Meal Plan 5/23-5/29

Last week we didn't really have a meal plan put together for the week. We had plenty of groceries in the house, it was a busy week full of chemo every day for Mike, and we just went with it. We did have (in no particular order): 

- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, speckled butterbeans

- leftovers

- with asparagus

- chicken and dumplings with leftover chicken

- sausage & gravy biscuits

- grilled steak, goat cheese stuffed mini peppers (next time I'll wrap pancetta around it)

- smoked ribs with cornbread salad and roasted acorn squash

Here is this weeks!

Monday: lobster ravioli in alfredo sauce with broccoli

Tuesday: egg roll in a bowl

Wednesday: BBQ pork chops in the slow cooker, roasted new potatoes in a garlic sauce, steamed mixed veggies

Thursday: orange chicken, rice and peas

Friday: salmon croquettes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole

Saturday: spaghetti

Sunday: slow cooker steak fajitas

Head on over to Organizing Junkie and check out all the inspiration!

Five on Friday 5.20

Ya'll know I love me some Five on Friday! 

Head on over to check these great ladies out and enjoy the linky party they host.

It's a great way to discover other bloggers.

Here are my five things I have been enjoying this past week:

Fresh produce. I can't get enough of it! We have some sort of fresh produce almost the whole year here in Alabama. Our farmers markets or roadside stands don't shut down until around November/December, and will open up again around February. Some places stay open year round and will bring in things from Florida. Also, fresh eggs and local meats are always available.

Shop local, ya'll! Not only is it better for your body, but small businesses are the best way to go, hands down. They are vital to your community, no matter how big or small.

 

These girls are the best! I have two tomboys that can also be princesses - what better can you ask for? Not afraid to bait their own hook and are looking forward to climbing up in a tree stand with daddy one day, but also likes to wear big hairbows and dress up with mama. Best of both worlds. :)

 This, my friends, is my new favorite breakfast. Steel cut oats with fresh berries and coffee. I've also been including a fruit smoothie, which is GREAT! I add in whatever fruits I have on hand, milk and a scoop of Reliv, and it helps fill me up!

  

We have been existing on snowcones lately. In other parts of the world, it may be known as shaved ice - but here in southeastern Alabama, it's snowcones! My favorite flavor is Fuzzy Navel, but my cousin had the Pina Colada flavor at her daughters birthday party, so I tried it. Instant love.

I sound like a lush, but I promise there was no alcohol involved!

And even way out here in the country, the ice cream truck comes by - on Sundays in the afternoon, no less! Here, Sundays in the summertime  = relaxing in my lounge chair out back while my kids play in their little pool/sprinkler, reading a good book and at 2 pm, getting a strawberry snowcone delivered to me. :)

We completed our first year of homeschooling last week!

Sara finished second grade and June finished Kindergarden! 

She didn't know she had a diploma coming and was so surprised and happy!

I'm so proud of both my girls AND myself for taking on this task and doing it with our whole hearts. Both got A honor roll!

Banana Nut Bread - SO EASY!

 

Earlier this week, I made the best banana bread recipe I've ever made! You can find it on Pinterest, but I'll post the screenshot of it at the end.

First, you cream together your butter and sugar.

It will look similar to this when it's creamed.
It should come together nice and supple and shouldn't be too sticky or too runny.

 Then add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt:

Your flour:

Pop it in the oven (see recipe below for baking instructions) and this turns out amazing. I added in chopped pecans, but you could easily add walnuts instead, or even keep it plain.
It was so good that we dug into it immediately and forgot to take a picture!
Womp, womp, womp.

Happy Wednesday, ya'll! Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday 5.9-5.15

Hey ya'll! It's time for another Meal Plan Monday.

Last week, we didn't get to hardly any recipes I had planned.
Monday, my mom made copycat Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets (SO GOOD!), green beans and rice. Tuesday we had Taco Bell. :o Wednesday we had an early Mothers Day tea at church, so we ate there. Thursday we had french toast and sausage. Friday was beef stroganoff and roasted cabbage. Saturday we had a birthday party that we ate at, and Sunday Mike took us out for Mother's Day to an amazing little Italian restaurant. I had the veggie linguine - it was so good!

DId ya'll have a good Mothers Day? I did. Mike got up before us and made my mom (who lives with us) and myself coffee, and he was making oatmeal with fresh berries on top for us when we stumbled into the kitchen. That was a nice treat. He cooks very well, but he doesn't cook often (other than grilling in the summer) so it was an extra special treat. That works out fine for me because I enjoy cooking. :) We spent some time riding country roads, had lunch at the great Italian restaurant mentioned above, and spent a little time at the pier on the lake. Then he planted some tomatos , I broke in my new lounge chair in the sunshine, and my mom rested. It was awesome!

Now....let's get on to yummier things!

Monday:  potato leek soup (from Taste of Home magaine, but I can't find a link online)

Tuesday: tacos (with mine on red bell pepper wedges)

Wednesday: pasta with ground beef and a four cheese sauce, served with fresh snapped green beans

Thursday: BLTs with pasta salad

Friday: Gyros

Saturday: tuna noodle casserole with sweet peas on the side

Sunday: ribs in the crockpot and finished on the grill fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes

I also posted a YouTube video on my channel about this - you can check it out!

