The menu's a must

I'm starting a new job on Monday.

The timing, the schedule...everything has fallen into place perfectly.

I'm going to be the Assistant Director of Central Baptist Church Childcare Center.

I'm very excited that I will get to continue working with children and encouraging the teachers that invest in them everyday. I think this is a great position for me that will combine both administrative functions and hands on time in the classrooms.

I'll be working from 10am-6pm which is a great schedule for us. It allows me to get Katelyn where she needs to be each day before I head to work.

I've known that I got the job for a while and was really blessed to be able to start this next Monday instead of a few weeks ago. We were able to go up to Michigan and I've been able to have the last six weeks just to first, find a job, and second to simply be at home with Michael and Katelyn which has been a blessing to me.

So on that note...since I won't be getting off work until 6pm each evening, having a plan for dinner will be super important if we are going to eat something healthy at home each night.

So I've planned the menu for the rest of this week and next:

Wednesday- Rotiserre chicken from Sam's Club (love these for $5), mashed potatoes & peas

Thursday- King Ranch Chicken Casserole & salad (using leftover chicken from Weds.)

Friday and Saturday - at the lake

Sunday - Salmon patty burgers, spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli

Monday- Chicken & wild rice soup (broth and chicken from the last of the rotiserre...I told you that $5 was worth it), fresh bread and salad (I'll make the soup and salad on Sunday and prep the bread maker in the morning)

Tuesday - Shepherd's pie & salad (cook the vegetables and ground beef Sunday or Monday night)

Wednesday - Grilled pork chops and pasta with vegetables

Thursday - Leftovers or "Breakfast for Dinner"

That will get us to the weekend and we're not sure what we're doing next weekend, so I'll do some cooking and planning for the next week with what we have on hand.

I feel better when I have a plan. I really, really hate the "So, what are we having for dinner?" phone call on the way home from work at the end of a long day...

Yummy recipe update

Michael, Katelyn and I went to Michigan for a long weekend so this recipe is actually one we did a couple of weeks ago but it was really good. It's chicken with peanut curry yogurt sauce and naan bread. Here's the link for the curry: www.allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-with-peanut-curry-yogurt-sauce/detail.aspx

It was really easy to make.

Then last week I was trying to clean everything out of the fridge before we left. We had lots of tomatoes from the garden and I had spinach and mushrooms to use. We had brought some bread home from the lake the weekend before and we had lots of apples from a friend's apple tree. So we had crustless spinach and mushroom quiche (I added the mushrooms because I needed to use them and I used fresh spinach. I put tomato slices on the top for the last ten minutes of baking and we thought the tomatoes made the recipe perfect.) and then I made bruschetta (I had pesto in the freezer.) It was a great dinner! And I used up veggies, cheese, bread and eggs before we left!

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/crustless-spinach-quiche/detail.aspx

I'm starting a new job next week! (More on that later.) So the menu planning will be more important than ever if we are going to eat healthy and at home...(I won't be getting off work until 6pm) So I'm working on the menu for the rest of this week and all of next week so I can get the shopping and prepping done early.

Counting my blessings

My grandma always said, "Count your blessings." Not a day goes by that I don't heed that advice. Counting my blessings is as simple as opening my eyes each day and looking around me and I'm determined not to take the blessings right in front of me for granted.

My parents have come back to Kentucky for the month and so the lake house was a hub of activity this weekend. Michael, Katelyn and I plus my brother and sister-in-law and their two dogs all descended upon the folks for some time to play! We had so much fun!!!

And this little girl loves being at the lake...but more than that she just loves her family. (Isn't she getting so tall??)

I was so sad this picture turned out blurry...but just look at this happy pair. Katelyn loves hanging out with Papa. They're buddies.

...and I'm pretty sure that Papa likes hanging out with Katelyn too (you think?).

Grammy and Katelyn did puzzles and makeup. Katelyn frequently starts her sentences with "Grammy you wanna _____ with me?" Grammy always says yes. Katelyn loves her grammy!

