Meal Plan Monday - week of 2/22

Whats on the Menu this week? A couple of new recipes. I must say that I love having my meals planned out. I don't necessarily like having to come up with different ideas. However this makes my life so much less stressful thanks to a little planning.

My week at a glance:

The chicken tetrazzini was supposed to have mushrooms in it, which i didn't have and didn't feel like going to the grocery store so I cooked up some asparagus on the side for the veggie portion of the dish. The only thing I would change is that the recipe called for baking it for 30 minutes after putting the sauce and pasta together, I would probably only broil it for 5 or so minutes to toast it up a little.

Today's dish is another new recipe: Balsamic Chicken. I found this on the internet somewhere. 6 chicken breasts, 3/4 c. of balsamic vinegar, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp of oil. Mixed all together in the crockpot and ready for Daddy and the kids for dinner. I have plans tonight.

Tuesday: Bison Chili - luckily I have a freezer FULL of bison. If you would like some check out Marsh Meadow Bison.

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Cilantro Lime Chicken - I have made this in the past and it was delicious. You can pre-make this as a freezer meal or just fresh. You can bake it or grill it in the summer, or those places that it is warmer than 10 degrees outside.

Friday - Its just me and the kids so probably more leftovers or pizza!!

Saturday - We have big plans to go into Boston and check out the Children's Museum. We got a Family Membership so we will hopefully get some good use out of it.

Fitness Update:

I managed to make it on the treadmill 1 time last week. I don't know what was wrong with me, just busy and super tired. Hopefully this week is better. I have already managed a 20 minute walk today!!

What is on your menu this week? Do you try new recipes? What are your tried and true crockpot recipes?

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes (via Pinterest)

 I hope that all of these quotes help to inspire you all a little bit today. These are things that I found inspiring today as I am trying to build my business and the farm.

One of my favorites is - "when it rains look for rainbows, when its dark look for stars"

This reminds me of my daughter. When we drive at night so is constantly looking for the moon and stars.

Once again it is snowing in NH! Most people as sick of it, however I love it.

What is the weather like in your area?

What are some of your favorite inspiring quotes?

Meal Plan Monday - Week of 2/16

Happy Monday! Hope you all are staying warm wherever you are. It was -6 degrees this morning. I must say I love having the wood stove as supplemental heat. Definitely helps keep the house nice and toasty warm.

So over the weekend I planned out the meals for the week to help ease some of the stress of deciding what is for dinner and what we need. This is our weekly menu board that I have in our kitchen so that everyone knows what is on the menu.

Saturday - Valentine's Day - we had cheese fondue with Swiss and Gruyere cheese.

 I used this recipe from Tyler Florence. It was OK. Very stringy which is to be expected with the Swiss cheese. We had carrots, peppers, broccoli, and tastefully simple beer bread for dippers.

Sunday - French Onion and Asparagus Pasta from www.halfhourmeals.com 

This was delicious. Everyone loved it. Served it with the leftover bread from Saturday.

Monday - Lasagna

Tuesday - Tacos

This may be taco salad because one of the dogs ate the tortilla shells off the counter while I was down stairs on the treadmill. Thats probably better because we have a lot of pasta on the menu this week.

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken, probably with sweet potatoes and a vegetable of some sort.

Thursday - Mac and Cheese.

Friday - ?? Leftovers or Pizza

On Saturday, I had some free time so I pre made the lasagna and mac and cheese and froze them. I will also use the delay start on the oven to help with the meals. I set it to start so the meal finishes around the time that I plan to be home. To be safe I usually set it a little later so it doesn't over cook, but there is also a timer so it will stop cooking at the appropriate time. This feature is AMAZING. If your oven has it you should definitely use it.

Well, its going to be another cold week here in New Hampshire and we have lots of comfort food on the menu. What is on you menu for this week?

Snow Day Crafts

We have had a few snow days this winter already.

 So during those snow days I stay busy making crafts, coloring with the kids, or just plain playing. One of my most recent crafts was making this Pain Cream from Young Living Essential Oils for a friend. I actually ended up making 2 of them because someone else wanted to try it as well.

 It was super was to make. I took 1/2 cup of coconut oil. I heated it up for about 30 seconds in the microwave to make it soft and added 5 drops of each oil including; Valor, Lemongrass, Peppermint, and PanAway. It smells wonderful. I am sending them out in the mail the next day or too. I went to the post office today but the computers were down so they couldn't go out. Sorry.

Crafts - we have done some Valentine's Day inspired crafts courtesy of Pinterest. 

Coloring Pages -

Butterfly

and Dinosaur

We also made this project.  

Disclaimer: this is the picture from pinterest. 

Both my little ones 18 months and almost 3 did great with putting the pieces of ripped up paper onto the glue in the middle of the heart.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. There is more snow in the forecast for NH/New England.