Sunday, June 28, 2009

Weekly Menu 6/28/09-7/4/09

Did a good job of sticking tot he plan last week. Ended up not getting take out Friday, made burgers instead, but did go on a date night Saturday, which included dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. By the way if you like shrimp Joe's has this awesome chopped shrimp salad. They only have it during the summer time and it's awesome-and loaded with shrimp.

I'm back to work this week, and Allen is done work at the SES-full time now at camp. Alex is also riding the bus to and from camp so the schedule may take a bit to get down and be comfortable with times etc. Here goes with this weeks menu

Sunday-I'm at the race with my Dad so dinner's on Allen. We'll grill-maybe Spicy Pineapple Glazed Shrimp! If we do I'll post the recipe later.
Monday-Grilled Chinese Sausage (on sale at McKinnon's)
Tuesday-Chicken a la King w/rice
Wednesday-Breakfast for dinner
Thursday-Burgers & homemade cole slaw-yummy!
Friday-Not sure we have a variety of stuff int he freezer to pick from so we'll see.
Saturday-4th of July!!!!

It's Blue!!!!











Alex had told us a long time ago that he wanted to do the tips of his summer Mohawk blue. He saw some kids at the mall or the Y with it done like that. Well I couldn't do just the tips because, well, I'm not that talented. So it's all blue, including parts of his scalp and my bath tub. Here's some pics.




Monday, June 22, 2009

The Mohawk!











Summer has officially begun for Alex, school is over. Camp begins tomorrow so that means summer hair cut time. Alex of course, wanted a Mohawk. So here's a peek at what he looks at right now. May change in a day or two stay tuned. Check out Rachel's Top Model pose.

Weekly Menu 6/22/09-6/27/09

A little late, I'm sure Allen is wondering what is going on.

Monday-Grilled chicken, veggies etc.
Tuesday-Steak Kabobs (peppers, onions & tomatoes), grilled potatoes
Wednesday-Pioneer Woman Chicken Tenders, maybe oven fries etc
Thursday-Ziti & Sauce, garlic bread, broccoli
Friday-Take out
Saturday-Something with chicken

Wow exciting isn't it!

McKinnon's!

I know I've posted before how much I love this place, but once again I have to share. Generally I buy meat every other to every third week, maybe a package of this or that here and there, but I buy in bulk and then break down the packages so it lasts a while. This was one of those weeks I needed to shop. I decided to cut back a little this week, save a little cash. But even by doing that I still got a lot. For a whopping $35.00 here's what I bought

Big package of chicken tenders, which I broke down into bags for 4 meals
hamburg, which I broke down into bags for 2 meals
hamburg patties for Father's day lunch with Bob & Gail
Steak kabob for 1 meal

Cole slaw, chips, rice & hamburger buns

So basically meat for 8 meals (one of which fed 4 adults) and some sides. I love this place.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Rachel's PS Graduation
















Wednesday night was Rachel's Pre School graduation. She's still staying at the Y part time until the end of the summer when she heads off to Kindergarten but this was a celebration of all the kids. Here's some pics.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Fenway!









So my boss, Frank, surprised me on Monday by giving me 2 tickets to the Tuesday night Red Sox game with a parking pass (that's huge because parking anywhere near Fenway is $30.00). This is he first time Allen and I had been to a game since around 2003. I went 2 years ago but drank alot of beer and honestly don't remember much.
So we got out of work early and headed into Boston. We were there plenty early enough to strong around Yawkey Way, much on some food (dog for me, sausage for Allen), watch the street performer, pick up a souvenir and wander around. A couple of observations, beer is $7.25 for a cup. Ummmm....it's draft and brands like Budweiser. Why is it $7.25? I bought a 12 pack or Corona the other night for right around $11. Something doesn't seem right. The next observation they sell chowder in the stands. Yes the concession guys walk around selling bowls of chowder. Only in New England.
It was a great game, the Sox won! Can't say we'll be back again soon but it was a great night.

Pretty Flower!




I love Bearded Irises!


