Eat It Up

Here's what we're eating this week....

Monday- Zucchini Goulash
Tuesday- Chicken Tenders with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday- Undone Stuffed Pepper Casserole ( got this idea from Rachel's cooking page on Facebook, the Food and Family magazine that it originates from is a GREAT resource for inexpensive and easy meals.  I miss my subscription and wish they mailed to Guam...)
Thursday- Broccoli Cheese Soup
Friday- Leftovers

Remember to enter my giveaway for a great pair of earrings! Contest ends Friday, April 9.

Scooby Snacks

For the first time in 19 months I got- wait for it- 10 WHOLE HOURS OF UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP LAST NIGHT!!!  I am not sure how many times today I have said little prayers of thanks to God for that amazing treat.  I was so sleepy last night, I went to bed before either one of the boys.  I thought I would lay in bed and read or watch tv, but nope, I tried and just passed out, at 8:00 at night.  I didn't wake up again until 6:00 this morning (ok, there was a brief rendezvous to relieve to my bladder sometime in the middle of the night, but since I fell back to sleep immediately, it doesn't count).  I probably would have slept longer had Price not woken up way early thanks to the super huge poop he made at 5:45 this morning.  Of course, maybe if I had bought the right size diapers (why oh why did I buy size 3 and not size 4 like I have been buying for the past 4 months??), he might not have been so uncomfortable that he had to wake all of us up to let us know about the stinky present in his pants.  But honestly, with ten glorious hours of sleep, I almost didn't care.  And because I was so well rested and in such a good mood, I almost laughed when I was brushing my teeth and Price threw his sippy cup, that I had just made, into the toilet.  But no! Sleep is a rejuvenator, I was too serene from so many continuous hours of sleep that I just grabbed it and took into the kitchen to fix him another one.  I wish that I could say the happy sleep spell stayed with me while washing potty cup off in the kitchen sink, but it would be a lie to say that every ounce of hard earned serenity did not abandon my soul when I walked into the dining room and saw that my sweet, precious angel had dumped the dog's food and water onto the floor and was having a mid-morning snack of soggy dog food...

Other than dog food, here's what we'll be eating this week...
Monday-Sloppy Joes
Tuesday- thanks to an unexpected early evening errand to find fix a flat, we feasted on Popeye's
Wednesday- Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries (what is it about this flavor combo that I enjoy so much?)
Thursday- Hashbrown Casserole
Friday- leftovers
Saturday-  Pizza

Mondays, Movies, Monkeys and Menus

Today has been a good day.  So much better than the last Monday when Don was out of town.  He's off Island.   That's Guam lingo for saying he's gone again.  He traded our little island for the bigger island of Oahu.  Poor guy...

Anyway, back to me.  I'm sitting here watching the Oscars.  I'm not really sure why.  I have only seen one movie that is nominated for anything- Up.  By the way, if you haven't seen it, you should- unless you're hormonal or really miss your grandparents.  Even then you should still watch it, just bring extra Kleenex with you.  I digress AGAIN!  I guess I continue to watch the Oscars because I like the pageantry, I LOVE to see the dresses, I like hearing the winners' speeches, the In Memoriam segment makes me feel nostalgic.  Tonight's tribute to John Hughes made me feel kind of old.  Do I look as old as they do?  God I hope not.  (Ok, just checked Wikipedia, The Breakfast Club came out when I was 10, so they've got a good 20 years on me).  I know I'm probably only about the billionth person to state this, but I grew up with John Hughes movies.  They gave me some insight into what to expect from high school and maybe even instilled in me the fact that it's ok to be on the outside looking in.

Earlier today, Price had a hearing appointment down at the Naval Hospital.  Since we were so close to Big Navy, I decided we would head down there after the appointment, walk around the Exchange and then have a picnic on the beach.  It was a lovely morning.  I'm just bummed that I forgot my camera.  As we were sitting and feasting on our subway sandwiches, toes being tickled by the sand, hair blowing in the breeze while watching the little waves tumble onto shore, I couldn't help but feel happy.  Happy to be here, happy to be.  The other day when I met my two blogger buddies for coffee, Tessa asked me if I liked it here.  And I answered honestly (something like this), "I do. I like it more and more each day.  Whenever I get a chance to sit outside on the beach and take in the beauty of where we are, although I own my feelings on bad days and think it's ok to have them (psycho babble much Terrell?), I really am reminded that life is good."  Good thing Amy was there, cause pretty sure an answer like that to a simple question three minutes after meeting me should have scared her off.   But, that's really how I feel.  Even when I have a down day, and we're all entitled to have those every now and then- even if you know someone whose life is harder than yours, I just have to remember the good.  And then probably should hit the beach just to get re-centered.

