First Crack at Pre-Planning Dinner for the Week

Typically, J is the chef of the household but with work and school he's just not home lately to do it. So, I've decided that in order for me to do it and do it well, I'm going to have to plan. Otherwise, 5 p.m. rolls around and I'm asking myself, "What's for dinner?!" And then slap something quick and easy together. Like quesadillas and black beans. And salad. Or turkey meatballs with sweet potato oven fries. And salad. But it's getting routine and I really want to have a plan in place. So, this weekend I came up with this!

October 2-9, 2011Sun - Turkey and Three Bean Chili with Corn Bread and Mixed Green Salad
Mon - Penne Pasta with Gorgonzola, Spinach, Kielbasa and Apples
Tues - Hawaiian Chicken Thighs with Rice and Steamed Broccoli and Edamame
Wed - Chicken Parmesan with Pasta Florentine Thurs - Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas (see recipe below) with black beans and corn
Fri - DIY Pizza
Sat - Grilled Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes and Garlic Spinach

I've created a Word Doc that has a table with columns for each night of the week (Sun-Sat) in the rows goes the main dish, carb side and veggie side. Then I have a grocery list below it. I hope to just update it each weekend, do our shopping and be ready to go for the week!

Most of my recipes are inspired by magazines, some are DIY and others I've just recently found on Pinterest. 

For the pork chops my J just seasons and grills, he does mashed potatoes with the skins on and a little half/half and minced garlic and the spinach he sautees with more garlic and some olive oil...easy peasy!

The pizza will be interesting...never DIYd my own dough, so I am considering...or I'll just get a premade crust or dough at the store and add our toppings...lots of veggies! And maybe a Hawaiian one with pinneapple and canadian bacon or turkey ham.

The recipe for the Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas is from a coworker. She makes them for staff potlucks and they are delicious!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe makes 10 to 12 enchiladas. Amounts are estimated as I do not measure.

Ingredients
3 or 4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts
10 or 12 flour tortillas (the thinner the better) I used low fat, "carb smart" tortillas
1 small can of green chiles
2 or 3 small cans of green chile enchilada sauce
Minced onion (optional) I skipped this
2 ½ cups of colby and monterey jack cheese ( or can use packaged mixture of Mexican cheese) I used a "pizza mix" since that's what we had in the fridge
1 small can of sliced black olives (optional)
3/4/ to 1 cup of sour cream (per personal preference) I used Light Sour Cream
1 or 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil I used olive oil
garlic powder (or fresh minced if preferred)

Directions
Sprinkle garlic powder, salt, and pepper (to taste) on chicken. Cook covered chicken breasts until tender. I prefer slow roasting in oven (325 degrees) for an hour or so but the breasts can be cooked on stove top in enough water to cover breasts for ½ hour or so. Chicken should be so tender it is shredding apart. Cool chicken for about 15 minutes.

Warm vegetable oil with a small amount of green chile sauce in large skillet. Warm each tortilla in mixture. Put in skillet, count to 10 and remove to a plate. This helps to keep the tortillas from getting soggy when baking.

Shred cooked chicken in a bowl, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of onion (optional), ½ of the cheese, ½ the sour cream and can of green chiles. You can a small amount of the chicken drippings if desired. Mix well.

Put about two tablespoons of chicken mixture in center of a tortilla. (More or less as needed depending on diameter of tortillas). Roll up and place in Pam sprayed pan with seam down. Continue until all tortillas or chicken are used.

Mix remainder of sour cream with remainder of green chile sauce. Pour over tortillas. Place sliced olives on top of rolled tortillas, sprinkle remainder of cheese. You may want more or less cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Enchiladas may be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated but do not add sauce until ready to bake. Increase baking time by about 10 minutes if enchiladas have been refrigerated.

Speaking of cooking, Libby cooked with me for the first time this weekend. We made peanut butter cookies. The recipe is very simple and from Parent's Magazine.

