Nutella and Menu

Oh, blog world, I have not forgotten about you. Work has picked back up (yay!) and I am spending most of my free time doing that. Not to mention the most important thing (note sarcasm), I've picked up like 4 new shows this season, so finding time to enjoy these has been a challenge.

Why did I do this to myself? I know tv is not important, but it is the way I wind down before bed, after a long, full day. And it is something Ross and I enjoy doing together...although I think I got in over my head and got into a few too many shows this year. There are just so many good ones!

At least I'm not watching Honey Boo Boo.

With that being said, I want to start posting my weekly menu here again. Mostly because I miss it, but also because I've been way too unorganized and inconsistent with this and I think posting will help me stay accountable again. We shall see.

This week, we're having:

Wednesday
we're having some new friends over, so I plan to cook spaghetti, and I'm trying out a new sauce recipe (but in a smaller quantity)

Thursday
baked pork chops and baked potatoes

Friday
Chicken and rice foil dinner

Saturday
homemade pizza

Sunday
crockpot chicken, green beans and roasted cabbage wedges

Monday
broccoli soup and grilled cheeses

Tuesday
small group night, will take something

On another note, I haven't really ever been inspired to cook with or even buy Nutella, but these two recipes make me want to go out right now and get to bakin'. Bless the Pioneer Woman for paving the way to greatness when it comes to yumminess.

Itty Bitty Nutella Cakes

 And I especially want to try these sometime:

Nutella Krispie Treats

Nom!

Calzones and menu post

I haven't cooked anything new lately. Partly (or mostly) because I've had no motivation or energy to. I've cooked dinners, but mostly just stuff I've cooked before. When you're emotionally exhausted, it makes you exhausted everywhere...even down to your finger tips and pinky toes. And I've been focusing way too much on my lack of energy lately. So, today, I thought I needed a redirection of focus. I need to set some (small) goals and focus on the goals, instead of my lack of wanting to do anything. So, my goal this week is to cook something new.

I've been wanting to cook a real calzone for some time now, but have never done it, like with homemade dough and everything. I know it's nothing super extravagant, but I can't do extravagant right now. So, calzones it is!

Here's our menu for this week:


Thursday
Chicken noodle soup and bread

Friday
Crockpot roast, potatoes and carrots

Saturday
Homemade pizza

Sunday
One pot mac

Monday
Fish (cod) sandwiches and roasted veggies

Tuesday
Broccoli and cheese calzones

Wednesday
Small group night

Rollups and menu post

I like easy things I can fix for lunch. Wraps, sandwiches, leftovers, something quick to fix, but also filling. So, when I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman last week, I instantly wanted to try it.

I love rollups! And yes, I do love the fruit kind, but I'm not talking about that here. These are tortilla rollups, and the thing I love most about them is you can put just about anything in them, healthy or not-so-healthy. You know me, I love something that's versatile and easy (and can either be healthy or delightfully calorie-filled)!

First, I used the Mission Artisan Multigrain tortillas. I have yet to make my own tortillas, but I will do it someday!


I got started chopping fresh parsley and basil to go in the cream cheese spread and mixing it in...

                                                      

And spreading it on...

And putting it together....

I put turkey, tomatoes and spinach leaves on mine. I wanted to slice up a green pepper and put it on there also, but I couldn't find it...and incidentally it ended up being right in front of my face. I didn't find that out until after I made it, though. The story of my life...in the kitchen. Where did this go? Oh yes, there it is...hours after I need it.

First of all, I have decided that I hate chopping fresh herbs and I have no idea why anyone would ever do it. Second of all, the rollup wasn't very good. I think the error was in the cream cheese spread because it just didn't taste right. I am more than completely sure that it was something I did wrong, because cream cheese spreads are usually good. Maybe I'll try this again sometime...in a different way, although I'm not sure. It was an awful lot of work (chopping, mixing, etc) for it not to turn out well.

What are we eating this week?

