I always love knowing what others cook and seeing new recipes. I also love trying new recipes! I always menu plan and grocery shop for 2 weeks at a time, with a few stops for produce/milk in between. So here's what I'm making for the next 2 weeks. I don't do a full 14 meals because sometimes we eat salads, quick soups, go out etc. I also try to cook mostly lower carb foods. Almost every meal includes a salad or I will warm up frozen or canned veggies. I use my crock pot 2-3 times a week, also. I also never set what is to be cooked that day. I have tried writing it on a calendar but then I always switch days. So I just make a list and mark it off when I've made it. If it makes leftovers, that gets frozen and added to the list as another meal.
-hamburger steak (twice)- Frozen leftovers from grilling out last weekend. I may add some brown gravy over them once and then sprinkle Ranch seasoning over them the other time to vary it up.
Leave me your best recipes! Always looking for something new to try!
-We, and by we I mean Alan, are painting our front door black. The door needs 1-2 more coats and after a coat of primer, the surrounding white wood will be painted black also.
I'm also in love with this screen door.
I need one for the front and back door, please.
via Pinterest
..and the idea of having curtains for the side windows.
I actually love this entire entryway.
I have also thrown out the idea of painting our interior doors coordinating colors with the rooms..
via Pinterest
-Thanks to my amazing husband for taking completely over for Madison Sunday. I was a zombie all day. I came down with some sinus issues Saturday afternoon and couldn't function at all on Sunday. He took her to church and to run errands and after her nap, he took her to the State Park to play for a few hours so I could get some rest. Thanks to Riley for napping with me from 7am-12:30pm and for napping most of the day but unfortunately she's come down with a cough herself, but thankfully no fever. I hope this house gets better soon!
- I cancelled my Emeals account. I've had this for years. It helped me tremendously in meal planning and grocery shopping. I've come to find that most of the recipes aren't that great though. I was finding myself replacing 1-2 meals that I knew we wouldn't like with freezer meals or leftovers. While planning my own menu and grocery list is taking me for.ev.er, I'm trying to shop for 2 weeks now and I am actually spending more money on groceries than when I had Emeals(including the emeals monthly charge). I'm trying to plan my meals around sales and coupons and using up all of an item in things and making simple meals a few times a week. How do you menu plan? What are your go-to meals?
-Our library has a ton of Summer activities going on. At least once a week, there's an activity that I, or Alan, can take Madison to. There are actually a few activities a week but most are during their nap times. We will be venturing out this week to the magic show that's going on. Mommy/Madison date while Daddy can rest at home.
-I have completely caught up to Parenthood. I'm so bummed to now have to wait for the season to start back. I have now started How I Met Your Mother. I've watched a few episodes and it's pretty funny. I'm also watching The Bachelorette. What shows do you recommend? I'm looking for some series I can find on Netflix or Hulu.
-I feel like I've fallen off of the blogging world lately. I'm trying to come up with weekly ideas so you will be hearing more from us! I will try to do a weekly update, Summer activities list of things I'm doing with Madison along with some week/weekend in photos posts. Anything you want to see, leave me a comment or email me and let me know! I've gotten horrible at blogging but it is something I enjoy.
1.
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? Mexican
2.
What's your guilty pleasure/comfort food? chips.. I love Salt and Vinegar!
3.
What's the weirdest/craziest thing you've ever eaten? I typically don't eat crazy stuff but I have tried Calamari(octopus)
4.
What foods do you avoid at all costs? seafood, mushrooms, deviled eggs.
5.
What meal reminds you of your childhood? mac &; cheese from the box. My sitter made it all the time and it was so good back then! Not so good now but still reminds me of her. Also, anytime my mom cooks for holidays or get togethers, it always reminds me.
6.
Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it. I don't really cook the same thing over and over. I suscribe to Emeals so I'm constantly doing new things.
This is a continuation of my Thirty Days of Thanksgiving post.
These are in random order as well as the first part
Day 15-Heat and a/c
Something we take for granted and complain about the bill but lots of people aren't as fortunate to have power, much less heat and a/c to stay comfortable.
Day 16-Food
Other than the obvious, I also enjoy it :) (and so does M)
Day 17
Thankful for our home. If we hadn't moved here, we wouldn't have
Madison, Wilma, Toby or Sierra. Our house is big enough for our family
and we've made good friends and feel safe here.
