Menu Planning
Having a decent dinner on the table at a decent hour has been quite the challenge for me, especially the past few years…One of my favorite “extra benefits” of having a new baby is the few weeks of meals we receive afterwards!! It is SO NICE not to have to think, “What’s for dinner?”
I just LOVE that!
During one of these great meals from a friend, right after Snuggles was born, Rascal said to me, “Mom, these dinners are so good… You need to take cooking lessons from these moms!” Hum… What I want to know, is do they really cook this good all the time, or, like a friend of mine said, are these just the meals they make to “impress their friends!” Either way, it sounds like I really need to work on making dinners, doesn’t it? I guess you can only get away with having chicken nuggets or fish sticks so many times each week. Isn’t it so easy to get stuck in a food rut, or am I the only one out there with this problem?
Any ways, one of my goals for this year is to work on my menu planning skills.
I have been working diligently at creating and, more importantly, FOLLOWING a schedule, as I try to make our life be a bit more peaceful and organized this year. This schedule also includes creating a meal plan for the upcoming week by Wednesday, and then finalizing my grocery list by Thursday night, so that I can do my grocery shopping during our trip to town for Mass on Fridays.
We started back to school, and I started following my “schedule” on Monday. So far, it has been going great! I haven’t been able to get to everything on the schedule yet, but I AM getting so much more accomplished each day, including a hot yummy dinner on the table each night.
I found this meal planner, that I printed out for in my notebook, to use for reminders and such! I just thought it was so cute!
Also, my cousin Margaret has a great blog she started called Mommy Recipes! I have been loving it, and we have really been enjoying some of the recipes. In fact she just added me as a contributer, which will be lots of fun! Last night I made the Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole. It was SO GOOD! And my kids ATE IT ALL! (Well, all but a small bowl that hubby took to work today for lunch…) PLUS, today, the kids asked me to make it again! I told them I will add it to the menu for next week. I was so excited, especially considering the fact that it has 14 cups of vegetables in it, including red peppers and onions, which my kids usually won’t touch!
Well, since I’m at it, I’ll go ahead and share our menu for this upcoming week… Maybe it will give you an idea or two. I know I always love to see others menus. So here you go:Friday – Not Your Mother’s Tuna Casserole, with Steamed Green Beans
Saturday – Skillet Lasagna (from Pampered Chef’s 29 minutes to dinner), with Garlic Bread and Salad
**My little ones always make such a mess when I make a meal with a red sauce! Therefore I try to schedule this on Saturday nights since they ALWAYS get a bath for sure that night 🙂
Sunday – Tri-Tip (Marinate in 1c. red wine, 1c. soy sauce and 4 cloves pressed garlic… BBQ or Broil) Served with Grilled Asparagus and Potatoes
(Being Sunday, we will also have Sundaes for dessert!)
Monday – Lisa’s Honey-Curry Chicken, Broccoli Salad, and Rolls
Tuesday – Taco Soup
Wednesday – Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole (as per the kids request!)
Thursday – Chicken Enchilada’s, served with Sour Cream, Avocado and steamed Corn
**This has been one of our FAVORITE recipes since I first received it from my cousin due to one of those recipe chain emails… It is so easy and delicious! I make it at least every other week, and we never get tired of it! Plus, I just love crock pot recipes!
Well… There you have it… My upcoming week of menus! As for tomorrow night, we will be trying out this recipe for Crockpot Fajitas! If it tastes half as good as it sounds, it too might become a staple around here.
OK! Its now past my bedtime, and if I am going to stick to my schedule I must get some sleep! See you soon!
A Rodeo Allegory
In my post titled Our Christmas, I mentioned that my camera was getting filled with pictures of various rodeo scenes.
Captain received a Rodeo Set for Christmas, and all the boys, especially including daddy have been totally enjoying it… In fact, it turns out that they wrote a story about the guys that came with the set!
If you have a few minutes, hop on over to hubby’s blog and read his post Fun with Christmas Toys!
Oh! Don’t miss the picture of the cool little chapel he has in the captains quarters of his model ship!
More on the Brown Scapular…
Awhile back, I posted about the Brown Scapular. Since then, I have been given (and have read) another copy of the little booklet “Garment of Grace” by my dear mother-in-law. Thank you so much! It is such a great little book. I wanted to take a second, and share one of the stories it has in it, about a miracle due to the brown scapular:
A Priest’s Life is SavedStill another Scapular miracle concerns a French priest who had gone on pilgrimage. On the way to say Mass, he remembered that he had forgotten his Scapular. He knew he would be late if he went back to retrieve it, but he could not envision offering Mass at Our Lady’s altar without Her Scapular. Later, as he was offering the Holy Sacrifice, a young man approached the altar, pulled out a gun, and shot the priest in the back. To the amazement of all, the priest continued to say the prayers of the Mass as though nothing had occurred. It was at first presumed that the bullet had miraculously missed its target. However, upon examination, the bullet was found ADHERING TO THE LITTLE BROWN SCAPULAR which the priest had so obstinately refused to be without.
Isn’t that amazing? This little booklet is just filled with stories like this one! It is so inspiring!
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!
