Menu Planning - Week of 2/20/12

Hi guys. Another lame weekend in these here parts. What about you? I spent most of my weekend studying for midterms and working on a paper. Fun times, fun times.

So I don't have much to speak on, except that I did watch the Whitney Houston funeral. Well, I DVR'd it and only watched the parts I cared about. I mean, it was pretty long! And sad. I can't devote that much time of my day to being sad!! But man was that Alicia Keys performance touching. So heartfelt.

And I did feel bad for Ray J as he touched the casket and broke down crying. Too much, too much! I'm getting teary-eyed now. And I realize that I was one of the billions who didn't even know her, but still felt saddened by her loss. Sometimes it feels like we know em.

Life goes on, though.

As does menu planning. A couple roll over meals from last week. You know how it goes.


Monday 2/20/12:  pick something up


Tuesday 2/21/12:  use Mokka groupon

Wednesday 2/22/12:  Cold Avocado Soup with Sweet Corn and Bacon


Thursday 2/23/12:  Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Pie


Friday 2/24/12:  Buttermilk Chicken Tenders


Saturday 2/25/12:  Buttermilk Cornbread Topped Chili


Sunday 2/26/12:  Asian Pork Tenderloin

Have a happy week, my friends! Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later to share some more goodies with you. Possibly a Mardi Gras-inspired recipe? :)

And nope, still haven't made PJ go see The Grey with me again. Tis my goal this weekend.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 2/13/12

Hey there! I took a little break from menu planning, but I'm back. Sad weekend, wasn't it? The legendary Whitney Houston passed away at the young age of 48. Don't even get me started! I've been listening to her songs and watching tributes for the past 2 days. Can't help but tear up sometimes... that voice and her music were a huge part of my childhood. May you rest in peace, Whitney.

Sunday me and my mama went to see The Grey, which I didn't know anything about except that Liam Neeson was in it and the mention of wolves... which completely turned me off. Um, loved it! It was suspenseful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it for not having known what to expect really. I just may make PJ go see it with me again.

Still need to see Chronicle, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, though.

Besides that, I did some shopping and worked on my paper for class. Nothing too exciting.

Now on to this week's menu plan. 

Monday 2/13/12:  Chili-Lime Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday 2/14/12:  VALENTINE'S DAY - lunch with my love, then dinner at Boi Na Braza that evening!

Wednesday 2/15/12:  class, probably eat leftover Chinese from lunch

Thursday 2/16/12:  groupon to Mokka

Friday 2/17/12:  Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

Saturday 2/18/12:  Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Pie

Sunday 2/19/12:  Buttermilk Cornbread Topped Chili

I hope you all have a love-filled Valentine's Day and a fantastic week!

Peace, and bacon grease!

*Side Note: If one more person says something negative about Whitney Houston's death, I just may shoot them. People can be so cruel, would they like people saying bad things about them when they die? Didn't think so. If you don't wanna watch the coverage, change the channel! No need to belittle someone's life. Ok thanks, glad I got that off my chest!

Menu Planning - Week of 1/23/12

Why hello there, my pretties! I've been slacking a bit on my recipe posts. Seems like all I ever blog about lately are my menu plans, which don't fully come to fruition lol. But I've missed you all! I'm having some blogging withdrawals.

Not a very eventful weekend. Went to class Saturday morning, only after falling down the icy front steps and busting my butt, then having to scrape like an inch of ice off my car windows. I'm still sore today from falling.  PJ and I spent Saturday together going to Target, and later had a little date night dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market. Yummy in my tummy! Can I eat there every weekend? Sunday we went grocery shopping, watched football, I did some homework while PJ cleaned the house, and finished up a great weekend together. Love spending time with that guy.

Monday 1/23/12:  Asian Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday 1/24/12:  Caramelized Chicken with Jalapeno Cream

Wednesday 1/25/12:  school night, eat out

Thursday 1/26/12:  Buttermilk Chicken Tenders

Friday 1/27/12:  Buttermilk Cornbread Topped Chili

Saturday 1/28/12:  lunch or dinner and shopping with friends!

Sunday 1/29/12:  Chicken Alfredo Biscuit Casserole



Here's to an awesome week! I just got my student loan refund check, so time to buy that lens I've been coveting :) That will seriously make my whole week. Waiting on swagbucks to award me my Amazon gift card though to put towards the purchase. So excited!


