August Meal Plan

Needless to say, J and I were very disappointed with how the majority of our meals turned out for our freezer stash meal plan last month. Although we found a few new recipes that we LOVED (Farmer's Casserole, Mix n Match Soup, etc) there were more that feel short of our expectations. So, this month we have decided to do a few freezer meals so that we will have pre-made meals on hand, and then the rest of the month I'm going to figure out how to keep Boogie entertained AND cook a meal every day. I have a wonderful little girl, she's fantastic... but she thinks she needs mommy's undivided attention 24/7, and that's including in the middle of the night! I want her to eat meals with us in the evenings, but I think for the time being (especially considering we don't have a table... nor do we have room for one) I will put her in her high chair by the kitchen and let her eat her BLW meal for the day while I cook. I'll let you know how that goes!

We go shopping ONCE a month and we try not to go back to the grocery store except for necessities (milk, bread, etc). We shop for the majority of our groceries at Aldi (super cheap, pretty decent quality) and then finish off at Ingles. One of the main reasons we choose to shop once a month is because the only Aldi near us is about 20 minutes away and with gas prices they way they are...  it's just not practical to drive to Aldi more than once a month. The only other times we make a trip to Asheville is if we have doctor's appointments or if I need to see my advisor or buy books at school. Occasionally if we have the extra cash we'll go out to eat or stop at the mall... but normally we avoid Asheville.

Anyways, this month I have chosen 14 dinner meals, the majority of those meals will make enough for leftovers for both lunch and dinner the next day. When there's not enough for both lunch and dinner we'll have sandwiches those days. I've also chosen 5 breakfast items that will be good for about 2 weeks and then in between those we'll have cereal or oatmeal. So... here's the plan.

Dinners:

• White Chicken Chili (w/garlic bread and a salad)
• Taco Soup (w/ white cheese dip and chips on the side)
• Basic Potato Soup (w/salad and a veggie)
• Taco Salad
• Mix and Match Chicken Soup (w/a sandwich or some kind of bread on the side)
• Farmer's Casserole (w/veggie and baked potato)
• Hearty French Onion Soup (w/a sandwich)
• Stromboli (w/salad)
• BBQ Chicken (w/veggie and baked potato OR roll)
• Blake's Burritos (w/rice and beans on the side) **courtesy of Blake and Elah's best friend Taylor!**
• Wings (w/baked fries and a veggie)... by far my favorite and most unhealthy meal... but it's a MUST!
• Texas Pete Chicken (w/veggies and mashed potatoes)
• Garlic Chicken (w/veggies and bread)
• Chicken Salad (w/crackers or bread and a side of veggies)
• Sandwiches (w/chips or soup) to fill when no leftovers are available

Breakfasts:

• Breakfast Burritos (w/fruit)
• Muffins (w/fruit or yogurt)
• Breakfast Quiche (w/fruit)
• Biscuits and Gravy (w/eggs)
• Pancakes (w/eggs)
• Cereal (w/fruit)
• Oatmeal (w/fruit)

As you can tell, I'm a big fruit eater during breakfast (and during snacks)... and we are trying to eat a bit healthier. Not necessarily watching calories or anything like that but just being more careful with portion sizes and how much we're eating. I have noticed that the less I eat the less breastmilk I produce... so I will be eating 3 normal sized meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and having good wholesome snacks in between... and probably one around this time. I've noticed that if I don't have SOMETHING int he middle of the night that I wake up completely starving and nauseus from an empty stomach. So... there you go. The Farmer's casserole, quiche, burritos, and muffins will all be made a day or two after our grocery trip and be frozen for meals (sliced individually for servings), everything else will be made that day. I'm going to do my best to remember to take pics of the meals and process so that I can share recipes... some of these are AWESOME! Until then... good night and God bless!

Once a Month Menu Plan UPDATE!

Well, we've tried quite a few of the meals we froze at the beginning of this month... so far the soup, quiche, black beans and rice, breakfast burritos, and muffins have been the only things we've liked :( . The not so good were the lemon chicken... it wasn't awful but it wasn't great either... the chinese morsels (awful), broccoli chicken (ew), and corn chowder (didn't freeze well AT ALL). We haven't tried the Teryaki chicken or Wild Rice chicken yet... so let's hope they're a bit better!

And now I have to run... been fighting with Boogie to sleep since 9pm and Justin isn't having any luck. 11pm is WAY too late for my sweet sleepy girl to be awake!

Freezer Cooking - Aztec Quiche

Thought I'd share one of the recipes tonight, I didn't take pictures of the food as we were cooking because... well... I was cooking (and Justin of course) a LOT! BUT, here's the recipe for Aztec Quiche...

Aztec Quiche (for reference: Once a Month Cooking p120, 8 servings)


o Ingredients:

 1 ¼ cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese

 ¾ cup grated mild cheddar cheese

 One 9-inch deep-dish frozen pie shell

 One 4-oz can diced green chilies.

 1 cup half-and-half

 3 eggs, slightly beaten

 ½ tsp salt

 1/8 tsp ground cumin

o To prepare:

 Spread Monterey Jack cheese and half of cheddar cheese over bottom of pie shell.

 Sprinkle diced chilies over cheeses.

 Stir together in a bowl the half-and-half, eggs, and seasonings.

 Pour carefully into pie shell.

 Sprinkle with remaining cheddar.

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

 Baked, uncovered, for 40-50 minutes.

 Allow to cool.

 Slice into 8 servings, individually wrap in foil, freeze.

o To serve:

 Thaw, and heat until hot.

 
I can't wait to try it, it looks SO yummy! I will be having a slice of this quiche and a small cup of smoky corn chowder for lunch tomorrow!

