Menu Plan Monday (...on Tuesday, shhhh, don't tell anyone)...

So here it is! Late, but still here. So I guess that makes me fashionably organized! *Ha ha, chuckle, chuckle, snort* I crack me up!

Monday: We cleaned out the fridge of all of it's leftovers and I attempted to make bread pudding out of leftover rolls from a local restaurant. Turns out, when you are eating a bunch of garlicky Italian food, it can be really hard to tell that the rolls have been brushed with garlic oil. Smelled awesome. Just like bread pudding should smell. But tasted garlicky. Gross. Lesson learned: don't make bread pudding from Italian restaurant leftovers without first licking the top of a roll.

Tuesday: Errand day without the diaper duo. We will be eating out and bringing back some of our kiddos favorite Indian dishes for Wednesday night.

Wednesday: Indian food take-out from Karma. Mmmmm...

Thursday: Chicken and veggie fried rice, egg rolls, fruit.

Friday: Tofu something. Not sure what yet, but I have a block in the fridge, so I would like to try a new recipe.

Saturday: Would like to take the kids out for a mini hike if it's nice, but we may go to the mall if it's not. Either way, we'll eat out.

Sunday: Milk Pork (see photos below) with maple roasted sweet potatoes, balsamic roasted onions (both recipes coming soon) and fruit.

Figs with goat cheese, pepper and honey...

Well, there isn't much more to say than that! This is a simple starter (or midnight snack with a glass of wine) of fresh figs with about a teaspoon of soft goat cheese per fig, drizzled with honey and dusted with freshly ground black pepper. Delish!

FYI: roasting frozen bell peppers...

I recently posted about how I like to freeze sliced bell peppers. Well, this week I tried roasting the frozen peppers for the first time and they turned out wonderfully!
I just tossed them into a pan directly from the freezer, coated them with a bit of olive oil, seasoned them with s & p, and roasted them for about 45 min at 400˚.


I used these in one of my pesto pasta salads. YUM!

Menu Plan Monday...

Cupboard clean out! This week we are skipping our weekly trip to the grocery store and are eating what we already have on hand in our fridge, freezer and pantry. We will still be needing a little of the necessary milk, fruit and yogurt for the kids, but that is it!

Monday: Chicken and green bean Curry from Sunday with brown rice and strawberries.

Tuesday: Steak with red wine reduction and Gorgonzola butter (we don't use a food processor for this, we just mash it together in a bowl, then we wrap leftovers in waxed paper and store them in the freezer), green beans and carrots, Italian bread with oil and balsamic for dipping, fruit.

Wednesday: Eggs and peppers, salt and pepper crostini made with leftover bread from Tuesday, cheese, olives, fruit.

Thursday: Shopping day for mommy and daddy and dinner out! Yay! It's a date!

Friday: Teriyaki pork loin in the crock, brown rice, julienned veggies, fruit

Saturday: Leftover pork from Friday along with anything else we can wrangle out of the fridge.

Sunday: Easter dinner with family at a local sugar house!

Fix-it Friday...

Time for another Fix-It Friday from i heart faces!

This is the original...

And this is the one I adjusted in Photoshop with TRA...


Have a great weekend all!

Super hero capes...

Sunday was rainy here, so while the kids were busy playing with their water table, my husband and I were busy making them these darling super hero capes.
They were so simple to make. We started by cutting the material into triangular pieces minus the tip. Then we folded the edges in a 1/4 of an inch, ironed them in place and repeated once more to make a double folded hem, this made it easier to run through the sewing machine (real seamstresses out there, I apologize, I am so clueless with the sewing lingo). Once the capes were completed, we cut their first initials out of felt and then Jason sewed those onto the middles of the finished capes.


We did not add neck ties to our capes because we didn't want out kids strangling each other or using the capes to pull each other down. We know all too well that our kids would try both, so why tempt them? Instead we just made our capes about 5" too long and tucked the top bit into the back of their shirts. So, yeah. There will be no naked cape wearing in our house, but safety first, right guys? If your kids are less wild, more trustworthy, or if you are just plain braver than I am, by all means, add the neck ties!

This is one of the finished capes (ours measured 21" long by 14" wide at the bottom and 6" wide at the top)...


They really did turn out very cute for such a simple design...


And they were super fast...


Zoom!

Emergency chocolate cake...

I got this recipe idea from my very thoughtful mother-in-law (Thanks Mary!), and after playing around for a while in the kitchen we came up with this very moist, nearly flour-less recipe.
This cake literally takes 5 min, start to finish. I even had just enough time to clean up while the cake cooked!

Emergency Chocolate Mug Cake

1 teaspoon flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons softened butter
Splash of vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to a large microwaveable coffee mug and mix well.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes on high.


The cake may rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed it will sink back down as it cools.

Allow to cool for a couple minutes, and invert onto a plate if desired.


This cake is somewhat fun to share, but it is more fun to hog it all for yourself!
Enjoy!