Menu Planning - Week 9

We had a great weekend away in Spartanburg and I'm a little sad the weekend went by so quickly because I could use some more rest before starting another week (AND another month).  We only bought lunch stuff at the store again this week, so we're gonna do a little more freezer-cleaning-out.  


2.26.11 - josh&jennifer's wedding in spartanburg
2.27.11 - mom's fried chicken dinner for ryan's birthday
2.28.11 - zuppa toscana (freezer meal)
3.1.11 - dinner w/ friends
3.2.11 - eating out after bible study
3.3.11 - some sort of venison meal
3.4.11 - stuffed shells (supper swap meal)

Menu Planning - Week 8

OH, so perhaps this is lazy, but since we hosted our dinner club last night and the girls from work and I are doing supper swap today, I'm totally calling this a leftovers and whatever is hiding in the freezer/pantry week.  For the meals we eat at home, we'll be deciding as we go.  We've had a lot going on this past week and there's lots to do this week as well, so sometimes making a detailed plan doesn't make much sense.  We've got plenty of food in the freezer/pantry, so we'll just save some cash money by cooking what we already have here at home.

2.19.11 - Made these awesome Chicken Enchiladas and Smothered Beef & Bean Burrito Casserole for our monthly dinner club
2.20.11 - Having my parents over to finish off the fiesta leftovers (ie. FRIDGE CLEANOUT MEAL!)
2.21.11 - Eating Chick-fil-A (Bush River Road has free sandwiches with your church bulletin on Mondays!)
2.22.11 - FREEZER/PANTRY CLEANOUT MEAL
2.23.11 - FREEZER/PANTRY CLEANOUT MEAL
2.24.11 - Ryan's 27th Birthday... out to eat with family!
2.25.11 - Celebrating Ryan's Birthday some more on our way out of town for a wedding!

Hopefully next week I'll be back with some better planning and maybe even a new recipe!

Menu Planning - Husband Style

So, this week, I put Ryan in charge of planning our menu.  Quite frankly, I was feeling lazy, half the time I ask him to pick out some of our meals anyway, and I think he did a great job! Here's what we will be eating for WEEK 7 :)

2.12.11 - At the beach, ate out at Landolfi's, one of our favorite places
2.13.11 - Random dinner - Cereal for me, B.L.T for Ryan
2.14.11 - Grilling Steaks & Spicy Sweet Potatoes
2.15.11 - ?? Plans with friends -- backup meal is Chicken Spaghetti
2.16.11 - Date Night Out before or after Bible Study
2.17.11 - Venison Chili
2.18.11 - Grilling Burgers

Hot Corn Dip

For our Superbowl Party this weekend, I made Hot Corn Dip.  I started off with this recipe, but according to my usual cooking style, I couldn't help changing a few things and making it my own.  I was really nervous about how it would turn out since I modified the recipe, but it was a hit, and at the end of the night, there wasn't a single bite left!  So, I thought I would share how I changed it up, that way I'll be able to duplicate it in the future.

Ingredients:

1 (11 ounce) can White Corn w/ Chipotle Peppers (Could also sub Mexicorn)

1/2 tube of Frozen Creamed corn **I used a quart-sized ziploc bag of corn from our annual "Corn-Putting-Up" of my Papa's SilverQueen Corn**

1 (7 ounce) can of chopped green chiles

1 cup grated Monterey Jack & Cheddar Cheese Mix (this is one of the pre-made mixes at Publix)
2/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
1/4 -1/2 cup mayonnaise

1tsp of Ground Red Pepper

2 shakes of onion powder

Ground black pepper, to taste

Extra grated cheese for topping
Corn chips, for dipping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray or butter. In a separate bowl, mix together the corn, green chilies, cheeses, mayonnaise, and seasoning.  Spread into prepared dish and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges.  Sprinkle extra cheese on top if you like, continue baking until completely melted, then serve warm with the corn chips. Can also be made/served in a crockpot!

Enjoy!

memory verses

Last week I memorized Romans 8:37-39 "No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither things past or things to come, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

And this week I'm working on Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

 

I have several ways of working on my scripture memory, first I write my verse for the week in a little chubby notebook, then I copy it into my day-timer so it is there for me to look at each day when I check out my schedule.  For especially long verses, I break it into pieces and write them on sticky notes, and sometimes practice writing/typing them out.  I'm trying to go back a few times each week and read/recite the verses from earlier weeks, just to keep them fresh.  Also, I recite the weekly verse to Ryan and to the girls in my Bible study. 

Speaking of, I'm so thankful for our Wednesday night Bible study to help keep me accountable for learning my verses each week.  I've had the privilege of meeting with this group of women since the summer of 2009, and they have had a major impact on my life.   That summer, we started memorizing scripture just by picking verses that spoke to us individually.  It amazes me each week the varying scriptures that we learn, and often I find new verses that other women have learned speak to me and I write them down to memorize myself. 

We are reading Nancy DeMoss' Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free, and I think everyone would agree that just two chapters in, this book has been eye-opening and extremely convicting.  The main focus this past week was removing the focus from ourselves, accepting responsibility and not making excuses, and trusting God's love to change us and fulfill us.  If you're looking for a challenging and inspiring book, I would definitely recommend this study.

Hope you're having a great week :)

I'm up early....

It isn't unusual for me to wake up early, even on the weekend.  Especially now that we have Beaufort, probably the latest I ever get to sleep is 6:30, but today I was up even earlier than that at 5:15, just lying in bed awake, wishing my body would allow me just a little bit longer to enjoy the sleeping hours of the night.

It depends just HOW awake I am what I do with my early morning wake-up times.  Sometimes I spend the time keeping Beaufort out of trouble and quiet until Ryan gets up.   Sometimes I take the opportunity to enjoy an extra long shower.  Sometimes I get up, move to the couch, and fall back asleep (a habit I got from my mom).  Sometimes I catch up on my Bible reading or read other books.  Sometimes I watch all the girly DVR shows I know are taking up valuable recording space and there's no reason to wait to watch them when Ryan is awake.  If my google-reader is full of good blog updates, I'll stalk around on the internet for a while.

Today, I'm working on my grocery list and menu plan.  I'm googling recipes and debating whether to go to the store before or after church.  Speaking of googling, I cannot imagine what life was like when you had to use a cookbook to search for a recipe, a phonebook to get the phone number for a store, then call to find out their hours.  We children of the internet age are so spoiled to have all this information at our fingertips.  Also, the fact that google is both a noun and a verb, and a word at all, is amazing to me.  I just googled the hours for my Publix, and they open at 7am on Sundays. I think I'm going to try and go over there early, get it over with.  It seems like early morning would be a not-so-busy time to do your grocery shopping.  And, it seems like a good way to take up some of this early wake-up time.  Perhaps I'll start shopping early every Sunday :)

Week 6 Menu Planning

Updated w/ Links to recipes now -- Making a few new things, so can't wait to let you know how they turn out!

I'm struggling with this week's menu plan, but this is what I've got so far.  I'll come back and add links once I figure out exactly what I'm making....

2.5.11 - Dinner at Mom & Dad's
2.6.11 - Sunday School Super Bowl Party - Making Hot Corn Dip
2.7.11 - Grilled Chicken and Macaroni&Cheese (a few recipes I've been wanting to try, going to run them by Ryan before I hit the grocery store tomorrow)
2.8.11 - Honey Mustard Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin & Spicy Sweet Potatoes
2.9.11 - Venison Cubed Steak, Rice & Gravy
2.10.11 - Date Night Out
2.11.11 - Beach weekend!