Meal Plan Monday

My meal plan is running a bit late this week and has been missing for 2 weeks because I have just been going crazy with life. I'm lucky enough that I have content ready for blog posts that I can churn them out and schedule them to post, but my meal plans are done on shopping day and I just never have time to type them up but i'm working on it!

Prepping a stirfry overnight so it's ready to just toss in a wok

As I have shared before, I always know what I am cooking when I go grocery shopping, this keeps my shopping inexpensive and no impulse buys allowed (all that savings is vacation money!!) at any time. I create my menu based on ads from local places as well as what I have in the freezer, fridge, pantry and basement freezer and then online ads from Trader Joes and Whole Foods, as we don't have these in town. 

Making wonton soup was so easy and fun, next time we will make our own wonton wrappers

The MINUTE the bags come into the kitchen, we begin our routine. The kids begin washing produce, putting away pantry supplies and I begin to chop and dice everything that needs to be put away. This keeps our produce from spoiling or going unnoticed. Leave a watermelon whole and it may go moldy, cut it up and suddenly it's everyone's favorite fruit! It's a chore, but it's well worth it to my bottom line. It also makes dinner so easy when I am just throwing it in the wok or in a crockpot. No chopping or dicing required! It also keeps your produce fresher for longer periods of time. 

Ceviche is always a fun lunch staple, so quick and easy

Now it's time for the menu!
As always, most of my recipes can be found HERE!
Monday- Beef Roast over cauliflower rice with fresh green beans
Salad- Romaine & Escarole with Tomato Slices and Lime juice

Tuesday- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Salad- Spinach Southwest with Corn

Wednesday- Shrimp & Avocado Ceviche with Guacamole
Salad- Tomato & Cucumber slices with chile, salt & lime

Thursday- Chicken Gyros served in Lettuce Leaves instead of pita
Salad-Greek

Friday- Out to dinner with friends moving out of state :(
Saturday - Out to dinner for Valentine's Day

Sunday - Italian Wedding soup with homemade french bread
Salad- Traditional Garden Salad bar with choose your own dressing

Eat well and enjoy every minute my friends!

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Domo Arigato...

It's Monday and I want to crawl back under the blankets...who is with me? It was a bitter cold weekend with about 15 inches of snowfall over here. That made for quite the insanity. This morning is slow going and I have a jumble of things to share. One thing I make it a point to do, is to use my materials in as many ways as possible. These are bulletin board calendar pieces that are all laminated and would normally sit in a crate until their month arrives and they get to shine! Not in my classroom! They are in this envelope that sits in a crate of dailies, things that need to be gone through daily until they are so ingrained in the memory that they can be sold or re purposed once again. They are just about reaching the end of their use with us, but for now I will share what we do. The envelope is dumped and my son must organize them in monthly order. I then added some index cards with construction paper scraps to make up the days of the week and those need to be put into order as well. It is busy work but it is hands on work with bright colors that keep him occupied. The crate of dailies hold items for each child, I will do a post on the dailies later on in the week!

How many of you own Children's Encyclopedia's or Big Book of Why's? We have so many of these on our shelves that are full of information perfect for reports and research, but I wanted more out of them! I recently began usin a fact or 2 each day and making a worksheet/coloring page with that fact. Once I have made something for that fact, I put a post-it on the fact and date that post-it with the date we used it in class. Eventually we have an entire encyclopedia with proof that we know it all or at least what we remember.

I've mentioned before that my son is on a robotics team, he absolutely loves it and enjoys anything hands on. He has wanted to build & design bridges since he was 3 and is a complete Anglophile that wants to go to college in London and live there. He is my little engineer and anythign we can do to nurture that in him, we do. We bought him the LEGO mindstorms Robot from the LEGO store, but these things are EXPENSIVE! He loves LEGOS and has plenty of the regular kind, but after joining the robotics team, he loves building and programming his own bots and he's learning so much by doing this. This past weekend he got a second kit to join his first and this boy is in bot heaven. We took him to Home Depot to get a case to keep all his bot parts in, so that it was more portable and sturdier than the boxes. Little did we know that we would need 2! Back to the team...so they were told that they needed a better name than the one they had, as they wanted shirts for their state competition. The kids were told to come prepared with team names to the next class...I want them to be the Domo Arigato's....my son thinks I am nuts...I played him the song....yeah, I think I confirmed to him that I am nuts.

Here is one of his bots that he has programmed to shoot a Nerf gun. It's still in it's testing phase, but once he finishes it up, I plan on uploading a video. I am so proud of this kid that it's not even funny. I love when the mind wins out over anything else and as cheezy as this sounds, he's got a great mind!

Remember to enjoy every minute my friends!

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Monday Morning Musings...

