veggies, or salmon, or lasagne, or turkey burgers… so basically all of this week’s dinners, when they have previously appeared on my menu plan have been for the hubs and I only – the girls likely had mac and cheese or chicken nuggets and fries those days! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a fantastic week!

On the menu this week:

Monday: Thai chicken with stir fried noodles and veggies
Tuesday: Salmon with brown rice and veggies
Wednesday: Lasagne
Thursday: Turkey burgers and fries
Friday: Movie night at the school - pizza for dinner
Saturday: Dinner out!
Sunday: Baked Ziti

I’ll be linking my menu plan up to OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday – check it out!!

Homemade Shake and Bake Mix

Hello my friends! I’m back with another super easy, healthy recipe to share today. I used to buy store-bought Shake and Bake for breading chicken and fish but one day I looked at the contents on the side of the package. When I found that there were a ton of ingredients that I either couldn't pronounce or couldn't identify, it was time for this mama to find a recipe of my own!

My girls are starting to branch out in the food department (finally!) and since Costco chicken nuggets are a staple in my house, I thought I’d try making my own version of chicken nuggets with chicken breast and a homemade shake and bake mixture. It worked! Both girls gobbled up dinner and I was over the moon!

I always make a big batch of this mix and store it in the fridge so I can whip up dinner quickly without having to measure out the ingredients each time. I served the girls these chicken strips with baked French fries, but I made a beautiful salad with mine. I’ll share that recipe with you next week!

Homemade Shake and Bake

Ingredients

1 ½ cups Italian breadcrumbs
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder (I use this Garlic Aioli dip mix)
1 tsp Italian seasoning (I use this Herb and Garlic mix)

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Transfer to an airtight container (like an old salsa jar) and add a nifty label so you know what is inside.

To make the shake and bake chicken:

Preheat oven to 400F. Put ½ cup creamy salad dressing in a shallow bowl (Caesar, ranch, whatever you like…) and put ½ cup (at a time) of the shake and bake mixture in a separate shallow bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut chicken into strips or nugget sized pieces. Dredge the chicken through the salad dressing, tapping any excess off. Then dip the chicken into the breadcrumbs mixture, making sure to coat it on all sides.

Place chicken on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes, turning halfway through.

Honey Mustard Chicken Salad - recipe to come!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this recipe.

 
I will hopefully be linking this recipe up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, and Joyful Homemaking.

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 13, 2014

Good morning my friends! It’s the beginning of a new, and crazy busy week! We have plans ALL SEVEN DAYS this week! Between the girls dance and swimming lessons, mama going to a concert (JT!!) and some parties and some football this weekend, plus the usual school and work, it’s going to be a gong show week in our household!

Miss A and her Mango!!

Thankfully I have this blog to plan out our week a bit! Honestly, without the menu planning, I don’t know if we would eat a proper meal at all. Miss A’s New Year’s resolution is still going strong – she has tried turkey meatloaf, mango, perogies, sausage, honeydew, peas and carrots! I’m so proud of her, and I’m even more excited that we made a list of about 50 things she wants to give a try. We looked on a kid-friendly website for recipes and she found a whole bunch of things to try!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a fantastic week!

On the menu this week:

Monday: Turkey pot pie and Rachel Salad– I’m not sure how much of this Miss A will eat, I better make a backup plan for this one…

Tuesday: Homemade shake and bake chicken (recipe to come!), rice and carrots 
 
Wednesday: Baked Ziti

Thursday: Dinner out! 
 
Friday: Brinner – breakfast for dinner! Crack potatoes (recipe to come!!), eggs and bacon
 
Saturday: Pizza and salad

Sunday: Turkey Burgers and fries

I’ll be linking my menu plan up to OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday – check it out!!

Yummy Mummy Oatmeal (Homemade Oatmeal Packets)

Hi Everyone! Look at this – two posts in a week! Yippee! Good start to 2014!

I have lamented the pickiness of my older daughter’s eating habits many times here on this blog, but there is one food that she absolutely LOVES and will eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner if you let her. What, pray tell, is this amazing wonder-food that will fill her up and make her happy all the live-long day? O-A-T-M-E-A-L!

I used to buy the pre-packaged oatmeal packets (hopefully on sale!) but I found them to be quite expensive. When your child wants to eat 2 packages at a time, this can be an expensive breakfast option!

I remember seeing a post on one of the money-saving blogs I follow (MrsJanuary.com) for homemade oatmeal packets. I have been making the oatmeal this way for over a year now, and my girls just love it. I love that I know exactly what is in the bowl, and that it costs less than the pre-packaged oatmeal – win-win!

You could add absolutely any toppings to this oatmeal to personalize it and make it your own- blueberries, apples, bananas, anything really. My girls don’t like “chunks” in their oatmeal, so we drizzle a little sugar-free maple syrup in the bowl for a maple/brown sugar oatmeal. The possibilities are endless – enjoy!!

Yummy Mummy Oatmeal
Recipe from MrsJanuary.com

Ingredients

5 cups Quick Oats
1/3 cup Skim Milk Powder
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 ½ tbsp. cinnamon

This recipe is so easy, Miss A can mix it up herself!!

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well, and break up any little balls of brown sugar. When all ingredients are well combined, transfer to an airtight storage container.

At breakfast time, place about ¾ cup Yummy Mummy Oatmeal mixture in a bowl and pour approx. ½ cup boiling water over top. Stir to combine. You could also add water and heat in the microwave for 40-60 seconds.

Add any extras! We drizzle ours with a swirl of sugar-free maple syrup. Grab a spoon and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by to read today! I hope you enjoyed this recipe!



I will hopefully be linking this recipe up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, and Joyful Homemaking.

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 6, 2014

Good morning my friends! I know it’s been a long time since you have heard from me, but today is Monday, and it’s a new year, and I’m going to try to be a better blogger this year! We will see how it goes…

This is our family on Christmas morning, celebrating with our presents!!
Happy New Year!!

I have plans to post some fun recipes and craft ideas, and some of those recipes I have already tested and photographed – now it’s just a matter of actually writing the posts and sharing them with you guys!

For now, let’s start small – with this week’s menu plan! After the craziness of Christmas (and all of the turkey, wine, chocolate, more chocolate and still more chocolate) it’s definitely time to get back into planning healthy meals for my family – and to take for lunch to work.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? This year I am just making one, fairly easy (I hope) plan for 2014 – to NOT go out for lunch every day that I am at work. It’s a matter of time management and planning meals to bring food to work. It also helps that I have some great friends at work who have the same plan!

Our family is also trying to make a resolution together. We are going to TRY to get the girls to eat more of the dinners that I actually cook on the menu plan. Right now, I would make the girls one dinner (chicken strips, pasta, grilled cheese) while the hubs and I would have the dinner from the menu plan. I have one very picky eater on my hands, and one who is starting to get picky with her meals. Hopefully 2014 will be the year that I can cook ONE DINNER for everyone to eat! I’m not getting my hopes up, but you never know!!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a fantastic week!

 

 

On the menu this week:

Monday: Turkey Meat Loaf, mashed potatoes and steamed veggies

Tuesday: Butter chicken and brown rice

Wednesday: Lasagne Wednesday

Thursday: Maui ribs, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob

Friday: BBQ chicken breasts, Mexican rice and salad

Saturday: Date night! Dinner and a movie while the girls are at a slumber party

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti in Boursin cream sauce

I’ll be linking my menu plan up to OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday – check it out!!