Double-Digits!

25weeks_picnikIt’s hard to believe that I’m just days away from the last trimester! Next Sunday will officially begin my 90-day countdown. I snapped this shot in the hotel mirror while we were on vacation. I figured since I was dressed up, I might as well take advantage! I feel enormous, but everyone keeps telling me that I look small, so who knows? At any rate, I figure now is a good time for me to start looking for good deals on things like diapers and wipes. You know me — I’m always hunting for the best sale! I’d like to have a decent stockpile before June so there won’t be a need to run out to the store because we’re out of diapers.

I’m also starting to think about stocking the freezer with meals to make those first few weeks easier. By the time the baby arrives, our CSA will be in full swing, so I know we’ll have fresh veggies, but now is a good time to start packing away some dinners, snacks, quick breads, etc. I already have the book, Don’t Panic — Dinner’s In the Freezer! and it’s great! I’ve made several of the recipes in there and they’ve all been good. I’m considering getting Don’t Panic–More Dinner’s in the Freezer: A Second Helping of Tasty Meals You Can Make Ahead since the first book is so good. Although I’ve also thought of getting Dream Dinners: Turn Dinner Time Into Family Time with 100 Assemble-And-Freeze Meals. (Dream Dinners is also a chain of prep-your-own-dinner establishments, and the book is written by the women who started the business.) Maybe I’ll just get them both since I do like having meals ready-to-go. I don’t want to waste time, though, because I know the last couple of months fly by and I don’t want to be stuck with nothing to eat, especially since I’ll really have to take it easy after my c-section! Do you have any favorite freezer meals (aside from lasagna and enchiladas)? I’d love to hear what they are!

What a Long Day

For some reason, this day is just dragging. I think sometimes when the school has a two-hour delay it’s like that. Yes, there was a delay this morning on account of snow that totally surprised us last night. I don’t remember it being in the forecast. We decided to go out last night (bad, I know!), and on our way home, once we crossed the Hudson River back to our county, could not believe the way the snow was coming down. We probably got 2-3 inches total. So, as soon as he woke up Drew cleaned out the driveway and then did some work before heading to his dentist appointment and then down to his mother’s.

I’ve kept busy all day tidying up and cooking, but somehow I can’t believe it’s just 3:30. At least dinner is (mostly) done. I’m making Tandoori(ish) chicken (based on Dara’s Tandoori Tofu recipe) and Gobi Aloo (potato and cauliflower curry) because it used up a lot of stuff I had hanging out in the fridge. The kids won’t eat it and Drew said he might just eat dinner with his mom, so there should be plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. I avoided grocery shopping this week, except for picking up milk and some fresh fruit.

This weekend I need to pack for Woodloch! The boys still don’t know. We might tell them on Sunday night. I also have to remember to charge my camera battery and clean off my memory card. I kind of wish I had a couple extra SD memory cards because I’m lazy, but I guess I just will make due, and really that’s fine.

So I’m now totally exhausted and have to run out to wait for Jake’s bus. I’m looking forward to pouring myself a tall glass of icy root beer once he’s home and just relaxing for a bit before getting dinner on the table. Happy Friday, eveyone!

Week’s Eats

Better late than never, right? We did a lot of eating out over the weekend, so in an effort to not needlessly spend more money, I’m going to try to do a “clean out the pantry week.” Let’s see what I can come up with! Too lazy to plan out my lunches this week, so wish me luck there. The plan:

Sunday: Went to the diner
Monday: Ordered pizza
Tuesday: Lemon-pepper cod, green beans, salad (leftover ‘za for the boys)
Wednesday: Spaghetti w/ meat sauce (made with ground turkey), salad
Thursday: Chicken picatta, pasta salad, some vegetable
Friday: Steak, baked potatoes, some vegetable
Saturday: Leftovers, nachos, or whatever I can scrounge up

Week’s Eats

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While last week I may not have totally stuck to my menu plan for dinners, knowing what I’d be making for lunches really helped because we didn’t skip out once! Often we’ll decide that we “need” to run an errand and pick up something while we are out. It was really nice saving that money 🙂  The chicken curry came out delicious, and I’ve finally gotten the heat down just right for our tastes. In fact, I ended up making it again on Sunday night for dinner (and some extra this time!). Friday night we went out to a local diner we really enjoy — An Apple a Day Diner in Red Hook. It’s not a fancy place by any means — there are no wall fountains or fancy paintings or cloth napkins, just good home cooking. It is the perfect place to go with kids! I ordered a Kingston Black burger, which is made with cajun spices, fried onion strings, and blue cheese. I put a little ranch dressing on it too and OMG, it was sooo good! So I’m going to try to recreate it for dinner this week. The boys will just have regular burgers.