The weather in northern IL is chilly, it calls for a fire to be burning constantly, because I like to keep the thermostat at 65*. Yikes! I know, I know that's chilly but it saves us money and we all get to snuggle under warm blankets whenever we sit down! What do you keep your temp at if you are in a cold zone?

Remember earlier in the month I mentioned my goal of drinking 1 gallon of water a day. Whoa, this has been such a wake up call for me. I am LOVING the water, but not loving the bathroom trips. It's still too early for me to notice much, except that I am not snacking as much nor am I craving too much in between meals. 

Are your bookshelves exploding? Mine are! One thing that I am doing to solve this is to get a group of people together in my home to swap and sell our books! I am setting up tables throughout my home and we will be set up to swap books for other friends or sell them if we cannot find a trade. I am very excited about this and will keep you posted on how it turns out! 

Teach the alphabet & letter sounds in no time!

A great way to teach letter sounds and/or the alphabet is with coloring pages, get yours HERE!!
1. Day One: As each letter is colored, have them sound out and say each letter. 

2. Day Two: print out a second copy and do the same. 

3. Day Three: Laminate the colored pages and cut out each letter combo evenly from 1 of the pages. (Saying each letter and letter sound as you cut it out to make flashcards)

4. Day Four: Repeat Day Three!

5. Day Five: You now have a set of Memory Game cards. Play with a few letters at a time and build up to playing with the entire alphabet. As each card is turned over say the letter and the sound.

Enjoy!

Are you a thrifter? Flashcard collector? I am using a mug tree to hold flashcard collections. This makes them easy to find and also keeps them out and on display. I change them out monthly and I notice that they are always being thumbed through! 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Menu Plan Monday

It's the time again! Another Monday is here and it's time to plan out our menu. What are you sampling this week? Share your links in the comments please!

Monday: Out with friends

Tuesday: Beef Roast with Cauliflower Mashed fauxtatoes & Lettuce Leaf Salad (1 leaf of lettuce with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, corn & vidalia onions on top)

Wednesday: Homemade Shrimp Wonton Soup with Chinese Chopped salad and lime juice

Thursday: Pork & Broccolini Stir fry served over Rice with Bow Tie & Spinach Salad

Friday: Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps served with grape tomato and cucumber skewers 

Saturday: Homemade Ramen Soup served with Southwestern Chopped Salad

Sunday: Rosemary Chicken Breasts w/ Roasted Carrots & Green Beans & Cucumber/Onion Salad

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Monday's Moments and Menu Plan...

I think every Monday morning I begin this blog wondering where the weekend went! Well this weekend we stayed home and it still seemed to fly by. We began our Winter projects this weekend and though the list is short right now, I am adding to it as I go through our home binder to see what we put on the backburner to this year. You can see some of the projects HERE.

This morning as I sit here drinking my peppermint tea, looking over our week and wanting to back to bed, I am caught up in moments from the weekend.

~seeing my 8  year old working his own power drill next to dad in the attic.

~holding hands with my oldest in a parking lot and realizing how big she is getting.

~watching my youngest freak out over medicine just as I do to this day...shhh

~having my husband work all day on the attic & still doing dishes so I can get school work done.

~cuddling up in front of the fireplace as we all chat about life

~the crock pot doing all the work this weekend, from breakfast to dinners.

~holding my title as the reigning Monopoly champion

~falling in love with my family all over again 

Menu Plan Monday is here! Most of what I make can be found HERE!

Monday~

B-Breakfast Casserole
L-Raw veggies & hummus with pita bread
D-Kielbasa & Green Beans with Spinach & Tomato salad

Tuesday~

B-Cereal & Grapefruit halves
L-Chicken Soup and Garden Salad
D-Twice Baked Spinach Mac & Cheese with Southwestern Roasted Corn Salad

Wednesday~

B-Sausage, Egg & Cheese biscuits with Kiwi slices
L-Lettuce Wraps and Carrot Sticks with Laughing Cow
D-Parmesan & Herb crusted Chicken Strips with Ceasar Salad

Thursday, happy Thanksgiving!

B-Keeping it light with fruit salad
L-None
D-Ham, Turkey, Enchiladas, Mole, Rice, Beans, Stuffing, Scalloped Potatoes, Cactus Salad, Garden Salad, Green Beans, Broccoli, Tamales.....yes it's a veritable feast!

Friday~

B-Ham & Eggs with fruit
L-Anything Goes
D-Out with friends and family

Don't be afraid to try something new! Remember to enjoy every minute my friends!!

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Menu Plan Monday!