Day 18
Thankful
that Micki has been alive for 10 years today! I got her when she was 9
months and she's been through more than a dog should. She's been there
through my happy and sad times and I can't imagine her not being around.
Happy Birthday Micki!!
Day 19
Thankful for our other 4 crazy animals, Wilma, Toby, Sierra and Cameron.
Given the chance Toby would eat Madison but he is Micki's best friend and I'm so glad they loved each other from the second they saw each other. He's so loving and sweet, except to Madison :) .
Sierra runs when M gets within 10 feet but she is Cameron's girlfriend.
Wilma and Cameron have also been through a lot more than any animal should, right along with Micki. Madison still loves all of these animals regardless and laughs at them
constantly!
Day 20
Thankful my Dad isn't in pain on his 62nd birthday today. Also that we
had a relationship for a few years after not speaking for 10 years. His
death last year was the hardest thing I've ever went through.
Day 21
Thankful for medicine, Allergy eye drops, a Pedi that worked us in and
an understanding photographer who rescheduled our pictures for the
second time :/ Hopefully Madison feels better very soon!
Day 22
Thankful I stood in line over an hour to get most of Madison's
Christmas! I saved as much as I spent so it was well worth it! It also
gave me a chance to talk to my BFF on the phone for a bit while standing
in line
Day 23
Thankful for a best friend like no other. We've been best friends for
years and every year it seems like we get closer and closer. She's
trusted me with her son if anything ever happened. We don't see each
other or talk often enough but when we do, we talk until Amanda's phone
gives her the "battery too hot" warning. Ha! I know more about her than I
probably should and no conversation is complete with a "tmi" or "What
did Dr Google say?" Involved. I wouldn't know what to do without her!
Day 24
Thankful we found a cabin to go to the mountains. Thankful we are able to go.
Day 25
thankful that M loves music as much as I do!
Day 26
Thankful for gorgeous mountains and that we live close enough to go see them
Day 27
My phone and the internet
Day 28
Thankful the cashier gave me a $4 off coupon today. I needed it :/
Day 29
Thankful for Mommy time which means I can finally get decorated!
I got a lot of compliments on some things at the party so I thought I'd share where I got the ideas!
Cake/Cupcakes
I knew I wanted to serve cupcakes versus cake at the party. I craved cupcakes my entire pregnancy and we kept my favorite cupcake place in business! I also knew I wanted her smash cake to have her name on the side of it. I went searching for pink and green and stumbled on this picture.
It was perfect! I had the pink M's on strawberry/cream cheese cupcakes and green 1's on vanilla/buttercream. I told the baker to put pink and green dots on her cake with her name on the side and a pink '1' on the top. She did perfect! Even though the strawberry didn't taste like strawberry and they weren't pink, there were strawberries in the batter :)
I also made the cupcake holder. I bought 2 cardboard cake sheets from Party City-one smaller than the other- and spray painted them white. I also spray painted a Puff container white(the tower in between layers) and hot glued it to both layers. I then hot glue a thin silver ribbon around the bottom of the container. The pink edging is pink streamers. I noticed when I got home that one side of the bottom cardboard what straight, where the other edges were scalloped. Weird! I wanted to cover it so I did this. Total cost- less than $10 versus those store bought cupcake holders that run $13-$50 and typically hold 12-24 cupcakes. I wanted one to hold all 36 cupcakes so I didn't have to man the cupcake station and refill them if they ran out.
Each cardboard was less than $1 each. The streamers were $0.99 but I also used them as decorations. The spray paint was $4 and was also used on her M wreath(seen below) The Puff container was $2.99 when they were full of puffs so I won't count that cost into it since I bought them a while back and saved the container. I also glue canning jar rims on each corner to lift the bottom layer off the table just a tad :)
Puffs
I used this video to help because I had some trouble with the first couple I did. The 3 in the window, I didn't cut the ends after folding them. The big ones, 2 on the mantel and one above the stairs/gifts, I cut into a point, like the Dahlia in the picture below the video.
For the small ones I used 1 pack of tissue paper each. I laid out the paper and cut it in half. For the large ones, I just laid the tissue out and fold it long ways. If I had to do over, I would use 2 packs of tissue for each big puff.
