Menu Plan Monday – January 30–February 5

The third week of menu planning went pretty well until mid-week when both myself and my daughter were not feeling well.  My daughter stayed home from school and by the time dinner rolled around I still was not feeling well so I scratched my plan for that night and ordered pizza. Uh,oh! Although I like to have a plan, I think that the plan (and my mindset toward it) need to be flexible, too.  I don’t want to see my menu plan as something I “have to do” because it probably will not last.  But rather, I want to view it as a “guide” to the week and if things need to switch up and move around well, so be it.  Life is constantly changing and there are bumps in the road (big ones & little ones) so I think the best way to deal with life’s challenges is to have a plan that is flexible. I am finding that it is better to have a flexible plan than no plan. (This may apply to more than just menu planning!)

As for the new recipes that I tried last week, hubby & I both thought the Herb-Roasted Salmon and Tomatoes was yummy.  I thought it was a bit too salty though so I am going to try it with a bit less salt the next time I make it.

The Slow-cooker Chicken Tikka Masala, however, was not a keeper.  I don’t think it was as spicy and the flavors were not the same as the Tikka Masala that I’ve had at Indian restaurants.  Since my hubby and I love Chicken Tikka, I will have to search for another recipe to satisfy that craving. 

My menu for this week:


Monday -  Thin spaghetti and tomato sauce with garlic bread and a salad

Tuesday – Ham Steak with mashed potatoes and edamame

Wednesday – Breaded Chicken with Stovetop stuffing and salad

Thursday – Crunchy tacos with Spanish rice

Friday – Pizza Night

Saturday – Broiled sweet and spicy salmon with spinach rice

Sunday –  Easy crockpot potato soup

And since this Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday and my hubby’s favorite team, the Giants are playing, I plan to make a special appetizer for the event: Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pull Apart Bread

I’m linking up (a little late!) to Menu Plan Monday on Org Junkie.

Wordless Wednesday – 1/25/12 - Doggie in the Window

How much is that doggie in the window?

I’m linking up to Wordless Wednesdays on these great blogs:  5 Minutes for Mom and Angry Julie Monday

Project 366: Week 3

I am on my 3rd post for project 366 and I’ve realized that I need a system to keep this blog post/project going smoothly.  I had a system for week 1 & 2 and that system broke down this past week which is why this post is late.  I have been keeping a small notebook with me to record notes for each day’s photo to help me with my recap at the end of the week.  This week my notebook was buried underneath a pile of papers and I forgot about jotting notes about my photos. Now, I am realizing how valuable the notebook was in writing week 1 and week 2 posts.  So, I need to remember to keep that notebook in a visible location to jot down those notes, if I am to make it to photo #366.  Lesson learned!

Okay, so here’s my week in photos:

Project 366: Day 15  (15/366) - Piggie Food Face – My youngest daughter made this face with her breakfast this morning.  I am amazed at the different pancake food face creations that they can come up with when they have the same ingredients to work with each week: pancakes, butter and bacon.  Actually, when I was making a Shutterfly photo book this week of some family photos, she suggested that I make a book of all the food face photos that the three kids have made and I think that is a wonderful idea.  Now I just need to find all of them on my hard drive.

Project 366: Day 16  (16/366) - The Twins’ Backpacks – Although I have hooks in our breezeway to hang the kids’ backpacks, they always seem to end up here on the floor behind the couch.

Project 366: Day 17 (17/366) - Basement Corner “After” Photo – I spent some time in the basement over the weekend reorganizing one corner of the basement.  This is such an improvement over the mess that was there before.  My next goal is to go through EVERY box and really decide whether or not I need everything that I have saved. Wish me luck!

Project 366: Day 18 (18/366) - Lego Creation – My youngest daughter is usually left out of the Lego creation activity that her brother and sister participate in and she complains that she doesn’t have as many Legos as the other two.  So on this day she decided to use the one bag of Legos that I bought for all of them (these were not part of a “kit” that made a specific item)  to create a robot and a wall to  photograph with the robot.  Now, she wants to send it to the Lego magazine so that she can enter their monthly Lego creation contest.

