Monday Meal Plan - October 27 - November 2

Another busy week looms before us here in the NTAC household.  I was hoping that this week would be a little slower, but I don't think that will be the case.  At least we will have our first free weekend in 5.  The 9 year old is encouraged to dress like his favorite Roman or Greek god or goddess on Thursday at school.  We found out about this on Friday.  So after telling him that I did not have time or energy to make his Halloween costume this year (he's going to be a ninja), I now have to make a Halloween costume for school between now and Thursday morning.

Meal Plan Monday - Semi Boy-free Edition

The 9 year old has his first overnight school field trip this week.  Then two days later he has a sleep-over at a friend's house to celebrate the friend's birthday.  So we have two nights without him this week, and I think he's looking forward to two nights on his own.

Meal Plan Monday - October 13 - 19

The 9 year old spent the weekend entertaining both sets of grandparents, which meant, of course lots of showing off.  He was pretty excited, though, that his Nana and Papaw stayed the night because they frequently don't.

Meal Plan Monday - Birthday Boy Edition

So the birthday party was a smashing success, as was the after party sleep-over.  I'm glad I planned on some food for the after party and I'm glad I prepped as much as I could earlier in the day.  As soon as the four boys hit our front door, they made a bee-line to the fridge, exclaiming "I'm hungry!"  Fortunately I had fruit and cheese skewers and apples with caramel dip ready to go.  The quesadilas had been assembled and just needed to go into the oven for a few minutes.  The only thing they boys truly had to wait for was the mini tacos.  And even then, because the taco mixture was ready, all I had to do was put the mixture in the Tostitos Scoops and pop them in the oven as well.

Birthday Sleep-over Snack Food

On Saturday the 8 year old will be having his 9th birthday party at the local skating rink and afterward his 3 closest friends will spend the night with us for an "after party."  The party package includes pizza and sodas, but we'll be eating around 4:30.  So I thought our overnight guests will probably want more to eat later in the evening.  I can't see corralling them to sit down for a meal, though.  That's where heavy "finger food" snacks come in.  I'll be setting things out buffet style and letting the boys eat what and when they want.

Meal Plan Monday - September 28 - October 5

Miss me last week?  I've been sick with an ear infection and migraines since last Sunday night.  And unfortunately I didn't have any posts ready to publish, nor did I have the energy to get anything written.  As I write this, I'm still feeling drained and weak.

Meal Plan Monday - Make it Work Edition

Due to expenses for my husband's birthday last week and the 8 year old's upcoming birthday in a few weeks in addition to both my husband and me expecting expense checks from our jobs that didn't come through, we got a little behind the 8 ball this week.  Rather than dip into savings or our emergency fund, we decided we'd try to make meal planning work from what I had in my meager stockpile in the pantry and the freezer.

Meal Plan Monday - Birthday Edition

My husband's birthday is this week, and we'll be celebrating on Friday.  Originally he had asked for fettuccine Alfredo, but then I found crawfish on managers markdown at the grocery store.  So he might decide on crawfish etouffee instead.

Meal Plan Monday - Labor Day Edition

We had a lovely Friday evening at the local minor league baseball game.  It was Star Wars night, so we saw lots of Imperial Forces, including Darth Vadar, who threw out the first pitch.

Meal Plan Monday - August 25 - 30

Well we've gotten the first week of school under our belts.  The 8 year old seems to love the talented and gifted program and love his teacher, which is all good news.  The first day he told me, "School is AWESOME! We're allowed to bring books to read when we're done with our work. I made sure to find that out on the first day. You bet I did!"  (He loves to read.)

Meal Plan Monday - Back to School Edition

The 8 year old started 3rd grade today.  He was accepted to the talented and gifted program. In our city the talent and gifted children all go to the same school, so the 8 year old started a new elementary school today too.  He was quite nervous last week before we met his teacher and saw his classroom, enough so that he made himself physically sick.  But by today he got out of the car, walked straight up to the principal, shook his hand and introduced himself as I drove away.  I was a nervous wreck all day.  The 8 year old acted like a pro.