Today is the feast of the Epiphany, also known as Little Christmas! I was so excited that our wise men finally made it across the room to join the rest of our nativity set! It looks so pretty!
In some cultures, Christmas Day is kept strictly religious, and gifts are exchanged on the feast of the Epiphany, when the wise men (or Magi, whom tradition names as Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar), brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus.
In our home, we do open gifts on Christmas… However, we do try to commemorate a few of the special feasts days, as well as the feast of Epiphany, during the 12 days of Christmas, with a few special gifts. This year, my hubby’s dear parents decided to send Epiphany gifts to the our family! The kids were SO excited, and the anticipation has been building since the gifts arrived, and have been sitting under our tree!
Our special treat for today was star shaped sugar cookies, including a BIG star to represent the one that led the wise men to our Lord. They were very yummy! (Another fun dessert idea is a crown cake… I was actually going to make both, and have everything to make it, but didn’t get a chance to… I never seem to get to everything I have planned, for some odd reason?!)
We also added a new book to our collection titled The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola. It is out of print, but I was able to find an inexpensive used copy, and like all of his books, we really enjoyed it!
OH! We also opened this beautiful box of chocolates that we were given for Christmas! The chocolates won’t last long, but the box is definitely a keeper!
There is also a special blessing of the home that can be done today, which includes an Epiphany Inscription over the doorway! We will do this today before dinner… Here is a copy of the blessing:
Blessing of the Home
on the Feast of the Epiphany
Priest/Father: Peace be to this house.All: And to all who dwell herein
Priest: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.
During the Magnificat below, the room is sprinkled with holy water and incensed:
All: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the humility of His handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His Name. And His Mercy is from generation unto generations upon them that fear Him. He hath shewed might in His arm, He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel, His servant, being mindful of His mercy. As He spoke to our Fathers, Abraham and His seed forever.
All: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.
Priest: Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead and lead us not into temptation,
All: But deliver us from evil.
Priest: All they from Saba shall come
All: Bringing gold and frankincense.
Priest: O Lord, hear my prayer.
All: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Priest: Let us pray. O God, who by the guidance of a star didst on this day manifest Thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles, mercifully grant that we who know Thee by faith may also attain the vision of Thy glorious majesty. Through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen
Priest: Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee– Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.
All: And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light and kings in the splendor of thy rising, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.
Priest: Let us pray. Bless, O Lord God almighty, this home, that in it there may be health, purity, the strength of victory, humility, goodness and mercy, the fulfillment of Thy law, the thanksgiving to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. And may this blessing remain upon this home and upon all who dwell herein. Through Christ our Lord.
Bless each room with incense and Epiphany Water. Write the Magi’s initials, connected by Crosses, and the year’s numbers over the front door with the blessed chalk, like this:
Matthew 2:11
My Nightstand
OK… I have been a rather lazy blogger this first week of January.
Partially, since I am still recovering from my bronchitis… (I am highly sensitive to medicine, and ended up having an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. But, I am doing much better!)
Partially, since I have had many doctors appointments this week, 2 for me and one for Snuggles. (I was only suppose to have one, for my bronchitis, but my doctor scheduled another for the next day, to remove and do a biopsy on a questionable mole under my arm that has been growing, as well as to freeze a few others… I now have a nice crater there, that is REALLY sore! I know, too much information… Snuggles appointment ended up taking hours as well, since he has dropped drastically on the weight chart. He will be re-weighed in a couple weeks. This can be somewhat normal for breastfed babies.)
Partially, since I have had lots of other things going on… Today we went to Mass, Benediction, Lunch with Father, Ice-Skating and then ran errands while hubby worked on getting more firewood, so we were gone from 9am to 5pm.
And partially, since I have been just plain lazy 🙂 The things I have wanted to blog about, like my new years goals, plans for January, as well as our plans for the second half of the school year, just take too long to get all on paper, or rather screen!
Nevertheless, I have been working on those above mentioned goals and plans, as is apparent through a quick photo of my nightstand:
Ruth just posted a picture of her nightstand, and asked what was on everyone else’s… And since I have been lazy about posting lately, I thought this would be fun! 😉 You can really learn a lot about someone, by seeing what is on their nightstand, don’t ya think? Or at least, what I have been up to, in my case!
Right now, on my nightstand, you will find:
A lamp, phone, some jewelry I wore for Christmas & New Years, a hair tie (of course!), a stack of unfinished sugar cookies, a pen and highlighter,
AND…
LOTS OF BOOKS! I even have a few books stashed on my window seal, behind my nightstand. As I mentioned above, I have been working diligently at creating a schedule… Some of the books I have been using as references have found a new home, on my night stand.
The pile on the left includes:
2008 Saints Calendar & Daily Planner
and Catholic Mosaic
On the back of the nightstand I also have:
Memories in Moments
(A great little book that one of my aunties illustrated!)
For the Love of Literature
(I recently won this over at one of Cay’s Bookwalks, and CAN HARDLY WAIT to read it!)
And, the Newest Pampered Chef Season’s Best Cookbook
(It has some DELICIOUS recipes in it!)
And in case your curious, on my window seal I have:
The Temperament God Gave You
(Which my friend, Trina, loaned to me!)