Project 366: Day 19 (19/366) - Final Scrabble Board – I have been playing this one game of Scrabble with my 10 year old daughter for over a week and today, we finally finished the game!  It was fun to play on a real board for a change rather than on my smart phone or computer.  Also, my 10 yr old surprised me with the interesting words she knew.

Project 366:  Day 20  (20/366) - Shadow on the Floor – This shot was technically taken early on Sat morning but since I did go to sleep yet, I still consider it Friday's photo.  I came home from a night out with friends to realize that I didn’t take Friday’s photo so I picked up my camera and looked for something to photograph.  I saw various shadows on the floor and I thought this one looked really creepy.

Project 366: Day 21 (21/366) – Family Movie Night Ticket – Most Saturdays we have family movie night.   When we first started, the kids would make tickets for everyone each week that they would need to hand in to gain admission to the TV room.  It’s been awhile since we did the tickets and I found these really cute ones online that I could just print out for everyone instead of handmade ones.  It was my son’s choice to pick the movie that night so he wrote the name of the movie on each ticket and was in charge of collecting them before everyone entered the “theater”.  Everyone was impressed with the professional looking movie tickets.

Menu Plan Monday – January 23-29

Last week I followed my menu almost perfectly except that I was supposed to make the Herb-roasted salmon and tomatoes from the Feb issue of Woman’s Day and somehow I messed up and wrote down on my paper Monthly Menu Planner that I was going to make the Horseradish salmon cakes from the same issue.  There are 4 salmon recipes in that issue and I plan to try all of them so this week I will be making the Herb-roasted salmon instead.  As for the salmon cakes, they were a bit dry but still very delicious and the salad paired well with it.  I was really out of my comfort zone on that recipe though.  It wasn’t difficult to make, but I was putting fish in the  food processer which I have never done before.  And, I actually was enjoying making that meal ( dare I say, it was fun?).  In fact,  the recipe felt so “fancy” to me that I took out my Lenox china to serve the meal on.  Here’s a photo:

The other new recipe I tried was the Shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches and since they were made in the slow cooker, there was just a little bit of prep and then I let the “cooker” do the cooking!  The slow cooker is such a great kitchen tool that I do not use as often as I should.  (Note to self:  find more yummy slow cooker recipes!)  The sandwiches were yummy and my husband gave them a thumbs up, too. 
So, I will be adding both the salmon & the BBQ chicken recipes to my recipe binder!


My menu for this week:

Monday- Ham steak, mashed potatoes & baby arugula salad

Tuesday-Leftovers

Wednesday-Quesadillas

Thursday-Macaroni & Cheese

Friday- Pizza Night

Saturday- Herb-roasted salmon and tomatoes

Sunday- Slow-cooker chicken tikka masala

I’m linking up to Menu Plan Monday on Org Junkie.

Wordless Wednesday- 1/18/12

Since I’m not really a coffee drinker, this is what keeps me warm in the winter – a cup o’ cocoa.

I'm linking up to Wordless Wednesdays on these great blogs: Angry Julie Monday & 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tackle It Tuesday-1/17/12

Well, here I am back with my second “Tackle It Tuesday” post and I am happy to say that I tackled a couple of things around the house this past week and I am so happy about it.  I have so many things that need to be done.  My two youngest are in 1/2 day Kindergarten this year so I have some additional time on my hands to finally tackle some projects that I have been putting off for a looooong time.

