Weekly Meal Plan 10/27/23 to 11/2/23: Feeding The Family

 Even though I haven't been putting my meal plans on the blog, I have still been doing them.  I don't know how to plan dinner any other way.  And if you know me, have read any of my blog posts, or have just looked at the "About Me' on my side bar, you probably know that I am constantly trying to lose weight or eat healthy.  Trying being the operative word.  Maybe "failing" would be a better fit here.  Last week I decided to go back to basics.  I know that they say that once you hit perimenopause/menopause the things that worked in the past no longer work, but for me, nothing seems to work.  I have tried it all.  So I decided to go back to what did work for me in the past which was Weight Watchers.  So for now, future menu plans will take on that theme. Will this work? I'm praying so.  The only other variable is that the first time I did Weight Watchers I was in my 20's and I was a pretty heavy smoker and I drank Diet Coke all day.  I'm now in my 50's and I no longer smoke or drink Diet Coke.   But in my 20's, I didn't exercise AT ALL and now I do.  So stay tuned to see what happens.

Friday:  Pasta Puttanesca, Salad, and Bread (for the guys)

Saturday:  Lemony Chicken Francaise, Potato, Veg (from the WW app)

Sunday:  It's our neighborhood Trick or Treat and weather permitting, we bring the fire pit to the bottom of the drive to hand out candy.  Hot Dogs and Turkey Dogs over the fire and low fat cole slaw.

Monday: Chicken Fried Rice

Tuesday: Egg Roll In A Bowl

Wednesday:  Baked Chicken Thighs, Rice, and Veg

Thursday:  Clean Up Day

In an earlier post, I said I was going to shop my freezer for next weeks meals.  The good news with WW is that everything is on plan, I just have to make sure my daily points don't go over.  I really don't want to cook one meal for me and one meal for the family.  Ain't nobody got time for that.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

 This is one of our families favorite soups and it is so easy!  Now that the weather is getting colder, it is soup time again.  

Ingredients

1.   1/2 large onion, diced
2.   2 cloves of garlic, minced
3.   32 ounces of chicken stock (I use low sodium)
4.   1 30 ounce bag of frozen shredded hash browns
5.   3 Tbs. of butter
6.   1 Tbs. of flour (we use gluten free)
7.   1 cup of water
8.   1 cup of milk of your choice 
9.   1/4 tsp salt
10. 1/2 tsp of pepper (I don't measure this, I just added it to taste)
11. 1/2 Tbs. of onion powder
12. 1 Tbs. of dried parsley
13. 1/3 of a block of cream cheese, cut into cubes

Toppings:
Shredded cheddar, diced green onion, chives, bacon bits

Directions:

1.  In a small pan on the stove, or directly in your slow cooker, melt the butter.  Once the butter is melted, add in the onion and sauté until slightly softened, approximately 3-4 minutes.
2.  Add in the garlic and sauté  another minute, careful that the garlic doesn't burn.
3.  Add in the 1 Tbs. of flour and sauté   for another minutes.  Remove from heat or turn off the multi-cooker.
4.  Add in the broth, hash browns,  water, milk, and seasonings.  Stir to combine. Add the cubed cream cheese to the top. 
5. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

A lot of recipes don't add the cream cheese in during the cooking time, but wait until the soup is done,  You can do that, but I have not had any issues cooking it all at the same time.

Serve with you favorite toppings and enjoy.

Comfort Food!

Fall Decor

 The fall decor has been up for a while.  Halloween decor has been added for about a month, and will be coming down again next week.  Between helping family and friends who are going through health issues, helping at the school (I'm room mom this year), the kids, the hubby, and the house, I have been a tad busy.  Normally by now, I would have Christmas plans starting.  I'm not even there yet.  I'm still trying to find Marshmallow Peep Ghosts for next weeks class party. LOL.  I have to coordinate the party with the room mom for the other class and we just met last week to iron out what we were going to do.  That's fine, but according to the stores, Halloween is over and it's Christmas now.  I will have to plan better from the class Christmas party.  I did buy our Thanksgiving turkeys today.  So I'm ahead on that.  The grocery has turkeys on sell for 79 cents per pound or turkey breasts on sale for 99 cents a pound.  I bought one of each since we usually bake the big turkey (just under 20 pounds) and we fry a small one.  There weren't any small ones for 79 cents per pound.  They were all 18-20 pounds and our turkey fryer won't handle one that big.  The hubby likes to keep them around 8 pounds and 10 pounds at the max.  So I did pick up the 8 pound turkey breast.  If I find a smaller turkey, I will buy that too and save the turkey breast for a later date.  So they are both in my freezer waiting for next month.

