I’m not posting a full week of menus as we are going on a “freecation.”  What’s that?  I’m glad you asked.  It’s where a casino out in the middle of nowhere (in this case on the state line of Nevada and California) gives you two nights free at the hotel, two all day passes on the attractions (at one time they had the tallest roller coaster in the world), two for one buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, $50 in slot play (and that’s all I’ll be playing since I don’t gamble) two appetizers at the steakhouse, and two drinks at the bar (I don’t do that either, don’t tell the casino, okay?)  My son is just an inch too short to go on the roller coaster, but we will try to bring tall shoes.  My 3 year old daughter is too short and has proclaimed, “Rollercoasters are scary.  I like ponies because they are pretty and neat.”  Well, I like them both for all the reasons stated.  LOL.

Also, there’s something else I should point out on this menu.  I’ve been dieting and I’ve lost 8 lbs since May 22nd.  Most of these recipes are diet, except the curry chicken which I haven’t put in the calculator yet to see what the numbers are.  Since I’m so busy, most of these are crockpot recipes too.  Here’s the menu:

Sunday
Crockpot Curry Chicken
Cut Green Beans

Monday
Left overs
(I will do my shopping this night)

Tuesday
Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken
Salad

Wednesday
Either left overs or on the road.

Thursday
Buffet in Primm, NV

Friday
Baked Southwest Ziti
Salad

Saturday
Happy 4th of July!
Quick & Tasty Shepherd’s pie
Unless plans change because of the holiday

So, if you like this menu (or if you didn’t) swing on by the Organized Junkie and see all the other menus posted.  Thanks for stopping by!

***EDIT*** I erroneously marked the Baked Southwest as a crockpot recipe.   Whoops!   Glad I figured out that was wrong before I made it.

I think my bathroom scale is possessed. It doesn’t howl in the middle of the night or clang chains together while creating scary footsteps, what it does is much, much worse. It changes weight on me. That would be no big deal if it were over a period of a few days, but it does it within a minute. Here’s what happens, I will stand on the scale, like I just did a minute ago, and it will tell me “178.5″ I’ll get off and think, “Wow! Did it just say that?” and get on it again. Then it will tell me “177.5″ and I’ll be like, “REALLY? Really, really, really ?!?” and step on it again. Once again, I will see the magic, “177.5.” I’ll do a little dance around the bathroom and jump on it again, because I am a bit obsessive compulsive, and it will say, “179.” “Oh No!” I think, “Maybe I jumped too fast,” and try it again, slower this time. Still “179.” “No! No! No!” I tell it, “I liked the second and third numbers,” and this time try to fool it by pretending to walk by and at the last minute flinging my body onto the scale. It wasn’t fooled, “179.” Not only is it possessed, but it’s not a nice possession either. As far as I know, no foul play has been committed on this scale, no opening of demon gates into other worlds, it has never participated in séance to my knowledge, it has seen me naked a few times but I don’t think that did it. I just don’t understand.

Does anyone have the number to Ghost Busters? Never mind. I’ll e-mail.

I love to cook. Probably because I love to eat, but that’s beside the point. I also love to use my crockpot to cook, however I notice that if I follow the cooking times on a recipe I burn everything. After doing some research I learned that new models of crockpots run hotter then the originals. I read that the high setting is the new low and the low setting is the new keep warm. In theory then, if a recipe says to cook it on low for 8 hours I should cook it on keep warm. Although I read that would work, I didn’t read any personal experiences of anyone trying it. Tonight I tried it with the recipe for the infamous slow cooker salsa chicken, a dish I have burned in my crockpot at least twice. I added everything to the pot then set my crockpot on a lamp appliance timer because I am away from the house longer than the directions call for cooking it. I made sure the timer was set correctly, that it was turned on, and that the pot was on “keep warm.” Several times I shooed my daughter away from re-setting the timer for me, then double checked it again before I left because she is sneaky. Fast forward ten hours, I walk in and I don’t smell the food cooking. That’s not normally a good sign. Looking in the pot I could see the consendation on the lid so I knew it was cooking. As it was almost done I got out my trusty meat thermometer and stuck it in the middle of a breast. Safely cooked chicken should reach a temp of 165 F, my salsa chicken was 174 F. Woo Hoo! Success! I mixed in the sour cream and was happy to see the chicken didn’t automatically shred when I moved it, which means I didn’t over cook it. Hurray! Me and my husband both loved the recipe and now I can’t wait to figure out next week’s menu and put some crockpot recipes on it.

