I'm sorry I've been such a slacker on the blog posts the last while. Things have just been crazy with my cake business lately and I just haven't had time to sit down and write! I have a list of posts I want to write, so hopefully after Mother's Day I'll have some time!
Speaking of things I didn't get to, I didn't get to make the pierogies from last week's meal plan. I should have known better than to plan something that is so time intensive. I really enjoyed the fajita bowls and they were super simple; rice, bbq chicken breasts, homemade pico de gallo, and black beans. My parents and the kids had the chicken stir fry while John and I were out at a wedding and there wasn't much left over so it must have been good!
My brother was nice enough to grab me a bottle of McChicken sauce now that it's in stores so I'm super excited to give it a try! Not the healthiest thing in the world but sometimes you just need some sauce. I've made the Greek meatballs a number of times but I thought it would be fun to turn them into a gyro.
Time for more food! I love shopping for food almost as much as I like eating it, so I thoroughly enjoy grocery week. This time around I have a lot of chicken meals planned. I didn't really set out with that goal in mind I just kind of happened as I was going through my recipes.
All of the meals from last week were super delicious. Roman was confused with the whole fresh roll business. When I first set then down on the table Roman turns to me and says "Mom, I think these have plastic on them". Fast forward 5 minutes and he was dipping his fresh roll into the satay sauce like an old pro. I don't think he was a huge fan of it but I give him props for trying it!
I'm hoping I'll be able to try out a few new breakfast/lunch/snacks in the next couple weeks that I can turn into blog posts. Life has been so crazy lately that I've really fallen behind in my blogging. There are so many things I would love to turn into posts but finding the time has been difficult lately. But, I will persevere and hopefully I'll be able to carve out a few minutes. What are your favorite type of posts to see? Let me know in the comments down below and I'll try my best to get them into the mix!
I hate this closet. I have always hated this closet. No matter how many ways I've stacked the towels, and folded the sheets, it's always a disaster. Each shelf ends up heaping with random things that just get stuffed into the closet, which makes it nearly impossible to find what you need.
I hadn't planned on organizing this closet today, mostly because I like to pretend it doesn't exist, but I was going through things for an upcoming garage sale and knew there were some things in here that I needed to get rid of. I had full intentions of just snatching the items out of the closet and slamming the door shut. Instead, I ended up attacking this mess head on and hopefully solving the problem for good!
I started out by completely emptying the closet and pulling out the items we no longer use or need. It was a little bittersweet saying good-bye to my Snoogle. Not because I ever plan on being pregnant again, but that thing was just so darn comfortable! With just the items we need remaining, I re-folded everything and start the jigsaw puzzle of putting everything back in.
On the top shelf I stacked our extra comforters, quilts and pillows. On the second shelf are the extra sets of sheets for our beds. Nobody, and I mean nobody (other than maybe Martha Stewart) can actually fold a fitted sheet so that it looks nice every time. Solution - fold the fitted sheet, flat sheet, and 1 pillow case, and slide them all inside the second pillow case. It make a pretty little package and all the matching pieces are together!
The third shelf houses our extra towels and table cloths. On the floor of the closet we have old towels that we use in the dogs' kennels or on the kitchen chair that the cat likes to sleep on. For the love of all things holy, why must cats always sleep on a kitchen chair?! I have a thing for holiday tea towels, and am starting to amass quite the collection. To keep them neat-ish and separate from our bath towels, I dumped them all into a plastic bin from Dollarama.
Finally I can breathe when I open this door. It no longer makes me cringe when I need a new tea towel, or when it's time to change the bed sheets. One less disaster zone in the house is a win for me! What area in your home is driving you crazy lately?
There has been a bit of a gap between this meal plan and the last one I posted. We still had some food left over, so we decided to make a small run last week and just pick up a few things that would stretch us for another week. We also picked up some delicious local meat and produce from The Wandering Market so that was added to last weeks meals. This is what we ate!
California roll bowl
Steak with veggies
Chicken nuggets and fries
Sheet pan chicken and vegetables
The California roll bowl was so good! John and I have made our own sushi before (pre-kids) and it can be a real production. So this time I just chopped up the ingredients you would find in a California roll, and everyone assembled their own bowls. Splash on a little soy sauce and it tastes just like a California roll without all the work! Roman was so excited after the sushi fiasco last week and he gobbled his right up! For Bianca we added a little bit of mayo to make it all stick together a bit so she could get it to her mouth. John also ended up adding mayo and hot sauce to his and really enjoyed it. So easy, and such a good for you meal because you can control how much of each ingredient goes in!
Now for this week. This week is bit of a mash up. No rhyme or reason, I just threw down some recipes on the page and decided this is what we were eating for the next two weeks. Most of these are old favorites, but there are a couple new ones. After trying the California roll bowl, I'm not trying to turn everything into a "bowl" recipe, and my Pinterest feed is evidence of that. If you have any good "bowl" recipes I'd love to know what they are! Leave them in the comments below!
Homemade pizza Thai beef satay
California roll bowl
Homemade burgers and fries
Tacos
Pasta with oil, cheese and veggies
Fajita bowl
Fresh rolls with peanut dipping sauce
Last week one of the moms for our playgroup planned a trip to the RCMP Heritage Museum and Depot in Regina (Thanks Jenn!!) It has been years since I was last at Depot, so I was really excited to take Roman. Because the parade was right at lunch time, I opted to take Bianca to my parents' house. She had a blast playing with Grandma and Grandpa so she still had a good time.
