Meal Plan Monday; 2-in-1

I decided to start doing two weeks of meal planning at a time. The week goes so quickly and, before I know it, I'm staring down Sunday with a dwindling produce selection and not a lot of inspiration. The meals for the following week that can be made ahead and frozen will be, and grocery shopping will be more streamlined. With a five person family, I still try to stay under $800 a month in groceries, and most of the time I'm able to, with some flex for the months of heavy meat purchases. Once I made the commitment to buy only organic and/or free-range meat, I also had to concede that we'd have less meals that included meat so I've been delving into my queue of vegetarian meals. A lot of people shy away from vegetarian meals because they think they'll lack flavor or substance, but that's just not true, it's all in the seasoning and the selection of produce and protein.

I've been pretty salad-heavy in my lunches lately, but will be trying these Eggplant Pizzas from Julia Child as a way to change things up. There are so many good, healthy and hearty options, there's no reason to be left eating your kids' cast-off crusts, or a crappy protein bar on the run. It takes a little more planning and prep time, but once you get in the habit it just becomes part of your day.

For the week of February 17th:

Monday: Quinoa Burgers, using the shredded zucchini in the recipe instead of carrots

Tuesday: Make-Your-Own Taco Bar

Wednesday: This Chili (yes, again-It's good! Making multiple batches by prepping the meat and then dividing into gallon sized bags, ready to thaw and cook next time) and Skillet Cornbread

Thursday: Meaty Lasagna, Salad and Bread (yet another that I'll make multiple of-in 8x8 pans-and freeze)

Friday: Pizza Playdate Dinner-For all the mamas whose husbands work late or travel, it's one night a month that we don't have to worry about dinner alone.

Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner; WW Waffles with Berry sauce and bacon. I love Marc Bittman's Quick and Easy waffles-I've used How To Cook Everything to death!)

Sunday: Minestrone (I make this a quad batch by browning enough meat for four batches and then continuing on with only one quarter of the meat for one batch and portioning the others into gallon-sized freezer bags with the remaining ingredients per the freezer instructions), Green Salad and Artisan Bread

For the week of February 24th:

Monday:  Quinoa and Spinach patties with eggs

Tuesday: Fish Tacos with Simple Slaw (cabbage, sour cream or greek yogurt, lime juice, salt and cilantro)

Wednesday: Brisket with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan Risotto

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Mom's gone-Boys rule (I'll be having a delicious kid-free dinner in Portland with my bestie to ring in another year for her)

Saturday: Ditto (more kid-free loveliness, including some pampering with girlfriends to celebrate babies and birthdays)

Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner; Protein Banana Pancakes and Bacon

Of All the Fish in the Sea...

I love Valentine's Day, but this year, I was determined to do it on the cheap. Because who doesn't love a cheap date?! Not only did I want to find something that was inexpensive, but after last year's cookie bouquet debacle, I was also looking for something dead simple. Without thinking about the date on the calendar, I planned a trip to visit a girlfriend, putting me home late the night before the day of love and actually being out town during Charlie's party, for which I volunteered to make cupcakes. Naturally. So I needed to have everything done and ready for the kids to assemble while I was gone; I filled out Charlie's for him, but Henry did all of his own.

For the kids' class exchange a free printable, lollipop bags from my party supplies and a few bags of Swedish fish created a cute valentine with a small amount of candy. Goldfish crackers, which we already own, could have been used, but I had zero faith that a bunch of tiny bags of goldfish crackers would get to school un-crushed, so sugary red dye number whatever for the win!

A few of the teachers got the same valentine as the kids, but for the classroom teachers and the school secretaries, I found this free printable which I printed onto pink cardstock from my paper stash and fastened onto re-usable cups you can buy at Starbucks for $1 each. I was at Safeway and planned to buy the reusable cups you see on display, but at $6 each, it didn't really fit into my V-day on the cheap scheme. I remembered the cup I'd purchased for my own use the month before, and snapped up several of them. I had planned to get Starbucks giftcards to go with each one, but then saw the new latte versions of Via. I picked up a couple of four-pack boxes, but then saw the single serve 'try before you stock up' samples that were $1 each. Hmm..same product size and almost half the price. Why yes, yes I did clear them out. 1-2 in each cup along with brown paper lunch bags that I cut into strips and crinkled, reminiscent of cafe au lait (and also free). I added in peppermint kisses because I still had an unopened bag of them that I didn't use for midnight kisses on New Year's. Valentines day at under $25 out of pocket  for two kids; teacher gifts and classroom exchange combined, not too shabby!

