I have decided that I absolutely *love* oven and crock pot meals!!!! I can get the majority of a meal in the oven or crock pot in 15 minutes or less. It reminds me of something I read in a Living On A Dime newsletter one time. She said something like, our ancestors would have been frustrated with having to spend 30 minutes to make dinner. Here's an article she wrote about it, from her website.
I've been using some recipes from some wonderful e-books that I have gotten from Sheri Graham and Crystal Paine of biblicalwomanhood.com. I have one of Sheri's in the oven right now...smells so good...Beef and Rice Casserole, for which I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and a couple of chicken bouillon cubes and onion powder instead of onion soup mix, because of my husband's allergy to beef.
Another of Sheri's recipes that I adapted was "Baked Potato Bar". I love this idea. What I did was clean a bunch of potatoes and put them in the crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours. When we were ready to eat, I browned some ground turkey, heated some canned corn, sautéed onions and mushrooms, shredded some mozzarella cheese, and opened a jar of salsa. Set it all on the table and we had a yummy dinner. The leftover potatoes can either be used for hashbrowns the next morning or in another meal (Potato and Kielbasa Skillet, which I got from one of Marilyn Moll's ebooks but am having trouble with her site loading information, so I cannot put it here).
We also had this pasta dish this week and everyone loved it. I'll be on the lookout for more convenient oven and crock pot recipes. Please share your's with me, either recipes or favorite websites.
Well, here are two week's worth of menus, since I never did put up last week's menu. I've strayed from LDL since the day before Valentine's Day. It was that time when I was CRAVING chocolate because I'd not eaten enough fruits, I went ahead and had some. But that just set me up for a back-sliding. Ugh!!! So now I'm struggling with getting serious again. AND I've gained a few pounds, no doubt (I haven't weighed but I can tell). I'm doing better today but even so, I've still had a slip-up (had a bite of blueberry bagel).
Tuesday: Chili
Wednesday: Salad [This is an awesome salad. Sauté some onions and mushrooms and cook some chicken breast; add this to salad veggies of all kinds. Corn and peas are a good addition as well.]
Thursday: Tacos [This is dh's favorite meal, so we have it frequently!]
Friday: Mexican Meatloaf
Green Beans
Cauliflower [Sliced and tossed with evoo, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper or just evoo and Mrs. Dash, and baked on about 400º-425º until golden brown.]
Saturday: Chicken Enchilada Bake (no tortillas)
Salad
Sunday: Meatball Pitas (I had mine on cauliflower.)
Monday: Sloppy Joes (made with ground turkey and put on Corn Thins instead of buns)
Tuesday: Tuna Salad on Corn Thins
Tortilla chips and queso
Wednesday: Chicken Enchilada Bake (no tortillas)
Green Beans
Corn
Thursday: Chili
Cornbread
Friday: Chicken Soup with No Yolks Noodles
Saturday: Same salad as above as requested by my family
Sunday: Tacos
Kids had company so I fixed something they wanted.
Monday: Spaghetti, Garlic Bread
If it were up to me, we would not repeat meals week after week. I get tired of them that way. But if dh eats something that he really likes, he'll request it again next week. When I made out my menu for this week, I told him he couldn't ask for tacos because I am getting tired of them. It is weird because I can always come up with 3-4 meals but those last 3-4 are difficult for me to come up with. How do you plan your meals?
Wow, I just realized that many of my last postings have been about Cindy Rushton and the wonderful things she has going. I guess you can tell that I really have been blessed by her and her material. I just didn't realized how blessed!
Well, although it is Sunday, I have not posted last week's menu yet, so here goes.
Tuesday: Chicken Soup
Wednesday: Mac and Cheese--the kids and I had this as a late lunch made with a high fiber macaroni. Consequently we were not hungry for dinner, so dh had a grilled cheese sandwich and tortilla chips.
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice (made with wild rice blend . . . I had mine with mostly cauliflower and about 1/4 cup of the rice.)
Friday: Tacos (I had a Taco Salad instead because I didn't have any lettuce strong enough to support taco ingredients.)
Saturday: Corn Thin Pizzas (We did use some Turkey Pepperoni on these.)
Sunday: Sloppy Joes (made with ground turkey) and Turnip Fries
Monday: Leftovers and Tuna on Corn Thins
Corn Thins are like a rice cake only made of popped corn and thinner. We use these or Ryvita Crispbread for "open-faced sandwiches" or as a base for pizza toppings.
For the pizzas, I sauteed onions and mushrooms for dh and I. With the Corn Thins, you spread tomato paste on it, straight from the can. For the Ryvita or Wasa Crispbread you can actually use whatever pizza sauce you prefer.
We've finished a few books and started a few more. Check our school library thing link on the right, for more information.
Setting goals is a new thing for me. I have made to-do lists in the past but they pretty much were always the same, day in and day out. Then Flylady enlightened me to routines and out the door went my to-do lists. So, my goals were pretty much things that had to be done to keep up with 3 kids and keep my house from being filthy. But no goals.
So, I wrote down some goals back in January. The funny thing about goals is that you can't just set goals for the year, you have to make monthly, weekly, and daily goals in steps to achieve those yearly goals. Well, I'm not real good at this yet. I'm pretty much just getting bi-weekly goals done at this point. But my GOAL is to get better at setting and attaining daily goals. LOL! It's too bad that playing computer games is not one of my goals, as I appear to be achieving that one almost daily. Actually, that is my escape from whatever I feel I should be doing; it is my method of procrastination and dealing with frustration. I remember my mother telling me that when I was younger, she used sleep as her escape. It wasn't that she was tired but it was her coping mechanism for being 'depressed'. Now, if she starts feeling like she wants to take more frequent naps, she checks to see if she might be getting a little depressed, if she is, she goes to the keyboard and worships the Lord. This truly has helped her. I'm so glad that she learned about worship helping her in this way. God is so good. Maybe I should follow her example, huh?
