Menu of the Week: August 4

This week my goal is to double up on at least three of my meals and freeze half of each one, in preparation for my new baby. I don’t want to have to worry about feeding the rest of my family those first couple of weeks. It’s definitely a bit hot here for such warm, hearty meals, but hey – we have air conditioning and I need to plan ahead so it is what it is.

Tonight (Monday) – White Chicken Chili

Tuesday – Eggplant Parmesan

Wednesday – Shepard’s Pie

Thursday – Grilled Shrimp and Salad (gotta go light after all those heavy meals)

Friday – Pizza

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Big Brother 10 – episode 2

I didn’t get a chance to watch BB10 last night, but I am watching the second episode now and will watch tonight’s episode (3) after.

What the heck is up with Brian being so cocky already?? Isn’t it way too early for this?

Renny, the New Orleans lady, is so crazy. I can’t believe she didn’t realize how annoying she was in the middle of the night. I thought Jessie handled it fine. He was very calm and just told her that he was sleeping and she woke him up. Big deal – she was going on and on and on and on and kept saying how immature he was. Huh?!?!

April is a freak. Crying over Ollie. It’s like the first day. Oy! I can tell this is going to be a dramatic season.

The veto competition was so disgusting, but I am glad Jessie won. I can’t wait to see who Jerry nominates and who goes home.

It would be so cool if Brian was put up……

Menu of the Week: July 14

Just made my meal plan for the week and went food shopping.

Here’s what our week looks like:

Monday: Angel hair pasta with mushrooms, onions, & broccoli

Tuesday: Cheese pizza, broccoli and cauliflower, salad

Wednesday: Pesto chicken, stuffed portobella mushrooms, grilled zucchini

Thursday: Sausage w/ peppers and onions, salad

Friday: Pasta with shrimp and broccoli

————

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Kitchen Remodel Is Finished

Just wanted to start out with a before picture as a reminder of what the space looked like before. I’m currently in the process of remodeling that built in wall unit on the left. I had to remove lots of drywall and metal. We are putting in 3 big pantry sized cabinets (like the ones we have in the kitchen and will include pull out drawers and shelves for the kids shoes, games, toys, and other junk. Even some stuff like luggage that we keep in closets upstairs. I’ll post pictures of that remodel soon.

We went with the Korel tiles from Costco. Measured the area and ordered them online. We couldn’t decide on our glass tiles, plus the granite is busy enough. If you see one section shiny and another not shiny its just light reflecting from that section. All the tiles are not facing the exact same direction and it gives off that half matte half shiny look, but when you stand in front of it its all shiny. I think the flash of the camera makes it worse actually.

Barstools added. We got a great deal on 4 barstools in the style we wanted from The counter also has under cabinet lighting using the Dioder’s from Ikea which are LED lights. They are also used in our under cabinet lighting.

Here they are. Dioders.

The faucet is a Hansgrohe single handle pull out and the sink is Elkay.

We took off our old window treatments and haven’t replaced them yet. Loving all the light that comes in every morning though. You can also see the high bar section on the right in this picture. I really don’t know what to call it – “high bar.” Its where our garbage can and recycling bin are as well as our “home center.”

That red table near the window, also purchased from Ikea, was going to be set behind the couch and used a computer workstation where the display would be projected onto the tv. However, there isn’t really enough room there, plus when sitting on the barstools your legs won’t fit underneath, so we moved it over to the window and we actually think its a better spot for it. One of the things before the kitchen remodel was that we had to replace those high hat lights frequently. However the two above this picture (which you can’t see) are on a dimmer switch and we have rarely had to change those bulbs. So we put a dimmer switch on the main kitchen lights to save energy/bulb replacement costs.

The kitchen and this family room have been Feng Shui’d.

TV stand and shelf from Ikea also. We went Ikea nuts. New TV, HD receiver, Wii, and plant.

Menu of the Week: May 26

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve meal planned and man, can I tell the difference. Basically we don’t eat. Ok, that’s not entirely true, but I don’t end up really cooking much if I haven’t planned a menu. I have a mental block at the grocery store and end up buying fruit, cereal and snacks. Nothing for dinner.

So anyway, I have already made my menu for next week. It doesn’t matter what day we have what. I will shop on Sunday or Monday and go with whatever we feel like on that day or how much time I have to prep. I am just determined to cook and eat yummy home cooked meals.

Here we go:

Parmesan chicken cutlets, mixed greens salad

Fish (not sure what kind yet – basically whatever looks good at the market); avocado, tomato and cucumber salad

Spaghetti and (turkey) meatballs, steamed broccoli, garlic bread

Shrimp w/ mango and cilantro salsa

Chicken taco salad with cilantro ranch dressing