I found some really good deals at the supermarket last week and I had hardly any space in the pantry to put all the groceries I bought.  So, I decided that instead of just stuffing those items into the closet, I would go shelf-by-shelf cleaning out and reorganizing the pantry.  I found items that I am never going to use and will be donating them to the local food pantry and I tossed out items that were past their due date (some WAAAY past.)  I have a few items on the floor of the pantry and I dragged them all out into the hallway and vacuumed out all the dust and dirt that was on the floor.  Then, I reorganized what was left.  I did not take a “before” photo but I did take an “after” photo to share.  Here is what my pantry looks like now after the cleaning & reorganizing:

Another big tackle this week was cleaning out & reorganizing a “small” section of my basement.   This was more of a reorganization and vacuuming up all the dirt on the floor and the spider webs rather than actually purging stuff that I no longer need (although I think I did get rid of two small boxes of “stuff” that was just taking up space). My next goal for this area is to really look at what is in all those boxes and decide if I really need those items (doubt it!). But, that will have to wait for another day. Here is an “after” shot of that project:

What have you tackled this week?  Leave me a comment and let me know. I’m linking up to Tackle It Tuesday on 5 Minutes for Mom.

MENU PLAN MONDAY–January 16-23

Wow!  My first week back to menu planning and it went so well.  Now if every week would be just like that, my life would be so much easier!  I followed my plan every night and I loved the new recipe I tried – the Blackened Salmon Soft Tacos.
Here’s a photo:

This week I have two new recipes to try and hopefully they will be yummy, too.  My menu for this week is as follows:
Monday- Breaded Chicken Breasts, Mashed Potatoes, Spinach salad
Tuesday- Leftover night
Wednesday- Thin Spaghetti & meatballs in tomato sauce with garlic bread
Thursday- Tacos served with Spanish rice
Friday- Pizza Night
Saturday –  Herb-roasted Salmon and Tomatoes (Woman’s Day, Feb. 2012 issue)
Sunday – Shredded Barbecued Chicken Sandwiches (Fitness Magazine, Feb. 2012 issue)
I’m linking up to Menu Plan Monday on Org Junkie

PROJECT 366: WEEK 2

Well week 2 started off a bit shaky with my Project 366 and I almost did not take a photo on Sunday.  Scary, I know!  I was too busy cleaning the house and setting up my new office bookshelf to realize that I needed to take some photos for Project 366.  The rest of the week was busy and I seemed to have gravitated to taking many food related photos this week.  I guess my mind has been on food a lot lately.  I have been in a food rut and I’m tired of making the same old stuff over and over again so I plan to try some new recipes this year.  In addition, I started menu planning & couponing again so it’s been a foodie week around here.  So here’s week 2:


Project 366: Day 8 (8/366) – Noodle Writing - This is my lone photo from Sunday. Lucky for me, I took a shot of this noodle lying on my counter. I am amused when my food “speaks” to me. I have found faces in Jell-O and in butter containers and my kids love to make “food faces” with their pancakes. Who says food can’t be funny?


Project 366: Day 9 (9/366) – Christmas Ornament – It was finally time to take the Christmas tree down and I just love looking at all the new ornaments that we acquired this year including this one made by one of my kids.  I really love the handmade ornaments the kids make in school.


Project 366: Day 10 (10/366) – Paws – I am amused at how my dog places her paws and how she grips things with them.  Many times she has them crossed like a little lady and I think it is so cute.

Project 366: Day 11 (11/366) – Grilled Cheese – I took many food photos this week.  I found the “food” setting on my camera and I  have been experimenting a little bit.  This is a photo of Day 11’s dinner.

Project 366: Day 12 (12/365) – Southwest Mustard – My new food find is this deliciously spicy mustard from Woeber’s.  I found this mustard with a few other mustard flavors at the end of one of the supermarket aisles during the holidays.  I also have tried their Honey Mustard, the Whole Grain Dijon  and the Champagne Dill mustard but the Southwest flavor is my favorite so far.  I know they have a Horseradish sauce that I have been wanting to try, too.

Project 366: Day 13 (13/366) – Leinenkugel’s – My drink of choice tonight.  This is one of my favorite beers.  I am so happy that my SIL introduced me to this brand of beer. 

