Meal Plan

Hello,

Everyone needs to start thier day out with a little Miss. G (the baby).

You know I work with families so I totally knew that kids changed you. But I never knew how much. I'm amazed how I am a normally social, out going person who constantly wants to be doing something and now that she's here all I ever want to do is just hang out with her. But really who wouldn't want to hang out with someone so cute? This picture is from her 4 month photos. We did them on July 3 this year. In it she was actually one very unhappy lady but thanks to our wonderful photographer she just looks like she's playing around.

 Now onto food blogging...

I'm weight watchering it and it's really working. This past week I lost 5 lbs and my boss told me she thought I looked thinner. Things like that really make me push ahead.  Now, I didn't cook much this past week because my great aunt came to visit. While she was here she bought tons of farmers market goodies, cooked for us daily, watched Miss. G (the baby), and did laundry/clean the house. Having family support makes being a working mom so much easier.

So, we are pretty well stocked on food. I won't have to do too much cooking/shopping in the upcoming week. Here is what I do have planned for us. A couple quick, relatively easy and healthy recipes.


Too Easy Peach Cobbler


Roasted Veggies and Polenta


Greek: Barley Tabbouli with falafel/chicken pitas (not 100% on the recipe yet)


Green Pepper Tofu, I've made this before and substitued the chicken for tofu and it worked really well. this is a tasty quick recipe!

Miss G in Action

So, since my blog is about food I thought I'ld show you our newest family member's eating. Here is Miss G eating for the first time, we went with oatmeal instead of rice because her poor tummy has been upset. I wish I could figure out how to put the video in the box but I just don't have that so you'll have to do it like dinosaur times and click on it.


Miss G Eats

Now that was cute but we have couple more that are cute too. Not food related but I just need to share with you.

Miss G Bounces

Miss G Rolls Over

Miss G in Battle (with a plastic bug)

Miss G Flirts

Thanks to Mr. C he figured out all of this stuff last night and loaded these videos on youtube. If it were up to me she would be old enough to teach me how to work all of these before I figured this out!

Creamy Quinoa

Have you tried Philadelphia Cooking Creme? It's kind of flavored cream cheese for cooking. On 2 different occasions Publix has had AMAZING deals on it, like free & $.25 w/ sales and coupons. So, both times I bought it. I used it tonight. I know I was really leery of it at first & no, I'm not getting any compensation for this recipe. I really just like it. We've tried all the flavors & I think the savory garlic is the best. I feel like it's so good because it has flavor but is versatile for a variety of recipes. I'm pretty sure when I buy it again I'm going to stock up on only savory garlic kind. This is another recipe that was SO good I wanted to blog so I wouldn't forget it. I didn't take a picture. I thought about it but it really wasn't that good looking. It actually looked sort of gross but tasted delish.

Ingredients:

1 packet of taco seasoning mix
1 can of rotel, undrained (if that's too hot I bet you could use any diced tomatoes)
1 can of corn, undrained
1 can of mushrooms chopped & drained
1 can of black beans, drained
3 cups of cooked quinoa
1/2 chopped onion
1 package of savory garlic Philadelphia Cooking Creme- I think you could use the Santa Fe kind and leave out the taco mix but we didn't have any.
2 TBSP of nutritional yeast

For Kyle I separately cooked 1 pound of ground beef.

This is so easy & good.

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions
2. Chop onion & cook until brown in skillet
3. Add corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, & black beans to skillet cook until warmed thoroughly
4. Add Quinoa
5. Turn off the skillet & add taco seasoning, nutritional yeast, & cooking creme. The heat from the burner previously being on will melt it.
5. Enjoy!

Panzanella

I haven't blogged in 10,000 years & I didn't even take a picture of this. I did however have a baby. Enough said. Now I'm on weight watchers. This is sort of a recipe I got off their website. I actually made this for dinner last night. It was great. It’s quick & frugal summertime dinner. All the ingredients we had in our fridge. Some even came from Mr. C's container garden. I liked it so much I thought I would put it here.


1 loaf of french or italian bread.
2 english cucumber
2 whole tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1/2 onion
3 TBSP olive oil
3-4 TBSP of capers

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 TBSP of garlic
30ish fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 TBSP of dijon mustard


1. Cut bread into 1 inch thick cubes
2. Coat bread cubes with 3 TBSP of olive oil
3. In skillet over medium heat brown bread, usually takes about 10 min.
4. While that is cooking thinly slice onions, chop cucumbers, & tomatoes. Combine & set aside
5. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing
6. Combine all ingredients together, making sure to coat bread cubes.
7. Eat right away. This does not stay good & the bread goes soggy if it stays out but if eating quickly it's super good.
I ate this alone as a main course but fed Mr. C fish with it.

cassarole week

Hello! I'm here, still pregnant just in case you were wondering. I do tell Zeus daily that s/he can come any time now that I'm 38 weeks. Right now it's just a waiting game. I am happy to report we are doing ok on our budgeting and other things getting ready for baby. The nursery is finally finished and I think we have everything ready. I even already packed my hospital bag just in case.

