Category Archives: menu plan Monday

There really is a ‘Supernatural’ gif for every occassion.

12/07/2015 Nichole 3 Comments

Rockford left for Shanghai last Sunday. It’s always stressful when he’s out of town, but it ramps up the anxiety even more when he calls on Monday morning and says, “Well, I’m in Korea.” To which I said

You may have read that pollution in China hit dangerous levels again last week. Rockford takes a packages of air filter masks with him when he goes to Beijing, but Shanghai usually isn’t as smoggy. This time, though, the pollution and some heavy fog made it impossible to land in Shanghai. So Rockford’s plane was diverted to Korea instead.

They went from Korea to Toyko, where he spent the night, and he finally arrived in Shanghai the next day. The trip didn’t get much smoother from there. He had a terrifying car ride,

he found out that his flight from Shanghai to Qingdao had been rescheduled at a completely different airport than the airport in which he was standing,

and he had to listen to “Jingle Dogs” on repeat at dinner one evening.

Things were pretty smooth for most of the week on the home front. We did school, Poppy had a dentist appointment, Pete’s basketball season started, and my mom came over for a night so we could take her out for birthday burritos. But then the ear pain Poppy had first mentioned last weekend got a little bit worse.

And a little worse. And then it started to go away, and then she woke up Saturday morning with aching, stuffy ears and puffy, welded-shut eyes. So we spent an hour and a half at urgent care and then dropped some more bills at the drug store to treat what turned out to be two infected ears and conjunctivitis.

Instead of Pete and Poppy going to Kids Night Out at the tae kwon do place and myself going to the grocery store all by my lonesome, we ordered pizza and watched “Home” and Pete had a dance party to which I was not invited. So after a not-so-auspicious start, it ended up being a good day.

Finally, Rockford got home yesterday morning. And we were all like

Then I realized I never went to the grocery store on Saturday, so I whipped up a menu plan for the week and I went to the grocery store.

Thank you kindly for enduring all the “Supernatural” gifs. (Or, if you’re a right-minded person who loves the show: You’re welcome.) Here’s what we’ll be enjoying for dinner this week!

Monday: Cube steak: It’s one of the easiest ways to create gravy for the mashed potatoes.

Tuesday: Crispy garlic chicken: This is a great, simple dish. It’s basically just marinated Shake ‘n’ Bake chicken. But I do have to remember to put the chicken in the marinade today so it’s at peak flavor tomorrow.

Wednesday: Various and sundry: Pete and Rockford have basketball practice in the evening — Pete’s playing; Rockford’s the assistant coach — so they’ll probably be going out for a burger after practice. Poppy and I have a book club meeting.

Thursday: Breakfast burritos: I’m hoping this will be a dish everyone will eat. I know Rockford and Pete will eat them, but I’m not sure about Poppy. If nothing else, she can make a cheese quesadilla.

Friday: Pizza: I’m one pizza-order away from a free pizza at Papa John’s, so I might do that this week.

Looking for more mealtime inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!

menu plan Monday, National Blog Posting Month

Fare thee well, NaBloPoMo

11/30/2015 Nichole 2 Comments

Let us all greet November 30 with a grand and glorious HELLO. These last 30 days, we have marked my birthday, Petey’s birthday and my dad’s birthday. We have discussed ’80s movies and Thanksgiving movies. We have played pinball and started a book club and spent an entire day together via my camera.

Once again, folks, we have survived National Blog Posting Month! And the world shall continue to turn, and my family shall continue to request dinner. Here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Monday: Meaty mac: Every now and again Pete grabs a box of Hamburger Helper and says “Hey, can we get some Meaty Mac?” when we’re at the store. And sometimes I say yes. This is one of those time.

Tuesday: Grandma’s birthday dinner: We’re taking my mom out for her birthday.

Wednesday: Butternut squash ravioli: Harris Teeter had their butternut squash ravioli buy-one, get-one-free this week, and it reminded me that Poppy used to enjoy them. We’ll see if she still does!

Thursday: Cracker Barrel chicken tenders: This time last week we were having a slightly larger poultry experience.

Friday: Breakfast for dinner: We’ll be having eggs, veggie sausages and hashbrowns.

Looking for more mealtime inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!

menu plan Monday, National Blog Posting Month

What we’ll be eating before we eat turkey

11/23/2015 Nichole

It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year! We’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law and my nephew. Our menu includes turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing (hopefully; we forgot to make it a few years ago!), butternut squash parmigiana if I can find it, and a bevy of desserts. There’s a lot of prep involved, and even though my sister-in-law is doing most of it I’m still taking it easy for meals for the rest of this week.

Monday: Chicken parmesan meatballs: The first time I made Rachael Ray’s Chicken Parm Meatballs, I just served them with some marinara dipping sauce and a veggie side. They’re a little fussy to make, but they were a big hit. This time I’m going to make some pasta to go along with them.

Tuesday: McAlister’s: I’ll be making a few Thanksgiving sides tomorrow, so we’re going to take advantage of kids-eat-free night at McAlister’s.

Wednesday: Something simple: On Wednesday we’ll be making a lot of desserts for Thanksgiving, so we’ll be having something simple for dinner.

Thursday: The Feast

Friday: Pizza: Our favorite pizza place closed earlier this year and a new one took over its space. We hadn’t tried it until last week, and I’m pleased to report that I have a new favorite pizza place.