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cupboard Cleanout Failure

So I attempted to clean out my cupboards this week but well it didn't work. there are a few reasons for this failure. First off my shopping trip. #1 reason that was bad, I brought the kids. Generally I don't, I shop alone (better than drinking alone I guess, hehe). Allen had a training and I had the kids so away we shopped. Bringing them makes for a stressful shop plus they add on money to the bill because they wear you down begging for stuff you normally wouldn't buy. #2 reason I went to a different store than usual. And it was really expensive. Without buying any meat I spent the same amount I normally do. That is not a good thing. I mean it was crazy. I normally shop at Stop & Shop, which I know all you Market Basket lovers hate and claim is really expensive. This week I went to Shaws for some unknown reason. The more I think about it the more I realize there was really no reason to go there I just did.

#2 reason is I didn't really plan the week out well. We had an unexpected night out by going to the Red Sox game. I forgot Wednesday was Rachel's PS graduation. Allen is at trainings every night this week so I really should have planned easy dinners that heat up well for lunch but I didn't and am now scrambling.

I will try again next week and we'll see what happens.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Kids in the AM




I know I've mentioned it before but Rachel is a bear in the AM. Mind you since Gail started watching her 3 days a week she wakes up all sunny and happy, even getting up early even though she doesn't need to. Alex on the other hand wakes up pretty good and is ready to go. This week, one morning was particularly bad for Rachel and she was snoring at the kitchen table. So being the good mother I took her picture. By the way what's with her lips in this picture, she could be Angelina Jolie's kid. And that is what we call Alex's Gollum pose. He likes to sit like that for some reason.

When your head & the bathroom stall door collide


As I mentioned in a previous post I spent a good part of yesterday in the ER with Alex. Side note they were very efficient and it wasn't an all day affair so I wasn't pleasantly surprised. Mid morning I got a call from Alex's school that he had gotten hurt while entering the bathroom. Another kids had flung his stall door open just as Alex walked buy and got hit in the forehead. Of course he is the perfect height and was hit by both the solid wooden stall door & the door handle. I boogied down there (thankfully it's only 5 minutes away). Golf ball sized egg with a 2" split. It wasn't gushing but was pretty deep so we headed over to the ER just to be safe. So after being examined they were pretty sure he didn't have a concussion but put him on couch rest for 48 hours to be sure. They also glued his gash shut. Fun stuff. You can't see much in the pic but I changed the bandage this morning and it's a beautiful shade of purple underneath.


Weekly Menu 6/14/09-6/20/09

So despite being an absolutely wacky week (Allen got into a minor car accident, one of my friends passed away and I spent a good part of yesterday in the ER with Alex) I was able to stick to the weekly menu for the most part. This week is a partial cupboard cleanout or what ever Jenn calls it. I have a lot of assorted stuff, but I still need to by probably a half shop.

Sunday-Grilled chicken, rice, veggies
Monday-Ziti & Sauce w/garlic bread
Tuesday-Crockpot meal (I'm still deciding, have a couple of options)
Wednesday-Polynesian pork chops w/rice
Thursday-Grilled chicken (we have a lot of marinated chicken in the freezer) stuffing, veggie
Friday-Swim lessons, water aerobic night so maybe beans & hotdogs

Not bad cleans out quite a bit. As far as lunch goes I'm going to make pasta salad (I have alot of assorted 1/2 boxes of pasta), buy some cold meat, and that should cover it. Breakfast, we have oatmeal, english muffins & waffles. Need to buy some cereal (we go through 3 boxes a week) between Allen & the kids. Snacks we have Jello, yogurt, trail mix & freeze pops. Need to buy some fruit (all out!), gummies for the kids, hummus for me & pit chips, some other cracker item for both the kids and Allen. A few other staples are needed as we are out of cat food, litter, milk and a few other things I won't bore you with. So I think it will probably be about 1/2 what I usually spend. Hopefully!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Woo Hoo!

Allen passed his final 2 MTEL's. For those of you not in the know those are the requirements for being a teacher in the state of Massachusetts. As soon as his degree is finished (next May) he will be all set to get a teaching job.


So proud of you hon!!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Loss of a Friend

Back in February of 08 one of my Y friends, Bobby, had a triple bypass. I mentioned him in a previous post but didn't follow up on what was the nightmare recovery. He spent 6 months in a coma, multiple organ failure, this that and more. Months of rehab with one goal, to get back to work. He would tell us Go Big or Go Home and It's All Good. And he did it. He came back to work late last fall working back at the Andover Y as a School Age Site Coordinator.

