Meal Plan Week 11

As the semester reaches its last month, I find I have more events and happenings in the evenings, so meal planning has become more sporadic. Such is life!

Saturday: we went to the Texas Wine and Rogue Art Fest so we had dinner in Salado

Sunday: ^^beer can chicken with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts^^

Meatless Monday: Jalapeno and mushroom quesadillas with black bean and corn salad

Tuesday: leftover beer can chicken for Kyle (I'm speaking at a Baylor event in the evening!)

Wednesday: Glazed pork chops with roasted asparagus and garlic pasta

Thursday: leftovers or take out or Kyle cooks

Friday: tacos, probably!

Have a lovely week!

- S

Grad School Party

Last night a bunch of my social work cohort had a little get together to eat catch up and play Cards Against Humanity, which is probably the anti-social work game if there ever was one. This semester we are all at our internships just about full time, so we don't see each other regularly. It was nice to relax and take an evening off!

^^there were veggies and pulled pork sliders, but they didn't make it on to the table^^

^^Dani explained the very simple rules^^

- S

Meal Plan Week 10

Sunday: ^^Shepherd's Pie^^ (I would do this on Monday for St. Patty's day, but I'm going to happy hour with some friends and not sure how late I will be in Waco)

Monday: leftovers or other

Tuesday: baked barbecue chicken with asparagus

Wednesday: curry turkey and rice

Thursday: roasted red pepper pasta with brussels sprouts (I don't know if Monday will be meatless, so going meatless a different day this week)

Friday: lemon and herb baked tilapia with mashed potatoes and garlic green beans

Saturday: beer can chicken with veggies and leftover mashed potatoes

- S

Meal Plan Week 9

It was nice having a week off of cooking duty, that's for sure. I ate some tasty food at a few restaurants, and also cooked by my friends.

I was too tired to cook on Friday, but on Saturday I made these three-ingredient brownies that turned out quite well and were super easy. I recommend eating them with ice cream or milk.

Saturday: steak, sweet potato fries, sauteed brussels sprouts and garlic, glazed carrots

Sunday: turkey chili with sourdough bread

Monday: bruschetta, sesame noodles with broccoli

Tuesday: turkey chili leftovers

Wednesday: slow cooker chicken fajitas

Thursday: honey chipotle crusted salmon with balsamic roasted cauliflower and garlic broccoli

- S

DC So Far

Just a quick check in! This has been a more atypical Washington, DC trip, as the first two days were spent only at the conference at a hotel and not seeing anything of the city really, whereas on my last trip we were walking past the White House every day. There was also a snow storm and doing much more than getting to and from the metro in my non-snow boots was out of the question. But the conference is over and I'm staying with Abigail in Baltimore, the sun is out and snow is sort of clearing, so hopefully we'll have some more adventures! 

^^my comfy digs via Airbnb^^

^^construction picking back up after the snowstorm^^

^^Georgetown cupcake red velvet^^

^^National Cathedral^^

^^finally went to the Holocaust museum^^

^^fun dinner in Alexandria with high school friends and their significant others^^

^^learned poker over late night tea^^

^^a classic, in snow^^

- S

Meal Plan Week 8

I was having an off-weekend, so I didn't do too much meal planning before Monday, though I knew we were pretty well stocked from grocery shopping the previous weekend.

Sunday: Kyle ended up making garden pasta with turkey meatballs, and it was very good!

Monday: ^^white bean and pasta soup^^ (I'll probably take this for lunch during the week, too.

Tuesday: salmon with mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and broccoli

Wednesday: spaghetti squash with veggies and chicken sausage

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: out to eat, leftovers, improvise

I'm heading to DC on Saturday and return Friday, so no meal plan for next week! But I will surely take lots of photos of the tasty food I hope to eat. :)

- S

One Per Month Challenge: February

Well, I took the plunge and purchased a pair of matte black Tieks for my February purchase. These are certainly an investment piece. I have only heard good things about Tieks, and I needed a simple, classic pair of black flats, because I didn't actually own any plain black shoes. Aside from saving money, this challenge is about finding quality pieces of clothing rather than spending money on bogo impulse buys in the Target shoe section. I thought about this purchase a lot before ordering, and in the end I decided to go for a more expensive pair that I knew was going to be comfortable and last, instead of a cheaper (but still fairly expensive) pair that might not feel much better than a $13 Target or Old Navy pair. So far these have really been amazing- best pair of flats I've ever owned. I'm looking forward to giving them a real test during my upcoming trip to DC, where I'll be walking around the city all week. The packaging was truly superb, the leather nice and soft, and I've received compliments on the teal color pop already.

As far as how the challenge is going so far- I've been tempted a couple times, to the point of adding some things to my virtual shopping cart,  to take advantage of some great online sales, but I haven't bought anything. Though, the things I'm looking at are for work/professional purposes, but I'm going to wait until closer to the end of February to get a couple things, and I will probably buy in-store so I know the items fit (and no shipping costs). Two months down, ten more to go!

Previous Months:

January

- S

Warm Weekend

^^USA played Russia at 6 am on Saturday, and so we thought donuts were a good idea^^

 ^^we had a nice time at the park after the hockey game^^

^^napping Huxley^^

^^napping Darwin^^

^^the weather was lovely on Saturday^^

^^today the office was closed so I worked from home; it almost felt like a continuation of the weekend^^

- S

Meal Plan Week 7

Last week I didn't plan lunch for the week, and that resulted in me bringing this for lunch on Friday:

A pear and a bell pepper, yep that's right. So, I'm trying to get back into the planning, with another quinoa salad dish this week. I'm going to make it on Monday, since I'm able to work from home that day, and I will be out for lunch on Wednesday, so I'll make a smaller batch. 