What did everybody do for the weekend? What did you think about the results of the football games? And what's on the schedule for this upcoming week?



Peace, and bacon grease!

 

Menu Planning - Week of 1/16/12

Keeping this short and sweet today. Strictly menu plan. Sorry if you'll miss my weekend recaps :)

Monday 1/16/12:  eat out, maybe Chick Fila

Tuesday 1/17/12:  4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Wednesday 1/18/12:  school night, eat out

Thursday 1/19/12:  Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Mushrooms

Friday 1/20/12:  date night, movie and Dewey's Pizza 
(or Mitchell's Fish Market if I can talk him into it!)

Saturday 1/21/12:  Mashed Potato Bowl

Sunday 1/22/12:  Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

Happy Martin Luther King day to you all. How come I didn't get off work today?

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 1/9/12

Hey there, friends. 

I made two of the four recipes I planned for last week's menu. Not the best start to a new year of menu planning, but decent enough. We made The Great White Chili and the Creamy Mushroom and Potato Soup, but didn't make the other two so I'll move them over to this week. Recycle them recipes. I have all of the ingredients already for the Chicken Pot Pie topped with Mashed Potatoes so we'll have that tonight, maybe. Don't hold it against me if not, because PJ will have to cook the whole meal while I'm at school! Yes, my first class is this evening! So if he feels up to it, he'll make this chicken pot pie (and I'll love him dearly for cooking), or I'll just pick up something for us on my way home. We'll see how that goes.

Monday 1/9/12:  Chicken Pot Pie topped with Mashed Potatoes (shepherd's pie)

Tuesday 1/10/12:  Chili Cornbread Bake

Wednesday 1/11/12:  pick something up, class at 7 PM

Thursday 1/12/12:  4 Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Friday 1/13/12:  Oven Baked Frito Pie

Saturday 1/14/12:  out to eat

Sunday 1/15/12:  Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

I'm trying not to be too intimidated about starting school today... I'm a mix of excited and nervous. I'm trying to tell myself that it's going to be more exciting than anything else. Plus, it's only the first day so at least we'll start out today with introductions and going over the syllabus and such.

It's gonna be a long day... Wish me luck :)

(Oh, and can I just say that I'm shocked and thrilled that the Steelers lost their first playoff game! My Bengals lost to Houston, unfortunately, but having the Steelers lose kind of makes up for it. Sorry Pittsburgh fans, you understand the rivalry!)

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 1/2/12

It's a new year folks, and I'm trying to start it out right. That means menu planning! I usually like to do my menu planning posts on Monday (or Sunday if I'm really good) but today's is falling on a Tuesday, which gives me one less meal to plan. Woot woot! 

I've thoroughly enjoyed my breaks and they didn't last long enough. I'm officially back to work this week with no holidays in the near future. You too? How will we survive?! Not sure, but we will.

Oh, and next Monday I go back to school. WHAT?! Seriously, next Monday?! I remember when going back to grad school was merely a thought that crossed my mind. Then it became more real as I applied, took my MAT, endured interviews with the staff, and dealt with financial aid. And now the time is just about here to actually start the program. I almost can't believe it. It always seemed like so much work in my mind to take the steps to go back to school, and now I've taken the steps. I'm pretty proud about that, I must say. I'll be even more proud when I finish the program, or at least make it through my first class, do well on an exam, and finish some pages-long essays that I'm sure will be in store for me. Wish me luck?

This Thursday I'll be doing the orientation thing... picking up my All-card, purchasing textbooks for my classes, and getting a tour of the campus since it's changed immensely since I've attended 4 years ago. I'm nervous!

But enough of psyching myself out and complicating the issue. I've got some menu planning to do. 2012 is gonna be a menu planning year... I can feel it!


Tuesday 1/3/12:  The Great White Chili

Wednesday 1/4/12:  Chicken Pot Pie topped with Mashed Potatoes (more like a shepherd's pie)

Thursday 1/5/12:  pick something up, orientation night


Friday 1/6/12:  Chili Cornbread Bake


Saturday 1/7/12:  dinner out, use a Groupon


Sunday 1/8/12:  Creamy Mushroom and Potato Soup



It's a new year, so hopefully that means I actually stick to the menu plan for once and make all of these delicious recipes. I still need to purchase a lens for my new camera... I hoped to have it by now for my food blog photos, but it just didn't happen quite as I anticipated. Call me uppity, but I just can't bring myself to take photos with my old point and shoot knowing that I've got a dslr just waiting to be used. Oh well, guess I shouldn't forget what I started with and how far I've come!

