Mandy and Jace

Can you believe next week is Christmas. It just hit me and now I am in absolute panic mode! I still have several gifts to buy and my head is spinning. Since the next few weeks will probably be very crazy my posting will probably be a bit sporadic. We have lots of parties so meal plans will be few and far between. But, I do have several holiday recipes and things to put up so keep checking in. I promise at the beginning of next year I will be back in full force with some new stuff and better meal plans and recipes.

Here’s what little plan I have for this week.

Tonight: Christmas party
Tuesday: baked ziti and green beans
Wednesday: not sure
Thursday: take out after praise and worship practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

Happy December everyone!

We had such a great weekend! Saturday my wonderful, amazing husband put up a television for me in my bathroom, twice. Yes, twice.

I had told him I wanted it closer to the ceiling so I can see it from the bath tub then when he put it up I noticed that it was a bit to high. I sat and thought about it for a while because I didn’t want to ask him to take it back down and move the wall mount, but finally I ended up saying something and he was so great. He took it down and lowered it for me. I know he was cursing me in his mind but bless his heart, he didn’t say a word. Now that’s love!

Sunday, I got to watch my baby brother, my cousin and some friends jump out of a plane. No, I didn’t jump myself. It was VERY cold and I think it would be much more pleasant when it’s warmer. I was freezing on the ground much less flying through the icy air. They jumped right at sunset though, and I took some beautiful photos of them jumping into the orange and pink sky.







This week I HAVE to eat healthy. I haven’t fallen down on my diet, I’ve jumped off a cliff. So even though it’s no fun I’ll be eating only what will keep me from starving. I hate doing that because I have a very loving relationship with my food, but I have to look good for all the photos at all the parties we are going to be at this month. The plan doesn’t look very healthy, but it’s all about portion size for me.

Here is this week’s plan.
Tonight: chicken and pasta in a veal cream sauce
Tuesday: Strip steak, potato cakes and corn
Wednesday: on-the-go burritos
Thursday: Christmas party
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

It’s Thanksgiving week! I am very excited to get things rolling towards the big day. I have my menu planned and a timeline set up to make sure everything gets done, I think I’m ready. Another thing that I am very excited about is the beginning of the holidays. The official start date to my Christmas is as soon as the Thanksgiving meal is cleaned up and put away. Cue the music and get the tree out of the attic, the Holidays are here! I’m getting out my Trans-siberian Orchestra, Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall Christmas albums now and making sure I have all of the decorations I’m going to need.

Here is this weeks meal plan up to Thursday.
Tonight: Beef tacos with refried beans plus making the cornbread for Thursday
Tuesday: Chicken and pasta in a veal cream sauce with herbes de provence. Also, make the brine for the turkey, make the compound butter to go on the turkey and make two pumpkin pies
Wednesday: Teriyaki white rice with veggies. Then put turkeys in the brine, cut the potatoes, clean house and set up tables and chairs. That’s going to be a busy night.

Last but not least here is the Thanksgiving menu.

• roasted turkey with an herb compound butter
• deep fried creole turkey
• honey glazed ham
• cornbread dressing
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• macaroni and cheese
• corn
• home made rolls
• cranberry sauce
• sweet sweet potatoes
• deviled eggs
• pumpkin pie
• pecan pie

There are only 11 more days until Thanksgiving and I am a mixture of nerves and excitement over here. We have done a couple of recipe run throughs. Some of them worked great but others still need some work. We are going to make the cornbread stuffing again to tweak it a little bit. It didn’t come out exactly like we thought it was going to last week. I am also going to make some yeast rolls this week, and if they come out well I plan on freezing them so on Thanksgiving all I have to do is re-warm them.

Here is this week’s plan.
Tonight: Pancakes, bacon and eggs
Tuesday: Pork chops and cornbread stuffing
Wednesday: grilled sandwiches
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

Since we are having Thanksgiving at our house this year, I am starting to do trial runs on most of our Thanksgiving recipes. I really don’t want to screw them up on Thanksgiving day. So, as I get the recipes down I am going to put them up here so you guys can use them too if you would like. This week I am going to showcase our turkey recipe. I posted it a couple of years ago, but it was very vague so I am going to go into a little more detail. Try it, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Here’s this weeks plan.
Tonight: beans and cornbread (I’m making lots of cornbread to do a stuffing run through tomorrow)
Tuesday: sautéed chicken and cornbread stuffing
Wednesday: some sort of soup in the crock pot
Thursday: beef quesadillas
Friday: date night