Sunday: HEB roast chicken with ^^baked zucchini fries^^ (and leftover mashed potatoes for Kyle)

Meatless Monday: vegetable stir fry (broccoli, mushroom, onion, red and yellow bell pepper, snap peas) with brown garlic sauce and brown rice (update: the sauce is delicious! I substituted gin for the rice wine.)

Tuesday: pork loin with parmesan roasted potatoes and asparagus

Wednesday: leftover pork loin with brussels sprouts (leftover potatoes for Kyle)

Thursday: breakfast for dinner (eggs with veggies, bacon or turkey sausage, toast), or just leftovers

Friday: salsa chicken with brown rice

Lunch: Asian Quinoa Salad

- S

Calm Weekend

 ^^I worked from home on Friday with this cutie; we watched the Opening Ceremonies in the evening.^^

 ^^I made spaghetti squash latkes with fried eggs for brunch on Saturday. ^^

^^We saw the Lego Movie; it was fun and everything is awesome.^^

 ^^then we got frozen yogurt^^

^^On Sunday the cats napped in the sun. I kinda wished I could join them.^^ 

^^I did a whole bunch of cleaning and cooking, including the cheddar bacon beer bread.^

- S

Meal Plan Week 6

Check out this cheddar bacon beer bread I made to go with dinner tonight:

Sunday: turkey chili with bacon cheddar beer bread

Meatless Monday: Pad See Ew

Tuesday: chicken sausage with mashed cauliflower, brussels sprouts and corn

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: pork loin with parmesan roasted potatoes and veggies

Friday: leftovers or out to eat

- S

Meal Plan Week 5

Nothing too exciting to report this week. I didn't make a lunch as I will be out of town for meetings and events in Austin two days of the week, and had lunch with friends scheduled for two other days; no point making anything!

Meatless Monday : spicy roasted vegetable mac n' cheese (see above)- this was quite good! Not very spicy, though.

Tuesday: I was going to do my curry turkey with rice, but Kyle had a late lunch and we have a couple leftovers, so for myself I just sauteed some brussels sprouts, yellow bell pepper and broccoli to eat with some leftover rice. Simple and delicious.

Wednesday: I'll likely be getting dinner in Austin, or leftovers.

Thursday: spaghetti squash with meat sauce (though the meat sauce isn't sounding very appealing to me now, so maybe I'll just cook a piece of steak for Kyle and have mine meatless)

Friday: I think I'll bring home Tarka from Round Rock on my way back from Austin! yum.

- S

Superbowl Weekend

 ^^Saturday morning donuts- maybe this will be something we do once or twice a month^^

^^working with the kitties taking turns visiting me^^

^^nails in opi "cajun shrimp" for this week, to combat the grey and dreary^^

^^Kyle brewed another batch of beer^^

This week I've got two trips to Austin for work, so that's fun! One month until my trip to DC. Life is pretty busy but the busy feels good for the most part. 

- S

Baked: Sour Cream Pancakes and Blueberry Banana Bread

I like to bake. Mainly because people like baked goods, and I like to make people happy; I also like to make pretty things. In high school I would bring chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin loaf to school for friends and classmates. I didn't do too much baking as an undergrad, due to dorm life and doing other things, but since moving to TX, and with the help of grad school, I have great reason to bake again. Baking for the husband, baking for classmates and friends, meetings and gatherings. Last semester I baked something at least every other Sunday to bring in. I kind of want to open a puffed pancake shop, there I said it. Or just a shop that serves baked breakfast goods- pancakes of all styles and flavors, loafs, muffins, oatmeal and the sort. Don't worry, I'm not dropping out of grad school with three months to go. Just a little day dreaming. Anyway, here's a couple of things I've baked as of late. 

.....

Sour Cream Pancakes

I know- sour cream pancakes sounds weird. My husband definitely made a face when I told him what I was making for breakfast last Saturday morning, but I reassured him by telling him the recipe was from the Pioneer Woman, and with the mention of that magical name, enough skepticism melted away for him to try them. And we both really liked them. They are light and delicious and oh-so-good. Easier than regular pancakes too, somehow (though not quite as easy as puffed pancakes, if you're wondering where they fall on the pancake-ease-of-baking scale). Here is the recipe. I didn't change anything, though I think they would be delicious with berries, or lemon squeezed on top with a dusting of powdered sugar. One batch made an odd 7 pancakes, though, and they are thin, so if you're very hungry and serving more than one, I'd suggest doubling or doing one and a half batches. That would make for a more impressive pancake stack, too. 

^^basking in the morning light^^

Blueberry Banana Bread

Loafs are probably one of the easiest things to make, yes? I like that there are loafs for every season. Pumpkin for fall. Gingerbread for winter. Zucchini for summer. Banana for spring. Something like that. Perhaps for 2014 I will loaf my way through the year- ooh new idea! Well I've made many banana breads, sometimes with chocolate chips, but never with blueberries. This is probably the prettiest loaf I've ever made. And maybe the most delicious (anything beats that gingerbread loaf). I used a recipe from here, but with the following changes:

-I didn't want to buy a big thing of buttermilk, because when would I ever use buttermilk again, so I just used 1/4 c. regular milk with a couple squirts of lime juice (since I didn't have lemon juice). Not sure if the lime did anything, but I'm sticking to it.
- You don't really need to measure out your blueberries. That's just silly.
- I don't have an electric mixer and mixed with a spoon/spatula, and melted the butter a bit to make that easier.
- Since I did the one large loaf instead of minis, I baked it for about 60 minutes. I started with 30 and checked it, then did another 10 and checked it, then another 15ish maybe...it was probably around 60, maybe a little more. Just stick a knife in and make sure it comes out clean, and you're good.

- S