What's for dinner?

I'm going to try (once again) to be more consistent about making a meal plan before i go grocery shopping.  Here's the list that I will be pulling from in the next couple weeks:


Rachael Ray's Chicken Parmigiana - my absolute favorite recipe.

Honey Ginger Chicken - can't find the chili sauce I had in the original recipe so I substituted the Safeway generic one...was just as good.

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya - I want to try to make it with brown rice instead...we shall see how it turns out.

Beef Enchiladas - still hunting for a good recipe

Grilled Marinated Tilapia with Rice and Orzo Summer Pilaf  - I love the marinade for this tilapia.  I don't usually make the mango salsa to go with it, but when I did it was really delicious!

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Bites - this is especially for Joey.  He loves them!

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Avocado Quesadillas.

Mexi-Chicken Campanelle - I haven't made this yet, but it looks delicious!


Batch/Freezer Cooking:
Omelet Muffins
Blueberry Pancakes - made from scratch.

Bar-B-Que pulled Pork Sandwiches - I cook these up in the crock pot and it freezes really well!

What are YOU planning to make this week?

Weekly Meal Plan

One of my least favorite thing of being a stay at home mom is coming up with what to feed my family each day. Sometimes cooking is simply a chore that's a drag! Combine that with the fact that my most wonderful husband is a bit of a picky eater, my 2yr old doesn't like the texture of meat, and my 11mo old is just now figuring out finger foods, the challenge is increased.

I have always known that planning out meals in advance is very helpful and will help relieve some of that stress. However, actually doing it is another thing all together! So, I thought that if I planned to post a meal plan to my blog each week I might be more motivated to do it. But rather that assigning a meal to each night of the week, I will pick 4 or 5 meals and just pick from the list each day.

So here is this week's meal plan:

BREAKFAST
Eggs and toast
Salsa and Sausage Quiche
Overnight Baked Oatmeal
Cinnamon Rolls Bohlender Style (will post the recipe soon)
 
LUNCH
PB&J or Honey
Quiche Leftovers
Grilled Chicken Salad
Cheesy Pesto Pasta Salad

DINNER
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Roast on the grill with red potatoes and veggie
Leftovers
Chicken Parmesan Homemade Pizza
Crockpot meal of some sort that I haven't decided on yet.

ITEMS TO PREP FOR MEALS
Pizza Sauce
Pizza Dough (still searching for the best recipe)
Spaghetti or Alfredo sauce for the Chicken Parmesan


What's on your menu this week? What are some of your favorite recipes?

Dream Feed....what is it?

I've posted a couple times about giving babies (Piper in my case) a "dream feed" at around 11pm and several folks have asked, "what the heck it that?"  The simple answer is, feeding them while they are sleeping, but that doesn't explain the reason behind doing it.  In this post I will try to describe it in a little more detail.

When Aliyah was born I began looking for books about having a baby on a schedule.  I checked out several books and finally found one by Tracy Hogg, aka "The Baby Whisperer."  I ended up buying a book called "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems."  This book has been INVALUABLE to me!  I learned a TON and  I really believe that it has been the major contributor to the fact that Aliyah is such a good and predictable sleeper.  I mean, how many 18 month olds do you know who go to bed at 5pm and sleep through the night til 7am?  It's amazing to me.

Anyway, the main crux of the book is the importance of routine in your children's lives and learning what works best for YOUR child's temperament and personality.  Routine vs schedule...this was big to me.  By having a routine, the baby knows what to expect (what comes next) and mom can more easily interpret her needs (crying doesn't always mean hunger...if she ate 2 hours ago then she's probably ready to sleep).  She uses the acronym of E.A.S.Y (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You).  She provides recommendations for how it should look for different ages (how much and how often they should be eating, how long the activity time should last and how much they should be sleeping).

So what does it look like in practical terms?  Let's use Piper as an example.  She is 3 1/2 months old and at her age, she should be headed toward a 4 hour routine.  Keep in mind, these times are flexible, but the key is the routine.  Here's what 4 hour EASY routine looks like (I took this straight from the book with a few of my own additions):

E: 7:00 - Wake and feed
A: 7:30 - Activity
S: 9:00 - Sleep (1 1/2 - 2 hr nap)
Y: Your choice - it's YOU time after all

E: 11:00

A: 11:30

S: 1:00 (1 1/2 - 2 hrs)

Y: Your choice

E: 3:00 

A: 3:30 

S: 5:00 or 6:00 or somewhere in between: cat nap (approx 45 min)

Y: Your choice

When you get into the evening hours things change up a bit by "tanking up", meaning that you get more food in the babies tummy before 11pm which in turn enables them to sleep through longer stretches at night.. This is especially good for when they are going through a growth spurt (like Piper is now).  In this case, you do what is called a "Cluster Feed" at 7:00 and at 9:00 and a Dream Feed at 11pm (which I will explain shortly).  So it would look like this:

E: 7:00 

A: Bath

S: 7:30  bedtime

Y: You time

E: 9:00

A: Quick and quiet diaper change then straight back to bed

S: 9:30

Y: You time

Dream Feed:  11pm

Dream Feed:  You literally feed the baby in his sleep.  You don't talk to them, or put the lights on or change his diaper or anything.  When you put the nipple (breast or bottle) in their mouth it activates their sucking reflex and they will eat while they are sleeping.  By the time you are done, they are so relaxed that you don't even need to burp them.  Then they are nice and full and because they aren't doing any activity to burn the calories, they sleep longer. It is really amazing!  She recommends continuing to do a dream feed until solid foods have been well established in their diets.   She says that by 16 weeks they should be able to go 6-8 hours during the night if you have provided them with enough food during the day.

