Menu Planning - 11/30

I can't believe it's the last day of November already! Wow, time is flying by. We had a great holiday weekend and got a lot of jobs done around the house. We are planning to put our house on the market at the beginning of the year, so we need to get it ready (clean out the clutter mostly). We plan to get our Christmas decorations out next weekend. It will be interesting to see how Hope does with the decorations. I might have to move things around this year so Hope doesn't get into things. :) Ok, so here is what I am planning for dinners this week.

Monday - Roasted broccoli, Turkey tetrazini (for Adam), and a loaded baked potato for me

Tuesday - Vegetable Curry with Lentils

Wednesday - Burgers, Parm Asparagus

Thursday - Cottage cheese and noodles

Friday - Roasted corn and garlic couscous, chicken (for Adam), salads

Have a great week everyone!!!

Menu Planning - 11/23

So the first part of the week will be panty and freezer items and the rest of the week will be leftovers from Thanksgiving. So it will be an easy week in the kitchen for me (except for Thanksgiving Day).

Have a good Thanksgiving week!

Product Review - Zone Indulegnce Bar

I am part of the Zone Bar VIP Club and they offered me a sample of their new Indulgence Bars. It was FedEx to me and I was so excited to try it. I had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse. This bar is a little different then most of the Zone Bars. They are square, not the usual rectangular. I, personally, associated this as a treat, not a workout supplement. I ate it one afternoon when I was hungry and wanted something sweet. No, it was not a workout day for me, by the way. It was VERY good. It was decadent. It was very sweet. I would not suggest eating this after a workout (or before), but for only 190 calories, it is a great treat for yourself. It also has 10 grams of protein in it. I am pretty picky when it comes to protein bars. I don't like the taste of most of them and I don't like to eat a lot of processed foods, but Zone bars are always in our house. They are one of the few I can stand. They usually have a good bit of protein in them and taste like chocolate. YUM! I don't eat them a lot but Adam will have them once or twice a week for breakfast when he doesn't have time for a real breakfast. I would buy these indulgence bars too and use them as a healthier sweet treat like I do with some of the granola bars I keep on hand.

Overall Rating: A-

Menu Planning - 11/16

Good morning! Here is what I am planning for this week for dinners. It's a little more low key than last week, but should be just as good.

Monday - Burgers, fries, peas

Tuesday - Baked Potato Eggs, roasted broccoli

Wednesday - Big salads

Thursday - Taco night

Friday - Homemade pizza

Have a good week everyone!!!

Hope's first visit to see Santa

I know it's a little early, but I was off for Veteran's Day and thought it would be the perfect time to get Hope's picture with Santa. Santa was not at every mall, but I found one that he was and we went right after her morning nap. I took my grandmother as an extra adult because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if there would a long line and one of us would have to wait in line while the other walked Hope around (yes, she's walking now). Well we got there and there was ZERO line. One woman was paying and no one else was around. So I took Hope over near Santa and told her all about Santa. The woman then explained the packages and then I took Hope up to see Santa. Now, I did not like Santa for years. In my baby book, year after year, you would see me crying in Santa's lap. I was not a fan of the bearded man in the red suit. Well, it looks like Hope is following in my footsteps. I got her up there and she was fine. Then I put her in Santa's lap and she didn't fuss. She was all out screaming (and it shows in the picture). Hope does not scream like that often, so you know it's bad when she does. We got the quick picture and I scooped her up immediately.
After I purchased a package of pictures, we were allowed to go back up there and get pictures with our camera. So I had my grandmother take my camera and I sat next to Santa with Hope on my lap. She did not cry, but she did not smile either. She was over Santa at this point.

And here is a picture of Hope in her Christmast dress (bought it in Oct. at Macy's 50% off). I was trying to get a nice picture but this child does not like to sit still. Well you get the idea of what the dress looks like.

And one more of her dress at home.

I hope everyone had/will have a better time taking your children to see Santa.

Lobster Bisque

Last week I had planned to make "chicken" pot pie on Friday night but when I was at the grocery store, I saw that 2-1lb. lobsters were $6.99/lb. I just couldn't resist and had to get them. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but I got home and went online to see what I could do with approximately 1lb. lobster meat. I found a recipe on Allrecipes and used it as my base. It turned out really well and still very healthy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable stock (reduced sodium)
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2T unsalted light butter
• 2T flour
• 2 cups skim or 1% milk (I used skim because that's what I had and it thickened nicely, but obviously not as rich as it could be)
• 1 lb. lobster meat, cubed
• 1/2t kosher salt
• 2 shakes of worcestershire sauce
• 1 shake cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Saute onion in 1/4 cup vegetable stock in a small saucepan.
2. In a medium pot, melt butter. Then add flour and mix for 2 minutes to cook the flour.
3. Gradually pour in the remaining stock and whisk until the flour/butter mixture is incorporated.
4. Next whisk in the milk, onion, salt, and lobster. Once all incorporated, add in the worcestershire and cayenne.
5. Let simmer (not boil) for 20 minutes as soup thickens.
6. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Nutritional Information

Calories: 224

Total fat: 6.7 grams

Saturated fat: 3.9 grams

Carbs: 11.3 grams

Protein: 28.1 grams

Menu Planning - 11/9

Sorry, I am a day late on this, but I just couldn't get around to posting this yesterday. Hope was up late last night and I was distracted most of the day. I am excited about this week's menus because I plan to try a lot of different recipes.

Monday - Cottage cheese and noodles

Tuesday - Stuffed peppers

Wednesday - "Chicken" and Veggie Pot Pie (I plan to use veggie chicken strips instead of real chicken), broccoli

Thursday - Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower, chicken for Adam, side salad

Friday - Dinner out

I did not make the chicken and veggie pot pie last week because I found lobster on sale for $6.99/lb, so I just couldn't pass it up. I will post the recipe and pictures of my lobster dinner later, I promise. Have a good week everyone!!!