Menu Plan~ Sept 24-30, 2012

Honey Glazed Peach Spinach Salad

Breakfast Burritos (Bacon, Egg, Cheese, Red pepper and green onions) and fruit

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (261 calories for 1 1/3 cups soup and 1/2 cup brown rice)  

Beef Quesidillas

Chicken Stir Fry, Brown Rice

Menu Plan

So this is a majorly trimmed down meal plan, but I wanted to get it up at least. I wanted to keep myself accountable to doing it even though we just moved! All went well with the move. We had so much help with moving and cleaning from friends! Now we are having fun settling into our new place. It's about a 15 minute walk to take Maddy to nursery school each morning, so I am getting my exercise! That's an hour a day without even thinking about it! I love it!

Homemade Pizza, Salad
Baked Chicken, Veggies
Chicken Tortilla soup (265 calories a bowl)
Harvest Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
Chicken (or turkey) parmesan burgers

Scripture Memory~ Great is His Faithfulness!

Well, I've missed posting some of my Scripture memory because it's been crazy with preparing to move and a car situation we have been having which had us using the bus quite a bit to get Maddy to and from school.  But the Lord cared for us each step of the way and continues to.

I am reminded today of the Lord's great faithfulness. Our move from our old flat went smoothly and quickly yesterday because we had so much help from friends - praise the Lord! Now this week we are unpacking and getting settled. It will be nice to be close enough to Maddy's school now to walk!

Hope your week is blessed and you are reminded of the steadfast love of the Lord!

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Menu Plan Monday~ Pantry/Freezer Clean out!

I didn't do a major grocery shop this week because I realized I had some extra food in my freezer and pantry that I hadn't used and I needed to get through it before we move to a new flat this Saturday. Two of the recipes are repeats from last week because I randomly made some different dishes (because of time and company) so I get to make them this week :)

We are feeling very blessed to be moving to a flat 3.5 miles south of our current location that is twice the size and considerably cheaper a month! The landlords are a Christian couple who are happy to help out Divinity PhD families here in the area. We are thanking the Lord for his provision!

Monday~ Grilled Chicken, Corn on the cob, and grilled broccoli

Tuesday~ Meatballs with Red Sauce and Noodles


Wednesday~ Creamy Tomato Soup, Salad

Thursday~  Easy Beef Enchiladas and sliced avocados

Friday~ All White Chicken Nuggets with red chili dipping sauce and baked carrots (I know-weird, but it's what I have and need to get rid of it ;)

Check out orgjunkie to see more menu plan ideas.

Menu Plan Monday {4 New Recipes}

Monday~  Mexican Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Black Beans

Tuesday~ Pear Salad with Walnuts and Feta

Wednesday~ Creamy Tomato Soup and grilled cheese

Thursday~ Easy Beef Enchiladas (I'll be using my left over beef from my crockpot recipe)

Friday~ Chicken Caesar Salad

Recipe Reviews: 

Roasted Brussel Sprouts ~ Tim 8/10 (he actually said, " I never thought I liked brussel sprouts, but I like them this way!" Julie 7.5/10, Ease to make 9/10 - So easy! It's a GO!

Linguini with Turkey Meatballs and Roasted Peppers ~ Tim 8/10, Julie 8/10, Ease to make 8/10. This was a solid dish and tasty! I overcooked the meatballs a bit because I was nervous about being sure they were done, so they were a bit tough. But I can fix that next time! It's a GO!

Roasted Tomato BLT Sandwiches ~ Tim 8/10, Julie 9/10, 9.5/10 -Oh -my -word! These were so yummy! It probably sounds silly because it is JUST a BLT, but with that roasted tomato in there - it just brought it to a whole other level! You have got to try it. So easy and tasty! It's a GO!

Shredded Beef Tacos ~ Tim 7.5/10, Julie 7/10, Ease to make 8/10. This was really tasty and easy, but  I'm not sure it was worth the time or money. It's a more expensive cut of meat that I would rather have as a pot roast or something like that instead of shred up into tacos. But that being said, it made a TON of meat. We ate it two days in a row and then I froze three zip lock bags that I will pull out to put into Mexican dishes. So it was worth the money in the end. I'm not sure I would make it again though. NO GO.

Find more great menu plans on Orgjunkie

A Puppy Party and a Trip Down Memory Lane

 Rose loves "dog dogs" so we decided to celebrate here 2nd year of life with a "Puppy Party"!

All dressed up and checking out the cupcakes!

Sweet sisters waiting for their buddies to arrive.

Tim promised Rose a treat if she smiled ;)

The spread! I found most of these ideas on Pinterest and Martha Stewart's Website :)
She actually had a whole segment on a Puppy Party! She has a great video to watch here. Hers was much more elaborate than mine, but I'm proud that I did mine on a tight budget of time and money!

How could I not serve Puppy Chow?!

Dog Bones (pre-made herbed puff pastry). I was going to make homemade soft pretzel bones, but just didn't have time. Can anyone relate with that?! So I bought some pre-made dough, cut it into approximately 4x2 in. rectangular strips, rolled each strip into a snake like shape, and then tied each end into a knot. Voila! Dog Bones.

Pupcorn (sorry for all of the lame puns - I just couldn't help myself!)

Malt Balls ;)

We just HAD to serve hotdogs!
And they were American made from Costco - so that made my heart happy!

And of Course - Pupcakes!

I basically followed Martha Stewart's idea, but made it a little easier. I frosted them with homemade buttercream, Stuck a little mini cookie on for the face, chocolate chips for the eyes, chocolate covered raisin for the nose, drew the mouth with icing tube from the store (I also ended up using that to put the nose on so it didn't look white under the nose).
 And since I couldn't find any cookies here that fit the right size of the ears (some people used "Nutter Butter" cookies), I followed Martha's video of making the them.

I just melted chocolate chips, scooped it into the corner of a zip lock bag (makeshift piping bag), cut the corn off, and piped small oval (isn) or bean-like shapes onto wax paper, let them cool in the fridge. I then stuck them to the frosting smooth side up for ears!
The shape of each set of ears was not exactly symmetrical, but they look just fine on the cupcakes I think!
I'll admit, that part was MUCH easier than I though it would be. I even made a little heart with chocolate and put it on a cupcake for Tim. I'm totally using this method again for decorating cakes and desserts in the future!

I made a doggy bag using this clip art template. I really just wanted to use brown paper lunch bags (because they are cheaper), but I couldn't' find them here. 

All in all it was a really fun party. Rose sure did love those "Dog Dogs"!
And that of course made me happy! 

Happy Birthday Rose Lillian Baylor!

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now for a little trip down memory lane :)

August 30, 2010 ~ Rose's first day!

Tiny newborn feet!

6 months old 

12 months old and packing for Scotland!

18 months old and full of personality ;)

 2 years old. 

You have won our hearts Rose! 

You are a smart, observant, quiet, quirky, happy little girl, and we can't imagine our lives without you! You are a blessing from the Lord who made you! 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! 

We love you!