May is a busy month here and it's almost over! There is less than two weeks left of preschool, which means the kiddos last summer as a preschooler begins on May 31st. We've been busy celebrating spring, Mother's Day and this week, my birthday! We went out for a fun birthday lunch with all the cousins and grandparents yesterday. It was a lot of fun and the kids always have a blast playing together.
It's Wednesday. But, I still have a menu plan. Here is how this week's dinner menu has looked:
Monday: Black Bean Soup with cornbread. Kiddo made the cornbread and was very happy to help.
Tuesday: Carnitas! Easy recipe: In the slow cooker add one sliced onion. Place a small to medium sized pork roast on top. Pour a jar of your favorite salsa ontop (16 oz.) Sprinkle either a generous tablespoon of your favorite taco seasoning or Chili 3000 from Penzey's, like I did. Cook on low for about 7 hours. Shread the roast and stir the contents of the slow cooker to combine the meat with the salasa and cooking liquid. Serve with taco shells or tortillas and garnishes.
Wednesday: Stir fry chicken and veggies with brown rice.
Thursday: Pasta night! Might make 360 chicken parm to go with a small serving of pasta with sauce. Salad.
Friday: Pizza night! We haven't had a pizza night for a few weeks because I was sick of it. It's time! We'll probably make our own! Kiddo loves white pizza with garlic.
The weekends have been so busy for me that I just don't feel like typing up a post come Sunday night, hence the lateness of this. I need to get back on track! May is such a busy month and by June school will be out and even more busy!
I completely forgot/ran out of time last week and never typed up my menu plan. Oh well, the nice weather had something to do with it!
I tried out a new way to cook pizza, based upon an awesome video tutorial by Steph at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom. I had heard about grilling pizza, but was always fearful of the dough falling through the grates of the grill and catching on fire or worse. She made it look so easy so I decided to test out our grill and the method. It was easy and everyone loved the results! I did slightly overcook the one pizza, but that was just a timing and temperature issue that I'll work out next time. Since we make pizza almost every Friday, this will be a great way to bake it in the hot weather without heating up my house! I think it would even be fun to make individual sized pizzas with different toppings for a BBQ or summer party.
Thursday: Salsa Chicken in the slow cooker, with tortillas or rice and salad. This recipe is ridiculously easy and really tasty! Perfect for soccer night!
It's been just lovely weather this past week, aside from some needed rain on Friday, we have been enjoying being outside as much as possible. In fact, I actually received a sunburn last week on my face after too many days in the sun playing wiffle ball and playground visits! I stocked up on sunscreen this weekend, so I'm protected now!
We spent Sunday afternoon visiting the Morris Arboretum. The cherry trees were in blossom and were just spectacular! We were there late, until closing, so by the time we got home it was late to start making dinner. I put together a simple Tortellini and Spinach soup that I learned to make years ago from a recipe my mom brought home from work. I adjusted the recipe to match what I had on hand. My son won't eat soup (!) but he ate parts of it without the broth.
Tortellini and Spinach soup
3-4 cloves of crushed or minced garlic
One Tablespoon olive oil
8 cups of chicken broth
one carrot, cleaned and shredded
one bag of frozen cheese tortellini (about 12 oz to a pound)
1 cup of fresh baby spinach leaves
3/4 pound mini turkey meatballs (I make my favorite meatball recipe and just make the meatballs very small using a small cookie scoop)
Saute garlic in olive oil in a large stock pot or soup pot for about a minute or two. Slowly add the chicken broth to the pot. Add carrot. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cool according to package directions. Once tender, add cooked meatballs and spinach leaves to the pot and gently stir. Serve with slices of a crusty French baguette. This would serve about 6. It's great for keeping for leftovers for lunches!
Here is my dinner menu plan for the week:
Monday: teriyaki chicken and rice bowls with veggies
Tuesday: Super Salmon Cakes (recipe from the May 2013 issue of Kiwi Magazine, not online!), veggies, salad
Thursday: Sweet and Sour Sloppy Joes (made with ground turkey) and sesame slaw (Real Simple Magazine, May 2013)
Friday: Taco night! My son loves to make cheese tacos, the kind with the crunchy shell. No meat, no heat. Just cold cheese and lettuce. The grown ups will have some kind of added protein!
What to eat for spring? Does your menu plan change seasonally? I find myself eating more asparagus in the spring and making less soups, but not much else has changed. I am trying to eat more fish and learn how to cook it properly. I plan to learn how to properly cook it on the grill this summer!
Often lunches are leftovers. This week I have leftover sticky chicken that is the kiddo's favorite chicken dish currently. He'll be eating some of that and I'll make some chicken salad from it too. I've also been a bit addicted to Oikos yogurt, and will have that for lunch once I replenish the fridge!
What's on your menu for the week? Check out all the menu plans at Organizing Junkie!
It may be spring, but it still feels cold to me! I'm still craving hot soup this week, even though I'm itching to start spring planting. We purchased a flat of pansies this weekend and started planting them. I need to start some seedlings indoors for our summer veggie patch. I'm giving up on tomatoes this year. We belong to a CSA and get plenty of organic tomatoes from there, so I am switching to try to grow lettuce, which I didn't think I would ever do. We have a wildlife issue, but hopefully the fencing will keep them at bay. My son also loves eating green beans off the plant, so we'll be planting them again this year with some peas. Ok, when will it start warming up??
So onto the dinner menu for the week:
Monday: Citrus coconut marinated Mahi Mahi with pineapple rice (Fish was purchased from Whole Foods, already marinated!)
Tuesday: Split Pea Soup (using leftover Easter ham) I make a low fat version from the American Heart Association's cook book. Couldn't find the recipe online!
Friday: Leftover night...cooking from the freezer!
Saturday: TBD
Sunday: Skinnytaste Crock pot Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps (love this recipe!) (We are going to the Phillies game this day, so it will be nice to have a meal to come home to that is healthy after eating ballpark crap for lunch!)
It's spring today, right?? It's the first day of the preschooler's spring break and we woke up to a snow storm! My fear is that winter will suddenly end and it will be summer, skipping the spring weather right by. At least he had time to play in it before it became slush.
I want to make these coconut macaroon nests this week too! We dyed eggs on our snow day and am making plans to make some bunny popcorn to share with the cousins this weekend at Easter Brunch on Sunday.
Last week was another brutal week of colds here! We are so done with having colds!
This month I am challenging myself to make a plan of action for lunches. My darling boy doesn't like lunch. He'll eat lunch if it's from Chick-fil-a or sometimes Panera/Corner Bakery Cafe, but at home or in school, not so much. He says he doesn't like lunch. He's in half day preschool now, and stays one day a week for lunch bunch. Come September he'll be in full-day kindergarten, which means he'll need to take a packed lunch every day. While I don't worry too much about him being hungry now because he can eat small snacks whenever, I think he'll struggle in school this fall if he spends the day hungry. He also loves peanut butter and thankfully isn't allergic to it, but I know that peanut products in school can be a problem and I wouldn't be surprised if they banned them alltogether. My ridiculously picky kid constantly changes what he'll eat too...sometimes pb and j is ok at home, but not for school. He says he wants to take a turkey sandwich to school, but he always brings it home with one or two bites missing. He'll eat yogurt everyday, along with fruit and carrot sticks. I want to find some other options that will be packable and enjoyed! I found some great ideas on Weelicious and will try a few of them out over the next month.
This week's menu for dinner:
Sunday: we had mini-meatloaf muffins, baked potatoes, broccoli and spinach salads. Even Mr. Picky loved dinner!