Last week all of the Y directors went to Camp Nokomis for our annual staff retreat. This was a huge thing for Bobby as he was convinced when he was in the hospital that he would never get back to camp. He glowed the whole time we were there. We had a session about life goals, inspired leading and how not to take a minute of life for granted as it may be your last. I can't tell you how many times during that seminar each of us looked at Bobby as walking talking proof of what you can overcome.

Yesterday afternoon we got that sad news that Bobby had passed away in his sleep. It hit us all hard and typical of our Y family we all got together to grieve. People shared great stories and his Mom had passed along a message to us all with a huge thank you for being his family when she was far away in New York. There was alot of crying, a lot of laughing and too many hugs to count.

Why do I share this with you, because of this, life is a gift that too often we all take for granted. Treasure every minute of every day with all of those around you. Don't sweat the small stuff. And like Bobby would say It's All Good.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Try this Recipe

I love when the dinner table is quiet. Don't get me wrong I love it when we are all talking and enjoying each others company too, but that doesn't happen often. Usually one of the kids is complaining about this horrible meal I have presented before them and most likely they will die if they eat it. Tonight was one of those nights, so we banished the complainer to the other room. Then it was quiet. I'm going to do that more often. So while we or at least I was enjoying the silence we were eating this.

Pioneer Woman's Quick Chicken Strips

1 package chicken strips/tenders
buttermilk
2-3 tbls. Lawry's Seasoning Salt (easily becoming a fan favorite with me the more I cook with it)
1 & 1/2 cups flour
oil

So in a bowl cover the chicken with buttermilk and let it hang out for like 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile mix the flour & spice together. Mix about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup buttermilk to the flour. I thought this was little weird but it works great. Mix it all about. Once the chicken is done soaking start heating the oil and then coat the chicken in the flour mixture. Cook in the hot oil for about 2 minutes on each side. Adding the buttermilk to the flour mixture helps add depth to the coating. It was really good.

I highly recommend her blog, she's got a lot of great recipes on there. I don't think I've made one that we haven't enjoyed.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Asian Turkey & Rice Slowcooker Soup

Once again I tweaked a recipe to make it work for our family and it came our great. One of the original main ingredients is mushrooms and we both don't like them, at all, so I left them out. It was good, only thing I would change is I use, like always fat free reduced sodium chicken broth. Next time I'll use regular for a bit more flavor or add a fair amount of salt.

Turkey cubed into 1" cubes (I used a package of 1" think turkey cutlets I had bought for something else and didn't make so now they were headed towards freezer burn)
1 & 1/2 cups each chopped carrots & bok choy
1 medium onion chopped
2 cans chicken broth
2 table spoons soy sauce
1 table spoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons ginger. It calls for fresh grated which I don't keep on hand so I used jarred
4 cloves of garlic minced


Cook all of the above on low 8-10 hours, turn off add 1 cup instant rice cover and let sit about 10 minutes. That's it, easy peasy. Enjoy!

Weekly Menu 6/7/09-6/13/09

A little late but here goes.

Sunday-Steaks on the grill, corn on the cob etc.
Monday-Asian Turkey Rice Soup (leftovers into the freezer)
Tuesday-Ziti & Sauce
Wednesday-Homemade Chicken Strips etc (Pioneer Woman recipe)
Thursday-I have the Teen Achiever Banquet so Allen's on his own
Friday-Zatarans Jambalaya

I think next week I will take Jenn's cue and have a pantry challenge. I have a ton of assorted stuff. I've started looking through it all and should be able to clean out a good deal. Will need a few items to make some recipes work and also some staples that we go through every week like cereal etc. but it should save us some cash, which is always nice.

By the way, cleaned out my change jar the other day and rolled a little over $60.00. All that goes towards Disney. We'll go as soon as both kids clear the 40" mark )Splash & Big Thunder Mountain height). Alex is in the clear and working towards the next goal of 44" (Space Mountain height). Rachel is currently at 38 1/4 " so we have time. More time to save my pennies, nickles, etc. etc.