Thursday
Homemade pizza

Friday
Ross and I are going out for our anniversary, so we're doing something easy before we leave: Roast beef sandwiches and roasted veggies

Saturday
We're having a cookout earlier in the day at my aunt's, so for dinner, I wanted to go easy: (Local) Beef stroganoff and bread

Sunday
Chicken pasta pesto (bumped from last week) & spinach salad

Monday
Steaks and baked potatoes

Tuesday
Beef stew over rice

Wednesday
Possibly group night? Or something easy

Short ribs and menu post

If you've never tried short ribs, you are missing out. Big time. I have cooked short ribs a few times now and every time, I fall in love even more. I would have never even thought about buying that kind of meat if it weren't for The Pioneer Woman, so I will be forever grateful to her.

I tried a new recipe for short ribs this week and while it was a flop, the meat still was tender and yummy. My favorite way to cook them is in tomato sauce for several hours in the oven and pour that over linguine noodles. However, I cooked short ribs and chicken that way one too many times and Ross has forbidden me to ever even think about making that for the next year or so. There are some really fabulous short ribs recipes out there (a list of great ones HERE), and The Frugal Girl just posted one HERE. However you cook them though, whether grilled, baked, braised, whateva, you will be a happy camper...if meat is your thing (which, of course, it is mostly definitely my thing), then you will love this.

What are we eating this week?

Thursday
Fish and roasted zucchini, broccoli and cabbage (bumped from last week)

Friday
Crockpot lasagna (bumped from last week)

Saturday
Pork chops and beans & cornbread

Sunday
Homemade pizza

Monday
Going to my Mama's for a little Memorial Day celebratin' with burgers on the grill (is there anything yummier than burgers on the grill?!)

Tuesday
Chicken pasta pesto and bread

Wednesday
Small group, easy dinner night

Stroganoff and menu post

I am a day off on my menu posts...life is extra extra busy these days. I wanted to share a recipe with you that was originally given to me by a friend of mine and regiven to me by my sister last week. I had received this meal from a friend when Ezra had just been born, and for some reason, thought Ross didn't like it. So, I never made it.

My parents came last weekend and I couldn't think of anything else, so I whipped it up for them, and I have to say, it was really yummy! And easy. Easy and yummy are my two favorite things! Even Ross liked it, and he is hard to please when it comes to cooking. :)

I did add the local beef that I bought from the farmer's market last weekend, which also makes me super happy (but the price had gone up from last year, which is a bummer. I still think the beef is worth it, though!)

HERE is the recipe.

Now for our menu:

Thursday
We're just going to have leftovers tonight, and I may cook up some sides to go with them.

Friday
Steaks and baked potatoes (or pork chops, depends on how I am feeling!)

Saturday
Homemade pizza


Sunday
Breakfast for dinner

Monday
Homemade chicken pot pie

Tuesday
Grilled fish & veggies

Wednesday
Small group night

Local milk and menu post

Does anyone know what this is? Something I am very, very excited about. My sister and I went to the Farmer's Market in Arlington last Saturday, and guess what I found?

That's right...local milk, baby.

I have been wanting to try milk from a local dairy for months now. Our Farmer's Market didn't carry this last year (here's to hoping they have it this year!), and I'd given up hope of ever finding some to try. I'm sure there's some around here somewhere, but was unlucky in my search.

So, I paid the ridiculous amount of money, brought it home, took a swig and fell in love.

Yes, it really is that good. The only way I can describe it is, the milk is way smoother tasting than mass produced milk. They even have fat free, 2%, whole milk and chocolate milk! Too bad the milk is in Memphis, otherwise I might have to become a frequent customer! Now, this is not to be confused with raw milk. I've never tried raw milk, but I've known people who have. This is pasteurized, but I'm guessing it's way less processed than mass produced milk. But who knows. All I know is that is tastes like heaven, folks.

Now for our menu for the week!

