First Reconciliation

 The 8 year old made his First Reconciliation last night.  We are so proud of him.  He has been so nervous and dreading it.  But now he loves it and wants to go back this weekend.  We told him that he may want to give it a few weeks.

Menu Plan Monday 2-22-21

 I can NOT believe that we are moving into the last week of February.  This month really flew by.  
I have plans to get my seeds started this week.  Last week was very busy with a lot of doctors appointments, so I'm very behind on my housework. I need to fit in a lot things this week to make up for lost time.

One important thing happening this week is that the eight year old will be making his First Reconciliation this Thursday.  This is such an exciting time.  He is very nervous, but I know he will do great.  The more we go, the more comfortable we get.  I also need to get to confession at some point in the near future. 

Friday:  Copycat Panera Creamy Tomato Soup and Oven Grilled Cheese

This soup was really tasty and very easy.

I made the grilled cheese with cheddar and gouda.  

Saturday:  Sriracha Turkey Meatballs with asparagus and rice

I made the rice in my new multi-cooker and I made enough for the whole week.  It worked out really well.

Saturday night was family game night and we had fun with this.

Sunday:  Greek Chicken Legs, baked sweet potatoes, and salad
For the chicken legs:  I used a family pack of chicken legs (approximately 12) and marinated them in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Then I sprinkled them with Greek seasoning and baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until done (mine were a little frozen so it took 45 minutes).

Monday:  Country Mushroom Soup from the Twelve Months of Monastery Soups cookbook, French bread

Tuesday:  Baked Fish, vegetable, rice

Wednesday:  Sausage and Veggie Sheet Pan I use chicken sausage and whatever veggies I have on hand, left over rice.

Thursday:  Having take out to celebrate the 8 year olds First Reconciliation.  

Happy Monday and have a blessed week!!

For more menu planning visit Orgjunkie.com

 

Decorating the House for Lent

 What is Lent?

According to Catholic Answers, the basic meaning of Lent is: "The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season. Still it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (Fr. careme, It. quaresima, Span. cuaresma), meaning the “forty days”, or more literally the “fortieth day”. This in turn imitated the Greek name for Lent, tessarakost? (fortieth), a word formed on the analogy of Pentecost (pent?kost?), which last was in use for the Jewish festival before New-Testament times. This etymology, as we shall see, is of some little importance in explaining the early developments of the Easter fast".  

To me, Lent is a time to get closer to Jesus.  It's our time in the desert.  Last year during Covid quarantine was definitely my time in the desert.  I truly understood what that meant.  We were in lockdown.  Churches were closed.  There weren't any Stations of the Cross, there wasn't any soup suppers at our parish....and our parish didn't do any online services.  I felt utterly alone and utterly in the desert.  We watched mass on TV, but it wasn't the same.  It wasn't MY parish.  There was a lot I had to come to terms with.  Holy Week is a very special yet somber time at our house and it was made so much more so by the uncertainty of Covid and being locked out of our church during the most holy time in our religion.  

I'm hoping this Lent is just as special as always and although things are not back to normal, we CAN go to church and I'm prepared to do our own Stations of the Cross and I'm prepared for the different.  

I started decorating for Lent today.  It's a process.

The "Lent" banner is up.

The Lent Tree is up too.

This turntable decoration is new this year.  Right now I have a burlap table runner, a blessed candle, some crosses, and a cactus (desert).  I also have some purple napkins, but we won't start using those until Ash Wednesday.  Since this is new, I'm sure I will fuss with it and change it as the weeks go forward.

I started the the table in the foyer today, but I didn't finish it and I'm not sure where I'm going with it.  So this will definitely be a work in process.

We just got the call that the boys have a snow day tomorrow, so I'll have some extra time to work with this.

Lent is such a barren time.  I would love nothing more than to decorate with flowers, and bunnies, and chicks.  But that is not where we are at.  We need to sit in the desolate, dark times so that light will come and we will understand it's full meaning.  

Menu Plan Monday: February 15, 2021

 Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  This weeks menu got turned around a little bit due to the Hubby surprising me with sushi on Saturday night.  I've been wanting sushi for weeks, and he thought that it would make a good Valentine's Day surprise.  And it did.

Friday:  gluten free pasta with nut free pesto; rolls

Saturday:  Sushi and charcuterie (should have been beef stew)

Sunday:  Steak, au gratin potatoes, streamed asparagus

Monday:  Beef Stew - instead of the instapot, I'll be using my new slow cooker.

Tuesday: Shrove Tuesday :  Pancakes, home fries, and bacon (I also ordered some paczki from a local bakery).  It's sure to be a FAT Tuesday.

Wednesday:  Ash Wednesday - The beginning of Lent  This is a day of strict fast and abstinence.  
Dinner only:  French Lentil Soup from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups: A Cookbook

Thursday:  Poor Man's Meal from Great Depression Cooking with Clara on YouTube  You can also find this recipe in Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from The Great Depression

Breakfast/Lunch/Extras:

Egg Cups:  I made some with whole eggs and some with egg whites only

Sweet Pepper salad (similar to this one).  I used a recipe from Trim Healthy Table Cook Book

Happy Eating!  Have a wonderful and blessed week.

Visit Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.com for more recipes and menu planning tips.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Wishing you a day filled with Love.

What I Read In January (and am still reading)

 I'm trying to increase my reading this year.  Last year I read 25 books and I told Good Reads that I also want to read 25 this year.  But in reality, I'd like to read more.  But somehow, life just gets too busy.  I really need to set aside some reading time every day.  I try to do it before bed, but I usually get 3-4 pages in and then fall asleep.  

