Meals the week of 9/19

Meal planning tonight for tomorrow's shopping trip, so...

Sunday: Spicy Sweet Grilled Chicken (bone-in) with The Bread. Yeah, the Pioneer Woman's The Bread. Because I reeeeealy need that. We have a couple of chicken breasts in the freezer in my makeshift freezer covering that I don't trust for long, so I need to make them before they go bad.

Monday: Chicken Mac-N-Cheese. Didn't get made last week.

Tuesday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Coleslaw. Shay has volleyball so a crockpot meal was called for.

Wednesday: Salisbury steak with Hasselback potatoes. Didn't get made last week either. I ended up making pork steaks instead because it was so nice out that I was craving some grilled steak.

Thursday: Leftovers. Another volleyball game.

Friday: Broiled fish and homemade onion rings. Mom and sister both raving about these baked onion rings, so I'm all over that.

Menu Monday 9/13

What we had/are having this week...

Sunday: Uptown, Downhome Chili (Rachael Ray) with buttered bread. Minus the beans. Plus peppers and chili powder. It was spiiicy.

Monday: Homemade Pizza and salad. Have I mentioned I love the Wildtree Whole Wheat Pizza Crust? It actually has me using my pizza stone regularly. We topped our pizza with sausage, peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and cheese.

Tuesday: Honey Mustard Curried Chicken, brown rice, steamed broccoli. New recipe, so I'll let you know if we like it.

Wednesday: Salisbury steak and Hasselbeck Potatoes. I've been craving salisbury steak lately, and, yes, I know that's a weird thing to crave. I'm fairly certain I've never made it before, so we'll see if it turns out. I've been wanting to try Hasselbeck potatoes too, so this is the week.

Thursday: Leftovers. Provided there are some.

Friday: Chicken Macaroni and Cheese. Another new recipe. We like chicken. We like Mac-n-cheese. Not sure where this could go wrong. Is it wrong though that I've never found a homemade Mac-n-cheese I like as much as the off-brand boxed kind?

Saturday: Leftovers and/or eating out. In other words, no clue. Sometimes my planning falls one day short. That's what freezers are for.

Flattery, dinosaurs, and bird parties

The other night we were driving home from Menards (highlight of our week, I'm sure). It was the night that the moon was very full and very low, like eye-level when you looked out the side-window of the truck. Heidi Jean wasn't used to it being dark so early (or being up so late) and from the back seat we heard...

H: I scared!

Me: You're scared? Don't be scared, baby!

H: Yeah, I scared.

Josh: What are you scared of?

[Both of us expecting her to say: the dark]

H: Dinosaurs

J: Dinosaurs?

H: Yeah

Me: Did you see a dinosaur?

H: Yeah

Me: Where was it?

H: Behind the trees

Me: Was it a friendly dinosaur?

H: Yeah

Me: It was a nice dinosaur?

H: Yeah

Lesson: No more The Land Before Time.

Last week I'm roasting a chicken and Heidi is playing in the livingroom. I come in from the kitchen...

Heidi: Mama, fat!

Me: Mama, fat?

H: Yeah

Me: What do you mean?

H: Right there [points to my belly]!

Me: Mommy's belly is fat?

H: Yeah

Me: That isn't very nice, are you fat?

H: Yeah. Daddy, fat.

At least it isn't just me.

Heidi's favorite book for the last several months has been Go, Dog, Go! On average, we read this book 6 nights a week. I pretty much know it by heart. Our favorite part, of course, is the end when all the dogs get to the top of the tree and find a huge dog party. Heidi loves that there are all kinds of different dogs (and cake and ice cream). Last weekend we were all playing on the bed and there were tons of birds outside our window. Sort of like a bird party. We pointed it out to Heidi, that perhaps the birds were having a party in the tree outside. She agreed, pointing at the big tree and saying "bird party! right there! big birds, black birds, white birds!"

The morning drives are so exciting now. I never know what we're going to see. Around one corner, a bird party in a big tree. Around the next, a dinosaur. Frequently elephants are spotted as well.

Hey Good Lookin'

Here's what we've got cookin' this week. Dates subject to change, of course.

Sunday: Homemade Mini Corn Dogs with salad. Anyone who knows me well knows my love of mini corn dogs.

Monday: Buffalo Chicken Burgers. These were supposed to be later on the menu, but I'm dying to try them. It's basically ground chicken with buffalo sauce (and some other stuff) made like a hamburger patty, topped with cheese, on a bun with some ranch. Yum. The perfect use for the ground chicken I got on mega sale a few weeks ago.

Tuesday: Mexican Stuffed Shells. Those jumbo noodles shaped like shells, stuffed with a ground beaf, taco seasoning, cream cheese mixture, topped with taco sauce and salsa. Yum. Again.

Wednesday: Leftovers.

Thursday: Honey Curried Chicken. I'm not sure if I like curry but this recipe says even those who don't will like it. A few friends have raved.

Friday: Gosh, I'm not sure. Either leftovers again or salads or something else that sounds good between now and then. I'm sure we've got some frozen fish in the freezer if we get desperate.

Saturday: Fireman's banquet. We'll have some steak, baked potatoes, and some homemade pie.