Meal Plan Camping Style

Things have been a little stressful in good ways and in not so good ways around the Now Things Are Cookin' household the last few weeks, which is why the blog has been quiet lately.  My husband and his best friend have known each other literally all their lives.  They lived across the street from each other from the time they were babies until they graduated from high school and even roomed together in college.  Two weeks ago my husband's best friend's father passed away.  Both the family and my husband have been taking it hard.

Two days after the funeral, we took our annual  four day/three night (car) camping trip with three other families. We've taken this trip ever since the 8 year old was the 3 year old,  It's always a trip we look forward to every year, even after the disaster of a trip four years ago when it was 100 degrees every day and none of our campsites had any shade!

Meal Plan Monday - July 14 - 20

It's been a rainy, wet week around here.  On Wednesday we got 4 inches of rain in half an hour and our area saw the worst flooding since what is referred to around here as "The Flood" in 1985.  The 8 year old, his friend and I were in the theater watching Despicable Me 2 (go see it!!!) when the storm started.  As we were leaving the theater parking lot, I realized the only road leading out of the parking lot was flooded at the intersection.  Fortunately for us, it was no so flooded that I couldn't make a right hand turn and get to higher ground.  After that, I learned later, we managed to literally skirt all the flooded areas all the way home.  I'm not overly religious, but I do believe we got home safely only by the grace of God.

Meal Plan Monday - July 7 - 13

I think this will be the most "normal" week of our whole summer vacation.  No extra places to be.  No extra holidays or events.  The 8 year will go to the sitter in the mornings and the surragate grandparents a few afternoons.  I have him and our extra 8 year old on Wednesday, and I might try to arrange a playdate with another friend for Thursday.  While we've had an enjoyable summer so far, I'm looking forward to a little normal right about now.

Meal Plan Monday (er, Tuesday) - Special Meals Edition

We went on vacation on June 18 and returned last Sunday.  Then Friday the 8 year old and I went to see my parents for the weekend.  I still haven't quite recovered from all our travels and am more than a week behind on my blogging do list.  However this week is a big one for us too, so I've just got to carve out the time and start posting again.

Meal Plan Monday - Father's Day Edition

The 8 year old has been back a week now.  He spent his week at Cub Scout day camp where he learned all kinds of cool things and fortunately did not bring home too many useless crafts.  He said his favorite activity was learning how to make shelter using tree branches and leaves.  He also make a cute terrarium complete with a red poison dart frog that I claimed for my recently rearranged and cleaned off desk.

Vacation Meal Ideas

Later this summer when our family goes on vacation to Virginia Beach, we're planning on eating most of our meals in the hotel room to save money.  We did this last year on our vacation too, but I wasn't quite as prepared.  This year I'm already making food to freeze and take with us on our trip.  My husband and I are already talking about eating out at the two restaurants we tried last year, but for the most part, we'll make all our meals in our room or pack picnic lunches to be enjoyed on the beach.

Meal Plan Monday - June 9 - 15

Last week passed by quickly and quietly without the 8 year old here.  One afternoon my husband and I walked down to the village to our local coffee shop to visit and to enjoy a good cup of fair trade coffee.  While we were there, a thunderstorm came up, so we sat back with our coffee and a board game to make an afternoon our of our brief trip.

Monday Meal Plan - First Week of Summer Vacation

This is the first week of summer vacation for the 8 year old.  He is spending it at the beach with his grandparents.  Normally when the 8 year old is gone, my husband and I like to eat foods the 8 year old doesn't especially like and experiment with new meals.  This week is no different.  In fact this week I'm experimenting with some meals that we can take with us to eat in the hotel room on our family vacation later this summer.

Meal Plan Monday - Mother's Day Edition

I think I'm finally over my migraines and weak tummy from glutening myself last week.  The rain really didn't bode well for our farmer's market though.  Most of the farmers just had small offerings, even the large cooperative that usually has several selections to choose from.  My favorite farmer, though, had some awesome chicken of the woods, which made me very happy.