Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

I decided to do this one this week instead of telling you about what we are eating.  Though I will say we have cooked at home every night this week and have yummy leftovers and I feel quite accomplished when this happens! :) But without further ado (we all know people read blogs for pics....)

PRETTY:

Valentine's Day flowers from my husband.  I had recently gotten some new clothes so I wasn't expecting anything...but I got these.  Aren't they lovely?!

I got some new things from Stitch Fix.  This is an online shopping service.  They send me 5 items (skirts, shirts, pants, bags, jewelry, coats, etc) at the frequency I request.  This fix I asked for ALL GREEN and got it!  There were 2 shirts (the one above and one that didn't fit), a skirt (seen above), a clutch, and a coat (that didn't fit).  I kept the skirt and shirt...and LOVE THEM! I think they are pretty -- and I think I look pretty in them!

HAPPY:

This guy -- he makes me happy.  If you look at the one above and this one you will see that we matched last Sunday.  It wasn't planned - but we looked good! :)

This one isn't so much my happy, but Alan's.  Look at how happy he is using his grown-up Valentine's Day gift!  He was so excited! :)

This kid!  He had a birthday this week -- can we stop the growth?!

FUNNY:

I got us these shirts from Zulily for St. Patrick's Day.  They crack me up....for real!

REAL:

This is what Mercy looked like at our house during our 1.5 day ice-in.  Catch the theme?!  Yesterday when I went back to work she pouted while I got ready -- she loves having her mommy home!

There ya go! :)

Weekly Menu's

Last week we did pretty good!  This week has been hit and miss...and I forsee it being that way the rest of the week too.

LAST WEEK:
Monday - Persian Chickpea Salad with Chicken and Quinoa
 Our friends, the Hoover's, recently had a sweet baby boy join their family.  On Monday I had the privilege of taking them dinner and loving on sweet baby J.  The Hoover's tend to eat more 'naturally' that we do (think organic and gluten free), so it was a bit of a challenge for me to come up with something.  But, one of my friends reminded me of the Persian Chickpea Salad and it was all set!  This is one of the easiest meals to make - and EVERYONE loves it!  Some cucumber, tomato, onion, and chickpeas with a spicy dressing.  I add quinoa and chicken to make it more of a MEAL and less of a SALAD.  This time, since I was feeding a family, I got some greens to go with it and discovered that if you take the SALAD/MEAL and eat it on salad...yummmmmy!  At least, I'm assuming it was -- there isn't any left!

Tuesday - Fend for Yourself Night
 Usually this is Thursday night and Alan has to, but last week was close week so it was mostly fend for myself.  I made myself a yummy sandwich and had some granola to go with it.

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken
 Wednesday nights we go to church.  We usually meet there because of Alan's drive home, so I try to have something quick and easy that stays warm and is ready when we get home.  I did BBQ chicken in the crockpot and we had some plain old white rice to go with it.

Thursday - Leftovers
 Usually, this is my girl's night with Kathy, but her hubby was under the weather so I stayed home with my puppies.  I had leftover Chickpea Salad and it was still yummy!

Friday - EAT OUT
 We used to eat out on Sundays, but I've decided I prefer our one night out on Friday or Saturday because then I can rest!  We went to San Marcos grill here in Melissa and I had Street Tacos.  SOOO good!

Saturday - Tacos
 An oldie but a goodie.  We used ground turkey and wheat tortillas again.  This time I made our salsa.  A small onion, a jalepeno, a garlic clove, some cilantro, 4 roma tomatoes, some salt, and some lime juice....in my pampered chef manual blender and VIOLA!  Yummy!

Sunday - Leftovers/Microwave meals
 Normally I would cook something or we'd grab fast food.  However, we knew that the church was leaving at 2:30 to go to Plano's Haggard Park to worship with Church Under the Tree.  We knew we wanted to eat quick and rest a few minutes so we played the fend for yourself method.  Alan had leftovers from Friday night and I ate a Lean Cuisine Lasagna.  Then we napped for 30-45 minutes and headed on.

THIS WEEK:
Monday - Sweet and Sour Meatballs
 I got this recipe from mom and tried it out.  You can do it in the crockpot or stovetop.  Because I had Theatricks Council Meeting I put it in the crockpot.  I used turkey meatballs, 2 jars of sweet and sour sauce, 1 red pepper, and 1 green pepper.  Next time, I will use regular meatballs and maybe a third jar of sauce.  Otherwise, serve with rice and it's pretty good!

Tuesday - Cranberry Pork Chops
 Another recipe from Mom.  This is another one that could be done in the crockpot, but since ours had meatballs in it, I used the deep covered baker from Pampered Chef.  You mix one cup of catalina dressing with a can of cranberries (or cranberry sauce) and a packet of onion soup.  Pour over chops.  I baked them at 300 for 1.5 hours and they were good - but I think that they might have been better in the crockpot.  Either way - we had a pasta salad and some corn for sides and they were mighty good.

Wednesday - Subway
 Again, we have church tonight and my 'Get up and go" went without me....so, Subway it is!

Thursday - Leanne's Night Out/Alan Fends for himself
 I am hoping tomorrow night I get to go see Kathy.  When you are used to going weekly and have to skip one it feels like ETERNITY!  If I don't, then I will make a Shepherd's Pie.  If I do - that'll get booted to another day!

Friday - EAT OUT
 We are going out for Valentine's Dinner on Friday night to beat the crowds.  I'm better we go to San Marcos Grill because they have a fajita dinner deal!

Saturday - Chicken Casserole
 The girls are coming over on Saturday and they love this...as does their Uncle Alan.  We will have Fruit Salad and Green beans with it.

Sunday - Shepherd's Pie/Pot Roast
 If I don't make this tomorrow I will do it here.  If I do make it tomorrow I will do a Roast while we are at church.

There ya have it -- it's a plan anyway!