{via}

Here's to a great first week in 2012. Good luck in sticking to all of your resolutions!



Peace, and bacon grease!

 

 

Menu Planning - Week of 12/19/11

I've been a naughty blogger. I've neglected this here blog during the time I wanted to be there the most. I've wanted to share tons of Christmas goodies with you all month, but man time just gets away from me. And here it is, almost the end of the month and I've only given you a few posts here and there. Bad Desi, bad.

Maybe it's because I'm getting a new camera soon and have no motivation to photograph anything with my old point and shoot unless absolutely necessary. Or maybe it's all this Christmas shopping I'm doing that leaves hardly any time to even think about blogging. Not sure, but I hope to at least finish my 12 Weeks of Christmas posts before the new year!

I figured to get back in the hang of blogging, I should get back to my menu planning posts. Man, I haven't followed a menu plan in weeks. A couple weeks ago I was incredibly sick, so I did no cooking at all! This past week we didn't do much cooking either. I think yesterday was the first day we actually got back in the groove of cooking at home. We've both missed it, we agree. Some good old bacon, omelets, and hashbrowns really hit the spot for dinner last night. Definitely beats eating out anyday.

Monday 12/19/11:  Cold Avocado Soup with Sweet Corn and Bacon + ciabatta bread

Tuesday 12/20/11:  breakfast for dinner

Wednesday 12/21/11:  Buttermilk Cornbread Topped Chili

Thursday 12/22/11:  eat out

Friday 12/23/11:  Oven Baked Frito Pie

Saturday 12/24/11:  Crock Pot Chicken with Cream Cheese and Black Beans + rice

Sunday 12/25/11:  CHRISTMAS!! dinner at my Mama's  :)

Merry Christmas week!!! I hope you all get everything you wanted. Hopefully I'll be back throughout the week with some 12 weeks of Christmas treats.....

I said hopefully....

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/5/11

Happy Monday, friends. We're getting closer and closer to Christmas.... are you ready? I went to the mall this weekend and the madness has officially begun. CRAZINESS in the parking lot. Almost had to punch a few people. And it's only the beginning of December. I yi yi.

Got a little shopping done here...

and here...

and no, not Christmas shopping. It was all for me.

Watched the finale of this on Saturday night....

 

And yelled at the tv alot on Sunday thanks to these guys.

I kid, I kid

Why does Dalton look so happy after such a disappointing and embarrassing game? You shouldn't be smiling, rookie!
 

Anyhoo. That was my weekend.

Me and the menu plan have had an on and off relationship lately. And it's back on. I was being a bad partner, but now I'm back and trying to stay committed to it. 


Monday 12/5/11:  Chicken Tacos (for PJ), buffalo chicken for me

Tuesday 12/6/11:  Cold Avocado Soup with Sweet Corn and Bacon, and ciabatta bread

Wednesday 12/7/11:  BLT Crescent Sandwiches, and Garlic Italian Knots

Thursday 12/8/11:  eat out

Friday 12/9/11:  Steaks with Sauteed Spinach with Caramelized Red Onions and Pine Nuts

Saturday 12/10/11:  Breakfast for dinner which means mushrooms & onion omelets, bacon, cheesy eggs

Sunday 12/11/11:  Mini Lasagna Cups, with garlic bread

It's literally been raining all day long. I hope it stops soon, it sure does put a damper on the day! PJ and I hope to put up our tree and other Christmas decorations today, so we'll spend this rainy night inside drinking egg nog, playing Christmas music, and decoratin. Hope you all have a nice week.


Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 11/21/11

Why hello there, my pretties! How you doin? I'm doing pretty good... bout to wind down from a fun weekend. I did some shopping and lunch at BJ's Brewhouse with Marcey on Saturday, then stopped by to see my cousins Steph and Pope visiting from outta town... so good to see them as always. That evening PJ and I watched some UFC for like the 4th weekend in a row. I'm not complaining! Dan Henderson surprised us and beat Shogun Rua, and there were some other good fights as well. I love UFC. I wish I could train for fun without getting my face messed up.

