Meatless Monday - January 27th

 Last night for dinner we had Spinach & Cheese Manicotti

 The recipe was found at: http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/02/21/spinach-and-cheese-stuffed-manicotti/

In progress:

Jan 15-22 Menu

Modular Canisters | Rubbermaid

I bought 4 of these 16 cup Rubbermaid Canisters yesterday.

They hold my flour, sugar, powdered sugar & rice, I love them and they fit perfectly in my cabinet. I had my sugars and flours tied in plastic bags and this has solved the issue.

I am thinking of getting a couple of smaller 5 cup and 10 cup ones to hold my chocolate chips, pancake batter and brown sugar.

Meal Planning

I have come up with our Meal Plan for the week of 1/9 - 1/15. I plan on sticking to this menu but the days that we have certain items may change. I shopped on Friday this week (there was supposed to be a snowstorm so I didn't want to get stuck in the house without food for the boys).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2011!

Resolutions for myself (in no specific order)

1) LOSE 20 LBS. - This is the year that I am going to lose the baby weight that I have had since 2003. ;)

2) DECLUTTER - I think if everyone thing has a place then it will not be hard to keep the house clean - that means getting rid of things that don't have a place (or finding a permanent place for items).

3) MENU PLANNING - I will make up weekly menus so I will not longer say "I don't feel like cooking tonight", which then causes us to either go out to eat or to order in.  If I know what I am going to cook on a specific day, I will know that I have all of the ingredients needed and can start the meals earlier in the day.

4) SAVE MONEY - I too often run to Walmart or Target with a specific thing that I need to purchase in my head and end up coming home with so many other things that we just don't need.  This is why we have so many items that dont have a permanent home and need to declutter.'

5) TIME MANAGEMENT - There are too many times that I will get onto the computer to look up one thing and then get lost in checking my email or checking out the drama happening on Facebook.  I need to set an amount of time that I will be on the computer/watch tv/etc. and stick to it.

6) READ MORE - I love to read and just do not set enough time aside to do it.  I read to the boys all the time, but I have to do it for myself also.

There are a lot more things that I could put on my list, but this is what I want to start with in the New Year, maybe once I have mastered these things in a few months (hehe), I can then add new items to my list.

Menu November 21 - 27

I have been following lots of blogs where people follow the Menu Planning Monday Schedule, but I have to make my menus on Saturday because I do my food shopping on Sundays.

This week will be a little different since it is Thanksgiving week.  The boys only have school on Monday, Tuesday and a 1/2 day on Wednesday.  They also have Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday so I don't have to pack lunch then either.

Breakfast
Banana Bread/Milk/Juice
Blueberry Muffins/Milk/Juice
Orange Cranberry Muffins/Milk/Juice
Pancakes/Milk/Juice

Lunch
Salad (Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Peppers, Mushrooms, Cheese, Lunch Meat)
Sandwiches (Lunch Meat, Cheese) (Lunch meat option changes weekly)
Pasta Salad (Rotini, Cheese, Olives, Italian Dressing)
Juice Boxes
Dinner
Corned Beef & Cabbage (I have cabbage left over from Cabbage Rolls last week)
Chicken Pot Pie & cranberry sauce
Hot dogs & Macaroni and cheese

Snacks
Applesauce
Goldfish
Grapes
Apples
Oranges

Thanksgiving
Yams & butter
Stuffing (Stove Top & Homemade)
Collard Greens
Potato Salad

EasyLunchboxes

I just placed an order for Easy Lunchboxes... Yes, I know school starts tomorrow but I was holding out trying to see if I could find something similar that would fit into the boys lunchboxes instead of using 3 Rubbermaid containers (3 containers x 3 school boys + hubby= lots of Rubbermaid).  Because you get 4 Easy Lunchboxes, I should be all set!  I hope.
http://www.easylunchboxes.com/