Category Archives: Zach

Recipe Challenge

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I mentioned on Monday that we were going to try something different this week with meals. I had received a free menu plan from Family Freezer so after printing it twice decided I need to give it a try. I will point out that this was a free plan so I am not sure if the plans you pay for would have similar issues. I did a quick shop in my pantry and freezer and made the list of items we would need for the weeks meals.

Sausage and Peppers were on the plan. Zach had picked this as his choice for the week. However once he read it and I read it. We decided it was not something we would eat or try. The problem we saw was that it had not sausage and not real suggestion for eating. This might work out great if you wanted to add to bread but we did not have the buns to try it on.

It was easier and less confusion if we at least assembled all the meals on the plans. On Sunday. I put together and froze both the Spinach Enchiladas and Chicken Noodle Soup. I will report on these once we actually eat them.

Interestingly enough this meal plan contained 3 meatless meals. I will be the first to admit that we are meat eaters so I was very skeptical about both Lily and Kendall’s choice.

#18- Tuscan Tortellini Soup- Lily chose to prepare this meal on Monday. It was very filling without meat and even with beans both Kendall and I enjoyed. Everyone agreed that this was a repeat meal!

#19 Chicken Philly Cheesesteak sloppy joes. Zach was in charge of this meal. On the menu plan this is listed as two separate recipes but both copies of the recipes it was actually one meal. I did buy the ground chicken. I read this recipe several times and just did not get a good feel of how it should work with ground peppers and the onions and peppers. I decided to have Zach put the onions and peppers in the food processors prior to cooking. This worked out great! This meal was ok. Zach has eaten left-overs for two meals but it was really bland. Zach and Matt added hot sauce so that is what made it better for them. Not a repeat.

#20 Honey Garlic Chicken- I was in charge of this meal so it went straight in the crockpot. I ended up shredding the chicken and we ate it over rice. It was a tad bit spicy for me. But everyone seemed to enjoy. The one downside to this recipe is that it made a TON of food. I suspect it will be an entire second meal if needed. Don’t think I will repeat this one either.

#21 No Bake Lasagna with Spinach- Kendall was in charge and this was very cool for her because she really does not like a lot of meat. This recipe did take around 45 minute to prepare so it was a bit more time consuming than I like but for lasagna it was a very simple recipe. This was the best meal of the week. Everyone finished and it was awesome! Definitely a winner and a repeat.

So we are ahead! I am so excited but also have some other new recipes already picked out to try in the next several weeks. At least Coronavirus is helping me to reach one of my goals for the year!

Saturday Activities

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Today has been a really awesome day, the reason why because I am still in my pajamas and have no plan to leave the house all day! Lily and Kendall are on a youth retreat. Zach is at a birthday party for a friend. Another parent offered to pick him up and drop him off so of course I could not refuse.

I have managed to wash both the sheets on our bed and Zach’s bed. I was not able to hang out to dry but instead ran the dryer during the day to add some heat in the house. The weather is cold with a high of 40* another good reason for me to stay inside.

I made a stop by the grocery store last night. I found whole chicken on sale for $0.99 a pound which is a good price for my area. I prefer to get the already roasted chicken at Costco but we don’t have a trip planned to Costco in the near future. So this morning, I placed the chicken in the instapot. When it finished cooking, I removed the meat and shredded it. I made a huge batch of chicken stew. I have already froze one meal. It will probably work for at least one other full meal. The second half of the chicken, I am going to use in a new recipe this week called Burrito Bowl Soup. Look for a post about it on Monday hopefully.

This coming week is a lot different as everyone is out of school on Monday. Kendall and Zach only go to school on Thursday and Friday. I went ahead and put up the schedule for the week along with meals. I actually went ahead and prepared everything thing I could so that it will be a heat and eat week.


Quiet Christmas Budget

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I have finally managed to do it! This year, I successfully reduced both the number of gifts and the amount of money that we spent on Christmas. The result has been even better than I anticipated! We have spent the entire Christmas day, enjoying some quiet time and new activities. The kids are not fighting and even more surprising is the fact that I have not heard one single time “I’m bored or Is this all we are getting for Christmas.”

The big girls got 6 presents under the tree!

The little kids got 5 gifts under the tree and one big gift from Santa

Tuesday Thoughts

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I have been very blessed and fortunate because the “little” kids have very rarely been sick, especially Kendall and Zach. Kendall missed two school days last year and yesterday Zach missed his first school day in several years. Zach started complaining with his stomach hurting on Thanksgiving Thursday. He actually threw up on Saturday and Sunday. This morning, he just did not feel like going to school.

While Zach spent most of the day in bed, I found several task to keep me busy all day Monday. I ended up turning five pounds of potatoes into mashed potatoes for future use. I deboned the chicken we purchased on Saturday to make a double batch of chicken enchiladas. I have just enough for use to eat on Tuesday and froze a large batch that will provide dinner another evening with left-overs that can be used for lunch as well.

One of the less fun things that we worked on this weekend was re-organizing and cleaning out the office. Matt was originally the intended occupant for our home office. After completing it use as a nursery, it became his office. I first applied for my position in Guam in February 2017. One of the requirement was that I have the ability to block out all noises from the house in addition to plan walls. So we simply moved everything from my desk in the office and everything from his desk to my desk in the corner of the bedroom. Considering how little time I ended up spending in the office it was crowded but not a big deal. My teletherapy job in Guam has picked up significantly . I am spending between 8 and 10 hours a week working in the office. The crowded room and clutter really started to bother me. So cleaning and organizing occurred. I am very pleased with the result but I am the most proud of the charging shelf that we figured out. This holds all the phones and other devices that need to come in my bedroom at night!