Due to my new diet I didn't do much cooking this past week. I think I actually ate baked potatoes every day with some type of green veggie and boca patty. This is why you didn't hear about much cooking around here. I will tell you I made the baked potatoes in the crockpot and they were really good and really easy. 

I am however back on the blogging saddle again for at least this week.

So, lots of baby sites tell you to make ahead casseroles for at least the first couple of weeks because you will have zero desire to cook. On top of that they need to be low sodium and weight watcher friendly. Now, I've never really dug casseroles. I'll eat them ok but enchiladas are about the only casserole that Mr. C and I eat around here. I would rather eat fresh or crockpot. But never the less I'm going to attempt casseroles this week to prepare us for baby. I do actually see the advantage of pulling foods out of the freezer and cooking without thought during the first two weeks. I'll make two of each dinner, one to eat and one to freeze.

My cooking this week:

Saturday: I made no salt spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. I would post the recipe but it was just ok. Nothing really to write home about. I made enough to eat, use on the shells and still freeze 2 containers for future use.

Sunday: Stuffed shells

Monday: I'm going to try this tortilla bake recipe.

Thursday: Crockpot. Happy St. Patty's day! I have to tell you that although I'm Irish (I think) and enjoy celebrating it this is a mixed feelings day for me for a couple of reasons. 1. Exactly 4 years ago Mr. C and I had our first date. It's crazy (in a good way) to think we have been together this long. I think we've been having so much fun we didn't notice time flying by. If you would have told me 4 years ago I'ld be married and about to pop out a munchkin I don't think I would have believed you but I'm so happy where I landed I don't even know how to express it. 2. It's a little sad for me because last year Mr. C and I spent the day in San Fransisco with a couple of our favorite people in the world. We were actually on vacation with my two best friends in the world and their husbands for the week. It makes me sad because I miss them dearly and it's been a whole year since we spent that time together. Aww, how life changes in a year. Anyway I am crockpotting this cabbage and potato recipe. I've made it before and it was really good (not to mention my grocery store has cabbage $.29 a pound right now.)

So, for next week do you have any great freezer recipes? I'ld love to hear them.

This week.

Since the last time I blogged we've had quite a few changes around here. I have had problems with my blood pressure and I am now on a seriously restrictive no sodium diet. You would not believe the amount of sodium that is in food we eat every day. Needless to say this is a new adventure in cooking. On top of that Mr. C is now on weight watchers. We tried to apply for health insurance and if Mr. C can lose 30 lbs we can save $20 a month for the next 30 years. This is a HUGE incentive for weight loss. So, our menus have changed quite a bit. Because of this our grocery budget had a change too. I think this bummed both of us out. I was not too happy about going over for the month but we make sacrifices for our children right?

I'm also slowing down the cooking because i'm getting to that point of utter exhasution. I was going strong until the last week. I even diluted myself into thinking maybe it wasn't going to hit me. But hit me hard it did. I don't think it's as bad as the first trimester but it's close. The great thing is that the end is near. A month from yesterday my friend is supposed to be here. I honestly can't even wrap my mind around that fact. Mr. C and I are both doing what needs to get done to get ready for baby but I'm not sure either of us know what's in store. Needless to say these are not my best culinary efforts but it'll do.

Friday night: Tacos
Saturday breakfast: eggs and potatoes. Little J will be here to help with the nursery. it's almost done and it's super cute.
Saturday dinner: Date night. We have gotten into the pattern of date nights lately and I really look forward to them. I think it's knowing that these are very limited in our future that we both really dig them.
Sunday dinner: Jambalaya, Zataran's has a lower sodium one that i've never tried before but I'm looking forward to it.
Monday dinner: Little J bought me a no salt cookbook and from it I'm going to make a potato frittata
Crockpot day: Year of slow cooking green pepper chicken, although I'm making green pepper tofu. YUM!

what are you making?

http://fortunavirilis.blogspot.com/2010/01/crock-pot-curried-red-lentil-chickpea.htmlI fell off the blogon (blogging wagon) this week. We were very busy including having people over for the Superbowl. Obviously I didn't do well with meal planning since I didn't do it. I overspent at the grocery store. I even forgot to renew my library books and now owe $1.75, boo. It'll go better this week.

No progress was made in baby's room. We did the rest of the house cleaned and presentable. This weekend we are putting up these clouds that I LOVE.

So, I can now see how people fall off the resolution wagon in February. But not us, no this week we are getting back on it.

This week I can only spend $25 at the grocery store so we are mostly eating whatever we have around here.

Saturday: Chicken/tofu baked in the oven, mashed potatoes, salad using our free earthfare coupon!
Sunday: Tostadas
Monday: I have a special dinner planned but I don't want to tell you know because Mr. C reads the blog and I want to surprise him. But don't worry it's delicious and frugal.
Crockpot day: I am making indian. Never got around to it. I am using this recipe here.

=)