Meal Plan Monday

Another week has come and gone, which means another meal plan is ready. Planning what I'm going to eat helps me stay on track, and saves money because I'm not buying a bunch of random things and hoping they'll get used in a cohesive way before turning into the stank at the bottom of the produce drawer that gets tossed out.

On nights that are busy, we often do breakfast for dinner or a crock pot meal. The first two Mondays of the month are when H has Cub Scouts, so it was a breakfast night per H's request. 

Monday: Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches on Whole Wheat English Muffins, with berries. I had my eggs over a bed of roasted broccoli and Brussels Sprouts with some feta cheese crumbles.

Tuesday: Thai Chicken Salad (made into tacos for the kids)

This is also a day I'm using to prep some freezer meals during Jack's nap when the big boys are at school. On the menu for freezing are: Skinny Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups, Lasagna with Meat sauce in 8x8 pans, Minestrone Soup, Sweet Potato Turkey Chili and Taco Filled Pasta Shells.

Wednesday:  I'll be out of town, so the boys are on their own...could be dangerous

Thursday: -home late, boys still on their own. I'm sure Chef Boyardee will be involved.

Friday: Lasagna with Meat Sauce.

We're lucky enough to have a great butcher who makes their own sausage. I use a mix of their sweet and hot Italian sausages, along with the roasted tomato marinara I made from my garden bounnty this summer and froze. Adding fresh basil and minimal cheese atop whole wheat noodles makes a very hearty dinner that everyone likes.

Friday is always Family Movie Night and this week we're taking the boys to see the Lego Movie at the theater for Valentine's Day. Also, I'm making these strawberries for their treat, yum!

Saturday: Grilled Halibut with roasted Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa cakes (I make extra of these little cakes and keep them for breakfasts. They are so good under an over-medium egg, with some wilted greens or spicy arugula.)

Sunday: Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Root Vegetables

Also, for lunches this week I have some really good salads on tap. My friend made one for us when she hosted playdate last week, and I've been thinking about it since, so I bought the extras for it today. It was a kale salad with shredded red cabbage (maybe I'm imagining that part, but I'm adding it anyhow ;)), crumbled feta, pomegranite seeds and a little bit of brown rice that really just added another dimension of heartiness that made it a true meal. It was very simply dressed with and olive oil base and could be made even more filling with some chicken breast, but I liked it just as it was.

What do you have on your menu plan?

A Zig Zag on a Straight Line

From the beginning, H has had a hard time in school. Every year seems to get a little bit better overall as he matures, but there is always a period of time when things have been going swimmingly and nothing significant has changed that, BLAM-O!, I'm broad-sided with a few weeks of behaviors and choices that make me want to pull my hair out. This year, the culmination was on Monday and that evening I noticed he had a little bit of a cold, so I decided I would keep him home the next day to spend some time with him one-on-one. Without going into it too deeply, (that could be a whole blog on its own) he is such a great kid; quirky, funny, wicked smart, awesome imagination, but man is he strong-willed! He'll be a force to be reckoned with as an adult and I just have to keep repeating that to myself. Daily. Multiple times. 

I almost never keep my kids home for a sick day, so this was his first of the year and after we dropped Charlie at school and put Jack down for his nap, we had the afternoon to ourselves. 

I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to make a gift for Charlie; a 'dragon head' bag to take his sharing objects to school each week. After we talked about logistics, I had him pick the fabric for a bag for each of them, and found an image on the computer which we printed on printable burlap. The images aren't super crisp on the burlap, it's probably something I'd use for a big bold letter for a bunting in the future, but I actually like how these turned out. The burlap has a plastic coating on the back that guides it through your printer really smoothly, and negated the need for interfacing. It was H's first time really using the sewing machine alone and he did a great job! He took his time, and it only took about an hour from picking the fabric to proudly holding his finished bag. 