Thursday
Broccoli & potato soup (bumped from last week)

Friday
Steaks & baked potatoes (this keeps getting bumped)

Saturday
Chicken & spinach quesadillas

Sunday
Since this is Mother's Day, I'm doing myself a favor and not cooking. So, it may be an eat-out night!

Monday
Homemade pizza

Tuesday
Something with the local beef I'm going to buy at the Farmer's Market on Saturday

Wednesday
Small group night, will take something

Go try some local milk, peoples! Especially if you live in Memphis or Arlington. Yum!!!

Pork Loin and menu post

Last week we had some friends over for dinner. As I was trying to plan the dinner, I was trying to think of meals that everyone loves. I went through soups, stews, spaghetti, chicken, blah blah blah. My husband is very picky. As I thought What is a meal that everyone loves to eat? What is a meal that my husband loves to eat? It came to me.

Pork loin.

But honestly, I'd never cooked my own pork loin. We'd always done the preseasoned ones that you just throw in the oven, wrapping and all. But I had to get one big enough to feed everyone, and those preseasoned ones are tiny. So, I did some research and got my game plan together. (I love a new cooking challenge, by the way!)

First I brined it for 6 or so hours. Mainly because I only had 6 hours. If you have longer, 12-24, do that. It'll be tastier and juicier. For the brine recipe, I got out my stock pot, put about a gallon or more of water in it, turned the burner on high and then added a lot of salt, some pepper, some rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and sugar. You know I don't measure anything, so feel free to wing it. I boiled that for 15 minutes or so, then took it off the burner to let it cool. You're supposed to let it cool completely, but I didn't have time, so I popped the hunk of meat and brine in a very large bowl, covered it and put it in the fridge.

When it came time to cook it, I turned on the oven, put the hunk-o-meat in a roasting pan with some of the brine juices and started cutting slits in it. Then I rubbed a store-bought "rub" all over it and in the slits, but you can make your own rub if you so desire. I just happened to have some in my spice cabinet. Then I roasted it in the oven for 2 hours at, I honestly can't remember if the oven temp was at 350 or 400.

The meat was so juicy and tasted delish! And I was happy that it tasted good, you never know how something is going to turn out the first time you cook it! Ultimately though, it blessed our friends, and that is what really matters. We had great company and conversation, and I was glad they came.

And now for our meals this week:

Thursday
Almost lasagna

Friday
I will be off playing with my sister this night, so Ross and the boys are on their own. So probably Roman noodles, or maybe oatmeal. :)

Saturday
Infamous homemade pizza

Sunday
Chicken wraps and mac n cheese

Monday
Potato & broccoli soup with homemade cornbread and salad

Tuesday
Pork chops, corn and baked potatoes

Wednesday
Small group night, will take something

Salsa and menu post

Looking for a yummy addition to a wrap, or something to dip your quesadilla in? I just recently discovered this delicious salsa and I want to eat it with everything. It's Private Selection brand (from Kroger), I think it costed a little over $2 and it may be one of my new favorite store-bought salsas. Yes, I know that homemade salsas are better...especially my mother-in-law's salsa. But really, who has the time to make everything from scratch? 


Not me, unfortunately. I tend to stay away from store bought jarred foods because of all the preservatives and added unhealthy ingredients that I can never pronounce. This salsa has none of that! Just regular ole ingredients that I would use at home. 


Private Selection Tequila Tart Lime Flavor salsa
Ingredients: Diced tomatoes, water, jalapeno peppers, crushed tomatoes, dehydrated onions, lime juice, cilantro, granulated garlic, coriander, natural flavors. 
Serving size 2 tbsp: 15 calories per serving, 0 fat, 240g sodium


I am in love.


Now for our meals this week!

Thursday

Having friends over for dinner, so I'm making a pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade rolls

Friday
Steaks and baked potatoes

Saturday
Homemade chicken tenders & veggies

Sunday
Ham wraps and mac n cheese


Monday
Small sroup dinner night at Chick Fil A


Tuesday
Homemade pizza


Wednesday
Small group night, will take something

Homemade Icing and menu post

My husband isn't a big sweets lover. He likes candy, but cakes, cookies, brownies, none are really his thing. Except for strawberry cake. He does love a good strawberry cake. So every year on his birthday, I make him a strawberry cake, light the candles on it, and the boys and I sing Happy Birthday in our loud outside voices. 