And a picture of the freezer after finishing our meals:

Day One of Cooking

Today didn't start how we planned... I woke up with an awful headache, sore throat, dripping nose (ew) and my entire body ached. It's always a challenge to find ways to get over illnesses when your breastfeeding (or pregnant for that matter)... so I made sure to take my prenatal (it's good to take while breastfeeding and during all your 'childbearing' years), a single ibuprofen, lots of water, and a TON of orange juice. After a couple hours I felt a little more like myself and we were able to start our day of cooking!

Things went pretty well, we got the majority of our meals prepared, bagged, and thrown into the freezer, but because we started later than planned we didn't get about 5 or 6 meals finished, mainly breakfast items. Boogie was a good girl though, she only fussed a little today surprisingly. Sadly her necklace was NOT in the mail today, and it was evident that she was still having some pain from her teething, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

Not really much to post tonight, but I will be taking pictures of our freezer food stash when we finish and possibly post one of the recipes tomorrow evening! Until then... here's a picture of my Boogie and her newly discovered feet!

Once a Month Menu Plan

A few weeks ago I found a website called Once a Month Mom, I was intrigued so I looked a little further into their website. Basically, they create menu plans (traditional, gluten-free, diet, etc) that consist of homemade meals to be frozen until your ready to defrost, reheat, and eat. You do all the cooking in one day and supposably it's affordable... however after looking over some of their plans I knew it would be entirely over budget for us. It just so happens that my mom had a couple of cookbooks that consisted of freezer meals and tips on how to plan your day of cooking. So I created my own menu plan with a grocery list, instructions, etc. My goal was to keep our grocery bill under $150 and to pick out a variety of meals, including lunches and breakfasts.

Our menu plan meals include (one meal is for 2 people):

Chinese Chicken Morsels (2 meals)

Teryaki Chicken (2  meals)

Lemon Chicken (2 meals)

Taco Meat (for salad or tacos... depending on our moods) (1 meal)

Mix and Match Chicken Soup (5 meals)

Chicken Broccoli (4 meals)

Black Beans & Rice (4 meals)

Wild Rice Chicken (3 meals)

Stromboli (2 meals)

Breakfast Burritos (6 meals)

Farmer's Casserole (6 meals)

Aztec Quiche (4 meals)

Muffins (Strawberry and Apples & Cinnamon) (12 meals)

Smoky Corn Chowder (3 meals)

Pancakes (8 meals... or so)

It's a variety of recipes and the majority of them are new to us... which is good because we are very bad about trying new things! We are planning on starting our day of cooking on Monday as soon as Justin gets home, around 10am... it's going to be a LONG day, but I think it will be nice to just have to pick out a meal, thaw it out, and just reheat it... that means a lot more family time! I'm hoping to share all of these recipes at some point in the month, probably on the days that we eat them. We'll see!

My parents took us (Boogie and myself) to Aldi and Walmart today while J was at work to do all of our grocery shopping.... the end result? $100 for all the main groceries... and then this evening J and I ran to Ingles and got random stuff for sides (pasta, veggies, etc.). We also picked up some quick meals for me tomorrow and stuff to grill on Monday (it's hard to cook by myself with Boogie... she's a needy baby, but I love her anyways... and Monday we don't want to have to make meals to eat that day while creating a disaster in the kitchen with our freezer meals lol).... that came to about $20 (not counting tomorrow and Monday's meals)... So I stayed way under budget! Go me! I'd be happy to share my meal plan with anyone, just shoot me an email! I did not save the grocery list because I wrote it for the ingredients that we needed.... you  may need more or less depending on what is already in your pantry! But I can send the instructions which includes all the recipes you'll need!

Wish me luck!

32 Week Prenatal Appointment, Birthing Classes, Meal Plan, and.... No Picture

Yesterday was a looooong looooong day! Went to my 32 week prenatal appointment yesterday morning... took FOREVER. Janelle went with me and we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited... until she finally came in to hear Elah's heartbeat and measure me. We were there for close to 2 hours! Anyways, Elah is doing fabulously (is that a word?) and now I am completing my 24 hour urine sample that I have to take back tomorrow. Yay me! LOL.

Last night was our first birthing class, it was well... interesting. The instructor is nice, she's super loud, but she's nice and she knows what she is talking about. I was a little disappointed with what we "learned" because I already knew everything she talked to us about, even Justin knew all of that stuff from me telling him about it lol. There are also some pretty interesting characters in our class... for instance... one girl was in one of my classes last semester and when I told my instructor that I was pregnant (in like May) she announced it to the entire class. Well this girl made a point to tell me that she could never get pregnant at such a young age or while she was still in school because she didn't want a child to hinder her performance.... Lo and behold! She's pregnant! She's 5 weeks behind me, so yea... I giggled when I saw her! After class had already started this group of people came in, an older lady with 3 teenagers... they might have been 17 or 18 tops. Well, it turns out that one of the girls was the older lady's daughter, the boy was her son, and the other girl was the boy's girlfriend.... both girls are due on the SAME day! So this grandma is getting two grandbabies at the same time! Yikes! So yea... interesting.

Justin and I also decided to try and clean out the food and ingredients we already have in our kitchen before we go grocery shopping. So we have a 7 day meal plan with the foods we have readily available.

This week we are making:
Chicken Quesadillas
Chili
Shepherd's Pie (or as the Flint Monsters call it... Sheep's Pie)
Soup & Sandwiches
Breakfast for Dinner
Fajitas
Baked Mac n Cheese w/Broccoli

And.... I don't have any pictures for yesterday or today... sorry. I'll make up for it tomorrow I promise!