Sunday we went to Kroger to pick up some lunch meat, chips, and other unnecessary junk. The main reason we went there was to get some hummus so I could write my Foodbuzz post up last minute. Then we scrambled home to watch the Bengals lose to the Ravens... a close and exciting game but still a loss. That Dalton sure did look a hot mess with his 3 interceptions. And boooooo, that Palmer getting good stats with the Raiders. Oh well, our record is still better than anyone expected, and I was prepared for us to not do so well against the tougher teams anyways, so it's not as harsh when it actually happens. Then we used my groupon and went bowling at Western Bowl for 2 games. It was fun just the two of us... a little date night on a Sunday evening. I suck really bad though... bowled a 72 and then a 67. Yeah, I know I suck. How do you get good at bowling?

Tonight we'll eat some chicken tacos, watch some Walking Dead and I'll have a couple beers. Sounds like a good way to end the weekend. Yay for a short work week coming up. I'm excited for Thanksgiving dinners and my niece coming to town.

On to the menu....

Monday 11/21/11:  City BBQ or eat out


Tuesday 11/22/11:  Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese with Cilantro Lime Rice


Wednesday 11/23/11:  BLT Crescent Sandwiches with chips


Thursday 11/24/11:  Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Thanksgiving at my mama's (or on Friday)


Friday 11/25/11:  Thanksgiving at PJ's mom's (or on Thursday)


Saturday 11/26/11:  leftover Thanksgiving meal hopefully


Sunday 11/27/11:  White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs with Italian Garlic Knots




Looks like it's gonna be a fantastic week, my friends! 


I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, good food, and plenty of things for which to be thankful.




Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 11/14/11

Holy smokes, it's been 3 weeks since my last menu planning post! I was wayyyy too busy the past two Mondays to write up a post, but now I'm back from my planning hiatus. I've missed it. It felt strange not having an answer when PJ asked "what's on the menu plan?" several nights for the past couple of weeks. I've got to get back to my domestic wifey duties!!!

A quick wrap-up of my weekend: 

• Friday night - it was our receptionist, Jenn's, last day at PPS... so we all celebrated with  convo and drinks at Molly Malone's pub right near our work.
• Saturday - UFC most of the day... watched the prelims online starting at 4:45 PM and they were on for HOURS! Until the main {FREE} fight at 9 PM pretty much. Then I watched Junior Dos Santos knock out Cain Velasquez and become the new UFC heavyweight champion! Love that guy! He can look mean, but he's THE nicest guy ever (like I know him, lol). So incredibly likeable, so I was very happy he won. 
• Sunday I watched the Bengals lose to the Steelers. BOOOOO!!! Pretty exciting game, though. And our record is still pretty good, though we haven't won against very many tough teams yet. I'll be so proud if we make it to the playoffs. Finished my Sunday night off with some Walking Dead. Always a nice way to end the weekend, I might add.

And now here it is Monday. The start of a brand new week. I hope to trim some bushes outside the front of our house before it gets too cold. I also need to clean and get organized, including geting back on top of my pre-planned home cooked meals. My life needs some order!

I had to use some Green Giant frozen veggies in a meal by tomorrow for Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program, so tonight we had some chicken pot pie. YUM!

Monday 11/14/11:  we had Chicken Pot Pie for 2, adapted to our likings, with rotini

Tuesday 11/15/11:  probably City BBQ, PJ works late

Wednesday 11/16/11:  Quick Chicken-Corn Chowder, with ciabatta bread

Thursday 11/17/11:  date night, bowling... probably eat there or pick something up

Friday 11/18/11:  hamburgers and fries

Saturday 11/19/11:  out to eat with my mama

Sunday 11/20/11:  Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joes with garlic bread

Hope you all have a wonderful week, friends!




Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/24/11

What's up peeps? How's everyone's Monday going? Mine's decent enough, though my tummy is bothering me a bit. The weekend was fun... Saturday me and my mama went shopping at out to eat at BJ's Restaurant inside the mall. Um, love their beer battered fish that my mama let me try. My open faced pot roast sandwich was pretty good but I'll definitely be back for that fish! Yesterday, I met up with my bestie since we had to reschedule our plans last week, and more shopping and eating... this time at a different mall and we ate at Johnny Rockets. I hadn't been there in literally like 10 or 15 years... I had remembered it being overpriced and the food not so good. But it was pretty good this time. And I was anticipating the price so that didn't bother me either. We will definitely go back. And tonight I'm going out to eat at Bonefish Grill with some grade school friends! That's alot of eating out and spending money. So I'll definitely be fixing some home-cooked meals the rest of the week.