Speaking of the freezer, It's loaded.  I keep stock piling things, but I think now is the time to start using some of it.  I got those turkeys in there, but not well.  And I'd like to start buying the fish we use for Christmas Eve (It's not because of supply chain issues.  It's just better to spread the cost out over a few weeks so it's not just one big hit at one time).  It's really just the calamari and the smelts so they don't take up too much room, but I'm afraid things are going to get lost in there and then I'll have to throw them out due to being in there too long.  I have a little experience with that and it's a terrible feeling to throw out food because it's freezer burned.  

I shopped for next week already, not realizing how much is already in the freezer, so I'll start shopping my freezer after that.  

The Halloween mantle 

The Halloween tree

Outside decorations

The squash borer moth killed most of our zucchini and pumpkins, but there two survived

He's a pug for Halloween

Family weekend at the boys college

Trunk or Treat at the little guys school

A trip to the Cleveland aquarium on a day off from school

Mother Nature decorating for fall

The color of the outside leaves with the colors of the inside tree

2023/2024 School Year

 The newly minted 11 year old started school last Wednesday.  He was none too happy about it, but so far he is adjusting ok.  We had grandparents over on Saturday, and we took school friends to the lake yesterday to celebrate his birthday.  It was a beautiful day and I think the boys had a good time.

The big boys go back to college this week.  The oldest is leaving Thursday and the middle will go back on Saturday.  I'm going to miss having them home.  It's not the same without them.  But they have to go and do their thing. Sometimes having big kids is even harder than having little kids.  There tends to be more "pain" involved.  They need you a lot less and there is more coming and going with more going than coming.  No one tells this part about being a parent.  You get tons of advice and stories when you have babies and toddlers, but as they get older the sage advice wears off and people don't share as much information.  And as a parent, you know this time is coming, and even though you brace yourself for it, it comes so fast that you ultimately feel unprepared for it.  This if life.  And all parents go through it.  And some days are easier to let your big kids go more than others.

Sunday in church, there was a small child (I'm thinking toddler but I didn't actually see him) and all through the consecration he was making a loud groaning noise.  It was coming from behind me in the back of the church.  It almost sounded like he was just over mass and was letting out these loud guttural sounds in protest.  I couldn't help but smile because I wondered if that is how I sound to God every time I protest against something he is asking me to do, or asking me not to do and it goes against what I actually want.  Do I sound like this child protesting because I'm not getting my way?  I bet that is exactly how I sound.  So this week when the boys leave, I'm going to put on a big smile, and a bright cheery attitude and thank God for giving me these big kids, and be thankful that I am sending them out into the world and I pray that they are bringing God to others.  I promise I will not groan in protest because I'd rather keep them little and keep them home with me.  I will not promise, however, that I won't ugly cry on the way home after I drop them off.  I am human, after all. 

Changing Out Some Seasonal Decor

 If you know me, you know that fall is my favorite season.  I love everything about it.  But, the older I get, the less happy I am to see summer go.  Winter here in Ohio can be harsh.  January and February are some very long months for me.  I'm not looking forward to them.  So although I love fall, I'm not ready to decorate for it yet.  I just want to enjoy the season I'm in.  The "red, white, and blue" tree was starting to wear thin on me.  I love the patriotic decorations, but they've been up since May and I felt like I needed a change.  So today, I just changed out the tree to sunflowers and took down the patriotic mantle and just added some sunflowers there too.  That is all I'm doing for now.  The first or second week of September is when I will bring out the rest of the fall decor (Halloween doesn't show up until October 1st).  The older I get, the more I just want to live in the moment.  

After I took the decorations off, I took the tree outside and blew it with the leaf blower to get all the dust off of it. Oh Boy!  It was so dusty!

No fall leaves.  Only sunflowers.

School Starts This Week

 I can't believe it's back to school time already.  I'm not ready.  The 10 year old is not ready.  But ready or not...

I bought some uniform shorts and knit shirts for him from Amazon a month or so ago.  They were on sale for $6 for the shorts and $5 for the knit shirts. Those were great prices.

Then two weeks ago we headed to the uniform store for pants and a few shirts with his school name embroidered on them.  We also bought shoes at the outlet stores, and supplies from Walmart (Walmart was so crowded).  

Then last week I took him for his school hair cut and for all intents and purposes, we are ready to go.

It was funny grocery shopping this week.  I had to remember to buy school lunch items and quick breakfast options.  

The big boys don't go back to college for a few more weeks, but they should be all set too.

post hair cut ice cream

Ducks!

Chagrin Falls

Can't resist the toy store

Summer Vacation 2023: Litchfield Beach, SC

 Our annual trip to the beach was so fun!  I absolutely love the beach, and especially South Carolina.  Whenever I am there, I feel like I am "home".  I'm already looking forward to next summer and I'm hoping that we will be able to go again.  We never know what life has in store.