Well, I should be posting another menu tomorrow, since it will be Monday. I need to run for now and try to achieve some of my goals.
It is Monday once again and so I am posting my menu from last week, as I sometimes have great plans but something changes in the follow-through.
Tuesday: Leftovers
Cornbread (Unfortunately I did eat some of this. In the future I need to make me some 'Morning Biscuits' which are LDL legal.)
Split Peas (cooked from dry) with Ground Turkey browned with Onions and garlic powder. Although it looks nasty, it tasted really good. I did use two cans of chicken broth in with the peas as they were beginning to soften, along with the 4 cups of water.
Wednesday: Children had Spaghetti (We were given a package of pasta and two cans of meatless tomato sauce, which we added to one pound of ground turkey.)
Leftover Split Pea concoction for Mike
Salad with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, and heated leftover Balsamic Chicken, sautéd onions and mushrooms, and heated corn, with Ranch Dressing on the side (This too was given to us, so we had the full fat version and I dipped my fork tines in it with most bites.)
Thursday: Chili
Friday: Undone Cabbage Roll Skillet
Broccoli
(I had some spaghetti squash with mine.)
Saturday: Sloppy Joes (from scratch) which we all ate on Corn Thins.
Oven baked Cauliflower
Green Beans
Sunday: Tuna on Wasa Crackers or Corn Thins
Tortilla Chips and Salsa
During Super Bowl: Corn Thin Pizzas and Wasa Pizzas (Normally we go to my parents' and have homemade pizza but Dad wasn't feeling good and I was miserable with a stuffy head that nothing would clear up.)
Monday: Browned Ground Turkey with onion powder and garlic powder.
Brown Rice for family (Spaghetti Squash for me)
Leftover green beans and broccoli
I had intended to post about something I learned about 'Hate' but it is time for me to get to my 'class', so I'll post about it later.
Since it is Monday, I'm creating my menu for this week (Tues-Mon). I have a master grocery list that I use. I print it out and then as I make my menu and look at the ingredients needed, I highlight the ones that are on my printed list and add ones that aren't. I go to three different stores, so I have it sectioned off by the stores I frequent, as I get specific things at each.
I've seen several menus listed online and in emails, some free and some pay-for-service. However, they usually all plan for less than 7 days and as such are no help to me, as we generally eat at home every day! We live way out in the country and driving into town just does not make sense. And although dh does work in town, it doesn't make sense to have him bring home dinner when it is both cheaper and better for us if I just cook it myself. Anyway, I digress . . . I can come up with 4 meals easily but those last three I really have to think about. So, I thought I'd post my menu from LAST week, you know the things we ACTUALLY ate, in hopes that it will help someone else and maybe even myself, in the future.
I am following the Let's Do Lunch (LDL) eating plan, so all of these meals are compatible with that, and thus good for losing weight.
Let's see . . . last Tuesday we came home from grocery shopping and I wasn't feeling good. I was supposed to go to a special dinner with my homeschool support group so I planned a meal that was NOT LDL friendly and had to make some substitutions for me.
Tuesday: (My children cooked all but the fish.)
Fried Potatoes
Cornbread
Beans
Hot Dogs (for the kids)
Herbed Baked Halibut (for dh and me)
(I think I had green beans or corn with my fish.)
Wednesday:
Chili
Thursday:
Turkey (I was going to make a chicken soup with a whole chicken but chickens were $1.24/lb. or 98¢/lb for cut-up whole chickens. They still had some turkeys, and since they were only 78¢/lb and we love roasted turkey and leftover turkey meat sandwiches, I decided it would be a good deal. I roasted it in an Oven Roaster Bag with some Poultry Magic on it.)
Corn
Green Beans
Friday:
Fajitas (I had mine on romaine lettuce leaves instead of the corn tortillas that my family had. Also, my children don't care for onions, mushrooms, and peppers, so my dd stir-fries broccoli and carrots for them to eat with their chicken.)
I eat fat-free cheese while they have 75% fat-free cheese.
Saturday:
Turkey soup, which I made from the carcass of the turkey. I did eat some No-Yolks noodles, which are an occasional LDL food.
Sunday:
We had quite a few leftovers, so today was leftover day, including turkey sandwiches. (I had turkey on Corn Thins and light mayo, which I use instead of fat-free mayo because there is more sugar in the fat-free.)
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
I guess you can tell that I really have been blessed by her and her material. I just didn't realized how blessed!
But my GOAL is to get better at setting and attaining daily goals. LOL! It's too bad that playing computer games is not one of my goals, as I appear to be achieving that one almost daily. 
Actually, that is my escape from whatever I feel I should be doing; it is my method of procrastination and dealing with frustration. I remember my mother telling me that when I was younger, she used sleep as her escape. It wasn't that she was tired but it was her coping mechanism for being 'depressed'. Now, if she starts feeling like she wants to take more frequent naps, she checks to see if she might be getting a little depressed, if she is, she goes to the keyboard and worships the Lord. This truly has helped her. I'm so glad that she learned about worship helping her in this way. God is so good. Maybe I should follow her example, huh?
