A Day Out

Yesterday, we spent the entire day at home. Inside. Doing nothing. Because we are all suffering from allergies in some fashion. Today, though, we were all feeling ok and I found a discounted ticket price at the Perot Museum in Dallas. Off we went!

Aaaand, just because...

Quite Contrary

Should've named her Mary instead. 

I want apple juice! 

Hey! This isn't water! 

Play barbies with me! 

*walks off leaving me with Barbie in hand* 

Pick what snack you want me to have! 

I don't want that!  

Don't get me any crackers. 

Wha-a-ha-a-a-a! Where are my crackers?!

*Just did something she wanted to do*

I haven't gotten to do that in a long time!!

ETA: I wish I could stay but I don't!

This is such fun.

Vacationing v2

Annual beach weekend. 

Me, Jess, Mandy, Chris

Tara

Robin, Amanda

Seaweed

Nail polish

Tasty beverages and food that was just ok.

Kindle book and early-to-rise reading sessions and reading from dusk to dark. 

Staying up past my 'bedtime' and still being the first to go to bed. I really trust my gals.  

Late evening stroll/sit/lay on cool evening sand just talking. 

I can't say it how I want to. It was random that Jess invited me into her life about 9 years ago. Then we moved and still kept contact with each other. I can't thank her enough. She is one of my best friends. 

Vacationing

Every summer we go on vacation for about 2 weeks to visit family. Today we took Ivy to the beach. 

It is unfortunate that this time, the seaweed is so bad there is no real beach to walk along or build sandcastles. This area of the beach is no regularly cleaned up. 

So we walked on a nature boardwalk. This was a major feature in my childhood. When I was in elementary school, the 4th grade classes took a field trip to this beach and walked the boardwalk around this marsh. 

A recent hurricane destroyed every feature of this beach/state park - including the boardwalk. It is all very slowly being rebuilt. 

Our nature walk only included blue crabs and a few bird species. My husband saw a young alligator but it hid before I got to see it. 

Best shot of the day here!

Wordless Wednesday

Party Time!

Ivy was invited to one of her dance-friend's birthday party. It was serious business. Ivy had a great time!

Menu Plan Monday May 11-17

I am feeling really run down today. While I was able to sleep in a bit and had a nap yesterday, I am still feeling very lethargic. Sweet Ivy had Daddy's help to make a pretty bead necklace for me for mother's day. We had a lovely breakfast at a local diner, got Raising Canes for lunch for free, and then I made fried shrimp for dinner. Yum!

Sunday - Fried shrimp & corn on the cob
Monday - Nachos or Tacos
Tuesday - Breakfast
Wednesday - Pork chops and rice pilaf
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - Appetizers
Saturday - Parmesan crusted tilapia & couscous

Compared to my: Month of May Menu

Menu Plan Monday @ Orgjunkie.com

Strawberries

My strawberry bush had a few berries ready at the same time instead of one every day. Yum!

Wordless Wednesday: Aquarium Fun

Two Things Tuesday

1. We have a robin's nest in our patio. We have watched her build her nest and feed her young birds. This week, the babies are learning to fly!  It has been neat to watch and show Ivy up close. 

2. Health. It's been bad in our house! Personally, I've been eating larger amounts of food and snacking more than I should. I have been making an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables. Ryan is interested in the Couch-to-5K program. We got out and walked as a family today. Hopefully we can start getting ourselves healthier. My back doesn't hurt so I want to move! 

Menu Plan Monday

This week has two "events". The first is Cinco de Mayo. We normally don't do anything for this but I thought a simple regular menu item would be appropriate for this day - nachos. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. The other event is teacher appreciation week.  I'm not sure how I feel about it. It doesn't really do anything for our menu.

So straying ever so slightly from my Month of May Menu:

Sunday: Grilled hamburgers - BOGO sale on hamburger patties

Monday: Nachos with homemade guacamole. I sauté my chicken with cumin and coriander to give it the Latin flavor.

Tuesday: Chicken salad sandwiches made from a rotisserie chicken

Wednesday: Pork chops and potatoes (packs of pork chops were a BOGO last week)

Thursday: Pizza - and hopefully we will make some extra dough for the freezer 

Friday: Pan grilled tilapia and rice pilaf

Saturday: Crock pot tangy meatballs 

More Menu Plans at OrgJunkie.com

A Little Adventure

On Monday, Ivy and I both woke up feeling horrible so we both stayed home. She spent most of her day laying on the couch in various stated of consciousness. Tuesday, I stayed home with her to make sure she was better. She and I were both pretty antsy so we got dressed and headed out the door!

I gave her the lead and let her direct my driving - left, right, straight. We first ended up at Sonic and we got something to drink. Second, we drove all the way across town to a bluebonnet field. Their peak of the season was the week before but I wanted to see them anyway.

I love bluebonnets! 

After that, it was time for lunch.

She got a silly game with her meal. I interpreted it as an in ca r game of "I Spy" or a type of scavenger hunt. We kept driving around town to see if we could find things on the cards. 

We ended up at a local farm that is home to a fall pumpkin patch. Behind the farm, we found a pasture with three horses in it. We stopped to just stand on the fence and observe them. They're horses. I started clicking my tongue. They all came to visit with us.

We had fun.

Freezer Meals part 2

I spent about an hour preparing 4 freezer meals - two each of chicken teriyaki and cilantro lime chicken. We ate one of the teriyaki chickens this evening. 