Just a quick note to say I’m exercising.   But do you want to know something weird? I’m liking it.

First I’ll start with the menu since I know alot of the people who stop by during the week come from Menu Plan Monday, hosted by the Organizing Junkie. If anyone wants to read how I made my hanging tomato pots then read beyond that.

Last week’s menu went well, except for the the pork loin with BBQ sauce and fried apples.  Since I set the timer on the crockpot wrong it didn’t cook and we had to have more leftovers.  There was still some shredded pork and steak left so I ground up the steak in a food processer and we had more tacos.  The steak tacos ended up being really good and I think I’ll have to make it habit to grill more steaks than I need so I can make those again.  Here’s this weeks menu.

MENU

MONDAY
Sweet and Spicy Chicken in the Crockpot
White Rice

TUESDAY
I’m working the city election Pat will fix him and the kids pizza or corn dogs

WEDNESDAY
Tortellini with Marinara
Garlic Bread

THURSDAY
Pot Pie Night!

FRIDAY
We’ll be eating at the County Fair, I entered this crocheted dress.  Here’s a couple of previous entries to the fair.

SATURDAY
Hamburgers
Tator Tots

SUNDAY
Easter Sunday Dinner (which means I haven’t decided yet)

HANGING TOMATO POTS

First I got a pot.  Well, I bought two, but you don’t really want to see it twice, do you?  They were about $5 each at the Home Depot.

Here’s the bottom.  Yup, definitely a pot.

Next, I got a big strong man to drill a hole in the pot.  He was not included in the price of said pot.

Here’s the pot, post hole.

This is coconut fiber from the Walmart.

I cut a piece out to put over the holes so the dirt doesn’t fall out of it.

I put the tomato plant (celebrity variety) though the hole and fixed the coconut fiber between the plant and the pot.  I have seen some people put the roots through the hole, which would have been easier but my rootball was too big.  I broke off a limb the way I had to do it.

Finally, I added some garden soil and then planted some jalapeno peppers in the top.

Here’s it is hanging on my double sided shepard’s hook.

Patrick moved the shepard’s hook to a better location but dropped the pot and broke another limb off the plant.  I think it will be okay, it seems to be thriving.  I have the second pot done now too and it has a sweet 100 tomato plant that shares it’s pot with some bell pepper plants.

Here’s an updated picture of the work in the back yard.  Pat removed all these rocks from area we are putting grass.   I think there are 20 some buckets there and he has already emptied out 20 some buckets of rocks.  To the right of the picture there is still a big pile of rocks to be sifted.  The dark dirt has been seeded with grass that we hope to see in a week or so.  All and all, I think it is coming along very nicely!

MONDAY
Marinated Pork Tacos
Lime Rice

TUESDAY
Baked Ziti and Meatballs

WEDNESDAY
Leftover Buffet

THURSDAY
Grilled Steak
Green Beans

FRIDAY
Pork Loin with Apples and BBQ Sauce
Salad

SATURDAY
Leftover Buffet

SUNDAY
Turkey Pot Pies

We have been landscaping our backyard for the past couple of weeks.  Since we are the first owners of the home the back yard has been  dirt and rock the whole time we’ve been here.   Here’s a picture of the work in progress taken a week ago:

So far the retaining wall is up and Pat is just starting to dig so he can add a drip system we are adding to water the future lawn.  He now has the drip system all laid out, but since I didn’t take any pictures today I can’t show it.  And why didn’t I take pictures today?

