Menu Plan and Catching Up

It has been an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G week in our house! God has been mighty, powerful, merciful, and gracious beyond measure. He is so good! Three sweet friends and I spent the weekend at a Going Beyond conference near our nation's capital and were all richly blessed. I was searching for a fresh word from the Lord, and wow!, did I get it. He never fails me, never disappoints me, and always leaves me hungering for more. Thank you Lord!

It has been a wild and crazy few weeks here full of blessing and trial. Many of you know that my wonderful sweet friend has been suffering from terminal cancer. Time is short now and every moment precious. God has blessed us so much with moments where we have both clearly felt His arms, His presence, His reassurance, His calm cool breeze, His power, His love, and His grace upon both of us. I am so thankful to be in this place at this time!

Some of you tune in weekly for the food, so let's get to it. My plan for the month of March will be posted Monday or Tuesday this week.

Weeknight Dinners:

• Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan and green salad
• Slow Cooker Black Bean Salsa Chicken with homemade tortilla chips
• Creamy ranch pork chops, rice, and broccoli
• Shrimp Alfredo with green salad and breadsticks

Baking, Breakfast, Freezer:

• Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
• Bagels (maybe with cinnamon and raisins)

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Finer Things Friday - Feb 19, 2010

It's been a wild week around our house - lots of emotional and spiritual up and down. We are clinging to the promise "that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6b). God is faithful when we are not; God is merciful when we don't deserve it; God is gracious beyond measure. These things I KNOW to be true and I rest in them. Just a few glimpses into our week filled with grace ...


My 2 Snow Angels:
Shaking off the Chill with Hot Chocolate (and charming blue eyes!):



An Oldie, but Goodie, to Remind Me How Far We've Come:


Choosing to focus on the blessings in my life, the goodness in each day, and the joy in my family is definitely a FINER THING!

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things.

WFMW: Craft Cabinet

When we moved into our new house several months ago, one of the main selling points for me was the huge eat in area/breakfast nook right off the kitchen. The area has 3 large windows plus a sliding door accessing the screened porch and is becoming one of my favorite spots in the house. I love to cook and we have a very active 4 year old little man. Combining all 3 things together, we decided to move all of little man's craft things into the breakfast area in the beautiful pie safe my MIL got us years ago.


Little man is close enough that we can talk while I am cooking and he has enough freedom to get out whatever he chooses. What's in the cabinet, you ask? Paints (washable paints plus paint with water books), markers, crayons, scissors and paper, coloring books, reusable sticker books, oodles of regular stickers, play-doh and writing practice books. His dry erase board is also in the breakfast area. This definitely works for me!

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Oh So Yummy - Faux-Reos

These are scrumptious! I started with this recipe I found at King Arthur Flour and made a few changes. I would love to say that my changes made the cookies markedly more healthy, but really - it's an oreo! There's no redeeming health value in these. The only comfort I have is that I know exactly what's in these and I know to limit myself to just one.



Changes/Recommendations:
I did sub one half cup of whole wheat flour and found I needed to add one more teaspoon water to the filling mix. The extra water may have been needed since it's been cold and dry here today.

Also, the recommended size makes a rather large cookie. I will make them with no more than 1 teaspoon of dough for each cookie next time. These came out at least 2.5 times the size of a regular oreo cookie.

Menu Plan - Week of February 15

This past week brought us another round of snow in the south and we are all just about D.O.N.E. with winter now. I desperately need to do some cooking and baking this week and restock the freezer. Things have been wild here for several weeks and I am praying for a calm week to focus on making our home a haven and taking care of my men. Head over to I'm An Organizing Junkie for more inspiration each week!

Weeknight Dinners:

• Chicken and veggie stir fry over Basmati rice
• Beef tacos, refried beans, and Spanish rice
• Pizza Pasta Bake with green salad
• Roasted Pepper Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
  
• one night at church
  

Baking, Breakfast, and Freezer:

• Spaghetti Sauce
• Applesauce
• Banana Muffins
• Faux-Reos cookies
• Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
  

Menu Plan - Week of February 8

I always have trouble figuring out what to write at the beginning of a menu planning post. It all seems sort of silly to me since the point is to share the food with you. So, that's what we're diving in to today. And I have a head cold, so I'm not in a great mood ... sorry, just the facts this week!

Weeknight Dinners:

• Crock Pot Peanut Chicken, orzo pasta, green salad
• Spaghetti, rolls, green salad
• Loaded Potato Soup with rolls
• Beef tacos
• I am looking for an easy, and frugal, recipe for fried rice. Likely I will make chicken fried rice one night too once I find a good recipe.

Baking, Breakfast, Freezer:
The first round of freezer jam turned out very good, if I do say so! I used this recipe as a start, but used blackberries and raspberries instead. It turned out so good! A bit overly sweet for me, but that's okay.

• Chewy Granola Bars (made this morning - such a good way to start the week!)
• Sweet Potato Cake

What's cooking at your house this week? head over and see Laura if you need inspiration!