All I know is that it worked for us. Aliyah is an amazing sleeper and has been sleeping around 8 hours since about 5 months old.  This is the method I used and I'm certain it's what got her sleeping 8 straight hours pretty early on.  I admit though that I haven't really been paying as much attention to Piper's schedule and I realize that I haven't been doing as well with her, but I'm starting now and I'm willing to be that within a month or so she will increase her night time sleep from 5 hours to closer to 7 hours.  That would be a dream come true for this mama!

So there you have it.  

My Own Creation: Smothered Chicken Fajita Burritos

Ok, I admit it...I'm spoiled!  My mom lives with us and does a lot for us.  In fact, I usually plan out the meals for the month and do the shopping, but she does most of the cooking (although I do help on a very regular basis).  It's a good and workable arrangement for both of us.

This week, my mom has been out of town on a fishing trip with her sister...yes, you read that right...my mom loves to fish!  And she's good at it!  In fact, check out this lunker she caught on her trip: a6lb 4oz beauty (shoot, that's almost as big as Piper was when she was born!):

Anyway, since mom was gone and because I haven't been grocery shopping for the month yet, I needed to come up with something to eat using what I had on hand....I mean, I just couldn't eat toast for dinner again!  Luckily, I've been using my coupons and whatnot to try to get some staples stocked up and stored for just such an occasion.  Here's what I did with what was on hand (note: I didn't measure anything...just kinda threw it together):

Smothered Chicken Fajita Burritos

Ingredients:

Tortillas

Chicken (i had a roasted chicken on hand so I used that)

Bell Peppers

Onion

Fajita Seasoning

Shredded Cheese

1 can Refried Beans

1 box Rice-A-Roni Mexican Rice (cooked according to package)

Sour Cream

Green Chili Enchilada Sauce

Cream of Chicken Soup

Directions:

Spray a baking dish and pour some enchilada sauce on the bottom.

Cook the chicken and vegetables according to the fajita seasoning package.

Cook the rice according to the directions on the box

Heat up the refried beans

Layer the tortillas with beans, rice, chicken, vegetables and cheese

Roll into burritos and place in the baking dish seam side down

Mix sour cream, enchilada sauce, soup and some cheese (may also want to thin it out with a little milk..I will probably do that next time)

Cover the burritos with the sauce

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min or until warm in the middle

It was a simple thing to make (and relatively inexpensive) and it turned out really good.  I only made 4 burritos so I had LOTS of fixin's left over.  I went ahead and rolled up more burritos, wrapped them in wax paper, put them into a ziploc freezer bag and tossed them into the freezer.  They can be reheated and eaten straight or I can mix up some sauce and make this meal again.

Let me know if you decide to make these and any tweaks you might throw in to make them better!

Full Circle Farms Organic Produce Delivery

I have to confess, I have never been into the whole "organic" food thing, but there are a few things that bother me about the foods we get at the grocery store (growth hormones in milk for example).  I know a lot of moms that went all organic when their kids were born. I did not do that...however I did do organic milk for a while (have gotten away from that but am thinking that I will probably go back soon).  

A couple months ago I took the girls to my friend Kendra's house for a play date.  Aliyah and her daughter are only about 10 days apart in age and they just love to play together.  Because Kendra has some food allergies she has been very careful about what her daughter eats and when and how she introduces new foods to her.  She tries really hard to make sure to use organic produce and simple healthy items that I have honestly never even thought to introduce Aliyah to.  It's been good for me (and Aliyah) to have ideas for other items that Aliyah can and will eat for snacks and meals. 

Kendra was given a gift certificate to this place called Full Circle Farms for delivery of organic produce. When we were there to visit she had just received her first shipment and was telling me about it.  I was intrigued but thought it was more expensive than what I wanted to pay.  BUT, since I've been saving so much using coupons, I can afford to spend some of those savings on quality organic produce and milk.  

So I signed up!  I pay $34 for their "Standard Size" delivery (designed for two adults and one young child) and get a delivery every other week. They don't do home delivery in my area so I have to drive to a community center to pick it up, but that's no big deal.  I got my first delivery this week and here's what I got:

1 ea. Cantaoupe

3 ea. Apples, Braeburn

2 ea. Corn, White Sweet

1 bunch Carrots

4 ea. Oranges, Navel

1 ea. Mangos

1 ea. Eggplant

1 ea Avacado

1 lb Tomatoes, Roma

0.4 lb Mushrooms, Cremini

1 bunch Lettuce, Green Leaf

1 bunch Cilantro

I had to stop at Safeway on the way home so took the list and compared prices with both regular and organic produce. The prices with Full Circle were around $10 more than the non-organic and about the same for the organic at Safeway.  So I was satisfied with that.

It wasn't until I actually started eating the produce that I got really impressed.  Everything was sooooo good!  The flavors were so much better and everything was crisp and fresh.  I really, really loved it! I I couldn't believe how much more flavor everything had...the oranges were incredibly juicy and sweet, in fact, Aliyah ate a whole one all on her own when every other time we've given her oranges she just spit them out.  After eating those carrots I don't think I will ever go back to store bought ones. 

Bottom line, I'm VERY happy with this service and will definitely continue.  We will see how the budgeting goes this month and maybe I will change over to the Family Size (for a family of 4 = $46) every other week instead...just so we get a little more than what we got this time.

IF you want to try it out, head over to the Full Circle Farms website and get $15 off your first delivery.  Be sure to put my name down as having referred you so I can get $15 off my next order too!

*all photos taken from the Full Circle Farms Website...hope they don't mind.  :)