Every year up until now, I have bought icing to put on the cake. In the past year for all cake-making celebrations,I've been making my own. So today, I got out the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and got to work. 

I like making my own icing because even though its still not really healthy, even a little, it doesn't have all the preservatives, or any of the extra weird ingredients that I can't pronounce in it. That makes me very happy! Here is the cream cheese icing recipe I used. 

And here is our menu plan for the week!

Thursday
Baked chicken legs, corn on the cob & fried green beans


Friday
Steak on the grill & baked potatoes (bumped)


Saturday
Homemade pizza


Sunday
Chicken wraps & mac n cheese


Monday
Small group dinner at Chick Fil A


Tuesday
Baked tilapia and veggies (using one of my new season veggie recipes, yeah!)


Wednesday
Group night, something easy


I am ready for some birthday cake!

New ways to season veggies

I am feeling very unmotivated today. When that happens, I usually try to inspire myself in whatever area I'm feeling unmotivated in. Lately, I've been unmotivated in my cooking, not really wanting to venture out and cook anything new. So, what do I do? I get cookbooks and look online to try to spark my interest of things that look good and want to try.

When I roast or steam my veggies, I usually do the same flavors. Salt, pepper, butter and garlic powder (or salt). It usually tastes good, but I long to do something different with them, I just never know what.

I've been looking through this One Pot Meal cookbook and in the back, they had some really great flavors to try with your roasted veggies. These are the ones I'm going to try:

1. Cardamom-butter - Before roasting, toss the veggies with 3 tsp melted butter, 1 tsp canola oil, 3/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 tsp salt.

2. Garlic-Thyme - Before roasting, toss the veggies with 2 tbsp EVOO, 2 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried), 1/4 tsp each salt and ground pepper. About 5 minutes before the vegetables are done, stir in 1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic and continue roasting.

3. Maple - Before roasting, toss the veggies with 2 tbsp pure maple syrup, 1 tbsp melted butter, 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt and ground pepper. (Never ever thought of using maple syrup on my veggies, Yum!)

4. Mediterranean - Before roasting, toss the veggies with 4 tsp EVOO, 2 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 tsp salt. After roasting, toss with 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp dried oregano and 2 tsp capers (optional).

5. Spicy orange - Before roasting, toss the veggies with 4 tsp EVOO, the zest of 1 orange, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper. (This sounds delish!)

I have been wanting to use more zest in my recipes, and am pumped to try some in my veggie roasts!

Menu post

I realized as I made this week's menu that we're grilling out twice this next week. That makes me very happy! It's grilling season, so we're warming up our grill and eating some yummy meats (salmon on the grill is YUM). Actually, just about anything on the grill is yummy.

What are your favorite grilled entrees?

Menu week!

Thursday

Burgers on the grill and fried green beans (bumped)

Friday

Homemade pizza

Saturday

It's my nephew's birthday party, so we'll be celebrating with them

Sunday

Something easy

Monday

Chicken, spinach, cheese quesadillas (bumped)

Tuesday

Steaks on the grill and baked potatoes

Wednesday

Small group night

Tortillas and menu post

I try to make my foods at home as much as possible. I make my own bread, my own granola, my own muffins, and if I'm feeling super awesome (which is rarely ever), I will attempt to make my own jam. One thing I eat quite a bit of is tortilla wraps. But, the packaged ones are full of hydrogenated oils. I'm sure there is some packaged brand that doesn't have those things in it, but I can't see spending the moola that you have to spend to get the unprocessed stuff. So, I've been thinking about making my own tortillas at home. Has anyone done this? I'm wondering about the success rate of making them at home. It seems hard to store them, and what about making them soft? I've been thinking about doing THIS recipe, one I found on pinterest. I guess we'll see!