Well, my menu plan for the week is pretty much staying the same as last week. Cuz we didn't really make anything on the menu plan except the Skillet Lasagna which I will eventually post about, and burritos. So I'll be recycling 5 meals from last week. And tonight I'm going out to eat... and I'm sure we'll order something another day this week. So my menu plan is all set for the week by default!

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to add. This just may have been what made the weekend really great. I got accepted into Xavier University's Community Counseling graduate program! Woot woot! Go me :) I start in January. I'm overly excited. And terrified all at the same time! 

Hopefully 4 years outta school won't hinder me too much. Pretty sure I'm not gonna have a life for the next couple of years.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/17/11

Why hello there my sexy peeps! How the heck are ya? How did everyone's weekends go? Mine was plenty fine, though some of my plans got canceled. I was supposed to meet up with my bestie for lunch on Saturday because we haven't seen each other in wayyyy too long! But unfortunately she wasn't feeling well and was also worn out and stressed from the week so we decided to meet up next week, also because we are both broke and get paid next week. Then I was also supposed to go shopping with my mama and help her return some clothes I bought her for her birthday that were too big, but she had a sinus headache and said we'll wait til next weekend. Man, either some sickness is really going around, or people just don't wanna hang out with me! :) But that was ok, because Saturday was Sweetest Day and I wanted to spend time with my sweetest anyway! Thanks, Hallmark, for the made-up holiday :) He worked a couple of hours that day, but we ended up spending most of the day together which was great, because otherwise I was only going to be spending the late evening with him. So I'm actually glad it worked out like it did! Saturday evening, PJ and I did some fine dining at The Palace Restaurant inside the Cincinnatian Hotel downtown on Vine Street. Talk about ultra fancy!!! (And feeling out of place lol). I'll post a review one of these days. Ya know, probably like a year from now. That's how I roll.

Did you like reading that whole book of a paragraph? Hey, I had alot to say! And I'm not done either...

Sunday was also great because PJ and I and his family all went to Keeneland for the horse races! That was my first time there. I originally had plans to hang with my mama on Sunday, but switched around some plans so that I wouldn't miss the horse races. I'm always nagging PJ about how we never go anywhere and he's a homebody so he's content with being home all the time, but we're young and I like to get out sometimes! I wasn't gonna miss this... I had to be able to cross it off of my bucket list. Horse races... check!

And man was it beautiful. Beautiful scenery and trees. The sun was beaming, yet it wasn't scorching hot. It was nice to spend time with family, drinking beers and margaritas (had my first one and I.LOVE!), betting on the races... though PJ and I didn't really bet much except on a couple of races; we spent our money on crap food and alcohol instead. What?

Some of those ladies are dressed to kill, too! I mean, why would you wear heels and a dress meant for a wedding to a horse race, where you have to stand most of the time? I would have been so uncomfortable! I've seen the ladies all dressed up in their dresses and oversized floppy sun hats (on tv), and wondered if I should go buy me a hat to wear to the event and attempt to dress up. But I decided against it when people said it aint the Kentucky Derby! And I'm so glad I didn't because I would have wanted to shoot myself if I had to stand and walk around in heels all day long! But there were still tons of ladies dressed to impress. I would too if I had a boxed seat and didn't have to do much walking.

But we had a blast, and will definitely go back one day when we actually have betting money. Plus we'll come better prepared with some foldable seats and maybe a cooler of beers and snacks for tailgating before time.

Are you guys tired of my weekend wrap-ups yet? I hope not, cuz I love to share them with you. Let's get on to the food already though....

Gotta keep it kinda cheap until Friday, cuz I'm broke as a joke! Especially after Keeneland yesterday and The Palace on Saturday. I never understood those folks who claim that money doesn't buy you happiness. Because I'm pretty sure I can't eat a delicious meal, enjoy some alcoholic beverages, gamble and other fun things without money. Just sayin. How shallow do I sound right now? You still love me though, right?