Some of the books on my list aren't meant to be finished in January.  One will last all winter and one will last all year.  But I'm including them here since I started them in January.

Meditations For Advent  by Jacques Benigne Bossuet:  Yes, that's right Advent.  Which has been over for a while now.  I started off strong with my Advent reading but when things went into the Christmas crunch, I fell off the wagon.  I really enjoyed this book and didn't want to NOT finish it, so I just kept on going.

Lectio Divina of the Gospels 2020-2021  This is the one that will last all year.  I've always been interested in Lectio Divina but I wasn't sure where to start.  I love that it covers the Gospels for the entire year.  After this, I hope to have a better understanding of Lectio Divina and can apply it to my other Bible reading.

Winter Meditations  by John Bartunek:  If you fish around my blog, you will see that I have read this before (2-3 times).  I have all the seasonal meditation books by John Bartunek and I enjoy every one of them.  But I read the Winter one more often because my least favorite season is Winter and it gives me a perspective of this season through God.  It's hard to dislike something when you can view it through a God lens.

Little House on the Prairie  by Laura Ingalls Wilder :  I took this one out of our library via audio book and I listened to it with the 8 year old.  He really enjoyed it.  He's asked to listen to Little House in the Big Woods next.  Look for that in an upcoming "what I read" list.

Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home by Becky Rapinchuk:  I follow Clean Mama on Instagram and I really like her cleaning philosophy and tips.  I thought I would find this book helpful.  A lot of the information can be gotten from her Instagram or website, but there are things that I either missed or needed to see again.  I also like the way she breaks down the organizing tips by room.  It makes it easier for me and I can go back and revisit her advice when things start getting out of control again.

So that was January reading.  I have my Lenten reading all ready to go.  And I promise to try very hard to actually read it during Lent and not Lent and beyond.

The Anti-Mary Exposed by Carrie Gress.  I had heard of this book, but never really looked into it. But it was censored by Facebook and Instagram so that made me think that there is something here that I really need to check out.

Lent and Easter Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton :  This is more of a traditional Lenten reading than the other book I chose.  I've been intrigued by Chesterton, but haven't delved into anything of his because I'm intimidated.  I hope this gives me more insight into Chesterton and maybe I won't be so apprehensive about it.  

What I'm Listening To:  The Bible In A Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmizt :  You guys.  I am LOVING this podcast.  LOVING IT.  He reads a section or sections of the Bible every day and then gives insight and explanations for what is happening and why it is happening and how everything ties together.  I think today was day 35, but it's not too late to start.  You can either listen to a couple a day to catch up or start at day 1 today and use February 5 to February 5 as your year.  I can not say enough good things about this podcast.  It is truly blessing me.  

Menu Plan Monday: February 1 2021

 What  I love about menu planning is that I have all the food on hand, a plan, but that everything can be flexible.  We had a lot of left overs at the end of last week so I took Thursdays meal (Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken) and moved it to Saturday and Thursday ended up being "left over day".  Wednesday's meal of mini meatloaves and mashed potatoes got turned into shepherds pie due to the fact that the slow cooker mashed potatoes were over cooked.  Although things don't always go as planned, everybody ate.

I was disappointed in the slow cooker mashed potatoes.  I've never had a slow cooker meal fail so miserably.  The potatoes burned to the side of the slow cooker.  I tried to mash them anyway, and I had to pull out the burned parts.  The potatoes themselves were thick and gummy.  But I turned the whole thing into shepherds pie and the family loved it.  I had never made shepherds pie before and they asked that I add it into rotation.

Friday:  Naan Bread Pizza

I made a white pizza with banana peppers and Kalamata olives, a white pizza with banana peppers, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese (the husband I don't eat meat on Fridays), and a traditional pepperoni for the 8 year old.  The middle son had his gluten free pizza.

Saturday:  Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Everything started off fine (first photo), but again the entire dish was just over cooked.  The chicken was so dry (it was so dry that I choked on it and it got stuck.  Things were a little scary but I'm ok).  So we figured out that the slow cooker is broken and just cooking everything on high instead of the low setting that I programed it for.  So now I'm on the hunt for a new slow cooker.

Sunday:  Garlic butter chicken, baked potatoes in the air fryer, and honey glazed carrots
No slow cooker involved so dinner turned out great.

I rubbed the potatoes with avocado oil and sprinkled with kosher salt.  I cooked them in the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 50 minutes. 
The chicken breasts were HUGE but I also had smaller thighs and legs.  I started the breasts 20 minutes ahead of the smaller pieces.   I melted butter and mixed it with chopped garlic then I brushed the chicken pieces front and back with the butter mixture and sprinkled with our favorite Greek seasoning.  I cooked the chicken at 400 degrees until it reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees. I steamed the carrots and melted 2 tbs of butter and mixed with 2-3 tbs of honey and poured it over the carrots.

Monday:  Red beans and rice with andouille sausage
I will use the ingredients I have on hand but this is the recipe from a Pinch of Healthy that I'm basing it on.

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
I have a small slow cooker (my larger one is now in the trash) that I think I can use for this.  I have made this dish for so many years that I just do it from memory.  The recipe that is close to what I do is this recipe from All Recipes.

Wednesday:  Tater Tot Casserole (Cowboy Casserole) from the Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  This one is a family favorite.  I got this recipe over 10 years ago from Menu Plan Monday.  

Thursday:  Tacos

So that's our menu for this week.  It's a good thing I only had one slow cooker meal planned for the week.  If anyone has a slow cooker that they love and that works great for them, please let me know in comments.

For more menu plans and dinner ideas see Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie