Week 3 Menu

We had another great week of easy, ready-to-go meals and it was awesome! I feel like these meals could actually reduce our monthly grocery budget which is so exciting. I know we will get better at them as we go along too! 

I'm going to try to new ways of container-ing the food so that it saves me on freezer space and dishes. I will admit that I was a bit lazy this week and I just used my pyrex dishes. I had planned on lining them with foil but it seemed like a lot of work! 

Another little trick I read about is to put a container in the freezer that we put our leftover veggies in until it is full. Then those veggies can be used for vegetable beef soup! I think this is a really neat idea! I got it out of one of my Paula Deen cookbooks. 

I made a sauce in my slow cooker to use for lasagna and spaghetti and hopefully a 3-cheese baked ziti. Then whatever sauce I have left over can be containered up for later! Easy, easy! All I did was pour two large cans of plain tomato sauce and added lots of different spices and herbs. Then I browned some hamburger meat with minced garlic and drained that. Then I added my meant and chopped onion. It is delicious! 

I guess I should tell you my menu plan, huh? You can click on a couple of the meals for the recipe if I used one as a guideline! I actually altered all of them though. 

Lasagna 

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole (I meant to have chicken in this but I forgot it!)

Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken Noodle Soup

Texas Tortilla Bake

3 Cheese Baked Ziti
Chicken and Tortilla Casserole
Spaghetti

We had the lasagna on Sunday. Oh my was it good! I wish I had paid more attention to what I did on that because I'm not sure if I can do that again!

For the chicken and dumplings and the chicken noodle soup I just decided to make the "base." I bought bullion cubes instead of broth because I wasn't sure how much I needed. I ended up buying the bullion cubes that had herb seasoning mixed in them. Then I added a couple of large cans of cream of chicken soup to about 4 cups of the broth and I boiled that with some celery and pepper. You don't really need a lot of salt with bullion cubes. I felt like it was a bit too creamy but there was no room in my pot to dilute it with broth so I decided to go on and divide it and just planned to add more broth when I cooked it. I added chicken that had been boiled and shred into larger pieces too.

So tonight we decided that's what we would eat. We had a guest so we decided at 5 this was the best thing to make. Of course it took a lot longer because it had to be thawed. I like to use the Pilsbury biscuits for my dumplings. Their buttermilk biscuits taste more homemade than any other biscuit I've tried. All I did was add about 3 more cups of broth to what I already had and I felt like that was perfect. Then I brought it up to a boil and added my dumplings. I let those cook for about 15-20 minutes until they're not too doughy! I like to lean on the doughier side of things but Derek prefers them cooked all the way!

It was probably a lot easier than I just made it seem! My dumplings tasted great too! Anna-Kate and I went back for seconds and thirds!

So that's what we are eating this week and probably next week too! I'm going to work on a few breakfast ideas for our next cooking day. I think that would be really fun! 

Thankful Thursdays

Have you ever noticed how Thanksgiving gets overshadowed by Christmas? I mean, Halloween doesn't even fully wrap up before you start seeing Christmas trees and advertisements for the "hot new toy" of the season. It makes me so sad because I LOVE Thanksgiving!

So I thought I would bust out the Thanksgiving spirit and post what I'm grateful in each Thursday!

What's greater than a day that is dedicated to spending quality time with family, being thankful for what we have and of course eating a lot!

I love the food!

My friend Ashley made a blog post about her favorite Thanksgiving foods and it inspired me!

I am SO thankful for the good food on Thanksgiving. From the turkey all the way down to the pecan pie!

Even more than the food, I'm so thankful for the people who prepare the meals for me! Well not for me but for our family. :)

My sisters and I have always had two thanksgiving dinners and now this year it looks like we are adding another meal! We will do two on Thursday and probably one on Friday. Last year was the first year I really got to cook. I made broccoli cheese casserole and sweet potato casserole, corn pudding and then I made pecan pie, pumpkin pie and Bakerella's Turkey Cake Balls. (In my tiny oven! This year, I'm so grateful for my new oven! haha!) After doing all of that, I was TIRED! I could not believe that for years my grandmother has stood in her kitchen and made those casseroles, plus hashbrown casserole, the turkey and dressing, rolls and pecan and pumpkin pie. Oh and jello and ambrosia salad! Yikes!! Then I have my dad and his sister who prepare an entire meal on their own!

I am thankful for a place to gather and eat our thanksgiving meal! A few years ago, my grandmother's kitchen was being remodeled and we had no place to prepare the food and really no dining room to eat it in, so we all ate at Cracker Barrel. After that, I have been so grateful for the Thanksgivings at their house! It's so much easier to eat around the table where we can relax together after.

Finally, I am so thankful for the family we get to share these wonderful meals with! Every other year we go with Derek and his family and it's so nice! We don't always get to see each other and I just love spending time together! Of course, I am grateful for every year we get to spend with my family too. I know that there might be years where we can't spend the holidays together and it makes me cherish the moments we have even more. I'm so grateful that my children get to experience family on that level.

Of course, most of all I am thankful for Derek who is such a wonderful husband and father and the two beautiful children we have. He is such a hard worker and puts 100% into our family. Anna-Kate and Thomas are such a special gift. They are absolutely amazing!

Each week, I plan on sharing what I'm thankful for! I will try not to be so mushy though! haha! I just feel so richly blessed!

What are you thankful for?