Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Chicken Fajitas with black bean salsa (can you tell we like mexican?)

Tuesday- Crockpot pulled pork sandwiches (263 calories a sandwich), fresh veggies

Wednesday- Turkey Avocado Baguette Sandwich with Chipotle Mayonnaise (344 calories for 1/6 baguette) - her recipe has each sandwich as 1/3 of the whole baguette, but I cut the serving size to save on calories.

Thursday- Easy Baked Chicken, grilled broccoli (last week they had a deal on whole chickens 2 for 7GBP's, so I figured I should use the one in my freezer before I bought more chicken :) Plus we just love this recipe! It's so easy and tasty and I'm able to use the extra meat for a few days after!

Friday- Orchard Chicken Salad

What are you cooking up this week?

There are a lot more great meal ideas at Orgjunkie!

The Jesus Storybook Bible

When Maddy turned 3, Tim and I realized that Maddy was ready for a little more in depth Children's Bible. We did a little research and at Christmas time, got her the "Jesus Storybook Bible".

It is just a tad above her reading level and takes a little effort on our part to keep her sitting still for a full story (we also have a very active child). But sitting still quietly for longer periods of time is something we are working with her on, so I guess we are  hitting two birds with one stone.

I'm happy to see that she is intrigued by the stories and the pictures(although she wishes there were more :).  She really gets into it and asks so many good questions! Tim and I really like that the constant theme points towards Jesus Christ.  It's kid friendly and interesting and still maintains the facts of the scriptural stories. That's a hard thing to find in a children's Bible book! I think it's something that we will continue to re-read with her for many years to come, gleaning new and deeper truths as she grows in her understanding and, Lord willing, faith.  I would recommend it to anyone with children!

Missionary friends of ours in London (David and Annalisa Wilson) wrote a  blog post on the book recently including this great article written by the author of the book, called "Teach Children the Bible is not About Them". It's a quick and excellent read -such good reminder as a parent. Her main point is that we don't need to "pull a moral" out of each and every story in the Bible to teach children how THEY must act. The story of the Bible is bigger than that. It's about Christ and His work on the cross!

This quote from the article says it best, "When we drill a Bible story down into a moral lesson, we make it all about us. But the Bible isn't mainly about us, and what we are supposed to be doing---it's about God, and what he has done!"

#003 You Might Live in Scotland If...

 ...you boil your water for coffee, tea, oatmeal, etc. in an electric kettle. 

Yup, just about every flat in Aberdeen comes with one of these babies on the counter. Tim and I both agree that this invention is genius and we should get one straight away upon our return to the States ;) You just fill with water, press the button and you have piping hot water in a matter of minutes!

MPM + review of last week's menu

So it's a busy time right now with trying to make some changes to the first draft of my thesis. I handed it to my reader a bit ago and he gave it back with some needed change, but not a ton - which is SUCH a blessing.  So i'm trying to polish it up right now to get to the technical reader by Wednesday, then all that's left is a 2nd draft and a  presentation via Skype-woohoo!

All that to say, my menu is pretty simple, not very many pics and not all the calorie counts I normally have. Hopefully I'll be back on track with that next week.

Hope you all have a great week and some good cookin' planned :)

Monday - Cobb Salad: Romain lettuce topped with grilled chicken, bacon, hard boiled eggs, and cheddar cheese - yum!
Tuesday - Baked Chicken 
Wednesday - Chicken Noodle Soup
Thursday - Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole, (410 calories a serving)

Friday - Meatball Subs

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Quick review of last week's new recipes: 

Lemon Dill Salmon - Tim and I both rated it a 9/10 -yum! -WILL do again :)
Lemon Dill Vinaigrette - 5/10 - too sour - Will NOT do again :(
Cheddar Bay Biscuites - 7/10 - tasty, but so greasy and not that amazing(to us) to be worth all the calories - Probably Will NOT do again :(
Sesame Chicken - 5/10 - Just bland and blah - not worth the effort - Will NOT do again :(
Chicken Caesar Salad - amazing! We both rated it a 9/10. I think the homemade dressing and homemade croutons made it so yum! WILL do again :)

I'm linked up with orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday + Valentine's Day Menu

Monday- Stuffed Shells, salad

Tuesday (Valentine's Day)
We're having a nice quiet, romantic dinner at home once the kids to go bed!
- Salmon with Lemon and Dill (320 calories per filet) Salad with Lemon Dill Vinaigrette(43 calories)

Cheddar, Garlic Biscuits (tim's favorite) ~This is our splurge 

Dessert: 

Homemade Molton Chocolate Cake

(Kindly given by my Friend Stephanie. This will be my first time trying it ;)

Ingredients:

4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 T Cabernet or other wine

1 t vanilla extract

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

6 T flour

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

*The recipe calls for making it in the microwave, but I always use a saucepan on the stove.

*Melt chocolate and butter together, whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in wine, vanilla, and sugar until blended. Whisk in eggs and yolk. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon evenly into prepared dish (I used the fairy cake mold, but i have used the muffin tin before, though I can't remember how long I baked them, think it was still about 15 min?)

*Bake in preheated 425 degree oven (that's 210 deg C) 15 min or until sides are firm but centres are soft. Let stand 1 min. Loosen edges with knife. Invert onto serving plate. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar if desired.

FUN FOR KIDS :
* Fun little snack/activity for the girls: Valentine's Day Popcorn Balls

Wednesday- Beef and Black Bean Burrito Bar. We try to make ours as much like Chipotle's as possible - yum!

I didn't get to the following two last week because I ended up making some other things based on what we were feeling like and had. So I had to give them a go this week.
Thursday- Sweet and Sticky Sesame Chicken (288 calories, 4g fat, 2.25g fiber per 1 cup)

Friday- Chicken Caesar Salad (227 calories per 1 cup)

Find more recipe ideas art Orgjunkie

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Coconut Chicken with sweet chili dipping sauce (419 calories per 4 strips, 25 calories for 1T dipping sauce)

Tuesday- Sweet n' Sticky Sesame Chicken (288 calories, 4g fat, 2.25g fiber per 1 cup)

Wednesday- Chicken Caesar Salad (227 calories per 1 cup)

Photo Credit

Thursday- Beef Taco Salad with Black Bean Salsa

Friday-  Pat's Famous Beef and Pork Chili(469 calories for 1 cup)

*The recipe actually says it serves 6 people but it makes 10 cups of chili. So I  reduced the portion size to make the calories more reasonable.

Find more recipe ideas at Organizing Junkie

#002 You Might Live in Scotland If...

...when you drive or walk down the street you happen upon a sign like this:

The first time Tim and I saw one we burst out into simultaneous laughter!