Oh and these two....these two I love with all of me...and thinking about life a year ago and life now. Sigh...my life is rich and full and these two are the blessings I count multiple times every single day. And seeing them snuggling on the couch...I paused to count that as one very big blessing. :)

Who knew I'd end up being a big old home body?

Oh....and here's the menu for the week:

Monday - steak, baked potatoes, salad

Tuesday - chicken with peanut, curry yogurt sauce, rice, peas, homemade bread

Wednesday - winter squash soup, salad, homemade bread

Thursday - zesty chicken meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans

Yum Yum!

Kick the ball Katelyn!

I have been waiting for today for the last two years. The day when Katelyn is old enough to be part of a team, a class, a group. Well the day finally came. Pee Wee Sports at our favorite YMCA. 3-5 year olds. An introduction to kickball, soccer, t-ball and basketball. Learn some basics. Follow directions. Get some exercise. Play with some other kids. I have been talking this day up to Katelyn for weeks now. I was really pumped.

Yep, it was a total bust (at least for day one.)

Katelyn woke up from her nap in a foul mood and it just went down hill. She did not want to play, kick, follow directions or run the bases. She certainly didn't want to do any of it without me standing right next to her. Sigh. (See picture below.)

Coach Trevor is awesome with the kids. All four of them. :) They were working on kickball fundamentals today. Here they are getting in a line.

And everyone runs to first base together and puts their foot on it.

Then they all run the bases one by one. "Come on Katelyn, run!" (What you do not see is what happened two seconds after she left second base and laid down in the middle of the floor refusing to move...obstinate child.)

And really, this is what it looks like when you get the 3-5 year olds together. So funny!

For the record, after dinner tonight Katelyn and I went in the backyard. She kicked the ball to me and then ran to each of the bases, calling them by name. She heard every word Coach Trevor said...she just refused to participate. There's always Wednesday.....

Okay, is everyone happy? I posted Katelyn news and pictures...now onto this week's menu.

Yesterday I made granola bars. Instead of buying two boxes of snack food for lunches, I decided to make them. Much healthier and I had all of the ingredients on hand so I saved at least $5. They're really good and everyone loves them.....

Here's the menu:

Monday- BBQ chicken in the crock pot, baked potatoes and peas

Tuesday - pork chops with mushrooms over egg noodles and salad

Wednesday - Grammy and Papa get here!!! Lasagne with sauce made with tomatoes and basil from our garden, fresh bread and salad

Thursday - Chicken asiago sausage with peppers over linguini & salad

Friday and Saturday at the lake!!!!

Yum, yum, yum! Most of what we're having this week is stuff I already have on hand so my grocery list is just a handful of items. Awesome!

This week's menu

It has been "Squash Week" at the Kramer's house this week. Last week Meijer had spaghetti squash, butternut and acorn squash for 49 cents a pound...so I got all three! (I love squash!)

Here's this week's menu:

Monday - Leftovers (we were just getting back from the lake)

Tuesday - Turkey sausage and lentil soup, salad and fresh baked rye bread (pictured below). This soup was SO good. It had coconut milk, cilantro, curry, red lentil and butternut squash in it and I had leftover turkey italian sausage that I threw in there. It was awesome! Here's the link: www.allrecipes.com/recipe/vegan-red-lentil-soup/detail.aspx

Wednesday - Vegetable pizza with homemade whole wheat crust & a salad (I used the leftover grilled vegetables from last week and a tomato out of the garden...YUMMY!)

Thursday - Baked spaghetti squash with beef and veggies, salad and rye bread. This was the best recipe I've ever used for a creative way to cook spaghetti squash. Michael loved it too and was happy to take leftovers for lunch today. Here's the recipe: www.allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-spaghetti-squash-with-beef-and-veggies/detail.aspx

Friday - community dinner at our pastor's house (I'm making banana pudding)

Saturday - I'm not sure what I'm doing yet....either reworked leftovers or something new with items I need to use in the fridge

Sunday - Date night! (no cooking for me..)

I love trying new recipes!

This morning's harvest

This morning I've put 4 loads of laundry on the line, picked what needed to be picked in the garden and gave the garden a good soak (it's supposed to be HOT here this week.)

