Menu Plan Monday ~ Aug 26, 2013

Monday (Breakfast) 

Crustless Quiche and fruit salad

Tuesday (Soup)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday (Meatless)  

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Thursday (Mexican) 

Chicken Fajitas

Friday (crockpot) 

Slow Cooker Orange chicken

** I leave Saturdays for Leftovers and Sundays Tim makes pizza for us ;)

Find some more great recipes at orjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday ~ Back at it again

Well, after a long summer break from menu planning (online at least), I debated as to whether I should even continue to do it. In the end I decided to just keep with it because I like the accountability that posting my menu plan to my blog gives me. I do my plan, then grocery shop and have everything I need for the week. I find I save a ton of money and I enjoy cooking more when I'm not stressed about what to make and whether I have all of the ingredients ;)  So here it goes!

Any readers have some healthy, low budget meals for me? I would love to hear them!

I decided to follow a little them for each night of the week right now to help streamline my budget and make planning a bit easer.

Monday (Breakfast) 

 Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burritos and fresh fruit

Tuesday (Soup)

  Italian Wedding Soup

Wednesday (Meatless)  

Lighter Eggplant Parmesan

Thursday (Mexican) 

 Ground Beef Taco Salad

Friday (crockpot) 

Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken

** I leave Saturdays for Leftovers and Sundays Tim makes pizza for us ;)

Find some more great recipes at orjunkie.com

Letters from the Kingdom of Fife

                 Here is a little update on our summer and recent move to St. Andrews. 

                  You can access it here. 

From Aberdeen to St. Andrews!

We are blessed!

We moved last Friday morning and spent the weekend unpacking and getting settled. We were able to do a little exploring of the new area as well. Then on Wednesday, we got Maddy started in P1 (kind of like Kindergarten). She has met a new friend named Elspeth and has really enjoyed her time so far (what a relief!). She seems to really like her teacher too.  I can't believe she is growing up so fast! She and I were both feeling a mix of emotions - anxiety, pride, excitement etc - but all in all she is doing well and the Lord has cared for her (and me). I'm so thankful!

Isn't her little uniform adorable?

From Aberdeen to St. Andrews

In August our family will be moving south an hour and a half to the town of St Andrews for Tim to finish his PhD studies as his professor took a post there. There are SO many more details in this newsletter Tim wrote and it's much more eloquent than I could say it all ;)

But I will say, that it will be terribly hard to say good bye to our friends here. It's only been 2 years, but it seems like we have bonded like college kids away from home ;)  We have absolutely loved our church here and the fellowship of families through the university. God has been so good to our family.  But as hard as it will be to move on,  I am encouraged that God has been clear again in directing us and caring for us along each step of the way. 

We just told the girls and they were excited. We got to visit yesterday and looked at two prospective schools Maddy would go to for P1 (Kindergarten) and even got to view a flat that might work out nicely for us to rent. We're excited to see what God has for us in the days ahead. It should be a busy summer. The girls and I will be back home with family during the month of July and then we come back, pack up, and go! 

You know what is ironic, is that just prior to finding out about this big change, I was thinking how comfortable I was and how easy things had gotten. I like to be comfortable. Haha! But it's so good for us to be stretched sometimes so that we continue to rely on the Lord and not ourselves. 

He is always faithful! A friend shared this verse recently and it has been a great encouragement to me. It's not just about our financial needs, but also our spiritual and emotional needs. 

"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches

 of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philipians 4:19 

Menu Plan Monday {Last week of Low Carb Meals}

Well, last week of low carb meals ;) It's been good, but I think next week I'll make ITALIAN ;)

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado  Salsa

Credit

Chicken Roulade, Spinach Salad

White Chicken Chili

Baked Chicken

Onion Lemon Salmon

Tim's cousin gave me this idea of chopping onions, placing the salmon on top of the onions and then placing lemon slices over top, covering with foil and baking. I'm gonna try it! I think 350 degree for about 20-30 minutes until it flakes. 

I'm linked up with orgjunkie

Menu Plan Monday {Low Carb Meals ~ Wk 3}

American Beef Chili

Credit

Grilled Cilantro Lime Shrimp Skewers

Credit

Lemon Dill Salmon, roasted broccoli

Chicken Fajitas

Grilled Chicken over Salad Greens

Menu Plan Monday {Low Carb Meals~ Wk 2}

Another week has come and gone. They seem to fly by so quickly these days! We had some gorgeous weather here in Aberdeen this weekend. The sun was shining; there was no rain or even clouds; and it was in the low 60's ;) We were happy happy people! So what did we do?! Go to the beach of course!

Yay! They ran for about 15 minutes til they were freezing
and wanted their sweatshirts back on ;)

My footprint and Maddy's 

Having a serious conversation about why we don't eat sand ;)

Oh and then we hung out on King's Lawn in the midst of the University Tim attends. 

Gorgeous! So Blessed!

A few musician's were practicing. The girls LOVED it!

They even let Maddy use their flute and play with them. It was so precious! 

The statue, 'Youth with split apple' commemorates the 500th anniversary
 of the very first students arriving at King's College in 1505. 

Ok - and now my Menu plan for the week.... blah, blah, blah ;)

Chipotle Lime Grilled Chicken

Beef with Broccoli

Quinoa Tabbouleh over salad 

or in Pita Bread (for Tim ;)

Credit

Shrimp Stew

Credit

Cheddar Bacon Burgers

Credit

I'm linked up with Orgjunkie

Menu Plan Monday {Low Carb Meals~Wk 1}

Hello Dear Friends, 

I couldn't believe it when I glanced at my blog and realized that it's been just about a month since I last posted! Things have gotten busy and well - I just wanted to live my life for a while instead of worrying about writing about everything I was doing. Ya know?! 