Project 366: Day 14 (14/366) – Blackened Salmon Soft Tacos – I found this recipe in the February issue of Woman’s Day magazine along with 3 other salmon recipes and I vowed to try all of them since my husband and I love salmon and I only really know how to prepare it one way.  Well, this recipe was a big hit.  Not only was it delicious, but it was so simple to make, too.  Now if only my kids would eat it.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY–1/11/12

Wish I was here:
              

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

I'm linking up to Wordless Wednesday on these great blogs:

Angry Julie Monday & 5 Minutes for Mom

TACKLE IT TUESDAY- 1/10/12

         

I’ve tackled a biggie in my life this past week.  I started my own blog, Think, Say, Do, Be Creatively.  Woot! Woot!  I am so proud of myself that I accomplished this task.  I’ve had this on my mind for awhile and in fact I picked the name and bought the URL back in September 2011.  Then, I let life get in the way.  I kept telling myself that I needed to plan things out before I wrote any posts and well that never happened. But 4 months later, here I am. I decided to just jump in and I’m glad I did.

With this blog, I plan on bringing more creativity to my life and share those adventures and whatever else is on my mind with all of those that would like to share this blogging journey with me.  I am starting out with a Project 366 and participating in some linky parties and then seeing how things develop along the way. 

What have you tackled this week?  Leave me a comment and then go see what projects other people have tackled over at Tackle It Tuesday on 5 Minutes for Mom.

MENU PLAN MONDAY–January 9-15

My First “Menu Plan Monday” Post:

Wow!  After following I’m an Organizing Junkie for awhile now, I finally have a blog where I can join in and share my menus.  They are not that wonderful right now but I am hoping that this will encourage me to feed my family ( & myself) better.  I also hope that it encourage me to think,  plan ahead so I am not staring at the fridge at 5 o’clock hoping the food will just jump out of it and magically prepare itself. In addition, I want to add some creativity to my meals so we are not eating the same old tired boring food all the time.

I am not a stranger to meal plans. In fact, I was just looking at my Family Cookbook binder where I keep all of the recipes that I’ve tried and liked and I found some of my old meal plans.  Back in 2008, I did almost 6 months of menu planning. (Yeah!)  I used a worksheet that I found on organizedhome.com called the Monthly Menu Planner and meal planning worked pretty well for me at the time.  I am not quite sure why I discontinued it but I am glad I kept the used worksheets so I can use them to help me plan for this year.  So here it is, my first menu plan for 2012:

Monday- Macaroni & Cheese
Tuesday- Pierogies, stuffing, Spinach salad
Wednesday- Grilled Cheese, Spinach salad
Thursday-Ham Steak, Mashed potatoes, salad
Friday- Pizza Night
Saturday – Blackened Salmon Soft Tacos
Sunday – Meat Lasagna ( the Step by Step Lasagne Directions), Salad

I’m linking up to Menu Plan Monday on Org Junkie

PROJECT 366: WEEK 1

I am excited to begin my blog with my Project 366.  I attempted a 365 project last year and in looking at Flickr today I see that I only posted 81 days to my Project 365 photostream.  I know I took way more than 81 days of photos last year and probably took photos on most days of the year since it was my first year of having an HTC Droid Incredible and the camera on that phone is quite easy to use and took pretty good photos. The problem I had was in posting the photos to Flickr and keeping track of it all.  Sooooo… that brings me to THIS year and THIS blog.  I will be using this blog to share my Project 366 and to keep me on track by having a place to post my photos each week.  And now on to week 1….

Project 366:  Day 1 (1/366) – Dinosaurs & The Kids - This photo was taken on January 1st – New Year’s Day at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  We were there to see the last day of The World’s Largest Dinosaurs Exhibit.  The kids were thrilled and want to go back because the place is so large they did not get to see everything they wanted.

Project 366: Day 2 (2/366) – Potrait of Me – This one is cheating.  I did not take this photo, my youngest daughter took it of me.  It’s not the best shot of me but I figured that I needed to get a photo of myself on this blog and I needed a photo for Day 2 – okay I already missed a day – oh well, I forgot that I wanted to do a Project 366 until Day 3 so I had to fudge this one.  Please forgive me.  I promise to do better.