The Christian Mother: the Education of Her Children and Her Prayer
(An absolutely lovely little book! It is out of print, but I highly recommend watching for a used copy!)
and The read-aloud handbook
(From the library, and recommended by my cousin.)
The last thing on my nightstand is my new “Home Companion” binder! I was motivated into making it after seeing Elizabeth’s! It is definitely a work in progress, and I think it is going to take a bit of trial and error filling it up with my schedules and routines. But I have gotten a good start with the help of Flylady, Starry Sky Ranch, and Sweetness and Light.
I love how the cover turned out, so here is a closer picture:
Alrighty then… I have spent too much time online, as usual… Time for me to get back to my planning. Monday will be here in no time!
Oh!! If you have some free time, WHAT’S ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND?
Fire on the Stroller
Hubby received the book Fire on the Mountain
The red is the actual “fire”… Check out all the guys! They are even on the tire!Wishing you…
A Few Highlights of 2007
Hand Made Gifts
The girls just LOVE the little kitchen they received for Christmas. They are playing with it constantly! And I just love how darling it looks set up in their room. 🙂
Before Christmas, I was noticing how many other bloggers were either making all their gifts by hand, or purchasing handmade items only… I so wish I could be talented patient enough to make my children gifts! But since I had my mind set on the little kitchen set for the girls, I knew that there was no way that I would be able to take the “Handmade Pledge.” HOWEVER… MAYBE, I could make SOMETHING to go WITH the kitchen…
There are so many creative women online, and I was amazed to see what they had been making! Could I possibly make something?
My dear friend Regina called me one night, and told me to take a look at some felt food she saw online. It was REALLY cute! Plus, I have worked with felt before, and it doesn’t intimidate me like fabric and yarn does! 🙂
So… I pulled out some felt, a pair of scissors and then searched the house for a needle. (I really wish I would have learned to sew as a child!) Anyways, here are a few pictures:
I started with making a couple eggs. These were VERY easy, and a good place to start! The other day, Captain came up to me and asked me for a couple plastic Easter eggs to put them into, so they could “crack them” into the frying pan Grandma gave the girls.
Then I tried making some Strawberries. Here are a few of them:
My mom said I should add some french knots, at least thats what I think she called them? To make it look like they have little seeds on them… We’ll See, maybe I will since last night when some friends were over, Sugar asked if they were chili peppers. 🙂
Then I got started on some sugar cookies. I worked on stitching seed beeds to pink and blue fabric for the icing, and then stitched that to some off white felt, added a bit of filling and stitched another piece of felt to the bottom. Does that look like a cookie?
Now, I didn’t get near as much accomplished as I had hoped to… In fact I am still working on finishing the cookies… and they didn’t turn out very good, but my girls loved them just the same. And I actually enjoyed giving it a shot!
Speaking of kitchen stuff, last night we had my Aunt Bridget, Uncle Shawn, and some friends over for dinner and games. (Aunt Bridget gave me the game Catch Phrase
Anyways, all of our guests came stocked with even more cooking supplies for our family! My Aunt & Uncle gave us a Road Trip Grill
Then, Regina surprised the girls with some darling sweets! Check these out, they are so cute!
OK, OK! Before I go, the boys are looking over my shoulder, telling me I “HAVE TO” post a picture of what my little brother made for them out of some PVC pipe! They are such BOYS! 🙂
It is handmade! 🙂
Feast of Saint John
There are many wonderful feast days leading up to Christmas, as well as following Christmas. One of them is on December 27th. It is the feast of St. John the Apostle. He was one of the sons of Zebedee, or “sons of thunder”, and the apostle whom Jesus loved.
For this feast day, while hubby made dinner, I made some spiced wine and dessert.
Before dinner, my husband blessed the wine.
The following explains why this is a tradition of the Catholic Church:
According to legend, he was served poisoned wine, but survived because he blessed the wine before he put it to his lips; the poison rose from the chalice in the shape of a serpent. In his happy memory, Catholics bring wine to church, which the priest blesses, turning it into a sacramental called the “Love of St. John.” Catholics use this sacramental wine for special occasions throughout the year and to give to the sick.
When it is drunk on his Feast Day, we drink it before dinner as a toast to St. John. The Father of the house lifts his glass toward Mother and says, “I drink you the love of St. John.” The Mother replies “I thank you for the Love of St. John” and then turns to the oldest child, lifts her glass, and says, “I drink you the love of St. John…” — and on it goes down the line until each has been toasted.
Snuggles especially enjoyed the blessing! Isn’t he such a cutie!?
Anyways, the wine was boiled long enough to remove all the alcohol, and Rascal was the first of the children to be brave enough to try it!
Twinkle Toes and Chiquita were brave as well… But Captain wouldn’t touch it until after dinner, when he finally took a tiny sip. It actually wasn’t bad. It basically tasted a lot like hot apple cider. Probably because I used the same mulling spices 🙂
After dinner, the children received a new book about this dear Saint to use with our Catholic Mosaic program.
Rascal also drew a couple great pictures of this great saint! He is turning into quite the artist!
St. John the Apostle, Pray for Us!
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