This is what we're eating this week:


Thursday
Burgers on the grill and fried green beans


Friday
Grilled cheeses or turkey sandwiches; we're having a Good Friday service at church, so this needs to be an easy night


Saturday
Homemade pizza as per usual


Sunday
Easter egg hunt and cookout with our friends


Monday
Chick Fil A small group dinner night (or we may eat something easy at home, depends on the budget)


Tuesday
Chicken, spinach and cheese quesadillas


Wednesday
Small group night, will take something

Happy Wednesday, friends! Hope you are having an awesomely blessed Holy Week.

Wraps and menu post!

Usually for lunch, I want to eat something quick. And usually quick equals unhealthy, right? It doesn't have to be. Lately, I've been on this eating wraps for lunch kick. I've been eating chicken wraps, turkey wraps, bean and cheese wraps, but my recent favorite? Veggie wraps. I've been putting bell pepper, tomato and arugula in a wrap and adding some black beans for protein. It is delish and pretty healthy!

With that being said, here's our menu for this week:

Thursday
Glazed cod & veggies

Friday
Crock pot roast, potatoes & carrots

Saturday
Homemade pizza

Sunday
Grilled cheeses

Monday
Chick-Fil-A dinner with the small group night

Tuesday
I don't know yet!

Wednesday
Small group night, will take something

Menu post and waffles!

Mmm, waffles. Who doesn't love a good waffle? I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, at least 3 times a week. The problem is...they're not super healthy. The waffle mix, the butter, the syrup, all pretty fatty and calorie filled. So yesterday, I searched online for a waffle batter recipe and decided it was simple enough. It may not be the healthiest thing to eat, but I feel much better about making my own batter rather than making the batter from a boxed mix. Boxed mixes have hydrogenated oils, preservatives and other ingredients I can't even pronounce. THIS recipe was simple, and the waffles tasted delic!

So, on to this week's menu post!

Wednesday
Eggs and waffles (I have plenty of waffle batter leftover and I need to use it before it goes bad!)

Thursday
Pork chops and potatoes & pinto beans

Friday
Chicken and Ceasar salad

Saturday
Glazed cod or salmon, spinach and red baked potatoes

Sunday
Grilled cheeses

Monday
Small group dinner/hang-out night at Chick Fil A

Tuesday
Chicken fried rice

Wednesday
Small group, will take something

New foods & menu time

Recently, I realized that my cooking is only so-so. This frustrates me to no end, since I have to do it so often. I thought that in order to fix that, I must practice, and practice a lot. So, I grabbed my cookbooks and looked at my favorite websites for recipes and added a few new things to my "foods to cook regularly" list. (and I just realized that I fried a lot of things last week. Healthy? Not even a little. Oopsie)

New yummy food #1 Zucchini patties. These are YUM. I love zucchini cooked just about any way, but this way is probably the yummiest (and probably the least healthy).

New yummy food #2 - Chicken fried steak. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of this, but I knew it was something Ross liked and it's a new food. It was a hit, Jude and Ross both loved it, and I didn't think it was that bad either. I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook (and the gravy recipe too), and it was spot on.

New yummy food #3 - Gravy. I had to make some gravy to go with our chicken fried steak. I'd never fixed gravy from scratch before, and it was so easy, and so good.

I had to smother my chicken fried steak in gravy. Anything smothered in gravy is G.O.O.D. (and I accidentally over roasted those veggies. I hate it when I do that!)

Yay for new foods! This coming week's menu isn't nearly as new or exploratory, but had to be made (and done easily), nonetheless. So, here it is!