1 c. peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 c. sugar (and a little more for dusting)
1 egg

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until a dough forms. Make one inch balls and roll in a plate of sugar. Place balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and use a fork to press down flat. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes or until just brown on the edges. Makes 24 cookies.

Libby had a blast as she poured the sugar into the bowl and mixed it with the peanut butter and egg. She had fun rolling the dough into little balls and placing it on the cookie sheets. We recited the Pat-A-Cake verse, "roll it...and  throw it in the pan! Pat it and prick it (as I used the fork to press them down)..." Which made her all the more excited about the entire thing! Too cute. Some cookies browned faster than others (I suspect they had more sugar ON them) and for my taste, I am not a fan of the cookies (a bit too sweet and flaky for me) but Libby had so much fun and that was the whole point. She talked about it for the rest of the night and this morning too, "Peanut butter! Sugar! Egg! Cooking cookies! Yum!" Adorable. I did manage to snap some pics but they're still in the camera. I'll add them to this post as soon as I can!

First Beeday Party

Libby's nickname has been "busy bee" since she was about 10 weeks old. So naturally, for her first birthday party, we went with a bumble bee theme. I had searched online and found super cute ideas here, here and here. I wasn't wanting to do a black+white+yellow color scheme so then looked at doing a garden bugs theme to open up the color palette. I almost went with this paper suite. But then I found this. And wanted to use it, but was outside the window for ordering. So I got to work with Photoshop and MSPublisher and came up with this:

The main colors for the party were yellow and red with turquoise and chocolate brown. And lots of polka dots! (Side note: I was stoked to see that Kelle Hampton was also using a similar color palette for Nella's first birthday party this Saturday as well. I donated to Nella's ONEder Fund in honor of Libby's first birthday). I ordered a customized tee and asked the seller, Lil Shabebe, to change the colors to our scheme. She did it and it turned out SO cute! The sweater is actually white hearts on red, from Old Navy. My husband's and my sweaters are also from Old Navy. I made a little corsage to pin on my sweater with polka dotted ribbons from Michaels and a fabric bee brad from Martha Stewart's scrapbooking line.

I already had the yellow and white polka dotted hair bow from Lbby's 6 month photoshoot and the red satin shoes were the same ones she wore at Christmastime.

I bought the yellow leggings (Circo) and polka dotted legwarmers (Baby Legs), both on sale, from Target. The pettiskirt was a last minute purchase from Party City's costume aisle. I had ordered an embroidered bib, matching hat and tutu from an Etsy seller. She shipped overnight on Thursday via FedEx but due to weather the package was held and won't be here until tomorrow. Mild panic set in when I realized this (not to mention extreme disappointment since I ordered it the first week of January and she assured me it would be here in plenty of time for the party. It was also WAY more money than I usually spend, especially on a one or two time outfit, so yeah, I was VERY upset by this).

I dashed off to Michael's Crafts to pick up supplies to create a custom hat. I got the glittered card stock, ribbon, and marabou there and topped it off with another of Martha Stewart's fabric covered brads and curling ribbon. I hit the party store and got the pettiskirt and bib (which wasn't in the color scheme, but at this point I had to let it go. They had a similar one in blue+yellow+red but it said "First Birthday Boy." Arg.) In retrospect, I probably should have just gone the DIY route from the start and saved myself $50+ from the customized set on Etsy. Ah, live and learn. And now, I have this set coming on Monday....after the party...guess I'll use it for Libby's smash cake photo shoot in a couple of weeks. That is, if she smashes the cake.

