Happy New Year

It's been quiet around here as of late.  Christmas was wonderful, but quiet due to illness (2nd Covid Christmas).  Everyone is fine.  Just resting and enjoying our time together.

 

Merry Christmas

 

Wednesday Words

 

Menu Plan 12-2-22 to 12-8-22: Feeding the Family

 My Christmas prep has stalled.  I still haven't put up the tree in the basement.  I'm thinking that I may just leave it until the big boys come home.  They can do it if they want to.  I have a few gifts left to buy and I need to find something to wear to the husbands Christmas party next weekend.  I'm feeling the crunch.  But I've had some medical stuff to deal with (some mine, some other peoples) and I just haven't had the time.  This week's menu if using a lot of what I already have on hand.  And the boys come home at the end of the week so next week's menu will contain more "meat" meals, but I still have to find a way to keep this grocery budget under control.  I swear, money is just flying out of this house.  I am looking forward to them being here, but I'm not looking forward to feeding them - LOL>

Friday:  Baked Cod and French Fries

Saturday:  Homemade Pizza (it was really good, but there's a story behind this involving a face plant.  I'm not sharing here but it took the wind right out of my sails). I made pepperoni and sausage, and a white pizza with sausage, pepperoncini, and ricotta

Sunday:  Baked Chicken, potato or rice, and veg

Monday:  I'm not sure yet.  It's my birthday and I'm assuming that the husband will take care of this, but he hasn't said anything, so if he doesn't, it will be steaks on the grill.

Tuesday:  Slow cooker White Chicken Chili

Wednesday:  Turkey Tacos

Thursday:  Clean up

Second Sunday of Advent:

Have a blessed week ahead!! 

Menu Plan 11/28/22-12/1/22: Feeding the Family

 Post-Thanksgiving exhaustion has set in.  We had a wonderful day with family.  A few family members were under the weather and weren't able to make it, and they were surely missed.  But overall, it was a wonderful day.

Friday, we spent the day decorating for Christmas.  Most of the decorations are up, but I still have to do the tree in the basement.  I may get to it this week.  Or I may not.  I'm not going to stress over it.  If it were totally up to me, I'd skip it this year.  But I know the boys love having a tree down there too.  

Yesterday was the Ohio State/Michigan game.  The outcome wasn't what we hoped for.  But we had some family friends over and J had a few friends over and despite the loss, we had a really great day.  I made 6 pounds of taco meat, and we did walking tacos. I also made nachos fabuloso and 7-layer dip. 

Today was church and after that, we took the boys to brunch.  The big boys just left for college, and we wanted to fill them up before they left. I sent the oldest back with 5 pounds of ground beef and 5 pounds of chicken thighs.  He was also gifted lunch meat, cheese, and a loaf of bread.  The Middle left with the left-over taco meat (probably around 3 pounds), walking taco bags, corn chips, potato chips, and pepperoni.  

I miss them already. I will worry for the next four hours until they are safely back at college.  Mama's always worry.  

This week's meal plan starts tomorrow because we have been eating Thanksgiving leftovers and then yesterday was the game day taco fest.  We are all full from brunch so I think dinner tonight will be something light.  

This week's meal plan:

Monday:  Dirty rice with chicken sausage

Tuesday:  Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday:  Quiche 

Thursday:  Clean up Day

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  The Advent season has officially begun.  I have Christmas shopping to finish up and even though I ordered the Christmas cards weeks ago, I still have to get those out.  That is what I will be concentrating on for now.  Plus, cleaning... and laundry.   The boys will be home again in 2 weeks, and they'll be home for a month and half.  I will be counting down the days. 

Have a BLESSED week ahead!!

The First Sunday of Advent: Be watchful and ready from National Catholic Register

Happy Thanksgiving

 I didn't post a menu plan this week.  I actually did do one, but the big boys surprised us by coming home from college on Sunday instead of Tuesday and I just enjoyed having them home.  I did put together a menu plan, but it got all switched about with the early arrival.  But all was good, and everyone has been fed.  I'm so glad they came home early.  The time is going by too quickly though.

I started some Thanksgiving prep on Tuesday and will soldier on today.  The following is our Thanksgiving menu:

Classic Herb Stuffing I make Gluten Free bread in my bread machine for the "bread" part, then cut it into cubes and toast it in the oven.  I posted a link to the closest recipe I could find online, but the recipe I use is from an older Joy of Cooking recipe book.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes from Martha Stewart.  The boys love these.  They really are perfect.  I make 10 pounds.

Sweet Potato Casserole Due to nut allergies, I leave out the nuts and add more marshmallows.

Gluten Free Gravy This isn't the recipe I use, but it's close (I do not add soy sauce, and I do add other seasonings like thyme, sage, and rosemary).  My original recipe came from a blog called Gluten Free Girl.  I don't think the blog is available anymore.

