Thursday, February 24, 2011

meals for week of 2/25

Hello all, here's what's on my meal plan for the coming week:


Pesto lasagna the Italian dish
White chicken enchiladas let’s dish
Pork tacos elly says opa
Chicken a la king girl who ate everything
Chicken ragu sauce the Italian dish
Orange & balsamic chicken Martha Stewart

I may not make the Chicken a la King, I can't decide if it looks good or not lol. I somehow didn't get around to making the burgers from last week so I can make those in place of the chicken. Plus that would add some beef in this week.
As far as sides go, we always have a veggie. Brussels sprouts roasted or pan fried, steamed broccoli, corn and sometimes mashed potatoes. Mike isn't a big potato fan but sometimes they go really well with the main dish. I try to have a starch too but that doesn't always happen, either rice, mashed potatoes or pasta.
Did you make something from my list last week? If so what was it and how did you like it?

Saturday, February 19, 2011

testing photos

just testing to see what shows on facebook as currently it's a really old post

Sausage Orzo soup recipe

Here's the recipe! Hope you like it!!

1 lb italian sausage (if bought in links take out of casing and break into chunks)
1 onion, chopped
1 2lb-3oz can of italian tomatoes
2 13 3/4 cans chicken broth
1 tsp crushed basil
1/2 cup orzo
salt and pepper to taste



Cook sausage and onion together. Add all ingredients except orzo, bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. 


I use my dutch oven to make this, although any soup pot would work. I also buy the sausage that isn't in casings, in some cases it's cheaper and quicker than having to take the sausage out of the casing.  

Friday, February 18, 2011

week of 2/18 - 2/25

Ok, here we go!! Here is how I come up with my meal plans; I first look through the grocery ads and see if there is anything on sale for a super good price. I don't pay more than $1.99/lb for meats. When I see things like chicken breasts and boneless/skinless (b/s) thighs on sale I usually stock up. Things like that usually go on sale every 3 weeks or so.
Once I find (or don't find) what's on sale I hit up my bookmarked blogs to see if there are any new recipes from them. If nothing catches my eye I go to foodgawker and see what's on there that looks good. Foodgawker is a site that people can share their blogs on for recipes. Many of the blogs I follow have come from there.
Here's what my meal plan looks like for this week:

sausage soup (recipe follows)
crockpot london broil - tasty kitchen
fish (frozen already marinated from store), broccoli & rice
hamburger - pioneer woman cooks
roasted chicken w/ Brussels sprouts (recipe to come)
steak w/ onions - tasty kitchen (I may or may not make the potato recipe listed there)
roasted sausage cacciatore - tasty kitchen 

Leftovers from the chicken will be used some way, and I'll use the bones to make chicken stock. I usually try to space out the meats, as to not have the same meat 2 nights in a row but sometimes it's inevitable. Please feel free to tweak any recipe to your liking.

Thanks for looking! I'm excited to start this and hope it helps people out!

new things coming

Obviously I'm having trouble keeping my blog updated. I've decided that I'm going to start adding my weekly meal plans along with where I got the recipes from. I do it already and I know some people are interested in weekly meals so I thought I'd start sharing. Plus maybe this will remind me to update about the kids while I'm on here lol! Look for it soon!!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Paige Avery born August 13, 2010

I had a midwife appt on Thursday August 12. NST looked good, u/s looked good. I was dialted to 3 and had her sweep my membranes. After that I was pretty crampy and having contractions, but nothing consistent ant timeable. Since my mom was going to fly in to be here to stay with Jacob and we knew that it really wasn't going to be much longer we just decided for her to fly in that day. She arrived around 7:30 that evening.

Around 3:30am the morning of the 13th I woke up having some somewhat intense contractions. The progressed and I timed them at about 7-10 minutes apart. At 5am I got out of bed and called Felissa. Told her that they were pretty consistent and that I was having to breathe through them as they were painful. It's funny because I told her that I was pretty sure it was going to be today, but not anything within the next couple hours.