And as usual, I am trying out one of Sandra‘s recipes. Seriously, everything she makes just sounds so delicious. I am so glad she puts her recipes online for everyone to enjoy! Speaking of which, I am working on redoing my own recipe blog, and I plan to do a better job of keeping it up to date. I’ll let you know when it’s ready!

This week also is, of course, Valentine’s Day! Since we’re going to be at my parents’ house on Saturday I am hoping to rope them into babysitting so D. and I can have a date night and go somewhere to eat. I think I’m going to do a special Valentine’s dinner for us on Thursday. I’ve been craving penne a la vodka (which is pink – how perfect!) and I know Jake loves it. Hopefully Noah will eat it. I need to think of a special dessert, too (maybe cupcakes). Anyway, here’s the rest of my meal plan:

Sunday
L: McDonald’s (I will admit that this is because I wanted a Hello Kitty watch — the Happy Meal toy)
D: Chicken curry, rice; leftovers for the boys

Monday
L: Chili-cheese burritoes with leftover chili, cheese quesadilla for Noah
D: Stuffed shells, green salad, cauliflower

Tuesday
L: Soup & salad
D: Burgers, potato salad, green salad

Wednesday
L: BLTs, Soup
D: Garlic Chicken Bites (using chicken breast instead of wings), oven fries, green beans

Thursday
L: Berkshire Blue Cheese Salads (chicken nuggets for N.)
D: Penne a la vodka, Ceasar salad

Friday
L: Either sandwiches or pick up something on the way to Mass.
D: Eat at mom & dad’s

Saturday
~ visiting my family and hopefully having a date a night for Valentine’s Day! ~

Baking & Making
~ a new batch of chili mix
~ muffins for the freezer
~ granola

For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie

Another Snowy Day

Seems like the weather forecasters had no idea what was going on with this storm, but we’ve had a gentle snowfall all day. It’s been nice, actually. (Of course, I’m not the one who has to go out and snowblow or shovel!) At least the roads look OK and school wasn’t cancelled or delayed for a change.

I saw my little possum buddy again today. Oh, you didn’t know we had a possum hanging around? Last week he ventured up onto our deck:

Whoa, possum!

Today I saw him padding along from the woods. If it weren’t for that ratty tail, the things might actually be cute. He didn’t come up on the deck today, though (probably because I didn’t have any bread thrown out there yet). We have one squirrel who just about knocks at the sliding glass door around lunchtime every day, waiting for his crusts. It’s so funny!

I got a lot of things done today, so I feel good about that. I baked some banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips and it smells so good! I can’t wait to have a slice with a cup of decaf tea or coffee later on. I also already made the curry chicken for tonight’s dinner. It’s always better when it sets for a while. All I’ll need to do is make some rice and chicken nuggets for the boys. The curry is too spicy for them and I get tired of arguing over dinner, so a couple times a week I try to give them something that I know won’t result in pouting and tears.

Not much else is going on. I’ve been super tired at night lately and heading to bed around 8. I usually read for a bit, but the other night I actually fell asleep reading, which is unusal for me. Since I’ve been a real dud at night, it’s given Drew the opportunity to work on some new music. I am super happy about that! It’s been a while since he’s been able to really focus on it. In fact, he even ordered some business cards and other promotional products like postcards to send along with demos. It would be great if he got a couple gigs and started playing out again.

I guess that’s about it! Maybe I’ll just sneak one tiny piece of my banana bread as a pre-dinner snack…

Week’s Eats

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It’s that time again! Time to get organized and try to figure out this week’s menus. I’m trying to plan lunches this week too, so there’s an added challenge 😉 Since Drew telecommutes several days a week, hopefully this will help prevent my blank stare when he asks, “What’s for lunch.” I’m also craving spicy food again, so I’m throwing some Mexican and Indian-inspired dishes in here. I’d really, really love to go for Indian buffet this week, but the boys won’t eat it, so… I guess I’ll just make my own.

Monday
L: Black bean & orzo salad with tortilla chips
D: Burgers, oven fries, leftover salad from lunch, sliced cukes & carrots for the boys

Tuesday
L: Tuna melts, tomato soup
D: Chicken curry, rice (chicken nuggets for the boys)

Wednesday
L: Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches
D: Hot dogs, baked beans, green salad

Thursday
L: Grilled chicken salads
D: Turkey & bean chili, cornbread

Friday
L: Leftover chili
D: Dinner out

Saturday
L: Leftovers or sandwiches – something easy
D: Tacos or spaghetti & meatballs

Menu Plan Monday

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Amazing! I actually have a menu plan for this week. I can’t believe it, either. There are a few new recipes that I’m trying out. Originally I was going to make the scampi next weekend, but I remembered that I still have wine in the fridge from the lemon-olive chicken, so I’ll make it tonight to use it up. We’re scraping the bottom of our “cooking wine” stash (basically old white wine that is fine for cooking, but not for drinking). At the store we used to sell these little four-packs of wine (I know Barefoot and Vendange have them), so I am thinking of picking one up so I don’t need to open a big bottle of wine every time I need it for cooking. One small bottle would be enough for one or two recipes — perfect!