I left the chicken breast whole because it was going to be a long day. I also cooked it on low in the crockpot. Ryan made rice to go along with it while I was running an errand. Everything was pretty easy.  Once the rice was ready, I shredded the chicken and we ate this easy meal.

Even though the meal was still frozen when put into the crockpot and the chicken was left whole for timing purposes, it was still pretty dry. I'm not too thrilled with the outcome. We will finish eating the leftovers and will eat the second meal of this. But if I decide to make this again, I will use a different version and make a few tweaks with my ingredients.

The other freezer meal I prepared was a hit. I spent some time on a sick day (Ivy) to make breakfast burritos. I made bacon, roasted potatoes and scrambled eggs. I ate one fresh and loved it. The only downside with the frozen version, the reheating directions are horrible. I don't know how long I tried to heat up my burrito and it was still cold. But it did taste yummy. Maybe next time I will use more bacon and cheese. Easy breakfast for the win!

Breakfast burritos - http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/08/breakfast-burrito-bonanza/

Chicken teriyaki - http://www.stockpilingmoms.com/2014/02/crockpot-teriyaki-chicken/

Menu for the Month of May

I saw a website from Pinterest and I decided to plan out all of the menus for the month of May!

1: crockpot teriyaki chicken

2: leftovers

3: gnocchi with pink sauce (tomato sauce with cream)

4: leftovers

5: chicken salad sandwiches (using rotisserie chicken)

6: nachos

7: pork chops and potatoes

8: pizza

9: pan grilled tilapia and rice pilaf 

10: crock pot tangy meatballs

11: shrimp fettuccine (Pinterest)

12: leftovers

13: tacos

14: crockpot beef stew

15: leftovers

16: appetizers

17: Parmesan tilapia and couscous

18: hamburgers

19: leftovers

20: breakfast

21: chicken and rice (freeze)

22: leftovers

23: fish and chips

24: 3 cheese chicken fettuccine Alfredo bake (double to freeze)

25: leftovers

26: French dip sandwiches (crock pot)

27: million dollar spaghetti (freeze)

28: broccoli cheese soup (freeze)

29: leftovers

30: chicken nuggets (freeze)

31: fried catfish

I'm sure some of this will change. We need to eat a bunch of what we have in the freezer before I can do some more meaningful freezer meals. I am also not accounting for weekends when I might make a lunch. I'm also not accounting for the fact that I will be taking leftovers for lunch so there may be less leftovers.

Freezer Meals, part 1

If you follow my boards on Pinterest, you would know I've been pinning a lot of inspiration for freezer meals. I've decided to start trying that out. I thought about easing myself into it and only putting the meals together as I make one and save a second portion, but I think I will do two dinner recipes and two breakfast recipes in one day. I may even ask Ryan to make his awesome pizza dough to freeze. We have been kindof burned out and bored with what we have been eating lately - even though I've noticed my tastes have been expanding. Also, the warmer months are around the corner. Crock pot meals are awesome for summer because we won't be slaving over a hot stove. This will give us more free time too - instead of the whole cooking process, we will be waiting on the food to cook and actually doing stuff in that time.

Speaking of meals, we have been making it a point to sit together for the majority of our meals. During the week, we are a bit more relaxed for breakfast. This is helping to teach Ivy to slow down, focus on togetherness and to learn appropriate manners, especially if we are eating out.

We have to use what's in the freezer so space can be freed up for these freezer meals. If I get some fresh yogurt, I can make some berry/fruit yogurt freezes to make morning smoothies. I know I have to get some supplies too and our grocery bill may be more expensive at the forefront of this all. Cross your fingers. I want this to work!

Here are some recipes I will be making. No casseroles yet or any quick makes but those are being planned. They're all from Pinterest but I will try to link them up when I have an actual computer in front of me. 

Breakfast burritos (http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/08/breakfast-burrito-bonanza/)

Crockpot cilantro lime chicken

2 chicken breasts

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 can black beans, drained, rinsed

2 cups corn

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

Juice from 2 limes

Place all ingredients in freezer bag. Freeze flat.

For cooking:Thaw overnight in fridge.

Cook in crockpot on low 8 hours (high 4 hours)

Shred chicken and stir mixture together.

Serve with tortillas, shredded cheese & sour cream

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki

1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup packed brown sugar

⅓ cup soy sauce

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cubed

Place all ingredients in crockpot and stir. Cook on low 4-6 hours. Serve over rice.

Leave chicken whole to cook longer (6-8 hours)

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups All purpose organic flour

2 Tablespoons sugar or sucanat

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons butter, preferably organic

1 large egg yolk

½ cup buttermilk, organic (or homemade* see bottom)

½ cup strawberries, organic

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup almonds chopped (optional)

Directions:

1)   Preheat oven to 425 and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper

2)   In a large bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a pastry blender, until it resembles a coarse meal.

3)  In a smaller bowl whisk together egg yolk and buttermilk. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until dough starts to pull together.

4)   Fold in chocolate chips and strawberries and roll out onto a floured surface.

5)   Pat dough into a large square and cut into squares again, then triangles

6)   Place on cookie sheet and place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes

7)   Once cooled place in sandwich bags, or all in gallon bag.

8)   To serve: Reheat in microwave or toaster oven.

Freezing Directions:

Once cooled place in sandwich bags, or all in one gallon bag, remove air, and freeze. To serve: Reheat in microwave or toaster oven.