But to be honest, I didn't meal plan very well when I wasn't keeping myself accountable to you all and it really frustrated me and made my weeks and days feel frazzled. Did not like that part at all!

But I'm back at it and ready to go! For the next four weeks I am trying to make low carb meals. I am not against carbohydrates or anything, but I just know I lean on them WAY to much. So I am trying to just eat complex carbs in the morning with breakfast and then aiming to be low(er) carb the rest of the day. I found that I have eaten WAY more vegetables than I ever did before! I don't just lean on toast, granola bars, cereal, crackers, chips, pasta, and rice. 

So if you have any good low carb recipes to share with me PLEASE leave a comment with your link ;)

Have a Happy Monday!

Saucy Shrimp with salad

Credit

Tuscan Chicken with Tomato Basil Relish and Toasted Almond Broccolini

Credit

Chicken Cordon Bleu with roasted brussels sprouts

Credit

Firecracker Grilled Salmon with roasted asparagus

Credit

Creamy Roasted Garlic Chicken Soup with salad

Credit

I'm linked up with orgjunkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday ~ April 22, 2013

I've taken a few weeks off menu planning because Tim was traveling and life was just busy! But I'm back on this week and excited about it ;)
 What are you cooking this week? 
I need some new healthy ideas! My 5k around Balmoral Castle is THIS Saturday and I've been trying to keep up with running and healthy eating. After all, summer will be here before we know it, right?!

Light Chicken Francese
216 calories per serving

Photo: Credit Skinnytaste

Chinese Turkey Meatballs

Photo Credit: Modern Paleo Warfare

Skinny Baked Broccoli and Macaroni and Cheese
314 calories per serving

Photo Credit: Skinny Taste

Stuffed Pepper Soup
261 calories per serving

Photo Credit: Skinny Taste

Chicken with Plums and Soy
281 calories per serving

 Photograph: Simon Wheeler

Sweet Potato Fries!

I tried these sweet potato fries the other day and every one in the family loved them - score! They are so crispy and flavorful; not to mention that there are many health benefits from this vibrant orange veggie ;) 

                      Seriously, I would take these over regular french fries any day!

The only change I made was tossing the fries in olive oil in a bowl and then spreading them on the baking sheet instead of tossing them with oil while on the pan - so much easier!

                               

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 25, 2013

Cajun Chicken Pasta on the Lighter Side

Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 323.8 • Fat: 6.2 g • Protein: 25.9 g • Carb: 44.1 g • Fiber: 6.3 g 

Quinoa Black Been Tacos with pico de gallo

Peanut Baked Chicken

282 Calories, 8g fat, 26 carbs, 0g fiber, 299mg sodium

All - American Chili and Cornbread

Chili Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup + 1 T cheese- 375 Calories, 12g fat, 33.7 carbs, 8.2 g fiber

Easy and Crispy Baked Cod

* You can use any white fish. I am using cod since it's on sale this week. 

233 Calories,  8g fat,  31g protein, 7g carbs,  0g fiber,  511mg Sodium

I'm linked up with orgjunkie

Eagerly Awaiting EASTER!

I recently read a portion of Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in our Traditions and was inspired to do more with the girls in anticipation of Easter. We count down a full month before Christmas, but we often don't do anything for Easter until the day of (maybe an egg hunt the day before-ha!) I'm not at all opposed to having an Easter Egg hunt. It's all good fun.

But as my kids grow up, I want to spend more time talking about the gospel ~the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. These are some of the core components of our faith.

 

I decided to do a combination of things that I have heard and read. Noel shares the great idea of doing Lenten Lights with your children. It's basically a series of small devotionals using candles. If you have older children, she suggests doing a devotional each Sunday of lent, but if you have younger children and want to do daily devotionals during Holy Week, she suggests starting on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and doing a devotional each night.

This is her description of the candles. I love it!

The Symbolism of the Seven Candles

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). But for a while it seemed as if the darkness was overcoming—for a long while.

Your seven candles symbolize the Light of the World—the Light that was God’s glory and that illuminated God for us—the Light that, in the end, seemed to have been darkened. As we move through the season preceding Easter, the candles are snuffed out one by one, until all are dark on Good Friday, when Jesus died and the earth was covered with shadow. Darkness apparently had won. The Light of the World had been extinguished. It was finished.

But NO! Easter brings resurrection! Life! Return from death! The Light has won and all the candles burn as we praise him—the Light of the World, the Bright Morning Star, the Glory of God.

I just used birthday candles that I stuck into Styrofoam because it's all I had ;) 

We are basically going to do the candles along with resurrection eggs since the kids are so little. I'll probably step it up to the full devotional next year. But I like the visual of the eggs for a 2 and a 4 year old. 

On the blog Sugar Lander, I found this simple post on DYI Resurrection Eggs. Thank you Casey!

Here's Casey's picture of hers.

I have 10 eggs and 9 candles and only 9 days until Easter, so I did two eggs on the first night. It's as flexible as you want it to be. So honestly start whenever you are able - even if its just a few days before Easter. Something is better than nothing, right?!

The girls loved seeing what was inside!

Tim explaining the story of Easter.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... 

1 Peter 1:3