And as always, go check out Organizing Junkie for some great inspiration!

Happy Mothers Day! 2016

Happy Mothers Day!

 

I became a mama 8 years ago. I actually became a mama 9 years ago, when I found out I was expecting our sweet Sara Faith. 

.

I have been blessed with this sassy little thing for almost 9 years now. 

She is my first true love, the one who made me truly realize the feeling of realizing I would give my very own life for her to have just one more day on earth.

She was 23 months old when we found out we were expecting our sweet June Claire. I was absolutely thrilled to be having a second little girl, becuase I knew the best friends they would end up being. And they are. Junebug has brought us SO much joy. She is our comedian and we love her to pieces. From day one she has tried her hardest to be just like her big sister.

 

Today I'm celebrating my 9th Mothers Day.

Some have been harder than others.

But each one has been wonderful and so far, I have not missed one with my girls!

 

 

Spending Mothers Day 2013 at Emory University Hospital.

 

 

 Of course, I wouldn't be a mama without these two people. 

My mother-in-law and my husband are two of the best there is!

And this woman here is quite special to me - she's MY mama.

You are never too old to need your mama, and you should never be too grown to admit it.

Thanks to this woman, we're able to function as a family. She always, always gives up what she's doing at the drop of a hat to come help us. 

I love you, mama. Thank you for teaching me how to be a good one to my babies.

Five on Friday! 5/6/16

Happy Friday, ya'll! I love reading all of  the Five on Friday  links every week. It's a great way to kick off the weekend! I'm linking up this week and will spend my "down time" this afternoon reading the other links. :)

 | O N E |

This sweet girl right here is my mini-me. Sara is 8 now and she is on FIRE! 

I have apologized to so many people in the past few weeks for how I must have acted when I was her age. I"m still applogizing. I don't think I will ever be done. She is never still. She asks seven jillion questions every second and never stops creating ways to do things.

If I open a cabinet or drawer to see it changed and "re-organized" on emore time, I might scream.

Of course, this only annoys me because I AM JUST LIKE THAT. I want it organized MY way and rarely stop to consider that...someone else in the world may be like me. :o

| T W O |

 This happened the other night. I have  never had any tea other than sweet iced tea before in my life. Even with my years living in England. But I got a hankering for a hot cup of something, and I didn't want to have coffee at 8:30 at night.

And it wasn't bad. There's more of it in my future. 

| T H R E E |

 

 This boy right here has my heart. He is so strong! FIrst of all, he's put up with me for almost 11 years, and that right there is enough to crown him King of All Things Calm and Patient. 

But he's going through chemo now, and still found the energy and wherewithal to cut grass this week.  Last week he was in the bed sick 24/7, but this week he only had one day of chemo and seems to be feeling better. He'll be back to feeling awful soon enough, so we're enjoying the good days while they are here. :)

| F O U R |

 

 I'm hooked on this breakfast lately. It's delicious!

It's scrambled eggs (or fried hard, I like to change it up), topped with salami I've warmed up in the pan with some spinach and mushrooms, topped with feta. I prefer it with fruit on the side,

 usually a banana or berries.

Ya'll should try it. You won't regret it.

| F I V E |

 

 

I'm sooo excited to share this! Miss June Claire finished Kindergarten!

Both girls actually finished their school year yesterday, and I didn't get a picture of Sara, because as you can imagine - it was total chaos once I announced it was O V E R! 

I think I've mentioned before that we started homeschooling this year and let me just be honest here, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it. It's not easy work and if someone ever tells you that it is, they are lying straight through their teeth. I have gained a whole new respect for public school and private school teachers now. I only have two students. They have around 20, give or take. I would have been in the psychiatric ward, I believe. 

I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

 

Meal Plan Monday! 5.2-5.8 2016

I'm back again! Can you believe it? (I can't.)

The weather today is a little dark because it's supposed to rain later this evening, but still a day with great weather. After school lessons were done, we got outside for a while. The girls helped me pull some weeds and pick up the yard (we filled up a whole "weed bucket" - aka an old Easter egg pail - and together we got the front walk and stoop swept off. Some of the wildflowers the girls planted are coming up in the flowerbed! Not big enough to get a good picture, but maybe in another week or two. We've got more bell peppers and tomatoes coming along in the back yard, and we have another packet of flower seeds to plan. Still waiting on the daylilies my mom planted for me to show through. I love spring and summer, especially here in Alabama!

 

I love menu planning. It is one of my favorite things to post and read. I've been following Organizing Junkie for years and I love following her Menu Plan Monday linkups. They're great! Go check her out, and if you link up, let me know!

Monday: Copycat Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets with roasted cabbage

Tuesday: tacos (mine will be on red bell pepper wedges)

Wednesday: potato leek soup

Thursday: Baked egs with spinach and feta, sausage

Friday: BLTs and pasta salad

Saturday: poolside birthday party! 

Yay for sunshine and fun with family1

Sunday: beef stroganoff, roasted brussel sprouts and sweet peas

I hope ya'll have  agreat day! If your weather is good, get outside and enjoy the sunshine for a little while! If not, take a minute and play a card game with a friend or loved on. Just get up and do SOMETHING!

God bless!