Cranberry Sauce Every year I make this.  And every year no one eats it.  It's a tradition (lol).

Green Beans with Bacon from The Hillbilly Kitchen.  Some years I make a green bean casserole, some years just plain green beans.  I'm trying this one for 2022.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie I just use the recipe on the back of the can.  I sub Ener-G egg replacer for the egg, and I use Wholly Wholesome GF Pie Shells for the crust.  Many, MANY years I struggled trying to make a gluten free, egg free, nut free crust that didn't fall apart and was still edible.  I found these shells a few years ago and never looked back.  They work just fine.

The Turkey Sometimes I use a roasting bag, sometimes I don't.  I basically I combine the butter and herbs and rub down the bird under the skin and on top of the skin.  My husband will fry a turkey too and his brine and seasonings are his own concoction.  He's in charge of that one. My baked turkey is pretty simple and classic (and yes, I stuff it... ssshhh don't tell one.  I know it's now a no-no).  This is my turkey roasting pan and I swear it does all the magic.  It's not that I'm a good turkey cook, it's that you can't go wrong with this pan. 

I hope you have a happy, blessed Thanksgiving!  

Wednesday Words: Thanksgiving Edition

 

Wednesday Words: Gratitude Edition

 

Menu Plan 11/11/22-11/17/22: Feeding the Family

Happy Monday!  It is happy Monday for me because last week I was under the weather.  Some kind of upper respiratory crud knocked me down (you can see it reflected in last week's menu).  I'm still not 100%, but I'm much better.  Some of the meals I had scheduled for last week, have been moved to this week.  I planned on shopping at Aldi last week because their Thanksgiving sales are really good, but not only was I sick, but the dog was too and I couldn't leave her home by herself for too long, so I ended up doing a Giant Eagle pick up which didn't really help save any money at all.  I will try again this week to save.   

This week's menu plan:

Friday:  Quiche, home fries, and fruit

Saturday:  Eating out for a family members birthday

Sunday:  Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Monday:  Chicken thighs, potato, veg

Tuesday:  Pizza Casserole (from last week's menu)

Wednesday:  Chicken Pastina Soup, rolls, salad (from Cooking With Mamma C)

Thursday:  Clean Up Day

Have a blessed week ahead!!

Menu Plan 11/4/22 to 11/10/22: Feeding the Family

 

This weeks menu plan:

Friday:  Meatless Friday: Baked Cod, potato, and vegetable (black bean burger for mom)

Saturday:  Low Carb Pizza Casserole (recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen) Frozen pizza 

Sunday:  Pasta, meatballs and sausage with homemade sauce

Monday:  Left over pasta and sauce

Tuesday:  Keto Taco Casserole (recipe from Joy Filled Eats) Leftovers again

Wednesday:  Quick Cajun Dirty Rice (recipe from Gwen's Nest) turkey tacos

Thursday:  Clean up day

Have a blessed week ahead!!

All Souls Day

 

All Souls Day Prayer

Merciful Father,

On this day, we are called to remember those who have died,
Particularly those who have died in the past year,
And pray for their joyful reunion with you, their loving creator.
As your son taught us to call the stranger 
neighbor, our fallen are many—

Names we will never know,
Voices we have never heard,
In lands we may never visit,
Yet brothers and sisters all.
And so we pray.

For victims of war, caught in the crossfires of
conflicts we could not quell,
for soldiersand civilians,
adults and children, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those migrants who have died seeking a
haven where they hoped to find safety
and opportunity for themselves and for their families, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of hunger, denied their share in the
bounty you have placed before us, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of AIDS, Malaria, Ebola, and other infectious diseases,
who died before adequate care could reach them, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those refugees seeking asylum from war,
who died in a land that was not their home, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of emergencies and calamities everywhere,
who died amid chaos and confusion, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

Lord, as you command, we reach out to the fallen.
We call on you on behalf of those we could not reach this year.
You raised your son from the dead
that all may share in his joyful resurrection.

In Jesus' name, we pray …

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace.

Amen  (from crs.org)

To find out more about All Souls Day, visit Catholic.org

-Menu Plan - 9/28/22 to 10/3/22: Feeding the Family

 I'm late on this for the week.  I had the meal plan done since Tuesday, but sometimes life gets in the way of posting.  

It has been a busy week, but a good one.  Friday, the little one had two friends sleep over.  Three 10 year olds is the most 10 olds I can handle for a sleep over.  They sure are active.  And one child kept insisting that they watch Scream.  Nice try child, but I don't let 10 year olds watch rate R movies at my house.  He actually got a little mad, but luckily the attitude changed quick enough.  Sorry, but this is not my first rodeo.