Yesterday, she just picked the sprinkles off the frosting. I made banana cake based on this recipe from Lisa at Surviving Oz. I altered the recipe by substituting whole wheat flour and adding a little cinnamon (about 1/4 tspn.). Otherwise, I made the cake exactly as outlined and it baked up 25 cupcakes (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to fill each polka dotted paper cup, which I got from Michaels).  I made cream cheese frosting using 16 oz. of cream cheese and 8 oz. of banana yogurt (Stony Farms YoBaby, which is thick like Greek yogurt) and about 1/4 tspn. vanilla. After whipping it for a while it seemed a little thin so I added in about 1/2 c. of powdered sugar. That helped stabilize it. I piped in onto the cooled cupcakes and sprinkled the tops with red+aqua+yellow+brown jimmies.  I picked up two cupcake cases from the bakery grocery store so I could easily transport them to the party venue. When I arrived and set them out on the Wilton cupcake stand I had purchased from Michaels, I topped each one with cupcake picks that I made with the party circles I'd designed, printed onto two inch white, round stickers which were left over from my wedding DIY from 2007. To make them,  I simply sandwiched short lolly pop/candy sticks between the sticker and a round circle of scrapbooking paper left over from the party hats my mom and I made.

 The party hats were made using scrapbook paper from Target's Dollar Spot, curling ribbon bought from the party store, pom poms and elastic thread from Michaels, hot glue and stickers I had left over from the cupcake topper project. I downloaded a template here and we made the hats, assembly-line-style. The paper was a little flimsy so we reinforced the insides of the hats with some white poster board I picked up from Target. I just cut the template a little smaller than the hats and popped the reinforcement inside with some glue. I am glad I did, because the hats were WAY more sturdy under the grip of the littles who attended the party.

We held the party from 1-2:30 p.m. at a local Kindermusik studio. This was the best idea ever! For a small fee they let us use the space, provided the tables/chairs/paper plates/cups/etc. did the set-up and clean-up AND spent 45 minutes doing musical activities with the kiddies and their parents. It was the perfect amount of time for toddlers and littles. The studio owner, Beth, and her assistant kept everything well paced and moving along. We did the activities and then ate cake and opened presents. I had found cute wooden musical toys like clackers, hand drums and tambourines on sale at Michaels. So I wrapped them in red paper and curling ribbons that matched the hats and put a personalized sticker on each one.

The kiddies unwrapped their favors as Libby unwrapped her gifts. We got an awesome Plan Toys drum, a LeapFrog Counting Candles Birthday Cake toy (the candles turn off when you blow on them!), a darling red tutu and a beautifully illustrated and bound book of Disney Treasury of Children's Classics. We also got a Kindermusik CD, shaker egg, kazoo and treats from the Beth, the studio owner.

I ordered the polka dotted balloons from Sally at Polka Dot Market. Sally was AWESOME and actually sent a duplicate order when she feared the first one wouldn't make it me on time. Both packages arrived and I contacted her about the second one. She told me to keep it and use it for the party. YAY for excellent customer service! I'll be shopping her site again and again. The bees I ordered from Party City's website because they had no bee Mylar balloons in the store. These were actually from their Valentine's Day line and they matched the color scheme perfectly! I took all the balloons to Party City in the morning and they inflated, ribboned and bagged them for me to pick up on the way to the music studio.

I was thrilled that even with snow earlier this week (I had a snow day from work, which was helpful for last minute party projects) everyone showed up right on time. We had three families join us for the party. I am SO grateful...these three families are new friends to us (the only people we're friends with outside of work, actually) and it's because of them I even planned a real party for Libby. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Libby's first birthday is bittersweet...it means my baby is now a toddler. I've looked back at her infant photos today and am amazed at how much she's grown and changed in this past year. In many ways, she's still the same as the day we brought her home though, especially when I rock her at night and she nurses. We've ALL grown so much in this past year. It's amazing. This last week she's taken her first unassisted steps and cut another tooth (7 total now and more on the way)! She's talking up a storm (it's SO cute to hear her say "bumble bumble," "bah-oon," and "happy happy")! It won't be long before she's running around and a "big kid!" It's true what they say, it goes SO fast. And now we've checked another milestone off the list...baby's first birthday party!

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Adding this post to Tip Junkie's

 Handmade Project and Parties round-up!
This is Number 176 there.

Clean Eating

Since the New Year there has been a revolution in our household. We've made a commitment to eat better and get more exercise. For me, that has meant walking 2-3 miles/day and making some major changes to how I have been eating.