I’m also trying out this Zuppa Toscana recipe. It’s Drew’s favorite soup at The Olive Garden. I think I’m going to switch out the kale for spinach, though since I have spinach in the freezer from our CSA. The lemon butter fillet of sole is the other new recipe. We really need to get more fish into our diet, so this is yet another attempt. Here’s what I’m planning:

Sunday: Spaghetti & meatballs, tossed salad, garlic bread
Monday: Shrimp scampi, baked potatoes, tossed salad
Tuesday: Soup & sandwiches
Wednesday: Baked chicken, broccoli rice casserole, tossed salad
Thursday: Copycat Zuppa Toscana, tossed salad
Friday: Taco ring
Saturday: Lemon butter fillet of sole, green beans, tossed salad

I’m also considering making a batch of sourdough starter (thanks again Mike for the recipe!). I’d like to bake more bread this year and sourdough is not only a family favorite, but it’s also very healthy. I prefer it over whole-wheat, so it would be great to make my own.

For more menu planning ideas, vist Organizing Junkie.

Crunchy Granola

01.04.08 | crunchy granola

A couple weeks ago I read over Sarah’s recipe for granola. (Actually it’s her mom’s.) I couldn’t wait to try it, and today I finally got around to making a batch. I used walnuts, dried cranberries, and flax seed in my version. I omitted the sesame seeds, wheat germ, and wheat bran. I have to admit that it came out really good! Next time I might use maple syrup instead of honey. I’m looking forward to experimenting with different fruit & nut combinations. Since yogurt and granola is a breakfast staple (I eat it just about every other day), I think this will be a fun addition to my culinary repertoire. (Not to mention that it’s so much cheaper than store-bought!)

Holiday Hangover

I think I just might be suffering from a holiday hangover because I am so tired and achy today. I think all the driving, all the delicious (but not necessarily healthy) food, and general craziness surrounding Christmas has caught up with me. But that aside, we certainly had a wonderful holiday! We had dinner on Christmas Eve at Drew’s mom’s house, and then I hosted on Christmas day. I would, without a doubt, make the beef tenderloin again. I could not believe how easy it was, and the result was delicious. Next time I might only cook it until 125 degrees (internal temp.) instead of 130 — I think it could have been a bit rarer still, but it was pretty pink inside and melted in your mouth.

The boys were thrilled with their toys (Legos, Transformers, a Hulk Smash game, baseball set, just tons of toys!) and Drew took us all by surprise with a family gift he saved for last. When the boys tore off the wrapping paper and I saw that he’d bought a Wii, I was shocked! (Happily shocked, but utterly surprised!) You see, Drew isn’t really into video games or computer games. He’s not the kind of guy who sits around playing World of Warcraft. Heck, I can’t even get him to play Wordscraper on Facebook! But apparently he’d been looking into various video game systems and really liked the Wii. He also got a Wii Fit and several games to go with the system. We’ve been enjoying the tennis game most of all so far, and Jake loves his I Spy game. It really is a lot of fun!

I was spoiled with some beautiful jewelry (including a gorgeous etched glass cameo that will look stunning with a knit lace shawl — now I have my motivation to finish one!). And the other gift that blew me away was a hand-painted jewelry armoire. I’ve wanted one of those armoires for years! I am so excited to transfer all my jewelry into it. Drew loved his book of Tom Waits sheet music, and the various iPod Nano accessories that I picked out for him, as well as a few other odds and ends.

We spend the day after Christmas at my parents’ house and had a great time there visiting with mom and dad and my brother and sister-in-law. Mom made a bunch of delicious Polish food and I especially enjoyed the homemade kielbasa that they buy locally and the cabbage pierogis. *So good!* I am really spoiled. The “kielbasa” and pierogis you buy at the supermarket aren’t even close to the real things. We got home late Saturday afternoon and had a lazy day yesterday.

Today I’ve been trying to clean everything up and getting ready to take down the tree and decorations. As much as I love having them up, I also love after I take everything down and put it all away, reclaiming all the space in my house! I love starting the new year clean and uncluttered.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays as well. Any exciting plans for New Year’s?