They had a nice time.  Saturday was a 10-year-old friends birthday party.  Sunday was Puppy Kindergarten and our neighborhood Trick or Treat.  Because we have teacher conferences tonight, we went to All Saints Day mass last night.  And after teacher conferences, there is basketball practice.  Whew!  It's a lot.

Trick or Treat was nice.  We actually got 25 kids this year.  Usually, we get 3-6 kids.  All of the kids aged up with my older boys.  But recently several new young families moved into the neighborhood.  It was so nice to see so many little ones. 

Halloween 2022

 

This week's menu:

Friday:  Take and Bake Aldi pizza

Saturday:  Baked chicken tacos

Sunday:  Tomato and Feta pasta (also known as Tick Tock pasta)

Monday:    Grilled turkey burgers and hot dogs with frozen fries

Tuesday:  Breakfast for dinner:  Bacon, egg, and cheese sammys and hash browns

Wednesday:  Greek Chicken Skillet

Thursday:  Clean up

Last week I shopped at our local discount store Marc's and then at Aldi.  Marc's has really good prices, but you get what they have so you can't be brand loyal.  This week I'm doing a Walmart pick up because the end of the week is VERY busy, but I made the mistake of looking at the Marc's flyer and many things that I have on my pickup are actually cheaper at Marc's.  It's painful, but I just can't add in another store this week.  Hopefully I can go back to Marc's next week.  I will try and post some of the things that I am saving on.

Last week Marc's had turkeys for 87 cents per pound.  They were Butterball or Jenni-O.  I got a Jenni-O because I needed a smaller one for frying and that was the smallest one I could find.  Aldi had Butterballs for $1.59 per pound.  Clearly, Marc's was the better deal.  

I also got my Christmas cards ordered.  We always do photo cards and this year I used Snapfish.  They have a code that will get you 70% off your cards.  Use code OCCRD70 to save.

Happy Feast of All Saints!!

Have a blessed week ahead!!  

Menu Plan 10/21-10/27/22: Feeding the Family

 Happy Monday!  We spent this past weekend at Family Weekend at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  It was such a blessing to spend time with our two boys.  I miss them!  We had a really nice time.  They'll be home in a month for Thanksgiving and I can't wait. 

We stayed at the same place we stayed last year, Hueston Woods.  It's a state park and it isn't anything fancy, but the choices by the school are limited.  It's very nice and I highly recommend it.  It's a bit dated and has a 1970's vibe to it, but the boys describe it as "cozy" and I agree.  The restaurant there has decent food, and the best part is that they are able to cook for J and his food allergies.  We are hoping to stay there again next year.

This week's menu is bit thrown together, but we will still be feeding the family:

Friday:  Out at Hueston Woods (I shared fried pickle chips with M and M and had a Greek Flatbread)

Saturday:  Out at Hueston Woods (I ordered house made potato chips with pulled pork, but was still too full from tailgating so I ended up taking them to go and gave them to the hubby),

Sunday:  Dirty Rice

Monday:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Tuesday:  Turkey Tacos

Wednesday:  Cavatelli 

Thursday:  Clean up

Saturdays Tailgating Menu:

We have a Camp Stove (similar to Blackstone) and we made cheeseburgers, bacon wrapped footlongs, and loaded tater tots (which were the biggest hit).  I also made chili at home and brought it along with the slow cooker.  My car has a "plug" in it but we discovered that it only works when the car is ON and the car shuts itself off after a few minutes.  That part of the plan ended up being a bust.  We did heat the chili on top of the griddle, but I would skip the chili for future tailgating.  It was more of a pain that it was worth.

I brought the 5lb bag of tater tots and we cooked 1/2 a bag at a time.  Start cooking the tots first in a little oil.  While those are cooking, fry up the bacon (the tots will cook in some of the bacon grease, and it makes them even more delicious).  You have to keep flipping the tots to get them all crispy.  It also helps to smash them down a little bit once they are fairly cooked.  Add the bacon, cheese, and green onion to the top and cover to melt.  The boys have already requested these again for next year and I'll probably bring two 5 lb bags of tots.  

I bought all beef footlong hot dogs from Costco and wrapped those in bacon (1.5 slices per dog).  The boys LOVED these too.  And I made 16 quarter pound burgers using the easiest burger maker on the planet (will post that at a later date).  They boys were full when they left, and we sent them home with extra burgers and dogs.  

I hope you have a wonder week!!

Meal Plan 10/14 to 10/20/22: Feeding the Family

 Hi all!  Happy mid-October!  Football ended last Sunday.  Unfortunately, the boys lost their final game and that took them out of any playoff contention.  We have no sporting events this week.  But basketball will be starting the beginning of November, so the reprieve will be a short one.  Such is life with kids.  