Ice cream cups
I decided to do this so someone didn't have to worry about scooping ice cream the entire party. Plus we didn't wait for everyone to eat cake and ice cream until the end so people could eat their sweets with their food if they wanted. This actually turned into a melted ice cream disaster. I only sat out about 20 cups(we had 30 people) and only a few were ate. We looked over and ice cream was everywhere! If I had to redo, I would either get those little personal ice cream cups or put ice cream in a small plastic cups. It was a cute idea anyway.. To do this, you just scoop ice cream into cupcake liners and freeze
them. I only have one cupcake pan so I just put them all onto 3 baking
sheets, covered them in foil and froze them.
Mason Jar drinks
I got a lot of compliments on these! One comment was "It's so simple but the liner makes it look elegant". I decided to do Hawaiian Punch in Lemon Berry and Green Berry Rush to tie in the pink and green theme. I got the straws(the are actually plastic!) and cupcake liners from Hobby Lobby. I decided to only do 12 drinks(6 each color) because we also had water bottles and now I wish I'd done 24! People actually drank them :)
To get a good hole started, I put one liner on the jar to see where the straw would go. I then cut an X with scissors in the spot so when we put the straw in it, it wouldn't rip. The day of the party we filled the jars, put the liners on and stuck the straw in them.
Mason Jar cutlery holders
Since using mason jars for the drinks, I decided to use some to hold the forks and spoons. I got a roll of really cute ribbon from Hobby Lobby and taped them to the top. It turned out cute! The ribbon tied the colors together and using the jars tied in the drinks too.
Water bottle labels
I wanted to pretty up the water bottles by replacing the brand labels with something to match the party. I found this link which has 5 labels on a sheet. I tore off the labels, cut these and taped them on with 2 inch tape. The only thing was they couldn't go in ice. We filled our fridge with 50 water bottles and sat them out. I didn't get to drink any so I hope they stayed chilled throughout the party! People thought I bought the bottles that way and they really liked them!
Veggie cups
I thought this would be a great way to keep Ranch dressing from being all over someones plate and our buffet, so we decided to do these cups. While people did eat them, I wish we had done these and refrigerated them that morning so we weren't assembling them when people starting coming over :) We just didn't have the room in the fridge, with 3 dozen cupcakes and 50 water bottles and all...I had already cut carrots, peppers and celery. We should have added some red and yellow peppers to help fill them up more. Ah well. Live and learn :)
High chair tutu
I knew I wanted to add some frilly to her high chair and found this tutu at Hobby Lobby. Luckily her high chair tray has a top tray that lifts out so you can put in the dishwasher so we just taped the ribbon under that tray. She didn't play with it as much as I thought. People loved it!
Balloon walkway
I found this picture on Pinterest and knew I wanted to do it. I didn't get a picture but we only lined up 6 balloons on one side of our sidewalk but I would have loved to fill it up like this one. I'm glad we didn't because it turned out so windy that day that they ended up laying on the ground anyway. It also started raining before the party was over and they all deflated due to the temperature dropping and the rain beating them. To stake them in the ground, I used golf tees and tied the ribbon around the top part.
Salsa
I got rave reviews on my salsa. It's always been my go-to recipe for any function I've needed to bring food to. All of those garden tomatoes I got from my neighbors this year came in quite handy! I think I used roughly 20 cups of boiled and chopped tomatoes and we had a bit left over. I also used fresh jalepenos, lime and cannded whole chiles that I chopped up. Here's my normal, small batch recipe:
3 cans diced or petite diced tomatoes (I always used Hunts brand)
1 jar diced chiles
1 jalapeno, diced (or more to taste)
1 diced onion
juice of 1 lime
1-2 tspn minced garlic (I use the jar garlic)
Mix it all up, add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate. It always taste better the next day or after being refrigerated a while. Everything is really to taste so add or take away what you don't like. :) One good thing about making it is testing it is taste testing along the way! I have also found that Ingles sells the hottest jalapenos.. Really weird but it's true.. I've bought from every grocery store and theirs have always been hotter.
As said before, I'm all about making things myself if I can. I decided to make fajitas this week so I knew I wanted to make my own seasoning versus buying the sodium filled packets. Found a recipe and made it. It's full of so much more flavor! Here's the recipe. I guarantee you already have these spices!