Thursday
Chicken with bowtie pasta in pesto sauce (bumped from last week)

Friday
Pork chops and mashed potatoes

Saturday
Homemade pizza

Sunday
BBQ Chicken & mac n cheese

Monday
Fish sandwiches & roasted veggies

Tuesday
Grilled cheese sandwiches with pesto & green beans

Wednesday
Dinner with small group

A biscuit DtD challenge and a nature walk

I received the Pioneer Woman's cookbook as a gift from a sweet friend this past Christmas, and I have to admit, I have barely even touched it the last two months. I've been busy, what can I say. So, when I opened it and saw there was a recipe for homemade biscuits, I just knew I had to try them.

I'd been wanting to try homemade biscuits for awhile, but a lot of recipes call for lard and I'm sorry, but I'm never buying lard. I refuse out of principle. So I gave up on the idea. 

Until I saw her recipe in the cookbook. It calls for shortening instead of lard, and even though shortening is gross (because it's basically lard itself, but at least it's not called that, ugh), I can do shortening. I got to working yesterday on my biscuits and this is what came out:

Overall, I would give this experiment a B-. The recipe was super easy and I liked the taste of the biscuits, but they just didn't rise enough. They were so flat! At least they tasted good. I have a billion of them though, so if you'd like to have some, I'll gladly share.

Today we went on a nature walk with some friends. The wind was blowing hard and I was sweating, but it was fun...for awhile. I was able to snap a few pics.

We played with moss, rustled around in the leaves, found a cool hole in a tree trunk to explore, listened to the wind blow the tree branches around, the woods have lots of fun things to investigate. 

But not long after I took that last picture, my kiddos fell apart and I had to put the camera up. Jude and Ezra were both tired and therefore melted down repeatedly, wouldn't listen or even follow me out of the woods. It took us so long to get back to the pavilion. We had to leave our friends early, and after I got home, I was exhausted.

Yep, I have hard days too. Life isn't peaches and cream all the time. But, I was grateful we had some fun before chaos ensued. Happy Friday, friends. Hope you get some fun in this weekend.

Garlic bread and weekly menu

I had a hard time meal planning this week. I am tired of the same ole, same ole, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to find some of these meats on sale. So, this could possibly change a little. We'll see what it looks like when I go grocery shopping tomorrow.

Before I get started on the menu, I wanted to tell you about my new favorite bread I've been making. It's called cheesy garlic bread and it delicious. It's not that healthy, but it sure is good. I made it for the first time for Jude and Ezra's birthday party, and I've made it another time since. I really love trying out different types of bread and this has become a favorite among my guys.

Here's the recipe! Of course, mine doesn't look near as pretty as the one on the recipe website, but as long as it tastes good, I don't really care what it looks like. As a side note, I usually use provolone cheese, but you can essentially use whatever cheese you prefer.

So, here's my menu for the week. Hopefully I can stick to this with our budget and the cost of the meats I am looking to buy...

Thursday

Honey mustard chicken w/ broccoli and rice

Friday

Roast beef biscuits with zucchini patties

Saturday

Homemade pizza

Sunday

Chicken & mac n cheese

Monday

PW's chicken fried steak with roasted asparagus

Tuesday

Pesto turkey and pasta

Wednesday

dinner with small group

Breakfast and menu time

I wanted to give a little shout out to the breakfast meal of the day. It's so important to get something healthy in first thing in the morning. They say it's the most important meal of the day. The key is making sure you have protein and just making healthier choices can really set a tone for the day.

About 3 mornings a week, I have plain Greek yogurt with homemade granola, some times I scramble some eggs and have homemade toast with it, other mornings I'll have a little oatmeal. Every once in awhile I'll fix homemade pancakes and they are such a yummy treat when I do. And those are just my favorite and most frequent breakfast choices. There are so many other healthy choices, english muffins with peanut butter, cottage cheese with berries, you can even include steamed veggies in your scrambled eggs or put them in a breakfast burrito. Breakfast burritos are so, so yummy.

Anyway, now it's menu time. Here is what we'll be eating for the next week:

Wednesday
Dinner with our small group, I'm taking a dessert (birthday cake, yum!)