My goal right now is to stock up our freezer while trying to get our grocery budget in check. This is not an easy task, but I'm working on it.  I'm trying to get an organized database of our favorite, most used recipes and a grocery list to go along with them.  This is something that will take time, but I think it will help me be more organized.  Stay tuned for progress updates.  

This Sunday is trunk or treat at the school.  But that's all we have scheduled right now.  I would like to take the young one to get his pumpkin to carve, so maybe we will do that on Saturday after trunk or treat.  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here.  I know it won't stay that way, but I'm soaking up every last bit of it.  

This week's menu plan:

Friday:  Clam Chowder (moved from last week's menu plan):  I had a lot of left-over lunch meat, so I changed last week's menu plan around.  I also had an unfortunate incident with the stew meat (you cannot leave meat on the counter all night and use it the next day.  Oy.  I can't believe I did that).  

Saturday:  Sausage and pepper bake.  I need to use the rest of the peppers from the garden.  

Sunday:  Salisbury Steak, potato, and veg

Monday:  Food Nanny's Chicken Soup, rolls (from the Food Nanny Saves Dinner Again Cookbook)

Tuesday:  Low Carb Mexican Casserole with coconut lime rice

Wednesday:  Quiche and hashbrowns

Thursday:  Clean-up Day

Baking:  The Ultimate Healthy Banana Muffins from The Ambitious Kitchen

We are trying to cut sugar out of the young one's diet.  He's been on a cookie and milk kick and eating too much Halloween candy.  The muffin recipe above is low in sugar.  It uses honey instead of regular sugar.  I have recipes that use alternative sugars (like Stevia) but I'm just not sure I want to use that with him.  I've read conflicting data on safety, so I prefer to stick with honey, maple syrup, or low amounts of sugar.  

Speaking of too much Halloween candy, the school had Trunk or Treat on Saturday.  He cleaned up.  I will have to dole this out.  

Have a blessed week!!

Five On Friday

 Five on Friday

Five of my favorite family friendly Halloween movies:

1. The Addams Family (1991) 

2.  Ghost Busters (1984)

3.  Hotel Transylvania

4.  The Haunted Mansion

5.  Coco

Added because I just can't leave these out:

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Monsters Inc.

Although all of these are mostly family friendly, ages of kids who are comfortable watching these will vary.  I know the Haunted Mansion traumatized my 5-year-old.  Parents, you know what your children are comfortable with.  And movies like the Addams Family and Ghost Busters are really for older kids (tweens/preteens and older).  

Meal Plan 10/7 to 10/13: Feeding the Family

Well, hopefully last week was the last week of football.  They are playing right now, and if they win, they may go to play offs.  I'm home with the dog since she can't stay home alone that long.  I'm torn.  Part of me hopes they win.  But part of me hopes that football season is over.  Don't tell him that I said that.

This week I tried to do a Walmart pick up.  When it came to my pickup time, I received a text that said my pickup was delayed.  I was already on my way there since I made my pickup time for right after school.  We went anyway since we were almost there, and we waited 45 minutes.  I didn't receive any updates, so I cancelled the order and just headed home.  I could have just gone into Walmart and shopped, except that I had the puppy with me and couldn't just leave her in the car. Yesterday, I shopped at Heinen's instead.  I spent more than I would have at Walmart, but I really do love the selections of produce, meat, and high-end products that Heinen's has.  

This week's menu plan:

Friday:  Mrs. T's Pierogi's and fruit.  These were such a hit a few weeks ago, I thought I'd take the easy way out again.

Saturday:  Pizza Night:  Traditional pepperoni, and white pizza with portabella mushrooms, green pepper, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, parmigiana, Romano, and asiago cheeses.

Sunday:  Cheesy Chicken with Spinach, roasted veggies, salad, and rolls (chicken recipe from the Food Nanny Saves Dinner Again cookbook)

Monday:  Turkey Tacos

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  I was scheduled to make a Meal Train meal for a church family on this day, but the person who was scheduled for last week, requested that we switch due to her having some sick littles at home.  I made my Meal Train slow cooker beef stew last Thursday, but I'll be keeping our schedule for beef stew today.

Wednesday:  Clam Chowder, rolls, and salad.  At least I think this is what we are having.  The recipe is from the Food Nanny Saves Dinner Again cookbook and it only calls for one can of clams.  That doesn't seem enough to me, so I planned on buying two cans.  But the grocery store was completely wiped out of canned clams.  The clams were on the very top shelf and standing on tip toes, I managed to find one can knocked to the very back of the shelf, so I bought it.  I'm just still not convinced that one can will be enough, so we'll see.

Thursday:  Cleanup day or Poor Man's Meal

Have a blessed week ahead!!

XOXO