Now I am eating 5-6 minimeals every three hours that includes lean protein, lots of fresh veggies and low glycemic fruits, and high fiber carbs. I have also cut out all caffeine, dairy, added sugar, added salt and added fats. I have increased my water intake from 1.5 liters/day to 3+ liters a day. I have already dropped 19 lbs. from making these changes. And I am never hungry because as soon as I am it's time for another minimeal.

We have also really cut back on eating out...maybe once every two weeks or so. So that means we're cooking more at home, which is great! Here are two newer recipes that I have enjoyed with our new, cleaner eating lifestyle:


Turkey-Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini

INGREDIENTS:

4 medium zucchini, halved and de-seeded (scoop out centers with a spoon, discard center flesh)
1.2 lbs ground turkey breast (1 package)
1 cup of fresh mushrooms, chopped
2 cups of fresh baby spinach, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup of cooked quinoa prepared with
2 cups of low sodium chicken stock
1 tablespoon Ms. Dash Tomato-Basil-Garlic No-salt seasoning
1 tablespoon Ms. Dash Garlic-Herb No-salt seasoning
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Season turkey with Ms. Dash blends and cayenne pepper.
Brown turkey with onion in a nonstick skillet
Add in chopped mushrooms and spinach until it is all incorporated and veggies are soft
Mix in prepared quinoa and mix well, remove from heat
Spoon turkey-quinoa mix into hollowed out zucchini shells
Bake, covered in a glass or ceramic casserole dish for 25-30 minutes or until zucchini can be pierced easily with a knife

Makes 4 servings.


Italian Wedding Soup

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups of low sodium chicken stock
1.2 lb of ground turkey breast (one package)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded kale or swiss chard
1/2 cup of canned cannellini beans or northern white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup diced tomato

PREPARATION:

Mix turkey with basil, oregano, garlic and cayenne pepper in a bowl, using your hands Lightly roll into 1/2-inch diameter meatballs (approx. 1 ounce each...about 16 total) and set aside on a plate.

Over medium-high heat, cook meatballs in a nonstick pan until lightly browned on all sides. Place cooked meatballs on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb excess fat.

In a 3-quart saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat and add kale. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until kale is tender. Add in 8 meatballs (reserve the rest for another recipe), beans and tomato and let simmer until heated through.

Makes 4 servings.

Movie Weekend

Well the weather is much improved...it was in the low 70's yesterday! And by evening it was still downright balmy. Nice. Makes me look forward to Spring when the trees are blooming and I can ditch my boots. My allergies? Well, not so much. But I digress...

Seems this weekend has been all about movies for us. J and mom saw Underworld:Rise of the Lycans on Friday night. I wasn't up for a movie that night, so they went without me and saw something I would never get through. Then, yesterday mom and I saw He's Just Not That Into You. It was cute although the overall theme of women talking themselves into bad boyfriends (and husbands) made me sad. I will say, the Aniston-Affleck storyline reminded me somewhat of J and I, so I liked that...especially at the end.

Since I knew I was going to the movies I ate low-carb all day so I could have a small popcorn. I just cannot smell popcorn and not have it. So knowing that I planned ahead and am happy that I did. So far the new way of eating is going well, I was even inspired yesterday to make-up a new recipe. I took some ground turkey breast and browned it with fresh, chopped garlic, diced mushrooms and chopped, fresh, baby spinach. I seasoned it with some Ms. Dash (no salt) and a little cumin. Then, once it was done, I stuffed it into hollowed halves of fresh zucchini and baked it at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.

Of course, it would have been tastier with cheese melted on top, but I am off dairy, so it was good to me. I had a lot of the "turkey hash" left over so I tried some today scrambled into my egg whites and that was tasty too. Ya know? It's amazing what a little effort in the kitchen will yield. Tasty and healthy meals that are quick and easy to make. It feels good to put myself back on the top of my list and making this a priority. By doing so, I am never hungry, eat yummy foods and lose weight. It's a win-win! Today, the sun is shining so we're going to do 4 miles on the Riverside trail...I am sure the dogs will love it!

