Mandy and Jace

We decided several weeks ago that we needed a vacation. It has been a crazy and stressful past few weeks and we needed to get away and blow off some steam and stress. So we loaded up on Friday and went to where we feel at home, Dallas. We have never figured out why, but we have always had this sense of being at home every time we cross into the city limits. It starts in Ft. Worth, then we take this huge sigh of comfort and relief when we see the Dallas skyline. We shopped and ate and slept and slept some more. It couldn’t have been a better weekend.

Sunday before we headed home we stopped by the Dallas Farmers Market and loaded up on all of the fruits, veggies and meat we were going to need for the week ahead. We made out with some tasty stuff! Here’s this weeks plan that will be made with the food we got in Dallas.

Tonight: sweet and sour pork stir fry made with pork loin, pineapple, ginger and rice
Tuesday: dinner with our best friends Chad and Jamie
Wednesday: grilling steaks on the patio. Also, roasted potatoes, grilled veggies and salad
Thursday: take out night
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

I realized the other day that we have been in our new house for almost a year now. I can’t believe it! The 6 months or so that it took to build the house felt like 3 years but it sure hasn’t seemed like we’ve been in for a year. I am sad to say not much has changed in a year. I still don’t have much on the wall, there is a lot of empty space on shelves that I could go buy decorations for, and there are no curtains up…yet. I have had the hardest time trying to find curtains for our living room. I don’t know if I was being too picky or there just weren’t any cute ones out there, but it was definitely a battle. I finally found these on Overstock.com in the chocolate color and they come in today. I am crossing my fingers that they look good. If they don’t we will probably have bare walls for a while longer.

Here’s this week’s dinner plan.

Tonight: roasted chicken (made like our turkey), mashed potatoes, squash and zucchini
Tuesday: beef fajitas
Wednesday: build your own pizza with whole wheat pizza dough
Thursday: take out
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

We had a great weekend! Saturday I tried my hand at making ranch dressing, and it came out amazing. I’ll definitely put that recipe up soon! Also as you can see in the photo above my amazing, wonderful husband made me biscuits and gravy Saturday night, and they were delicious.

Last week Pioneer Woman put up a recipe for beef stir fry that looked delicious. I’m pretty sure I dreamed about stir fry for a week after that. So, We are making our own version this week. Also we are making my favorite dish on Tuesday so it’s a good week for food!

Here’s this week’s plan.
Tonight: spicy beef stir fry (kind of like this one just with different spices)
Tuesday: sauteed chicken and pasta in a spicy cream sauce
Wednesday: grilled sandwiches and chips
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

This week’s plan is going to involve a lot of cooking, but I hope in the long run it will be for the best. I’m going to try to make double of each meal then freeze half for later. I would like to have a decent stock pile of meals that we can easily pull out of the freezer for when we are too tired to cook. I am beyond tired of fast food. I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually feel what it does to my body and I really don’t like it. So hopefully if we have plenty of food handy at home we won’t be tempted to drive through for dinner. Here’s this weeks plan.

Tonight: meatball sandwiches
Tuesday: chicken spaghetti
Wednesday: chicken and pineapple quesadillas
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

I’ve been sitting here trying to come up with something to write for a couple of hours now. I have actually written several posts then deleted them because I can’t go on without bringing something to light that has been on my mind. I just read a tweet that the dead/missing toll in Japan after the horrible earthquake and tsunami is at 20,000 (probably more than that by the time you read this). Each one of those people had a family, friends, a LIFE. Each person had a story to tell. Here I am about to complain about how I don’t know what to cook or how I don’t feel like cleaning house or going to work and there are 20,000 people in Japan who will never get that chance again. They will never get another opportunity to eat a meal, go to their home or work. They will never get another chance to hug their loved ones. So, I am going to sit here and count my many blessings that I don’t deserve and then go hug my family and friends, because life is so uncertain and I am definitely not promised tomorrow. Little things like meals mean a lot more to me too. I will definitely appreciate the little things like food and water so much more. I am also going to do some research on ways I can help. As much as I would love to I can’t go and give out food and water and bandage wounds, but surely I can do something.

Here’s this weeks plan.
Tonight: sauteed chicken with a cream sauce and rice
Tuesday: Jace’s work dinner
Wednesday: on-the-go burritos
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating.