Meal Plan Week Three

This week I'm going to Houston for a conference on Thursday, so I'm only planning three meals, which should also cover leftovers for a few of days.

Meatless Monday: spicy peanut noodles (Kyle's idea) with brussels sprouts

Tuesday: turkey tacos

Wednesday: roasted pork loin with potatoes and asparagus

Lunch: greek quinoa salad

- S

DC, I Can't Quit You

Folks, I'm so excited; I'm going back to Washington, DC in March for the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference!! The conference is put on by the Food Research and Action Center and Feeding America, two awesome hunger fighting organizations. Guess what I've already learned? Conferences are expensive! I guess I've only been to free or $20 ones before, but these legit, professional conferences cost between $300 and $400 for registration alone. So I thought for a while about whether I should go, but I decided yes. This is what I'm really interested in, I love DC, it will be a great learning experience, and a great networking opportunity (even though the thought of networking is slightly terrifying; at least I already have Baylor business cards ready!).

Here's some details on the conference:

The National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference draws anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates; federal, state and local government officials; child advocates; representatives of food banks and food rescue organizations; and nutrition and anti-obesity groups, for three days of training, networking and Capitol Hill advocacy.

Participants share information and learn how to strengthen the quality and reach of federal nutrition programs, learn best outreach and program practices from other states and localities, fill in the gaps in food service for millions of low-income children, and identify creative ideas for new and innovative approaches to ending hunger. Members of Congress, Hill staff and key Administration officials attend the conference, provide comments as part of plenary sessions and panels, and join participants at receptions and special events.

Awesome, right? I can't wait to hear who is going to be speaking and attending. The conference is March 2-4, and I'm planning on staying in the area for the rest of the week to visit my dear friend Abigail (who lives in Baltimore and I visited last year before my trip to DC!), visit my youngest brother who is an undergrad at Georgetown, and enjoy springtime in DC (and do some work and maybe job searching)! I will surely blog about my time at the conference and in the city; Sarah Does DC: Hunger in America Part II, perhaps? :)

- S

Lately

^^brussels sprouts, post it queen, week day readings, baby photos at work^^

^^eiswein, Saturday morning donuts, Finnish chocolate, weekend reading^^

^^playing, distracting me, fish, more playing^^

^^quiche, napping on a fresh towel, lunch, lots of pinot noir^^

^^Madewell denim, heart mug, Canada mitts, #gradschoolswag^^

- S

One Per Month Challenge: January

I have decided to try this thing for a year, where I only buy one clothing or accessory item each month. This includes shoes. I'll share my purchase with you each month here on the ol' blog. I decided to do this as a fun(?) challenge for myself. This is more to prevent any unnecessary stops at the shoe section of Target and to limit any excessive spending on things I don't need, and to think more carefully about investing in specific, quality items rather than just buying something (or three or five somethings) because it's on sale or cheap. I want to appreciate what I have more, and spend less time thinking about these fleeting, material avenues to happiness. I will make an exception, however, if I need some professional attire or something particular for an event (I will be graduating with a masters degree in May and hopefully starting at a new job shortly thereafter), but I will try to plan for those purchases in my monthly allotments. I haven't yet decided if I should put a spending limit on it, or if I need one; I doubt I would spend much over $50, since I rarely spend that much on any single item anyway. :)

This month I got the denim boyshirt in saltstone wash from Madewell for $52.80, when they were having a 40% off post-Christmas sale. I bought this before I decided to do this challenge, but I can't think of a better way to start than with a beautiful denim shirt from Madewell!

PS- After I came up with this challenge I searched around the internet and found this article on the topic.

- S

Spaghetti Squash Crust Vegetable Quiche

For lunch this week I made a quiche with a spaghetti squash crust. This is actually the first quiche I've ever made though I've been wanting to make one for some time now. I had a half spaghetti squash leftover from the week before, and I thought this would be a perfect new use for it. The recipe I used is from here, but I made some changes. I didn't measure the squash, just used half of one smaller squash. I also wanted more veggies in it, so I used onion, garlic, spinach, asparagus and mushrooms for the sauteed veggie mix, along with chives in the egg mix, plus some mozzarella cheese I had in the fridge. Basically all you need to know for this recipe is: 5 eggs, one cup of milk, press the squash into a greased pan, saute whatever veggies you want, add the seasoned egg mix to the pan, add the veggies, bake at 400 for 40 minutes. Very easy! 

And the finished product...

I'm not sure how well it will hold up through the week (I imagine reheating will make it a bit mushy so it might be better served immediately), but at least I'm trying, right?

- S

Meal Plan Week Two

Last week I made brussels sprouts for the first time (first time making them at home, not eating them), simply sauteed in a pan with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper (oh plus a sprinkling of red pepper flakes), and they were aaaaaamazing, and I wanted them every day after that, so I made sure to work them into this weeks dinners. Maybe twice. I bought three bags. Yum.

Sunday: tonight I'm making Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy, but with chicken because Kyle is not a shrimp person, with asparagus on the side

Meatless Monday: veggie chili

Tuesday: pan seared salmon with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: baked marinated chicken with brussels sprouts

Lunch for the week: spaghetti squash crust veggie quiche (chives, onion, asparagus, garlic, spinach, mushroom)  (based on this)

Week 1

- S

Family

via

How do you define family? Who do you consider to be a part of your family? This topic came up a little while ago during deployment that Kyle and I have different views of what our family is. I don't consider his family to be my family; they are his family. I don't think that just because he and I got married that that makes his family my family. I think it would be cheapening the meaning and value of the word to call his family my family. That is not to say that I will never consider them family, or that they're not important to me, but I'm not going to say they are my family just because Kyle and I are married. Family is or should be more than that. I know I might sound mean saying this, but I don't intend it to be taken that way, it's just my view. Kyle was surprised by this and I think a bit hurt, but it is what it is. I think that he believes family is a choice, and that I could chose to consider them family, and the rest will follow. Maybe I will make that choice some day, but that's not how I believe family works right now, for me.

What are your thoughts on family?

- S

Lately

^^fiesta bean salad, camping for the new year!^^

^^camping, deliciousness, best buds, hot chocolate^^

^^napping Hux, Loons covered in grass, at the playground, mail for besties^^

^^new pens for the new semester, morning, hairs, southwest quinoa salad^^

^^Luna, brussels sprouts, sous chef Huxley, office at internship^^

- S

My Last Semester of Grad School Starts Today

- S

Meal Plan Week One

Now that school/internship is starting back up, and since Kyle is back, back I go to meal planning. I try to plan four meals for the work week in advance, and Kyle can plan the other or we will just improvise or have leftovers. I also want to try to have something planned for lunch for the week for me to pack, whether that's leftovers from Monday or something I make on Sunday to have ready (otherwise I won't really eat lunch). Also, Kyle wanted to try Meatless Mondays, which is fine by me since when he's not here I rarely cook meat anyway. So I thought I'd share my meal plan for the week!

Week 1

Monday: spaghetti squash pesto "pasta" with veggies and Parmesan cheese (bell pepper, asparagus, onion, zucchini, yellow summer squash)

Tuesday: baked bbq chicken with brussels sprouts and maybe spaghetti squash latkes or leftover squash from Monday

Wednesday: shepherds pie

Thursday: seasoned foil baked fish (tilapia) with veggies (squash, zucchini, onion, bell pepper) over rice

Lunch: southwest quinoa salad

- S