Meal Plan #4... NOT!

No meal plan this week! 
Week #3 went pretty well though! The only night we didn't follow our plan was Thursday with the Ravioli, eh, it was a bag anyway! I switched a few nights around but other than that it was a pretty good week!

I would have posted sooner cause I was going to at least do Monday and Tuesday... Wednesday - next Monday I'll be on the west siiiiiiiide :) **Insert 1980's chuckle here** But - poor little man has had the stomach flu since this morning. So dinner was out for tonight and tomorrow we've just taken out a homemade pot pie to throw in - exciting week eh?

Not something I really want to blog about cause poor guy didn't get to eat a dang thing today and was so worn out. But to recap, he woke up this morning with a crib full of puke and a diaper full of mush - I'll spare you the details :(

I hoped maybe it was a fluke but he wasn't really interested in his milk when he first got up and barfed again half way through his bananas and toast. 

Then he proceeded to nap on me for the next hour, then in his crib for another hour. 

He got up and ate some sting cheese and a little more banana, along with some water. All of which he kept down but he was still not himself and wanted to nap on me for another 45 minutes and back in his crib for another hour =/ Wow. 

After that he got up feeling a little more normal and less lethargic. After downing almost a full sippy cup of water he was acting like he was staving so we tried some crackers and a little applesauce... no bueno my friends - round 2 of changing his crib sheets commenced shortly after. :(

So into the Urgent Care clinic we go - since it was already 3pm and our clinic couldn't fit us in. On the ride down, little man proceeded to cover himself AND his carseat :( Poor boy.

The Dr. gave him some Zofran, which is an anti nausea medicine and had us drink some juice that he did keep down so we were released to go home. 

We picked up some Pedialyte and some saltine crackers on the way and he sipped on that and ate one cracker before he just couldn't take anymore - it was way passed his bedtime. I did notice right before bed that he was running a little fever so I called back down to Urgent Care to see if that was normal or if it was ok to give him Tylenol with the Zofran, they said it was ok and he's been sleeping for about 2 hours now. 

We'll see how long this lasts :( 

If he pukes again they told me I'd probably need to take him down to the pediatric ER since he hasn't had anything in his stomach since dinner last night. 

They also told me if his fever lasts through to the morning to call our regular Dr. 

So we're watching him - I swear I've been in to check on him like 20 times already :(

Meal Plan #3!

March 20th - 26th

Well, week 2 didn't go so hot - I did it again, putting two casseroles right in a row! What was I thinking??? Anyway, on Wednesday Adam was working late anyway so I ordered a pizza =/ And bumped the Tator Tot Casserole to Thursday. It was a good decision since we had some friends over and that casserole is so easy. Then we had the Apple Pork Chops last night - not great. Actually, nothing throughout the week really stood out to me.


Adam's camping tonight so I'm not planning anything - even though I'd really like to have those Chicken Enchiladas Verdes that we never got to! Maybe this week since I already bought all the ingredients?!


So on to week 3!!! This is so much fun for me finding all these new recipes! However, Adam brought to my attention that we don't need some elaborate (or even easy) new recipe every night, so this week is about some of our favorites, with a few new ones thrown in to keep it interesting, enjoy!

Sunday: Beef Round Tip Roast on the Rotisserie <-- Adam's own recipe :)

Monday: Fish Tacos <-- I'll post my own recipe after we make this... YUM!

Tuesday: French's Onion Chicken

Wednesday: Crockpot Beef Stroganoff <-- I'm giving this another go cause I've been dying to use my crockpot!

Thursday: Ravioli, Caesar Salad & Garlic bread <--- Um yes, it's from a bag... lazy week?!

Friday: Chicken Enchiladas Verdes <-- I omitted the ingredients from the grocery list cause I have them for last week, check out meal plan 2 if you need them!

Saturday: TBD :)


The Grocery List:


Beef Round Tip Roast
1lb Tilapia Filets
Tempura batter
Corn tortillas
Cabbage/Corn mix
Lime
Sour Cream
Adobo Chili's
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Dijon mustard
Horseradish
French's Onions
2 Yukon Gold potatoes
Bacon
Fresh green beans
Gorgonzola cheese
2 pounds lean cubed stew beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 package mushroom gravy

Egg noodles
Bagged raviolis
Romain lettuce
Olives
Caesar dressing
Parmesan cheese
French bread

Another yummy chicken one!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 fresh tomatoes, dices
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 6 artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, cubed
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
• 2 cups marinara sauce

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, artichoke hearts and red peppers. Cook until just hot, then remove from heat. transfer to a large bowl and toss together with mozzarella cubes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lay out the pounded breasts and spoon filling onto the center, leaving an inch on each side. Adjust filling as you roll so as not to over stuff. Place them seam side down into a 2 quart baking dish. cover with marinara sauce. Place lid onto dish or cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is cooked through.

