Meal Plan Monday and "Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups"

Monday: French Onion Soup Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes and Canned green beans
(Awesome recipe - just brown some pork chops, throw in a crockpot, cover with French Onion Soup. Cook high 4-6 hours, or low 6-8 hours.)
Tuesday:  Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Wednesday: BBQ chicken
Thursday: Meatless Spaghetti
Friday: Lemonade Pie (for a work party, will post recipe then), Sandwiches at home and any work leftovers people will share
Saturday: Breakfast stuff* - eggs, toast, bacon, cereal

*Try these Breakfast cups, they're pretty terrific. I think I'll nickname them "Breakfast Duck Cups". :)  I forgot to oil my custard cups, so Blake and I ate these straight out of the dishes, using a hotpad to hold them. Blake noisily exclaimed his delight with this dish, after me reassuring him the egg was, indeed, cooked.

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups:

Adapted by For the Love of Cooking.net

(Original recipe by Martha Stewart)

• Cooking spray
• 1 egg
• 1 piece of whole wheat bread
• 1 piece of bacon
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat the Pyrex custard cup with cooking spray.

2. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat for a minute on each side to get rid of some of the grease.

3. Take a rolling pin and roll out the piece of bread until thin. Turn the Pyrex custard cup over and use it to cut the crust away from the bread. Slice the bread round in half then press the halves into the cup overlapping the pieces. Use extra bread to patch any holes.

4. Place the bacon slice in the cup then crack an egg over the bacon. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.

5. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the whites are cooked but the yolk is still soft. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edges of the toast to remove from cup and serve immediately. Enjoy.

Maybe will start cooking again

I cooked last night.  And the night before.  Maybe it will become a habit again?  Maybe my husband won't have to subsist off of cereal anymore?  I'm not holding my breath yet.  But my domestic leanings are starting to stir again.  Possibly.

I'm starting small.  I made BBQ chicken in the crockpot Tuesday.  Toss frozen chicken in the pot, and cover with BBQ sauce.  Then I made a frozen stirfry last night, that I thought was gross, but Blake said was decent and he'd eat the leftovers.  I had a small bowl, then had some Eggo Waffles.  But I also made a recipe for Taco Joe Dip, it was really good!  I think I'll use it as a filling in quesadillas tonight.

Taco Joe Dip

• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped onion

Put ingredients in crockpot (4 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low). Serve with Tortilla chips

Also, and update.  My itchy eyes are back.  So, I'm keeping them under control with eye drops that have antihistamine in them.  It's manageable so far.  I'm not going back to the Dr. for it though.

Procrastinating

I'm procrastinating starting to book today, and that is why I'm posting another blog. Once I post it, I'll get to work. Really I will.

1. Meal Plan until Payday. We've had a lot of company lately - which has been awesome!! - but also has stretched my grocery budget. That, but mostly the fact that I bought a bunch of groceries I didn't plan what to do with, and now they're eaten, but no real meals are made (you know how it goes).
Tuesday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (again)
Wednesday - marinated boneless ribs (found them in my freezer)
Thursday - pork chops. THESE pork chops!!!
Friday - Payday!! But I'll probably still just make breakfast for dinner or something.
Sat-Sun - Concerts in Arkansas!!
Monday - going grocery shopping!

2. My favorite things lately:
-Phil Wickham (Christian Singer, www.philwickham.com)
-Hot Chocolate (Land O Lakes brand, any flavor!)
-COFFEE (8 o'Clock brand, Columbian flavor)
-my kitties
-sitting outside with my kitties
-looking at all the pretty flowers at the street stands
-imagining how to decorate our house
-grilling chicken on our charcoal grill! (Blake does it, I just eat it)-Watching "21 Jump Street" old episodes-Book club! I look forward to it so much every time. We're reading this book next:
-my pastor and his wife

-Blake!

For what it's worth - Meal Plan

Okay, I have a week and a half to go until I get grocery money replenishment. I have $10 left. :) So I'm using up stuff from the pantry this time. Let's see what I can recall having in stock. As they say, "those who fail to plan, plan to fail." Whatever.

Tuesday- Fried Rice. (Might be meatless if I don't want to thaw/cook the chicken breasts tonight)
Wednesday- Crockpot Foil Packet Tilapia and spinach salad. Don't be scared, it's amazing. I may make the fish in the oven, though, for time's sake after work, but it totally works perfectly in the crockpot!
Thursday-CrockPot Azorean Spiced Beef Stew Recipe - haven't tried this one before
Friday- BBQ Chicken Pizza
--Concerts over the weekend--
Monday- Meatless spaghetti, and spinach salad
Tuesday- sandwiches?
Wednesday- Cornbread Taco Casserole

A good salad dressing to use if you're watching your calories is Balsamic Vinegar and olive oil and some splenda. If I remember right, it's 1Tbsp balsamic vinegar with 1 Tbsp olive oil and then add Splenda to taste. You might taste it as you go to see if you'd like to add more vinegar for more punch...

4.5.10- UPDATE - the Azorean Spiced stew wasn't bad, but I'd rather just have tomato based beef stew from now on. The cinnamon was good at first, then as leftovers it was too strong.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Tuesday - Crescent Chicken
Wednesday - Lasagna Roll Ups
Thursday - Sweet Potato Burritos
Friday - Applesauce Chicken
Saturday - I'm out of town, Blake fends for himself
Sunday - Cornbread taco casserole

Meal Plan Monday

Monday- BBQ Chicken
Tuesday- Enchiladas
Wednesday- BBQ Cupcakes
Thursday- Breakfast for Dinner
Friday- Spaghetti
(Saturday and Sunday are traveling concert days this week)

Meal Planning Monday

I haven't gone shopping yet, so this list is wishful thinking. We're still frozen over here in OKC so it may be cereal for a few nights until Walmart's parking lot thaws out.

Monday - Cornbread Taco Casserole (we're having our neighbors over for dinner)
Tuesday - Potato & Bean Soup
Wednesday - Tilapia
Thursday - Spaghettios (just being real!)
Friday - Barb's Amazing Bean Burritos
Saturday - Enchiladas
Sunday - Concert day and Super Bowl food!

Menu Plan Monday

I made a 2 week meal plan a week ago...but I want to change it. With this being almost 3 weeks between pay-periods, I'm going to have to be creative on spreading my groceries out until the next paycheck. I hate going over budget on groceries. Hate. It.

Monday - Leftover Tomato/Crouton Soup, and Fried Rice I made over the weekend
Tuesday -Italian Goulash
Wednesday - Parmesan Tilapia and mashed potatoes and canned veggies
Thursday - eating out with friends and going to a Booth Brothers concert!!
Friday - something with the pork chops I bought last week?
Saturday - Grilled cheese and canned soup
Sunday - homemade pizza
Monday - Spaghetti with ground Turkey instead of beef (it's cheaper)

I doubt I will stick exactly to my menu, but it's a good guideline because I know I have these ingredients in the house. Also, a good cooking tip would be to try to make a meal on Saturday or Sunday that you only intend to eat for your lunches during the week. Casseroles, a pasta dish, or large-quantity bean burrito recipes are good for this. Fried rice is what I made this weekend to feed us for a few lunches.