Speaking of Price, we have always called him  Monkey.  It's probably the most used of the one million nicknames we have for him.  Over the past few days, he has decided to truly embody this word...  The other day while fixing his snack, I knew he was in the laundry room, but when I went to look for him I could n't find him.  Then I heard a faint rustling and saw this,

After cracking up laughing and doing what every good mom does, I left him to go find the camera so i could more pictures like this,

Then on Saturday he was being just a little too quiet (never a good sign for a 19 month old boy), and I found him playing dump truck.

He's not actually supposed to sit in that part of the truck.  But then again he's not really supposed to sit in our entertainment center either...

All I can wonder is, why was I in such a hurry for him to be super mobile???

Now that you've read all of that, you're probably dying to know what I'm eating this week...

Monday- Cheeseburger Buns (I was supposed to make these last week, but life got in the way)
Tuesday- Pork chops with black beans and pineapple rice
Wednesday- Pepperoni Pizza Pie
Thursday- Tuna Patties and Slow Cooker Mac n Cheese with Peas (or as I would call it if I were a contestant on Top Chef, Deconstructed Tuna Casserole)
Friday- Leftovers

Short and Sweet

I bet with the title of this post you were expecting to see something like this,

That picture has nothing to do with this post, I just know a few of you can't get enough of this kid.

The post is just short..  Don finally made it home (after a bit of a tsunami warning induced flight delay).  I am getting back into the swing of things and trying to break all the lazy habits we got into last week...

The first wrongs to right, meal planning and cooking.  Now that Don is home and Price is feeling better, I have no excuses.  So here's what is on the menu:

Tuesday- Spaghetti and meatballs
Wednesday- Kelly's Waffles
Thursday- Cheeseburger Buns
Friday- leftovers or out to dinner (the latter gets my vote)

I am off to make my grocery list, pull my coupons and brave the crowds at the Commissary.  Wish me luck!

Food for Thought

Ok, I know I was going to try and put my menus up every Sunday, but this weekend got away from me!  Don's element planned a family day at one of the local water parks (there are at least 3 water parks on Guam, which seems like a lot for how small this island is).  We spent Sunday at the Onward Beach Resort water park.  It was a really nice day!  It only rained twice, but when you're already wet from spending hour upon hour in the Lazy River who cares?  By the time we got home tired, sun kissed (in Don's case, sun crisped), and in no mood to cook, much less to think about the menu (or shopping list) to be compiled for the week ahead, I let it slide.

And then, I put it off again because I had the rare, but seriously much needed, chance to leave the boys at home and escape get out of the house for a few hours with a friend.  I apologize for the delay, but without further ado.. here's the menu (I know you're chomping at the bit)....

Sunday- Cook's Day Off
Monday- Crepes Florentine*
Tuesday- Michael Boys' Meatloaf*
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday- Salsa Chicken and rice

These are original recipes, a la me.  Yes KJ and KPH, I am actually WRITING recipes down.  I'll share them next week.

Oh, guess what??  Doing this menu thing continues to pay off, I am doing GREAT with the grocery budget this month!  It helps that it's a short month, but I have almost a quarter of the budget left.

Houskeeping

Well, it's time for me to review my recipes from last week and share my menu for this week.  I'm trying to figure out the best way to do both of these things in a way that makes sense.  I also want the recipes/menus to be easy to access for all of my readers who I am sure are dying to see what I am cooking these days when I want to look back and create future menus or need reminders about recipes I want to try again.

The best way for me to do this (right now, according to my brain) is just to continue posting my menus every Sunday.  I will also (do my very best, but can't really guarantee) try to have all of my reviews up by Monday.  I'll post each recipe with review individually, but on the same day.  So, if cooking/menu planning isn't your thing, you can skip those posts.

Sorry for the boring post, but just wanted to let you know why there are so many new posts today.

In case you're wondering, this week's menu:

Sunday-  Beef  Ravioli (hold over from last week's menu)
Monday- Pepperoni & Pineapple Pizza on homemade whole wheat crust
Tuesday- Pulled Pork
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- Mole Rubbed Chicken with Mango/Avocado salsa