I tried to lie back down but that wasn't working so I just got up. After putting around the house they really started to pick up quickly and I was starting to need to be vocal through them. I called the midwife on duty and said that I was wanting to head into the hospital so that I wouldn't scare Jacob while I was working through the contractions. We talked about how I was feeling, she asked if I was feeling pressure and I said no. She said it sounded like I still had time, but I could head in if I wanted to and that I should call Felissa and have her come over.

I called Lissa and she said that she was going to head on over and for me to get into the shower to help with the contractions. By this time they were pretty intense!! I stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out. I remember thinking that God I hope Lissa got there soon so she could help me through these.

She did, and by this time I was dressed and sitting on my knees on the floor leaning over the couch. I was nauseas and just feeling yucky. Mom got Jacob dressed and headed out so he wouldn't be scared. Lissa timed my contractions and they were about 3 minutes apart so we left for the hospital.

thank God because just as we were turning onto the side street to get to the woman's section I had a big contraction and felt pressure. It was intense!! Mike dropped me off and Lissa met me in the hallway. In the elevator I had another one with pressure. I got to the counter and signed it; it was 7:17 am.

They got me into the room where right away I had another one. I was gripping the counter swaying and feeling such intense pressure. I said that I needed them to check me because I was feeling the urge to push. I stripped my pants off and lied down on my left side on the bed. Nurse checked me and I was at 9 already!!!

My midwife Bethany got there within just a minute or two, or at least felt that way for me! She checked me again and I was complete. She said that she was going to break my water so we could deliver within the next 1-2 contractions.

After just a couple contractions she started crowning. Looking back now it's hard to remember the pain, but I know it was there I remember her saying that I just needed to push through the pain. I was gripping the side of the bed. They wanted me to hold my leg but holding onto the bed felt much better. I got to feel her head crowning with my hand. 



I remember at one point Bethany asked Mike if he had his camera and to get it out. He said he left it in the car and should he go get it. She said no that he would miss it if he went.

Not much longer and she was out!! I think with maybe 3 contractions. It felt wonderful to have her out! They put her on my chest and let me look to see boy or girl; once I saw I said "oh it's a girl!! I knew you were a girl the whole time!"

Such an intense feeling and now it was over!! I was tired but I felt good. Just a small tear along where I had my episiotomy with Jacob, such a small tear that she didn't even have to stitch it.

She nursed right away, for almost an hour!! She's doing great nursing. She does have a little mucous in her tummy so she's sleeping in the nursery right now so that they could watch her to make sure she didn't choke on it. 

Her stats were: born at 7:39am; 8 lbs and 20" long.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Oh Holy Night

Photo Christmas cards are the in thing now and have been for the last couple years. It is always hard to decide which one is your favorite and fits your holiday picture. I have found mine for this year, my favorite card!!!
Isn't it gorgeous!! The kids would look so cute on there!!! I love how it's black and white, that'll draw more attention to the kids in their pajamas.

I love this one too . Love how it has a glittery look to it without the mess lol. Because a mom needs more to clean up right?!!

This one would match the kids' pajamas almost perfectly, it's so hard for me to choose which one to use!!

They have hundreds to choose from, which is good. There's one to fit everyones style. See for yourself here

For a couple years now we've done photo calendars for the grandparents. They love receiving them and getting to see a new pic of their gorgeous grandkids every month. I love using Shutterfly for my calendars as they have different choices, I can get my dad a desk calendar for his work and mom a wall calendar. The biggest part of why I love them is that you can personalize specific days. For my birthday for example I can put a picture of myself. Pretty cool!!

Shutterfly even offers invitations. These look so much better than those crappy ones you have to fill out by hand or even those ones that you do yourself at home in your printer. Those ones always come out crooked, at least they do for me!

Check out their site, there is something that will make the perfect gift for that hard to buy for person. Shutterfly