Well, we didn’t have a full crew.

This one was at Grandmas.

And even though he doesn’t do alot of work…

…it just wasn’t the same.

THIS WEEK’S MENU:

Monday
Pork Loin in a Mushroom wine sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Asperagus

Tuesday
Crockpot Beer Brat Hoagies
in Marinara with onions and bell peppers
Spinach Salad

Wednesday
Leftover buffet

Thursday
Garlic & Herb Chicken Penne
Cheese Toast

Friday
Out with the kids

Satuday
Pizza Pasta
Spinach Salad

A few months ago I was at the Deseret Bookstore with my mother in law and I bought a new recipe book.  Since this month the Organizing Junkie was hosting an organizing recipes round up I thought I it was time to break it in.  First, I took off the plastic.:

Next, I used an online program to type out my recipes and print them on card stock.  Here’s what that looks like:

…and another page:

…and a close up of a recipe:

The recipe book came with matching recipe cards but I knew I wouldn’t spend all that time writing them out.  Besides, I used the recipe card maker on the old cards I wanted to keep them all unified.  I’m kinda nutty that way.  

To make the cards I use a website called Alenka’s Printables.  I’m a member of her recipe card maker club.  It’s a neat little program that lets you pick a recipe card from hundreds of cute little designs, type your recipe on it and then print it out.  You can try it free here.   Being a member I get other printables, like recipe boxes you can personalize and put together after printing them out on card stock.  There’s even cute little templates for cupcake boxes and icicle cake boxes that you can buy.  I’ve been a fan of this site for years. 

Another recipe card maker is found at Original Country Clipart by Lisa.  Her recipe card maker  doesn’t have as many cards but it does have a lifetime membership.  There are some free recipe cards that can be typed up in a word program too. I like open office for a word program, because it’s free and I’m cheap frugal.

I must admit, I only did half of this project.  We were also suppose to clean out and get rid of cookbooks we don’t use.  I shudder at the thought.  I’ve been trying to devise a way to add a bookshelf to the wall between the family room and living room to store all of mine.  If  you want to see how other people organized their recipes, be sure to check out the Organizing  Junkie this month.

No time for a proper post, which is too bad because I have stuff to talk about, like the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which is now one of my top 10 favorite movies, and Katie’s newly painted pink room.  But I can’t, the Simpsons have started and I have knitting to do.  I will embed a the trailer for Slumdog Millionaire at the end of this post for anyone interested.  If you want see more menus, and probably people who write real journal entries, check out the Organizing Junkie for a list of us posting our menus.

Monday
Lasagne
Cheese Toast

Tuesday
Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu
with stuffing

Wednesday
Leftover Buffet

Thursday
Hamburgers
Salad

Friday
Alfredo Pasta
Cheese Toast

Saturday
“If you can find it, you can eat it.”

Sunday
Either out or from the freezer

The first home I ever owned was the 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath townhouse that Pat and I bought when Connor was a baby in early 2004. We quickly out grew it, especially when Katie came in 2005. We bought our new home more than a year ago and haven’t spent much time at the old place. It was a fixer-up when we bought it and it still needs some work. Part of our goals for the new year is to get something done with it so we’ve hired a handyman (because trying to do anything with two little kids is quite the challenge.) I am happy to report the kitchen remodel is finally done after three years. Hooray! Our handyman still needs to build the pony wall behind the cabinets but otherwise it looks great.

Because of the extra expense of a the handyman I decided I really needed to start menu planning again. Even if I am buying steaks and other more expensive cuts of meat it saves me money to plan a menu and eat at home. So here it is, the menu for the week.

Monday
Potato & Leek Soup
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Tuesday
Lasagna
Cheese Toast

Wednesday
Marinated Flank Steak
Potatoes
Green Beans

Thursday
Leftover buffet

Friday
Chicken Enchiladas
Spanish Rice
Beans

Saturday
Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu
with stuffing

Sunday
Left over buffet