Menu Plan Monday

• Appetizer Night: 7 Layer Dip & Tortilla Chips
• Bowtie Lasagna
• Crescent Dogs, Chips
• Turkey Burgers, Fresh Tomato with S&P (rollover from last week)
• Chicken Rollups, Salad (rollover from last week)
• Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes
• Leftovers

Find other amazing meal plans at I’m an Organizing Junkie!

Friday 5!

1. Besides plain, what’s your favorite way to eat an apple? With caramel or peanut butter.
2. Besides plain, what’s your favorite way to eat berries? In yogurt.
   
3. Besides plain, what’s your favorite way to eat a banana? Peanut butter and banana sandwich! Or dipped in chocolate.
4. Besides plain, what’s your favorite way to eat a peach? Peach cobbler or pie. I’d really like to try them grilled.
5. Besides plain, what’s your favorite way to eat a pineapple? Grilled.

You can find the Friday 5 at www.friday5.org! Have fun 🙂

Monday Movies

In order to hopefully get back to my blog on a regular basis, I’ve been visiting The Daily Meme once every few days to see if one of the memes catches my eye. Today, the Monday Movie Meme (which you can find here), piqued my interest with what movies you could watch over and over–you know, the ones you go straight for when you’re deathly bored. Here are a few of my favorites:

Beauty and the Beast

This is the first movie I ever saw in the theater. My mom treated me to Beauty and the Beast when I was in 2nd grade. I can pretty much sing along with all of the songs and can recite quite a few lines, too.

Silence of the Lambs

Creepy!! I don’t know what it is that I like about this movie other than it is a fantastic psycho-thriller. It has me on the edge of my seat EVERY stinking time I watch it (but I can’t watch it alone…)!

The Blind Side

This is a newbie to my list of favorites. In fact, I’ve only seen it once–but I imagine that I’ll be buying it soon and that it will become a favorite to watch when I need a good cry. I didn’t need a good cry the first time I watched it but ended up sobbing through quite a bit of it (okay, maybe not sobbing, but if my husband hadn’t been there, you betcha I would have been!).

Menu Plan Monday

• Fajitas in a Foil Pack (from Hungry Girl 1-2-3), Salad
• Sticky Chicky (Dump Chicken Recipe), Noodles, Mixed Vegetables
• BBQ Beef Cups, Salad
• Southwest Layered Salad
• Turkey Burgers, Sliced Tomatoes w/ S&P
• Grilled Cheese, Baby Carrots
• Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken, Salad

Join me and many others as we share our weekly menus and recipes on I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Just another Manic Monday…

Hoo-wee! Lots of changes have been going on around here–let’s see, we:

• have a kid who will turn 7 months old tomorrow.
• moved to North Carolina last week.
• have 2 bathrooms! This is huge people, huge!
• live in an area where it actually rains instead of splitting over the mountains, skipping us, and then coming back together over the other mountains.
• live in a city where it’s going to be tough to find my way around for a while 😦
• have an unusable fireplace. LOL!

The Omnivore’s 100

I ran across this today on a food blog I subscribe to and thought it might be interesting to go through and see what all I’ve eaten on the list (and some things I would never consider eating!). The original link where she found it is here.

Here are the instructions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Menu Plan Monday

#1: Hawaiian Roll Sandwiches with Turkey and Muenster, Fruit of Choice

#2: Lemon Pepper Chicken, Braised Green Beans, Fruit of Choice

#3: Hamburgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Fruit of Choice

#4: Romaine Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Shredded Carrot, Turkey, and Cheese

#5: Breakfast for Dinner (Pancakes or Waffles, Eggs, Fruit of Choice)

#6: Leftovers

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Find more inspiring dinner menus at I’m An Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday

We have decided recently to start taking measures to make our lives healthier. I’m trying some new recipes this week (without meat!) that we could start incorporating as healthier substitutes to what we usually eat. The menu is shorter this week because on Friday, we are taking off to Texas so Katie can meet our family!

#1: Chile Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, Coleslaw (are there enough Cs in this meal?)

#2: Chicken Breast, Green Beans

#3: Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Basil, Feta, and Kalamata Olives, Green Salad

#4: Omelets with Sundried Tomatoes, Spinach, Red Bell Pepper, and Parmesan

#5: Chinese Takeout!

Want free food? Just lose a little self-respect!

CNN.com had an interesting “article” (I use that term very loosely today) today about ways to score free food. It starts with the ways that several chain restaurants have enticed customers with days of offering free food, whether it be scoring a pastry with the purchase of a drink (Starbucks) or just being lucky enough to get a free ice cream cone (Ben & Jerry’s–Yum!).

The article, however, takes a particularly amusing turn when the author decides to list ways to obtain free food on a daily basis. I will admit that I have done a couple of these tasks to get a free lunch or dinner (hello, Costco!), but a couple of the ideas had me saying, “Huh?” and shaking my head.

First of all, the author, Sarah LeTrent, encourages dumpster diving! What? Yep, you heard me right. Ms. LeTrent actually infers that if you want to save money, hit up the dumpsters behind grocery stores and bakeries, and therein might lie a treasure (albeit, a stinky treasure that is crawling with who knows how many types of bacteria and grossness) for your tastebuds. You know, I think I just really may value my health over trying to save $2-3 for a fresh loaf of bread (not to mention that dumpster diving is actually illegal in some areas).

Ms. LeTrent also states, “If you’re willing to risk the embarrassment of tone-deaf employees droning the traditional song, many restaurants will spot at least one free, candle-adorned dessert in celebration of your very merry unbirthday.” Alright then. Who’s heard of theft? The word theft might sound extreme in this instance, but let’s think about it for a minute. If you don’t patronize that particular establishment very often, you might be able to get away with having a dessert on your birthday and a dessert on your “unbirthday.” Well, on your unbirthday, you just stole maybe $3-4 worth of dessert from the restaurant. It may not seem like a huge deal in the grand scheme of things (especially, since some restaurants do make a ton of money each year), but ethically, it’s still wrong. I don’t know about you, but I think my guilty conscience would take over for quite some time after I tried to have an “unbirthday” dessert. Maybe Ms. LeTrent doesn’t have a conscience (nah, just kidding about that one–but you have to wonder since she did write this article).

I suppose this article just rubbed me the wrong way this morning. After all, we by no means are anywhere near rich. We are trying to save money so we can attempt to pay off our debts more quickly. But, we are going about it the more honest way–using coupons, shopping the sales, cutting out some of our wants and focusing on our needs, etc. I’m not sure that this blog post will make a huge difference to anyone, but I encourage you to be honest and trustworthy, especially on the day when you’re just trying to eke by. You WILL reap what you sow!

Whoo!!

::swipes forehead with back of hand::

Is it really March already?!? The past few months have gone by so quickly… I went back to work in mid-January, and I really adore playing with Katie. She is definitely getting more interesting (and more interested in things) by the day. She smiles a lot, and makes adorable coos.

All in all, she’s a pretty happy baby–except for when she’s tired. LOL. She’s a big screamer when she’s tired, and that can make us all grumpy after about 30 minutes. We’re getting better at soothing her to sleep though. It’s just a matter of figuring out what position she wants to be in.

Today, I’m thankful for:

• a truly wonderful family
• Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover
• knowing how to roast a chicken
• a washer and dryer IN our apartment
• finally getting organized in this apartment (after being here 8 months!)