Thursday
Baked tilapia with roasted cabbage (bumped)

Friday
Baked chicken in red sauce with noodles

Saturday
homemade pizza

Sunday
turkey paninis

Monday
something with chicken, but I'm not sure yet

Tuesday
Potato soup with homemade rolls

Wednesday
Dinner with small group, taking something

Birthday things!

There were 2 birthday boys in the house this past weekend, so we decided to celebrate with a little partying. Actually, Jude's birthday is tomorrow and Ezra's was last week. I hope I can get away with combining parties for a really long time. One party is so much easier to plan than two. Don't you think?

Usually I get a little teary-eyed when we sing happy birthday to the boys. I know that's silly, but every year when we sing, I am reminded of how quickly time flies, and am saddened to know that in no time, they will be off driving, going to college and moving out. Right now they still want me to read to them before bed and rock them when they're sad. Even though this stage is extremely hard, with battling wills and disobedience, I like this age. I like it a lot. Can they stay small for a little longer, please?

We had some sweet friends and family come out to help us celebrate our little boys turning 4 and 2, they were great. I wanted to give a special shout-out to my sister, mom, step dad and mother-in-law for being so helpful in helping me plan, get food together, set up and clean up for the party. I have some really terrific people in my life. They enabled me to do this party on a super-inexpensive budget. The other way I did the food for this party inexpensively? I made this appetizer (actually, they were pizza crescent rolls) and this one. Both were breads, but done differently, and I loved trying out different types of bread! So, yay for good and inexpensive food!

Happy birthday to my 2 sweet boys! 

My kiddos got some really great toys, and they love them all, but these are the few that are their favorites:

They are completely infatuated with these. They've been having a good time pushing them up and down the door. Yes, I said door. They climb things that are metal (which is kind of weird, we must have metal doors?) They are kind of neat, I have to admit.

And this batcave imaginext toy is a favorite of theirs. The imaginext toys are really awesome. 

And I can't wait to open this for E:

And we played with their new play-doh toy this morning. They loved it! It's a fun time, getting new toys. For us parents, too! :) 

Meatloaf verdict and menu plan

When doing our menu for this week, I realized we are busy several nights this week, especially this weekend. Not that I'm complaining, but that rarely ever happens. So, our menu doesn't look quite like normal this week. Fine by me!

Here it is:

Wednesday
Small group tonight, we're having chili

Thursday
baked pork chops & roasted potatoes

Friday
A friend of Jude's is having a birthday party, so I think we will be eating with them

Saturday
Jude & Ezra's birthday party is late that afternoon, so we may just be having leftovers from the party, or may do a homemade pizza

Sunday
Crockpot Chicken sandwiches

Monday
Dinner at friends' house

Tuesday
Baked tilapia with roasted cabbage (or asparagus)

Wednesday
Small group night, either an easy dinner (mac n cheese possibly) or dinner with my group

And, for the moment you've all been waiting for. I know you've been on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about this. How did my meatloaf turn out last night, you ask? I looked up recipes, I even watch a youtube how-to video on meatloaf. I was serious about this, folks.

What I learned: There are a billion ways you can do meatloaf. Some people put saltines in their meatloaf. Some people put breadcrumbs, others put in oatmeal. It honestly kind of reminded me a little of mystery meat. You can put just about anything in it. But, I did something much easier. I used THIS recipe here, but added my own homemade bread slices, and I added minced garlic and garlic powder, parsley, basil, salt & pepper, and omitted the cheese.

Going into the oven

All done and ready to be eaten

Ross thought he was in heaven

Verdict: It was a success! At least I think it was. Ross made noises while eating it and the kids had seconds (Ezra had thirds!). So, yeah! My kids are super picky, so any meals my kids eat that I fix makes me happy. However much my boys liked it, I wasn't a huge fan. I have never liked meatloaf, and as much as I tried, my mind just hasn't changed about that. I did eat it, although I had to slather it with mashed potatoes. It could have stood to have a little more salt, but I'm an over-salter, so that's no surprise. But since all my men-boys loved it, I may have to do this again some time!