Menu for the Week of June 27th-July 3rd

The last two weeks have been completely crazy! Since Monday is #1's last day of kindergarten... I decided to take it a bit easier this week. And, notice that there are some things from last week being carried over....things I didn't get to last week! Enjoy!

Recipes on request!

Dinners:

Homemade Cream of Broccoli soup with homemade Multi-Grain Bow Knots

Baked fish with Yam fries

Chicken Korma with Curried rice & peas, Naan and one side I am still deciding on.

Turkey Meatball Soup w/ whole-wheat buns & Romaine salad

Pork Souvlaki on Pita w/ Tzatziki

Homemade Mac n Cheese with a butter-crumb topping and steamed peas and corn

Spaghetti w/ Cesar salad and homemade Garlic Bread

Misc:

Banana Bran muffins

Carrot cookies

Hummus & Pita

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Beef Wontons (these will be frozen and used in a future meal)

For Lunches: (L.F. this one is for you!)

Turkey, Swiss & cranberry sandwiches

Homemade tomato soup

Cheese & crackers, with chopped carrots, red peppers, cucumber & snap peas w/ dip

We will probably have hummus & pitas for lunch one day...

Since I am making bread & jam this week, I see some PB & J Sammie's on the menu..

Leftovers

Breakfasts:

Cheese & Dill scrambled eggs with (I hope) homemade English muffins

Cold cereal with yogurt,OJ, & fruit salad

PB & J

Banana Bran muffins

Hot oatmeal with raisins, currents, yogurt, etc.

Waffles with homemade Strawberry Syrup (this was jam attempt #1)

This picture ended up sideways...and I have NO IDEA how to remove it or rotate it. Your suggestions would be welcome.

My Weekly Menu-June 20-26th

This is a something I intend to do on a regular basis-publish my weekly menu. I read another blog where the author does that, and I will confess, I love reading her menus!
I enjoy cooking, and find that with a family it is such a central part of our lives-the purchasing, preparing, cooking and consuming of food (and the cleaning up).
My oldest daughter brought home her report card yesterday, and I smiled to see her mark (4/4) on nutrition-it is reassuring to know that all my harping on what is healthy and what is not is actually being retained!
So...here we go. This is actually my menu from last week, but since last week was a complete fiasco, I shifted it forward to this week.
I also haven't attached the meals to any specific day, as I quit doing that about 2 years ago. Now, I tend to plan the days meal based on the schedule for the day, as some of our days are a lot busier than others!


Pan-fried, seasoned salmon with cheese sauce, whole wheat penne & asparagus.
Dilly Quiche with a fresh garden greens salad.




Chicken en Croute with Strawberry Skewers, Cinnamon-Yogurt dip and a green salad.



Souvalaki seasoned pork roast with rosemary-garlic roasted potatoes and candied carrots & cauliflower.
Cream of Broccoli-Soup with homemade Multigrain Bow Knots

A couple of breakfasts for this week:

raspberry-orange danishes (homemade!)
bran muffins
cheese scrambled eggs with homemade whole-wheat, flax seed bread (err, toast)

Some snacks:

Banana-date Popsicles (I have already made these, and they were SO good!)
Hummus & pita ( I will make the hummus, Superstore made the Pita)
Cheese & apple boats








and lastly, this will be round two of strawberry-freezer jam. My first batch was more like strawberry syrup, so hopefully this will be second-time lucky!

I haven't included the receipes for the meals above, but feel free to ask! I am happy to post them : )

At the End of the Case...

Here is what I am currently pondering... I have 6 disposable diapers and 7 Pull-Ups left (a Pull-Up is like a disposable diaper, only the child steps into it). Kenna is 31 months....we are at the beginning of toilet training (and have been, since March).
Now what? I was SO SURE when I opened my last case of diapers that that would be it....then end!
I have toilet trained (I am not actually sure how to describe the process of toilet training my children, since their consent is pivotal here, and if I describe it as "I toilet trained..."...well, anyway, you can get the idea)...2 children already, and thought I had it down.

I was so, so sure we would be done. However, expectations can be a dangerous thing. As is clearly being demonstrated to me. We have had 1 success in over 2 months. My schedule is stupidly busy. I have two other children getting into mischief, and #3 will invariably scream "I need to peeeeeeee" when I am in the middle of cooking something that can't be left, or I am doing something that is AS difficult to leave. Compounded by the fact that she REFUSES to sit on the "potty" for more than..say 45 seconds at a time, compounded by having 1 sister sitting on either side of you screaming "Go Kenna! Hurry Kenna! Let your pee out! I think she peed!"...well, you can get the idea I think! While I am glad they want to be supportive....it stresses me out, and I am not the one trying to pee!

So now what?

One of the few regrets I have in my parenting is that we never used cloth diapers....and I can't decide if things have just really changed since 2003, or if I just never looked that hard. My husband was totally unsupportive of cloth diapering (unusual for him, since he is so easygoing)...and I was overwhelmed with new parenthood....and well, here we are. It's a bit late in the process to go and stock up on cloth diapers.....

Yet, when I looked at cloth training pants JEEZ! EXPENSIVE! $18 for a pair? I would need 8-10 or so.....and I just can't justify it. I figure a case of diapers costs me about $40 CA and a box of Pull-Ups is about $30CA.....so that would give me $70....anyone have any non-disposable ideas of what I might use for the next few months to get us through this period?

I started snooping around, and there isn't much available in second hand diapers...but pre-folds, or flats are pretty cheap. I found a great link for how to fold them : http://www.diaperware.com/picturepages/flatfolding.htm

I am wondering if they are a good way to go? Seems like all you need would be: probably 12 or so and a couple of covers? I had a snoop around today....and Kushies has flat diapers for $14.70 for 6 (see pic)....then a couple of covers at $7.50.....would still put me at less than $70...if they WORK!....

Have you tried "flats" or "pre-folds"? Where did you get them, and what do you think? Any ideas on what I might use/purchase, that would still fit my budget?

Excess

I wanted to write about excess......the excess of clothes. I pride myself on the fact that I am a "smart" shopper.....that I rarely buy something full price....

I love the clearance racks and the "surprise" sales, the thrift stores, and the overstocks/clearance section online.......

And right about now, it really shows. We are positively drowning in clothes for the girls. I have Rubbermaid tote after Rubbermaid tote...all full of clothes. Clothes someone is growing into. Clothes someone is growing out of. Clothes that are too small. Too big. For the opposite season. You name it, and I feel like I probably have at least 3 of them.

This is what happened: I took #1 & #3 shopping with me to the mall this morning....word is, there are some pretty good sales on spring and summer clothes already. And indeed.....there were. Everything in Please Mum and The Children's Place was 60-75% off.....and I eagerly started looking... sorting...trying to eyeball things to see what would make a good fit for next year.

Then, as we were leaving, it struck me. Today is June 8th. JUNE 8th! Summer hasn't even started yet! Why I am worrying about buying clothes for next summer.....when we haven't even had this summer yet? ......

Why not just stop. Look through everything I have already bought, keep only what I really love, and return the rest. Cause really? By the time #1 needs it next year, it should all be on clearance again.