So yeah, I'm trying to work with items I already have in the pantry or fridge, or recipes that don't require me to buy a lot of ingredients. 

Oh, and can I puh-lease make this danged skillet lasagna already?!? If I don't make it this week I give up!!! lol

Monday 10/17/11:  Skillet Lasagna, with ciabatta bread

Tuesday 10/18/11:  Burritos with refried beans, onions, maybe some chicken and Avocado Dressing, with frozen corn

Wednesday 10/19/11:  Ranch Chicken with frozen veggies

Thursday 10/20/11:   Two-Packet Pork Chops and Ranch-Roasted Potatoes 

Friday 10/21/11:   Sweet Chicky Nuggets (like Chick-Fila) with frozen waffle fries

Saturday 10/22/11:  Chicken Alfredo Biscuit Casserole

Sunday 10/23/11:  Long John Silver copycat fish, and "chips" 

Make it a good one, yall!

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/3/11

Hey yall :) What's crack-a-lackin? I hope you all enjoyed your weekends. I did, always do, but man does it always go too fast. Who ever thought of having only a 2-day weekend? I think it should be reversed... a 2-day work week and a 5-day weekend. Who's with me?  :)

Anyways, my Mama had a great birthday. Thanks again to everyone for wishing her a nice birthday, she deserved it! Me, my Mama, PJ, and my brother all enjoyed some yum food at Benihana, until the waitress charged us for chicken fried rice at the end of the meal and we didn't ask for that! Then she refused to take it off the bill. Ooooh I got so mad. I'm not usually a confrontational person, but I just can't stand when someone is rude. The customer is always right, even when they aren't, and in this case we were definitely right. So that irritated me a bit but I wasn't gonna let it mess up my Mama's birthday. I was glad I could help make her day special!! 

Then PJ and I went home and watched a free UFC fight. Snoozefest! Sunday I just caught up on some blogging and reading blogs, and a bit of cleaning. 

And now here we are, back to Monday, back to work, back to menu planning. We didn't end up making the honey lime enchiladas from last week's menu plan because when it came time to make them,  PJ  somebody (not naming any names!!) had used up all of the tortillas making one of his delicious quesadilla concoctions. We had everything else, I just had to stop at the store and pick up some tortillas for tonight.

We made the stuffed pork chops but man oh man were there problems! The cheese just kept spilling out during the entire cooking process, to the point that there was barely any left when time to eat. I always have problems with stuffed recipes. Grr!!! 

We finally managed to squeeze in a much-needed date night at Quaker Steak and Lube which I have yet to review on this blog. Let's just say I was unimpressed, maybe because I had such high hopes?

Our work party went great! So much more fun than I expected it to be :) Can't beat getting drunk with the bosses lol! The food wasn't as good as I expected, except for these delicious truffle quesadillas. I die. And though the rest of the food wasn't impressive, the free beer and fresh-made margaritas made up for it :)

Oh, and we didn't make the pork fried rice, or the skillet lasagna. What else is new?!

Monday 10/3/11:  Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas with rotini

Tuesday 10/4/11:  PJ works late, pick something up

Wednesday 10/5/11:  I have a groupon to Hugo Restaurant that expires the 6th!! Date night again :)  *Note to self: STOP WAITING UNTIL THE LAST DAY TO USE MY GROUPONS!!

Thursday 10/6/11:  Skillet Lasagna with ciabatta bread

Friday 10/7/11:  Fleming's Prime Steakhouse Chipotle Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese with Cheesy Ranch Potato Bake

Saturday 10/8/11:  Mexican Chicken Strips 

Sunday 10/9/11:  Beer Bacon Chocolate Chili



Um, it's October. OMG.

Peace, and bacon grease! 

Menu Planning - Week of 9/26/11

Happy Happy Monday to you all! How was everyone's weekend? Mine was pretty lazy... spent lounging around the house making space on the dvr for all of the new fall shows, doing a bit (just a bit) of cleaning, and watching the UFC fight on Saturday, and some football on Sunday. No Bengals game though, unfortunately. I'm really hating these blackouts! We lost anyways but it just doesn't feel the same not being able to watch their game, lose or not! Coming from the lips of a true Bengals fan :) And did any of you fellow UFC fans really think that Rampage had a chance at beating Bones Jones? I sure didn't! Jones is a beast.

