Half Menu Plan: July 26-31

July 27, 2011

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks and I don’t see that ending any time soon. Since mid-July we’ve been preparing to move, packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, and all the while continuing with daily life and our normal activities. Luckily, Jason took a week off of work to make the moving process a little easier, but we’re still pooped out. Then, last night he left for Pensacola to spend a few weeks at the Navy base learning composite work. Luckily, Pensacola is less than 2 hours from Mobile so while it’s too far to do a daily commute, he’ll be able to come home for weekends and we’ll go visit him for a weekend as well. I’ve got errands and plans taking me out of the house every day this week, so our meals will be super simple. Tuesday, July 26: Playgroup at our house! We had a fun pool party and quality time with many of our friends in our brand new play room. I really love having the space to have company over. Lunch — Peanut butter and Ritz cracker sandwiches, apple slices. Dinner — Spaghetti Wednesday, July 27: Swim lessons from 9:45-10:30 then taking the boys...

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Warm Cinnamon Apples

July 26, 2011
Warm Cinnamon Apples

My family loves these as a side dish. Just a bit fancier than simple sliced apples, and it’s pretty much apple pie filling – without the rest of the work of making a pie. This is also a great way to use up some apples that are starting to go a little soft. You know what I mean, not crisp enough to want to eat it whole, but they aren’t quite soft enough to relegate to applesauce. Season them a little, toss them in a pan, and they’re magically perfect again!

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Menu Plan: July 11 – 17 & Food Chores

July 11, 2011
Menu Plan: July 11 – 17 & Food Chores

I’ve decided to start showing a bit more of my menu planning process… my “Food Chores”. A few days ago my friend Kristen asked for some menu planning tips. My response was: “The number one thing that helps me is regularly bookmarking favorite recipes that I find online or keeping a list of recipes from cook books that I can reference easily without flipping through hundreds of pages. Also, planning my menu with my family’s calendar nearby so I can know whether to plan quick meals for a busy day or if I’ll have more time for a complex meal. I also write in “food chores” on my menu plan. I look at the upcoming days and figure out if I’ll need to do some food prep ahead of time, then I write that food chore on the previous day’s spot to remind me. A while ago I realized that the main reason that I ever skipped a planned meal and went with a frozen or take-out option was because I didn’t have enough time to make the planned meal. The food chores on the previous day have helped tremendously. Even if it’s only getting veggies chopped the day...

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Blueberry Buckle

July 3, 2011
Blueberry Buckle

A buckle is one of my favorite desserts. It’s not a cobbler, fruit on the bottom with an oatmeal crumb topping. But it’s not really a cake either because it’s got a ton more fruit than say a strawberry cake would have. Also, there is no frosting, so it’s definitely not a traditional cake. It is, to me, the perfect balance of cake and fruit. My recipe is a delightful slightly spiced cake base with about a million berries folded in and a crumbly streusel topping which leaves you the perfect opportunity to garnish this with some fresh sweetened whipped cream or go all the way and serve this with vanilla ice cream.

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Blueberry Picking!

July 1, 2011
Blueberry Picking!

Today we spent a gorgeous summer morning picking blueberries. Jason has the day off so we got up early, tossed the kids in the car and headed over to Betty’s Berry Farm to pick tons of blueberries. It was such a fun family outing! Betty’s blueberry bushes were huge, most of them towered over Jason’s head making them well over 6 feet tall, and they were heavy laden with delicious ripe berries. Jeremy did a great job picking from his level down on the lower branches and Jesse snagged a few from his perch up on Jason’s shoulders. Altogether we filled 2 buckets in about an hour, plus the several handfuls we ate while we were working out in the field.

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Mongolian Beef

July 1, 2011
Mongolian Beef

2 lb thin sliced steak 3 tablespoons oil 2 carrots 1 head broccoli 3/4 cup cherry juice * 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 4 cloves garlic 1/2 tsp. red pepper flake 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 cup cornstarch 1) Slice steak and cook in hot oil until almost done. If you prefer, you could season a little cornstarch and lightly bread the steak strips before frying them, but my family likes it better without the breading. 2) Julienne the carrots and cut the broccoli into bit sized pieces. Add them to the pan. Stir around and cook until they get a little color but still crisp. You don’t want limp overcooked veggies in your stir fry. You know what would also be good… Some sliced onion. Add it in with the carrots and broccoli, they’d be fantastic. 3) Whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients and add to the pan with the steak. Cook until bubbling and thickened. * We tried different juices that we tend to have on hand, apple and cherry were both good. If you don’t have any juice you could just use 1/2 cup of water and bump...

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