Healthy Eating

This came to me via email today and I thought it was very cool!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All o f the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3 ) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9 ) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them )

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Holiday Cheer

J came home and found this lovely package on our doorstep! I have no idea how it was left there without the dogs going nuts about someone on our porch! It must have been placed there when we were out in the backyard earlier today.

Inside was a note...

...from my pal Jaime, who lives a neighboring suburb of Tulsa. Jaime and I met online over two years ago...on The Knot's Hawaii Board, which brings together Hawaiian Brides from all over the world in cyberspace. Never in a million years would I have thought we'd ever get a chance to meet. But we did...last August, for lunch. Then, this December, we organized an ornament exchange for Hawaii Knotties (that's what the gals who post on The Knot are called) through Elfster.com and lo and behold, Jaime drew my name and sent us awesome peacock ornaments!

The note says:

"Just a little more holiday cheer. There's something special marked "From Tia". She picked it out just for you saying that if you love Hawaii you had to have it! Hope and and J have a blessed Christmas.

Happy Holidays, Love, Jaime, Matthew, Tia & Hani"

Here's the adorable, handpicked item from Tia (her kindergartner)...

Love his sparkly shell and bright red flippers and cool snorkeling mask!

And, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge! I love it! I definitely feel like I've left my heart in San Francisco this Christmas. My mom called and she's meeting up with my aunt, uncle, cousin and brother in SF to see my other cousin's new apartment in North Beach, go see a move and then attend midnight mass at St. Peter and Paul Church in Washington Square. She also confirmed that she and her two chihuahuas (Dot and Sport) will arrive in Tulsa on Sunday, January 11th. I cannot wait!

And super tasty, world famous Honolulu Cookie Company Hawaiian Shortbread...mixed flavors including chocolate dipped, pineapple and lilikoi (passion fruit)...YUMMY!

The pugs were so excited too! Here they are checking out all of the goodies!

And how cute are these ornaments on our tree? Love them!

Words cannot express how happy this gift made me today. Jaime is an amazing friend who, oddly enough, I have only met face-to-face once. When I came out for my job interview last May, she left an OU Sooners coffee cup and sweet note for me at the hotel. And now this!

She's so thoughtful and I greatly appreciate her taking the time to do this for me, especially today, when I am home alone with the furbabies. Waiting for my sweetheart to come home after having worked a 16 hour day and getting ready for another 8. And talking on the phone with my mom in CA... getting ready to spend the evening with family in the city I love dearly and my dad in Alaska, gathering together my siblings and their children for a traditional Christmas dinner. It's nice to know that even though I am a little lonely on this day, I am not alone. Thanks for spreading the holiday cheer Jaime...you're the best!

Now it's my turn to spread some holiday cheer...I am surprising J by making carmel apples with peanuts....his fav! Wish me luck, I have never made them before butI have good instructions. And since we're in major debt-pay-off and save mode, my gift to him this year is a bunch of "love coupons" I made up for him on the computer, printed and put in a nice card for him in his stocking stuffed with all sorts of chocolates and goodies he enjoys (like Burt's Bee Hand Salve and Alba Shave Cream). The coupons are good for everything from a night on the town to a weekend get-away, movie of his choice and a tech-free evening (no TV, no phone, no internet..just us!). I hope he likes them and uses them too!

UPDATED: Here's how my carmel apples came out...

They were super easy to make!

INGREDIENTS:

- 5 medium Granny Smith apples, washed and dried

- One bag of Kraft Caramel Bits (they come with 5 wooden sticks)

-1/2 cup of chopped pecans and peanuts

Melt the caramel bits with two tablespoons over medium-low heat.

Remove the melted caramel from the heat, roll the apples (with the sticks inserted in the stem part of the apple) and use a spoon to cover as needed.

Dip the caramel covered apples into chopped nuts, using a spoon to press them into the caramel as needed

Place caramel covered apples onto wax paper sprayed with non-stick spray and refrigerate for at least one hour.