I do have to say that the recipe above is straight copy & pasted from Allrecipes.com however, I made a few changes. The first being that I only made 2 chicken breasts instead of 6 so all other ingredients were adjusted accordingly. Second, after reading the reviews of the recipe and after preparing the initial ingredients I opted not to top it with any marinara sauce because the amount of filling I had far exceeded what I could stuff into two little chicken breasts no matter how flat I could get them! :) Next time, I think I'd still do the marinara - it was good... oh boy was it good - but it needed that little extra sauce.

And the wine... oh the wine :) Chianti my friends...

Meal Plan #2!

March 13th - 19th

Welcome to week two!  Week one went well... um, as well as could have been expected for week one anyway! Adam's favorite was the Aloha Pork - SO yummy! Mine was probably the Chicken Fiesta Salad, although I made some minor changes to that recipe which can be found here. 

I also had to make a minor change 1/2 way through the week cause I didn't realize I put two meat/rice dishes right in a row. So I switched Wed and Friday around... but then, I got a bout of the stomach flu on Thursday night into the day on Friday so dinner was out of the question for me. Adam went ahead and had the meatloaf as leftovers. :) So we're pushing the Arroz Con Pollo to tonight because I really wanted to try it over the Stroganoff. Maybe we'll save that for week 3.

Overall, 6 out of 7 days with just a few changes ain't bad for our first week right??? 

So, on to week 2! :) I've decided to make this work I need to make some slight changes. I'm not going to plan every day. A lot of Saturday nights Adam will be camping or out doing "guy" things. Or once the weather gets nicer we'll be out camping with him or doing family stuff so for right now I'm either not going to plan Saturdays or I'll find something SUPER simple and solely geared for Landon. And Sunday's are just out because usually after camping, maybe drinking, and fishing all day Sunday - the last thing he ever wants to come home to is a huge meal... plus half the time, I never know when to expect him or know when we'll be back from our adventures. Which is fine - maybe Sunday's we'll order a pizza... :)

Sunday: I'm already drooling for a Papa Murphy's Chicken Garlic Gourmet on thin crust!

Monday: Artichoke & Tomato Chicken

Tuesday: Cornbread Taco Bake (My mom makes this the best and I couldn't find her recipe, but I think this is close?!)

Wednesday: Tater Tot Casserole

Thursday: Pork Chops with Apples & Garlic Smashed Potatoes 

Friday: Chicken Enchiladas Verdes
Saturday: TDB... based on our plans :)

The Grocery List:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can artichoke hearts

1 can diced tomatoes

1 Red bell pepper

Mozzarella cheese

Marinara sauce

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (8 ounces) Hunt’s® Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 package (8-1/2 ounces) corn bread/muffin mix

1 can (2.8 ounces) french-fried onions

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

1 pound small fingerling potatoes

5 cloves garlic

4 1/2-inch thick boneless pork loin chops (5 oz each)

1 large red onion

2 Granny Smith apples

3/4 cup apple cider

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 lbs of chicken thighs or breasts

2 medium yellow onion

1 lbs tomattillos

4 serrano peppers

Cilantro

Corn tortillas

Sour Cream

Mexican Cotija or Queso Fresco cheese
1 lb ground beef
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can mushroom soup
1 package chopped spinach

1 bag tater tots

Chicken Fiesta Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 package fajita seasoning
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 package mixed salad greens
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. Rub chicken evenly with 1/2 the fajita seasoning. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken 8 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear; set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, mix beans, corn, salsa and other 1/2 of fajita seasoning. Heat over medium heat until warm.
3. Prepare the salad by tossing the greens, onion and tomato. Top salad with chicken and dress with the bean and corn mixture.

First of all, I didn't have fajita seasoning so I just used taco seasoning as I didn't think they'd vary too much. Also, I cut my chicken into 1/2 inch strips and marinated them for about an hour before cooking. This recipe was so simple and easy - and yummy! We also added some shredded cheddar cheese and avocado on top and a small amount of ranch dressing. Oiy so filling with all those black beans! It only made about 3 servings so if you need more just double everything.

As far as a wine pairing, I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com and they suggest a Sauvignon Blanc, which I didn't have a bottle of but I imagine would most definitely pair well!

I Heart Faces

I Heart Faces is an awesome website that does weekly photo challenges and offers a plethora of tutorials to help photography enthusiasts of all skill levels. I've been telling myself for a while that I wanted to enter but I've been leery - I'm not that great =/ But this week... I'm entering my first challenge! People's Choice Photo Challenge - Best Face in February!

It took me a bit to figure out which Landon face to enter :) But we decided on this...

Love! :)

Update: If you'd like to vote for us, it's easy - just visit the challenge at I Heart Faces here, find his picture (alllll the way in the second to last row, No. 527), and click vote! Easy Peasy - no registering! I might add - there's no prize other than the pride of taking a good picture (and maybe that Landon is the cutest baby ever!).
So, head over to I Heart Faces and check out other entries this week.  There are bound to be a lot and they are sure to be gorgeous!