A few big tomatoes, a couple of yellow peppers, a red pepper, a handful of banana peppers, yellow pear and grape tomatoes.

And this week's menu is:

Monday: Vegetable and chicken quesadillas and salad (using many items in the picture above)
Tuesday: Chicken pasta primavera and fresh bread (using the rest of the items picutred above)
Wednesday: Tuna casserole and salad
Thursday: grilled shrimp, marinated vegetables in the grill basket, yellow rice
Friday: Community dinner at our pastor's house
Saturday: Spaghetti (I froze some of the sauce that I canned last week because it wasn't enough for another quart), salad and fresh bread

I have some broccoli I need to plant sometime in the next couple of days. Since I had to replant the yellow squash and zucchini those are still growing strong. I hope we can get them to fruit before fall really hits. I think they should be fine.

I love having a garden!

Choices, choices....

Working with children and being a mom, I feel like I spend a good part of the week explaining to young people what their choices are and breaking down the good or the bad consequences that may (or will in fact) take place if one choice is made over another. I want Katelyn to understand that she has choices to make everyday. All that said...I would NEVER expect a three year old to choose steamed broccoli over a piece of candy if given the option.

The other night Katelyn ate her dinner and she did a good job eating so she could have a treat. She chose a sucker. Then Michael and I sat down at the table and started eating our dinner. We were having baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and a salad. Katelyn's eyes got real wide and she said, "What's that." (She knew exactly what it was...broccoli is her favorite vegetable...hands down.) So she asked for some. Of course we gave it to her. (Who doesn't give their kid broccoli when they're asking for it?)

So she had broccoli in one hand and the sucker in the other and she one by one ate a whole pile of broccoli. And then she wanted some of the soy nuts in my salad...so we gave her those too.

By that point we had finished dinner and decided that we'd all go for a walk around the neighborhood together. I asked her if she wanted to take her sucker on our walk and she said, "No, I'm all done now."

I'm really thankful for Michael because he loves the fact that I cut coupons, can get a good deal on just about anything, want to live simply, eat well and live within our means. Not only does he love it, but he shares the same values which make day to day lifestyle choices pretty easy.

So over the past couple of weeks I've started putting together a menu each week so that 1) we don't have the daily question, "So what do you want for dinner tonight?" 2) I can look at the ads for the week and what's ready in the garden and plan a menu around what's on sale or ready to harvest 3) we sit down and eat a healthy meal together at our table most nights of the week and 4) we rarely spend money eating out and my favorite part 5) I get to try lots of new recipes!

So last week our dinner menu was:
Monday - chicken with curry dill sauce, raita (cucumbers and tomatoes in plain yogurt), couscous with vegetables
Tuesday - slow cooker pork chops and rice, salad, homemade honey oat bread (loving my breadmaker!)
Wednesday - homemade vegetable pizza (with whole wheat crust) and salad
Thursday - Stuffed red peppers, raita, homemade egg bread
Friday - community dinner at our pastor's house
Saturday - Pork fried rice and salad
Sunday - Chili, cornbread and salad

And this week:
Monday - Dinner at the church
Tuesday - Baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad
Wednesday - chicken enchiladas and salad
Thursday - Marrakesh vegetable curry, couscous, naan bread
Friday - Community dinner at our pastor's house (we're making tacos!)
Saturday and Sunday I reserve for leftovers or something new made from leftovers.

I've been packing everyone's lunch each day (sandwiches or leftovers). (Katelyn got leftover steamed broccoli in her lunch the other day and ate it...might be a preschool first!) Fast food pretty much never sounds good to us anymore. (Except Katelyn who loves her broccoli but would eat McDonalds everyday if we'd let her.) So we're eating healthy and spending next to nothing eating out. There are fresh vegetables EVERYWHERE right now. I LOVE cooking in the summer!! And Michael is sweet and good and likes pretty much everything I put in front of him whether it has meat in it or not. What a guy!!!

The clothesline is up and I've hung six loads of clothes, sheets and towels out there to dry this week already. Our dryer hasn't been turned on once.

We're finding our groove as a family and it's been pretty great. I'm one happy girl!