Project 366: Day 3 (3/366) – Shrek Party – This photo was the first one I took for the project.  I saw that my youngest daughter was playing with these toys and found it interesting the way she arranged them as if they were talking to one another like at a cocktail party.  That’s why I named this one the Shrek party. 

Project 366: Day 4 (4/366) – Playmobil Advent calendar close-up – This photo is from an advent calendar that I bought for my daughter about 6 years ago.  This is probably the first year that my kids actually used the calendar the way it is supposed to be used by opening one box a day.  In the past, they would open more than one box or just play with them and not even do the boxes.  The kids actually were excited each morning to open the box up to see what item was inside and they were very good in taking turns.  I saw that the stores had a Lego Star Wars Advent calendar this year and almost picked that one up for next year but it was sold out by the time I decided to get it.  I did check out the Playmobil website and noticed they had a couple of different versions of their advent calendars and I want them all.  I am love Christmas decorations.

Project 366: Day 5 (5/366) – The Doggie “Nose” -  I took this photo of my dog who is a pure bred Yellow Labrador Retriever.  I like taking photos of her but for some reason she always puts her ears back when I try to take a photo.  I try to tell her to “act natural” but that is not a command that she understands yet. 

Project 366:  Day 6 (6/366) – Mmmm Pretty Doughnut -  My husband surprised me with a Starbucks Birthday Cake Mini Doughnut and it wasn’t even my birthday!  It was Yummy and oh, so pretty!  I just looked it up on the Starbucks website and it’s only 130 calories.  I took a close-up of the doughtnut because I was trying out the macro settings on my new camera – Panasonic Lumix ZS8.  It’s not a DSLR but it will have to do until I can get my hands on one of those.

Project 366: Day 7 (7/366) – Annual Family Christmas Tree photo – Each year either the weekend we take the tree down or close to it, I insist that my family get together in front of the tree so I can take our annual photo.  I break out the tripod and set the self-timer and take as many photos as the kids ( & hubby) can tolerate.  We have been taking photos like this since 1995 ( only a few years since we started dating)!  Only in ‘96 did we take the photo of the tree but without me and my future hubby.  This is one of our traditions and we all enjoy looking at the scrapbooks of Family Christmas Tree photos to see how much everyone has changed and/or grown and how the tree is decorated each year.

THE BEGINNING-DINOSAURS, A CAMERA & OPRAH

This blog has been in my mind for awhile now and I keep thinking about it but not making the time to write it.  Now’s the time.  No more waiting. No more procrastinating and letting other things get in the way.  I have been waiting because I am not a writer.  I am not a “techie”.  However, I am a person that wants to create things and explore that creativity.  I want to bring more creativity to my life and share that with others. 

Why now?  Well, it is the new year and everyone else is probably starting something new this week, right?  Well, not really, but that probably is part of the equation, My real inspiration came to me on the first day of the year.  My family & I visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to see “The World’s Largest Dinosaurs” exhibit and I was inspired by the city and remembered a time when I took a photography seminar there many years ago.  I remembered how much I enjoyed taking photographs and how I dreamed of being a photographer.  Later that night, I was watching Oprah’s Next Chapter and seeing her start all over with a new show gave me the inspiration to start something new and realize that it is never to late to start something new.  That is when I decided to stop waiting for some unknown future “perfect” day to start my creative blog and decided to start immediately.

So what am I going to do here at this blog?  Well, first it is going to be a place for me to house my Project 365 ( project 365+1 for 2012)  I attempted a 365 project in 2011 and I got half way through the year or maybe a bit more more.  I just wasn’t diligent in posting to Flickr and didn’t really find a place to share my project.   I plan to do some creative home projects as well.  My home could  really use some decorating and I’ve seen so many wonderful home projects on other blogs.  Also, I’ll write about the books I’m reading, music I’m listening to and whatever else I feel is fun to write about.  Let’s see how things evolve.