Meal Plan #1!

March 6th - 12th

Here's attempt 1 at my weekly meal plan! I'm going to try to do this post weekly and on Saturdays (yet another task to be completed during Landon's nap or meal times). It was SO much fun to hunt down these recipes so hopefully I'll be able to stick to it! 

Sunday: Chicken and Herb Dumplings

Monday: Stuffed Peppers

Tuesday: Aloha Pork Chops

Wednesday: Arroz Con Pollo

Thursday: Cheesy Meatloaf

Friday: Chicken Fiesta Salad

Saturday: Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Now for the grocery list! I've taken the main ingredients from all the recipes to make sure I have everything I'm going to need so there's no last minute trips to the store! I've excluded spices and things like milk, flour, etc. because generally I'll already have all that. For my personal reference, I've bolded the things I'll actually need to go buy (not too much eh?) ;)

Shopping List: 

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 chicken thighs
Carrots
Celery
Frozen whole kernel corn
Chicken Broth

3 bell peppers

2 lb ground beef

4 Yellow onion

2 can tomatoes

5 cups long grain rice

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can tomato soup

2 pork chops

Sweet & sour sauce

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 Red onion

Stir fry sauce

Velveeta

Fajita seasoning packet

Black beans

Salsa

Lettuce

Tomato

Cubed stew meat

Cream of mushroom soup

8 oz can of mushrooms

Mushroom gravy packet

There you have it! Our menu for the week! I'm so excited about it and I hope Adam and Landon enjoy it all!

New Me.

I'm in a bit of a funk lately. I don't like to admit that either. Now that I'm home, I have a lot of one on one with Landon of course (that I love so very much, don't get me wrong!) and not so much me time, unless he's napping. I use that time though to shower and clean so it's not really considered "me" time. So I decided some things need to change.

It started though with these new eating habits we've taken up - fresh foods and limit preservatives and JUNK as much as possible. I don't know if I've mentioned but Adam's been doing it hard core for about 4 months now, maybe too hard core, cause he's down about 30 lbs! It's been a month now that I've been going at it and I've lost a few pounds and I'm really learning how to read my labels but I have to admit, I haven't been very diligent about it. Mostly the boxed dinners and easy to prepare foods are out of our house but I'm not really eating balanced meals. I snack while Landon eats his healthy meals balanced with protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies. My "main meal" which is dinner, is generally my most healthy meal of the day. So I'm going to start meal planning. I found this site that offers some simple templates that I'm going to start with but the more research I do on tips to meal planning, the more I find. I follow the blog Meal Planning Mayhem and I absolutely am inspired by her dedication - maybe I'll do a weekly post about my menu... hrm, there's an idea! :)

Next, I need to work on my body. This goes hand in hand with eating right but I keep blaming the weather for why I'm not getting some exercise in which is NO excuse. I have Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred... which I failed at in these posts. I starting again this morning - and even if I don't do it every day, I need to get motivated and do something! I also bought the Wii Fit program - but it's pretty boring. So basically, it's my scale cause it weighs you and tracks your BMI. Maybe there's other games or something that work with it, I have no idea but I'll check that out in the future. I plan on getting Zumba for Wii - I'm SO stoked about this one but I just can't afford it right now. **tear** And last but not least, a little motivation, I registered for Bloomsday. A 12k and I plan to be at least jogging it. So I have 58 days to figure out how to not die while jogging more than a mile or two. Please weather cooperate because the only way to do this is get outside!!!

Ok, moving on, I need adult interaction and Landon needs some socialization. So what do I do? Trusty Mr. Google lead me to Mom and Munchkin Adventures. I haven't gone to any meetups yet but the girl I talked to when I was signing up was super nice and I'm so excited to go to my first one. They do morning walks at the mall a few times a week, they have play dates two or three times a month and it sounds like they are trying to do a Mom's Night In/Out once a month or something like that. Once the weather gets nice I assume they do other things at the parks and stuff too. I think I'd like our first time to be one of the play dates since it'll be easier to meet and talk to the girls, so our first one will be March 14th! :)

In one short week I'll be attending the Rocky Mountain School of Photography's workshop - I'm SO freakin excited that I cannot contain myself. From the itinerary they gave me it looks like it will be a lot of information rather than hands on stuff but I'm ok with that. You have to start somewhere! I always remember really enjoying my photography class in high school and I'm not sure why I didn't pursue it more?! Anyway, better late than never right?? 

So to recap... my goals to the new me:

1. Focusing more on healthy eating
2. Exercise more
3. Don't sit at home all day - get out, meet people
4. Work toward better photography skills

Now, for my Landon lovers... my smiley boy after his 2 hr nap this morning!!! Cheers!