Works for Me Wednesday - Menu Planning

Each pay period I sit down and make a 15-16 day meal plan and make my grocery list. I think stick the menu plan up on the wall in the kitchen so we will know what we have available for meals for the next two weeks. I never ever set this meal plan in stone as I learned long ago sometimes we just aren't in the mood for what was written on the calendar for a particular night so we or I decide what is for dinner in the morning by picking from the list and get out the meat from the freezer or put the ingredients into the crock pot so that I will be prepared that evening.

Here is a sample of one of our menus

1. Meatballs and Rice w/salad
2. Beer Can Chicken, asparagus and potatoes
3. Steak with potatoes and broccoli
4. Pork tenderloin with mushroom peas and fruit
5. Spaghetti with corn and bread
6. Shepherds Pie
7. Chicken Pot Pie
8. Chicken parmesan
9. Chicken Alfredo with broccoli
10. Pizza (order out)
11. Tri tip with potatoes and squash
12. Left overs
13. Tacos
14. Roast with veggies
15. Chili
16. SOS (using left over roast)
17. Turkey wraps and fruit salad

Usually the list has one day on there that is dinner out and one or two days of leftovers so that we make sure to use things up! What do you do for meal planning????? Please share below.

Nine Months in the Making...

And no I didn't just have a baby, that would be a miracle 3 weeks after a hysterectomy! What I did do was finish this adorable sweater, hat and bootie set for my cousins beautiful baby girl. It is kind of ironic I finished it on her 9 month birthday!

The Hat

I designed the hat myself and it turned out pretty cute. The first go was umm well, lets just say I have a new hat!

The Mary Jane Skimmers

These adorable Mary Jane Skimmers were crocheted using a pattern by Sylver Designs.

The Seamless Kimono Sweater

I discovered this pattern right after my cousin requested that I knit a sweater for her baby while she was still pregnant. I worked on it for a long time but with 4 kids I kept having to put it down. I am so glad I finally get to send it out to her today!!

The Complete Set

And while I am exited to finally mail it, I will miss looking at it adoringly. I just hope I get a ton of adorable pictures of the sweet baby girl in it, that will make up for not having it here to look at. After all it will be much cuter with her smiling grin!

Extra Sinfully Delicious

What happens when you have a TON of left over Cake Batter French Toast???? You make Cake Batter French Toast Bread Pudding!!

The Soak

Right Out of the Oven

Cake Batter French Toast Bread Pudding

10 Slices of leftover cake batter french toast

3 cups of milk, scalding hot

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut french toast into small cubes and place in 9X13 pan. Pour melted butter over it and sprinkle on cinnamon. Combine well. Beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Slowly add (temper) the milk into the egg mixture. If you add the hot milk to the egg mixture too quickly you will scramble the eggs. Once the all of the milk has been added to the egg mixture pour over the bread cubes in the pan and let soak for 5 minutes, pressing the bread down into the liquid for maximum soaking.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

The kids got up this morning and when they were told they could not have breakfast they thought I had lost my mind. It wasn't until I had pulled this out of the oven that they understood. They were impressed that mom made them breakfast on a Monday morning! I work from home so normally I am busy working during breakfast time and the Ky Guy (our resident chef) cooks something up for the kiddos. (He made the Cake Batter French Toast)

The original idea for Cake Batter French Toast was found HERE and I shared it with my friend who make it with the confetti cake batter, we will never do plain again!

Works for Me Wednesday - Back to school edition!

I recently stumbled across we are THAT family and "works for me Wednesday" where people share tips and trick that work for them. With the new school year just around the corner (silently jumps for joy) I thought I would share a couple tips that work for us.

I am a work at home mom so I get up extra early before the sun and children rise to get a jump start on my day at work. When the alarms start going off I am well into my work day and have to continue working while the kids get ready for school. Each day an alarm goes off down in the kitchen to let us know that we have 10 mins left until we need to be out the door for school. The kids are then allowed it hit the "snooze" button so it will go off again when it is time to head out.

Another tip I find that helps our family out is that lunches are prepared the day before and placed in the fridge where the kids can just grab and go. One of the chore cards for each day is "make lunch". In order for each child to have what he/she likes in their own lunch I allow them to make it themselves with some basic rules for a healthy meal. It works great for our family!

Hope you have enjoyed my tips, check out more back to school themed tips here.

New Items in my Etsy Store

I received some new goodies in the mail this past week and couldn't to share. I have seven new pacifier clips in my Etsy store.

Rock Stars

Giddy Up! Cowboys and Cowgirls

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Lovebug

Chugga Chugga, CHOO CHOO

Hope you enjoy!!!!

EWWW Gross, That's Yummy!

The other day I stumbled across My Plum Pudding and while reading through I saw these and my first thought was EEEEEEEWWWWWWW, but then I thought about how fun it would be to serve to the kids for lunch since we had both items on hand. So I showed the kids the post and at first they all said EWWWWWWW, but then quickly said "can we have that for lunch today". When I said "of course" they looked at me like I was nuts, but were super excited to help make them up.

Here is how ours turned out!









By the way the kids LOVED them! Definitely something we will do again. So yes it may look gross but the kids thought it was oh so good!

Ring Bearer Pillow

My bff from highschool is getting married in 22 days and when she showed me this and asked that I email the shop owner to see about changing the dimensions my response was NO. Why would I be so cruel you ask??? Because I wasn't about to let her purchase something I could easily make myself for about 1/2 the cost. So I was able to recreate her pillow to her dimensions and she gets an extra special treat in that it was handmade with love just for her. In all it took about 30 mins to make and I did it all with a smile on my face and love in my heart. I am so excited to share this special day with her and her future husband. Love you guys!!

PS ignore the picture quality, it is 9:30 pm and the sun has gone down and I just had to get this posted so she could see it!