Happy Monday my friends!! I hope your weekend was absolutely delightful! We had so much fun with an old friend of mine from college in Chicago and then spent Sunday in the suburbs at a fun French Market! Madeline story times, traipsing through a rose garden, shopping for wonderful wares and then enjoying crepes in the shade of the 'Eiffel tower'. I love the warmer months in the Midwest as it allows for so many activities! 

Monday brings our Menu Plan!

Monday: Tickets to a baseball game! We're eating at the ballpark!

Tuesday: Pizza Wheels with Garden Picked Salad

Wednesday: Grilled Portabella Burgers with Caprese Salad

Thursday-Sunday (Out of town but we left a full fridge for our house sitters!)

A short week of meals for sure but delicious fun none-the-less! I hope you all take the time to realize just how much you truly have. Enjoy every minute!

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Monday Musings...

Welcome to Monday! I hope your weekend went well. Ours was packed to the gills but we had so much fun and would love to have spent all day today in bed, but alas the week must go on and we plan on tackling it with a smile.

We're ticking things off of our bucket list daily and loving it! The kids love seeing that list get full of lines. they are off to camp next week, and cannot stop talking about all the fun things they will do. I love all the energy that kids have and how animated they can get when talking about everything. Want your own BUCKET LIST? GO HERE!  Please feel free to link up ANY activities you have done this Summer or your own lists! I love seeing what everyone is up to! Even a pinterest board dedicated to Summer will do!

On Friday we hit the park for Friday Night Flix and spent the evening eating popsicles and playing UNO and then watching a movie and eating popcorn. We had an absolute blast hanging out with friends and enjoying the weather.

On Saturday we enjoyed our evening at a Chicago Rush football game. These arena football games are some of our favorite to attend, there is enough action to keep you enjoying the game and the players are so friendly that they sign autographs, pose for photos and even chat with the fans after the game. It's an awesome evening of family fun and never too expensive!

If you are one of the first in the door, you have many opportunities to catch footballs, watch practice, sign up for games that take place in between periods and even get a lot of door prizes!

Our relaxing Sunday was spent tidying up the house and then another movie, this one in a Victorian Village! Have you taken a look at events right in your own community? You will be surprised at what you find and you will love discovering new places and enjoying new things.

How was your weekend?

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Menu Plan Monday!

It's Menu Plan Monday! What is on your Menu for tonight? The rest of the week?
Monday:
Grilled Pork Chops & Baked Potato Bar with Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Tuesday:
Hot Dogs over the fire pit & Garden Salad

Wednesday:
Bean Burritos & Potato Wedges

Thursday:
Chicken Stir Fry over Rice

Friday:
Italian Sub Sandwiches & Chips with Pasta Salad

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Menu Plan Monday!

It's MONDAY and it's time to make up our Menu for the week! 

Monday: Quesadillas with Pinto Beans and Pico de Gallo

Tuesday: Guacamole and Quesadilla Cheese Burgers with Garden Salad

Wednesday: Baked Potato Bar with Spinach Salad

Thursday: Grilled Garden Herb Chicken Gyros on fresh Pita w/Carrots & Cucumber & Hummus

Friday: Sandwich Bar and Pasta Salad Picnic for Movies in the Park

MCW's Southwestern Pico De Gallo

1 large tomato diced

1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped finely

1/3 cup of cooked & cooled corn kernals

1/8 cup of diced red pepper

1 clove garlic pressed (chopped finely if no garlic press)

1/8 cup of green onions chopped finely

1/2 large onion diced

Juice of 1 lime

salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in bowl except for Lime, Salt & Pepper. Once all ingredients is mixed, add salt & pepper to taste and top with lime juice. Toss 1 final time and serve with chips or cucumber slices!

Happy Birthday to Maurice Sendak the author of Where the Wild Things Are! We are reading the story as the kids color today!

Enjoy the day my friends!!

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Menu Plan Monday

I love having my menu planned bright and early and yet our weather has been so crazy lately, that I keep swapping out meals at the last minute. Do you plan your menu by the weather as well?

The weather is back down into the low 70's with a definite chill in the air, this called for a slight change to this week's menu that I just finished up.

We plan on spending plenty of time at the fire pit in the evenings with smore's and good family time! Add Peeps to your Smore's menu and you will find a new favorite! Vary up the chocolate selections too!

Monday: Cilantro Lime Chicken & Avocado Soup served with a garden salad

Tuesday: Spaghetti in Mushroom & Sauce served with a caprese salad

Wednesday: Steak Tacos served with Pinto Beans

Thursday: Rosemary Chicken over Steamed Rice and Veggies served with garden salad.

Friday: Sandwiches and Popcorn! We are going to Movie night in the park and packing a picnic dinner.

Our herb garden is thriving, so you will find a lot of herbs in my meals right now!

Enjoy the day and the rest of the week my friends!

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