Jones on the left, Jackson on the right

But enough about sports. Sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about. We'll move on to food, something you're more familiar with, I'm sure! I've had a date night scheduled for I don't know how long, and no we don't take that many date nights! We haven't taken any of the ones I've scheduled for, and alas, we must go this week because my deal at Quaker Steak expires at the end of this month! Way to procrastinate :) Oh well, at least I have a reasonable excuse why we have to have date night this week! Anyhoo... on to the menu plan!

Monday 9/26/11:  Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas with rotini

Tuesday 9/27/11:  Stuffed Smoked Pork Chops with frozen veggies

Wednesday 9/28/11:  date night at Quaker Steak and Lube... need to use my *groupon!

Thursday 9/29/11:  30th anniversary Mexican-themed party at work... I can't wait for all of those Mexican goodies on the menu that day!

Friday 9/30/11:  Pork Fried Rice

Saturday 10/1/11:  out to eat for my Mama's birthday :)

Sunday 10/2/11:   Skillet Lasagna with ciabatta bread

 

*I get tons of deals from many different sites, like Groupon, Livingsocial, Cincysavers, etc etc. I tend to just refer to all of my restaurant deals as "Groupons" even though some came from different sites. Just a little FYI. If you see "Groupon", just think "coupon". K? K! Glad we cleared that up ;)

Here's to another great week, and to the end of September. My, how time flies! I must find time to put up my fall and Halloween decorations before it's too late! It'll be Christmas before we know it. I dunno whether to smile or cry a little.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 9/19/11

Hi guys! Guess who didn't follow her menu plan last week?! That would be me. The only thing we made was Martha's Chicken Fried Rice, which I had to make by today for a deadline. Everything else was pretty much thrown out the door. Don't really know what happened, I've got no excuses for ya.

But it's another week, so let's try this again....

Monday 9/19/11:  Chipotle

Tuesday 9/20/11:  Biscuits over Creamed Chicken

Wednesday 9/21/11:  date night

Thursday 9/22/11:  Pork Ribs my Daddy gave me

Friday 9/23/11:  Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups with ciabatta bread

Saturday 9/24/11:  Beer, Bacon, Chocolate Chili with Cornmeal Biscuits

Sunday 9/25/11:   Stuffed Portobellos with Mashed Potatoes with California Caprese Salad

This menu plan came late today.... we've already eaten Chipotle :)

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 9/12/11

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I was sick with  a cold so I was resting up a bit and just lounging around the house, cleaning at times, and watching football. Go Bengals!!! Who Dey!!! :)

I'm excited for this week's menu plan. Food always excites me, actually. Trying new recipes excites me, as well as remaking meals that I know we already love! While I was perusing over at Cassie's blog, I saw her recipe for biscuits over creamed chicken on her menu plan, and knew we'd be making it. Got some refrigerated biscuits to use up. And we are also having homemade cornmeal biscuits as a side this week, to use up some leftover cornmeal in the pantry. To go with the cornmeal biscuits, we'll be having alfredo lasagna roll-ups to use up some lasagna noodles we have leftover. I love finding recipes that use up ingredients I already have on hand. I'm usually not great at selecting recipes based on what we need to use up, and we end up wasting things sometimes... I hate that! So I love when I can find some delicious-sounding recipes that also don't require me to spend more money that I don't need to, and also save me a trip to the grocery store to pick up more ingredients.

I'm also adding Martha Stewart's Chicken Fried Rice to the menu plan, as it was my pick for Martha Mondays, and I've got some rice to use up.

Oh, and we're just having that chili because I can't pass up beer, bacon, and chocolate all in one dish. Just sayin.

Monday 9/12/11:  PJ works late, pick something up

Tuesday 9/13/11:  Chicken Fried Rice

Wednesday 9/14/11:  Biscuits over Creamed Chicken

Thursday 9/15/11:  date night out

Friday 9/16/11:  Alfredo Lasagna Roll-Ups, with cornmeal biscuits

Saturday 9/17/11:  Beer Bacon Chocolate Chili

Sunday 9/18/11:  grill out with family?

I didn't get to go over my family's last week for Labor Day to grill out and play cornhole, so if the weather is right (and I think it's supposed to be!) we may go over this weekend.




Peace, and bacon grease!