Menu Plan Monday (Spring Break!!)

This week I only have a few meals to plan because we will be going on vacation at the end of the week. Woohoo! Spring break is one of the wonderful perks of being a kindergarten teacher...and it is a MUCH needed break for the kids and teachers! :) Here's what we'll be eating while we're home this week.

Breakfast:
- Strawberry banana smoothies
-Banana bread
-"Healthier" banana peanut butter chocolate chip muffins
*I'm planning on making the banana bread & muffins to take on our trip for breakfasts/snacks.

Dinner:
Monday - Baked Lemon Chicken, asparagus, salad
Tuesday - Chicken Parmesan (Ellie Krieger's healthier version), served over angel hair pasta with asparagus again...it was on sale and we really like it :)
Wednesday - Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi, broccoli, fresh fruit salad

Check out lots of menu plans at orgjunkie.

Menu Plan Monday

This was the Spaghetti Carbonara I made from last week's menu. It was very yummy. Next time I will probably add a little cream, or maybe I'll get brave enough to just make it with egg. :)

Here's our menu for this week. Check out all the menu plans at orgjunkie.

Monday - Taco salad
Tuesday - Rotel Chicken Spaghetti (Recipe below) w/ salad and garlic bread...My mom will be in town and eating dinner with us...Yea! So excited to see her! :)
Wednesday - Slow Cooker 20 to 40 Garlic Clove Chicken w/ roasted asparagus & veggies
Thursday - Left-overs
Friday - Date Night
Saturday - Spaghetti and meatballs w/homemade sauce - so yummy!!
Sunday - Chicken tortilla soup

Rotel Chicken Spaghetti
4 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 box spaghetti
1 stick of butter
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped bell pepper
8 oz sour cream
1 lb Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel tomatoes
Crushed Ritz crackers (topping)

Cover chicken with water and boil with salt and pepper to done. Remove chicken from broth (keep broth) and set aside to cool. Chop when cool. Cook spaghetti in chicken broth per package directions. Meanwhile, sauté bell pepper and onion in 1/2 stick of butter or oil until onions are clear. Cut up Velveeta and melt in microwave with Rotel tomatoes. Add sautéed onion and bell pepper to cheese mixture. Mix chicken, spaghetti, sour cream and cheese mixture in large bowl. Pour into 9x13 casserole dish. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and mix with crushed ritz crackers for topping. Add topping to casserole. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
*We use whole wheat spaghetti, reduced-fat sour cream, and 2 % Velveeta to make it a little healthier.

Snow Days

We had snow in Alabama twice within 4 days! That's very rare for us. I get as excited as the kids at school. Even though I love my job, I really love getting out of school for a snow day! :)

Snow Day 1: All teachers from my school attended a conference on Thursday and Friday, so our kids already didn't have to come to school. I stayed up super late Thursday night when they were predicting snow because I just knew we wouldn't have to go in. I was surprised on Friday morning to wake up to no snow! Casey drove me to the conference and dropped me off and then took a friend to the airport. Our principal greeted us morning at the conference and told us that we could leave if it started snowing since no one in Alabama knows how to drive in snow and everyone panics. All of us teachers were watching out the windows the whole morning for a single snowflake. Finally the snow came later that morning, and we all got to go home! We came home and took our dogs out on our deck to play. Mylie (our white lab...the adventurous one) loved the snow. She was so fun to watch. She ran back and forth and slid. She would stop and just stare up at the sky watching the snow fall. Turk (our chocolate lab...the nervous one) wanted nothing to do with it. He laid by the door until we came back inside. We were able to get a few pictures of them both in the snow.

Snow Day (Night) 2: We were out of school on Monday for Presidents Day. Monday night it started snowing again! It was really sticking on the ground so I got all excited again thinking we would at least have a delay for school on Tuesday and I would get to sleep in and play in the snow... No such luck...we had to be at school at the normal time. It was still a fun night though. Casey & I went out to watch the snow. Like I said, we rarely get to see snow this far south. Here are a few pics of our snow night.

Casey made a heart in the snow on my car...how romantic :)

I really enjoyed all the snow and hope it goes back again soon!

Today's Publix Trip

Publix had some great deals this week. I went today and here's what I got for only $17...

-16 cans Progresso soup
-2 Progresso bread crumbs
-3 cartons Progresso broth
-4 cans Muir Glen tomatoes (FREE)
-3 Mueller's pasta
-4 Betty Crocker muffin mix
-1 golden Oreo (FREE)
-2 Oikos yogurt (FREE)

-2 Cole's breadsticks
-2 Cole's cheesesticks
-2 Smucker's Uncrustables
-2 Pillsbury crescent rolls
-2 Pillsbury cinnamon rolls
-3 Coffeemate creamers
-1 Organic Valley milk

Menu Plan Monday

Here's our menu for the week. See lots of other great menu plans at orgjunkie.

Sunday - Brinner a.k.a. Breakfast for Dinner :)

Monday - Pasta Carbonara - I combined two recipes to make my own...this one without eggs from All Recipes and this one from Owlhaven. I used spaghetti noodles and followed the directions from Mary's recipe at Owlhaven except for the egg part. Instead, I made the sauce from the All Recipes version. It was easy, yummy, and very affordable. I will definitely make this again.

Tuesday - Baked tilapia with asparagus and wild rice

Wednesday - 3 packet Pot roast with carrots and potatoes

Thursday - Casey in class...I will have dinner with friends or eat left-overs.

Friday - Date night

Saturday - Balsamic garlic chicken with broccoli

Paula Deen's Spaghetti and Meatballs

Casey loves spaghetti and meatballs, but I've never been a big fan of meatballs. I decided to try this recipe from the Jan/Feb edition of Cooking with Paula Deen magazine a few weeks ago, and it was delicious! This is a new favorite of ours. The recipe below makes 2 servings plus leftovers. We used 1 pound of ground chuck and left out the ground pork.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
Spaghetti sauce
1 (8-ounce) package spaghetti, cooked

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a rack inside baking sheet. Spray rack with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, ground pork, onion, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, oil, garlic, salt, and egg; stir gently to combine. Form mixture into 3-inch meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared rack in baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
Add meatballs to spaghetti sauce; simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

Spaghetti Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Add wine, and cook until wine is reduced by half. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday...2010

I went back to work today, and tomorrow my precious kindergarten students will be back. I am refreshed and looking forward to seeing them!
I am excited about using my slow cooker a lot this week. It will be nice to not have to come home and do all the work to cook a big meal while I'm settling back into my routine. See lots more menus at orgjunkie.

Breakfasts - Chocolate Chip mini muffins, Amish Baked Oatmeal, Simple Baked Apples
Lunches - Sandwiches on homemade honey wheat oatmeal bread, left-overs

Dinners:
Sunday - Chicken pot pie (This is my new favorite chicken pot pie recipe. Delicious!)
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - Slow cooker green pepper chicken
Wednesday - Baked potato soup (I'm making this again this week b/c it's SO good, and my vegetarian friend is coming over. I think she will love it too!)
Thursday - Salsa chicken and black bean soup
Friday - Date Night
Saturday - Shredded beef tacos (Chipotle has yummy shredded beef as an option for burritos, so we to try this at home. We'll see how it turns out.)