Hello, Friends!! A Bit of This a Bit of That!

Honey, I'm hoooome!!

We are back from vacation, I'm back at work, the Teacher is back to school and the kidlettes have one glorious week left of summer break.  I, for one, am NOT enjoying this hot and humid weather...hey Mother Nature!  I don't live back east or in the midwest for a reason...I just don't do well in the heat!  That said, we are keeping cool.  

Today was the Teacher's first day of actual classes so I had fully intended on getting the house back into order, organizing school stuff and just getting into the basic swing of things.  I was pretty productive. Before 9:00 I'd already made some lovely breakfast muffins that I found on pinterest:  My number one priority when selecting the recipe this morning was that it included bananas, since the number of frozen bananas in my freezer is getting out of control and my feet are attacked with frozen banana torpedoes every time I open the freezer door (anyone else have this problem??)  

They were a hit with the boys and at just 1/2 C of sugar and NO flour for the whole recipe, I'm sold!  I'd also fake-canned the sauce I had going in the slow cooker all night:

I'll share this recipe later this week.  I hate buying jarred tomato sauce for pizzas and pasta...do you know how much sugar goes into one jar?? You'd be amazed!  This way I know exactly what goes in, AND, its PENNIES a serving!!  BTW, if you don't have any of these little ball jars, they are AWESOME!! They remind me A LOT of the Avent jars that I used to use to freeze breast milk (too much info?? sorry!) but bigger.  They come in 2 different sizes (these are 16 oz) and I use them for everything from storing snacks to freezing!  LOVE. THEM. (You can find them near the canning supplies at most big box stores.)

Also by 9:00, I'd already completed 2 loads of laundry, had dinner working in the crock pot AND cleaned the kitchen.  At about this time I decided I was done and that the kids and I were going to sluff off the rest of the day.  We called some friends and went to see the new Wimpy Kid movie and then ran off some extra energy at the park.  My kids are now at their friend's house playing since, apparently, movie and the park was not enough time with their buds.  SCORE!  I get a couple of minutes to document my day AND provide you with this week's meal plan and grocery list.  I'm trying 2 new crock pot recipes this week so I'll let you know how they pan out.

Here ya go:

Monday:  Redneck Salad (yes, again...we love it and haven't made it all summer!!)

Tuesday:   Lemon Chicken and Brocolli over egg noodles

Wednesday:  Hamburger Soup

I'm only planning 3 meals a week now because we always have enough left overs for at least another day and that way nothing goes to waste if the plans change (and with 3 days worth of soccer practices now, that happens a LOT!)

What I had:                                           vs.       What I Needed:

chicken  (freezer stash)                                     Buffalo Wing Sauce

romaine                                                             baby carrots

Ranch dressing                                                 celery

brocolli                                                              2-3 onions

1 lb ground turkey (freezer stash)

egg noodles

8 oz tomato sauce (from supply that I just "canned")

whole wheat macaroni

parmesan

packet dry onion soup mix

Not too bad!

I thought I'd also share a picture of Victoria Winters (from Bird on a Line) and I on her recent trip.  Join me in wishing her luck on her new adventure as she started back to school this morning!! 

It was so fun to watch our kids play together and I'm so proud of her!!!

Anyway, Happy Monday!  Talk soon!!

~Bean