Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! How’s your day going? It rained earlier here but it's clear and sunny now; I hope it stays this way for the rest of the day! The day started late for us, as usual since we’re night owls, when The Youngest came in and joined DH and I in bed for an early afternoon snuggle. He asked about the 4th of July and why it’s a special day so we talked a little about the Declaration of Independence. He related it back to National Treasure and said he thought it was about secrets. No, it’s about our country and how we didn’t want a king taxing us unfairly anymore. The Middle Child joined us at that point so all four of us were snuggling; gives me warm fuzzy feelings just thinking about it. I had to get up first and I looked back at the three of them laying there talking and giggling with each other; sometimes you just about burst from the love.

Once we got up and going with our day, we celebrated with a festive lunch the kids planned. I asked them what they wanted to eat for the holiday and they chose a main dish of grilled shish-kabobs with mojo-marinated chicken and pork tenderloin, pineapple, bell pepper, zucchini, and sweet onion chunks. They suggested fruit salad but the watermelon was so good we ate it before the rest of the fruit could get cut up! We also had my mom's doctored up baked beans, grilled corn on the cob, and steamed green beans. We don't usually eat dessert but I picked up a package of mini cupcakes with red, white, and blue icing at the store so the kids had those. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, ate two and swore his sister made him eat one, so therefore that one shouldn't count and he should get to eat another one. Kid logic.

We need to go for a family bike ride later to burn off some of the calories! It's still too hot and muggy outside to go now so DH and the kids are working off some energy on Rock Band while I type this up. Rock Band was a Christmas present for the family and they use it all the time. DH is musical; he was in a garage rock band that performed at local clubs when we were dating waaaaay back in the 80's. Both of the girls are taking piano lessons. The Youngest isn't taking music lessons yet but he plays along too. I’m the lone hold out; I tried the drums once and failed out miserably, and anytime I think I might want to practice someone else is hogging the drum set. They’re stinkers that way!

Now we have the rest of a lazy Saturday ahead of us. I hope you are having a great day, too.

The Week That Was...In Food

We mostly followed our menu plan this week, with a couple of exceptions. I can't remember what we ate Monday night but it wasn't the Spiced Chicken with Black Eyed Peas and Rice. We had take out for Tuesday lunch and the turkey Tuesday night. I bought a turkey breast roast to cook and it was...odd. I definitely like the real turkey breast better and will stick with that in the future, but the roast was worth a try. Since I was using the turkey for 2 meals I was worried a larger breast wouldn't fit in the crock pot (which I've had issues with in the past; I wish I had a deeper one) so I bought the roast. I made the soup with the leftover turkey the next night and it was...bland and boring. I probably won't make it again, even though it would be better with real turkey. Wednesday lunch didn't work out either (see comments after the recipe) and the recipe went in the garbage. I was out delivering The Niece to her job on Thursday around lunch and with all the lay offs I knew DH wouldn't feel like making his spaghetti for lunch, so I picked up sandwiches from the local bagel and sandwich shop and shifted spaghetti to Friday. We had the creamy chicken and pasta soup Friday night and it was pretty good! It's a new-to-me recipe from the Pillsbury Fast and Healthy cookbook and I tweaked it a little; I'll post the recipe with my changes separately. I picked up a loaf of whole wheat french bread from a local grocery store to go with it and it was the perfect meal for a chilly night. The only problem was portion control- it was so good I ate too much!!!

Introduction; First Menu Plan Mondays Post

Hi:
I was inspired to set this blog up when I read some others with "Menu Mondays" posts. I like to see what other people are cooking and how they eat in their families, and since I plan my menus (almost) every week too, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Here's what we're eating this week, and you get 2 meals per day since we cook both lunch and dinner at home:
Monday Lunch: Jambalaya (using pork tenderloin, an onion and a bell pepper added to the Zatarain's mix and thrown in the rice cooker- easy, easy, easy.)
Monday Dinner: Bacon and Egg Pie (Modification of a recipe I found on recipeczar.com, where you plug in the ingredients you have and they find you a recipe. I did a freezer inventory earlier in the day and found I had 2 frozen pie crusts left over from the holidays and a bunch of turkey bacon that I wanted to use up.)
Tuesday Lunch: Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Tenderloin (This is a recipe from the Publix Supermarket's Aprons recipe series. It uses the other half of the pork tenderloin we threw in the Jambalaya yesterday.)
Tuesday Dinner: Deli sandwiches (Made to order at the deli counter at Publix.)
Wednesday Lunch: Philly Steak Sandwiches
Wednesday Dinner: Spiced Chicken with Black Eye Peas and Rice (from "Cooking Light Weeknights" cookbook)
Thursday Lunch: Spaghetti (hubby's recipe)
Thursday Dinner: Beef-A-Roni (my recipe)
Friday Lunch: Shrimp Scampi (from Emeril's "There's a Chef in my World" cookbook)
Friday Dinner: Saucy Italian Style Chicken Thighs (from one of my Cooking Light cookbooks- Superfast Suppers, I think)
Saturday Lunch: Black Bean Cakes (from "Apocolypse Chow" cookbook), rice, carrot salad, and applesauce
Sunday: Soy Marinated London Broil (from ???; I printed it out from the internet, but I can't remember the site)
Sunday: Grillades and Grits (from the internet, I think from Southern Living Magazine)
Sunday Lunch: order pizza for the kids and the babysitter; mom and dad dine out!

One thing about me- I lost over 45 pounds eating this way. Portion control and daily walks rule!!