After several attempts to find a dragon image that we could agree was good to take to pre-k, we switched to finding Lego images for Charlie's bag and stumble across what I'm guessing was a party favor label, because there were several names; score! Henry chose this image of a person challenging a dragon for his own. 

For the blue bag, we used a fat quarter and cut it in half so that the bottom edge was the fold. The image was sewn onto the bag before seaming. Both bags were a long, thin piece with just the two side-seams to sew, and then the top was folded over twice and hemmed. I didn't have him pin it, because stopping to take the pins out seemed like it would complicate things for such a simple, straight seam. 

Love those little boy hands against the fabric

I was pretty impressed with how straight and consistent his stitches were! He honestly did this ALL by himself.

All ready to take snacks and sharing to school

Pop Secrets

R-2 is a frequent guest at chez Wutzke

Every Friday night, and sometimes Saturday as well, we sit down for Family Movie Night. The kids get to pick a movie, or we watch the movie version of whatever chapter book we've just finished so they can compare the book to the movie. A big part of movie night is the popcorn and treat, and I've perfected the art of stovetop popcorn making. You'll never go back to that bag of microwave popcorn again! (Unless you're my husband, and then you'll buy it when I'm out of town.)

Step 1: Disregard the directions on the popcorn container. They'll make you use too much popcorn so that there are a bunch of unpopped kernels when the majority of the popcorn is ready, or you'll pop it all and it will be burnt. Ask J how we know this.

Measure out 1/3 c. of popcorn kernels and set aside. Add 3T of oil to a sauce pan, I like to use coconut oil. I know that it's super trendy, but I swear I won't make you serve it with a side of quinoa or sprinkle kale chips over the top. In this case, it really just lends a good flavor and having a healthy fat to boot is not a bad thing. If you don't already use coconut oil, I really like the Nutiva brand, and you can get a big ole container of it at Costco.

It's solid, but melts very quickly in the pan, so turn your burner to about medium and let it melt. While it's melting, sprinkle about a teaspoon of good salt over the oil. This way, the salt gets kind of impregnated into the popcorn to make it perfectly seasoned instead of just salty. While the oil is heating up, put one popcorn kernel into the pan of oil.

When that kernel pops turn off the heat, add the rest of the popcorn kernels to the pan and then count to 30. Seriously. Stand at the stovetop and count to thirty. Out loud if you need to. Then put a lid on the pan, turn the heat back to medium and listen for the pop, pop of the kernels. If you don't have a vented lid, leave it just a tiny bit off-kilter so the steam can escape. Give the pan a gentle shake every 20-30 seconds, and leave it on the heat until you hear a pause between pops of about 2 seconds. Turn the contents out into a large bowl. From here you can doctor your popcorn however you wish.  Plop a tablespoon of butter into the now empty hot pan so it can melt and drizzle it over the top, sprinkle with endless seasoning combinations, add a little shake of sugar to create kettle cornor drizzle with homemade caramel sauce for a really special treat.

Why, yes, I do frequently balance dishes on the edge of my counter. I lead quite a thrilling life!

In addition to the popcorn, we always have a treat on top; some leftover candy between holidays (before I toss it) or York 'pepper patties' that I keep in the freezer because they're always a win. Just a few treats in a bowl of popcorn with a big glass of ice cold 'fridge water' to wash it all down and you've got movie night dessert.

Perfect Stovetop Popcorn:

1/3 c. popcorn kernels
3T cooking oil-I prefer coconut
1/2 -1 t. salt (optional, but really does make it better)

1T melted Butter or preferred toppings

Heat oil in a large saucepan and sprinkle with salt (to taste), add one kernel to the heating pan. When that kernel pops, turn off heat, add the rest of the corn and wait for 30 seconds. Return to heat until 2 seconds between popping sounds and then turn contents into large bowl and season as desired. Enjoy!