We started off our visit with the RCMP Heritage Museum. They had an eye-spy game all set up and ready for the kids. Roman grabbed his clipboard and we were off into the museum to see if we could find all the photos on his list.
I honestly didn't get a whole lot of time to actually look at each exhibit or read much, but what I did see was pretty cool. The museum chronicles the history of the RCMP right from their inception. There was an area set up as a crime scene and they had examples of all the tools they use to solve the crime. Roman found matching bullets, compared his finger prints to the samples, and matched the tread of a shoe to one left in a trash can at the scene. They also had an area where the kids could dress up in RCMP uniforms and hats. I couldn't convince Roman to dress up but he didn't have a problem sticking his head in a façade of a Mountie. Of course, I couldn't let him have all the fun!
Next on the list were the stables! Not the real stables of course, but close enough for Roman! Okay, so maybe I was a little excited too. This stable came complete with virtual reality horses! Hop up in the saddle, strap on the virtual reality goggles, and you are instantly participating in the musical ride! The saddle even rumbles and vibrates like your riding an actual horse. It was almost a little too real. Roman LOVED it, and a few of the moms and I also got in on the action. I think we'll have to get Roman on a real horse this summer since he had so much fun with the virtual variety.
Once we finished our eye-spy sheet we headed off to check out the gift shop. They had a ton of cool stuff; kids riot helmets, Mountie shirts, toy cars and maple leaves galore. I told Roman he could pick out something small but he wasn't interested. So, we found a spot to sit and have a snack while we waiting for the parade. While we were sitting there a couple RCMP officers came into the museum. Roman was in awe. They came over and talked with him for a few minutes and once of them even let Roman wear his hat. I think the five minutes Roman spent with the two officers was way more fun for him than anything he could have picked up in the gift shop.
Then it was time to make the trek to where the parade was being held. If you've ever been to Saskatchewan, specifically southern Saskatchewan, then you know it has a tendency to get windy down here. It was so windy in fact that they had to move the parade into the drill hall. It was actually great for us since we had a ton of kids with us, and a couple tiny ones.
There is something about RCMP marching and the RCMP band playing that just never gets old. I think the moms almost enjoyed it more than the kids did. Roman watched the entire parade in awe. I asked him part way through if he wanted to be a police officer when he grew up, thinking he would obviously say yes. Nope, turns out he thought the band seemed like more fun. I must admit, that is a little easier on my mommy nerves! haha. If you are ever in Regina I highly recommend visiting Depot!
This was by far one of the best field trips our playgroup has been on! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and nobody was pecked by a emu, ran over by an alpaca, or generally hurt in any way. Yes, those have actually happened. Now that spring is here I'm sure we'll have many more group adventures!
Easter is almost here so I figured it was time I get my act together, and get a post together on the kids' baskets. I'm going to start off by remaindering everyone that this is Easter and not Christmas. I see these photos of kids getting a table full of presents for Easter and it really makes me scratch my head. When did Easter become such a big, commercial holiday? What happened to colored chicken eggs and some chocolate?
This summer we are planning on take the kids on a few camping trips, so I thought this would be a good time to buy them some fun things that they can take with them. Our first trip is going to be almost a 5 hour drive one way, so we're going to need some mobile entertainment. A great way to save money on holidays like this is to disguise things that the kids actually need as gifts. Because let's face it, they just like opening new things and don't really care what they are, especially at this age.
Let's start with the youngest first. For Bianca I picked up a two piece rash guard set from Old Navy, which just happened to be 50% off when I was in the store! I'm sure these flamingos will see a ton of use this summer. The rest of Bianca's basket came from Dollar Tree. The black container is actually for holding beads but I plan on using it to hold Bianca's massive supply of hair elastics. For our trips, I found an expandable wash cloth, bubbles, an Easter board book and a coloring book. The markers it comes with are those fancy shmancy ones that only write on paper; super handy for a toddler! Instead of a basket I decided to use a sand pail, double use!
Roman is currently still wearing swim suits that he's had for a few years so I figured it was probably time for an upgrade, again it was 50% off at Old Navy; whoop! Poor kid has pasty white skin like me so he can use all the sun protection he can get. I picked up the same expandable washcloth, bubbles and coloring book, and sand pail for Roman as I did for Bianca. I also found some small notebooks that I think Roman will get a ton of use out of. He loves drawing treasure maps and going exploring, and while he's exploring he can collect some bugs with his new bug collecting kit. Tell me that last sentence doesn't sound like something you'd hear in a Price is Right description haha. I had picked up a bug kit like this a few months back for a friend of Roman's birthday, and Roman hasn't stopped telling me how he wished he had one too. Man kids learn how to guilt trip quickly!
I also found some joint gifts for the kids; another coloring book and some egg shaped chalk. The egg and bunny game was actually intended for Roman's basket last year (or maybe even the year before...) but it got forgotten in the closet.
Obviously there isn't any chocolate in these baskets. I'm going to put a few chocolates into plastics eggs for the kids to hunt on Easter morning. There also might be one more small thing that we have for the kids....and by small I mean a 1kg hollow chocolate bunny. I never in a million years would buy the kids a chocolate bunny the size of them, but it was the freebie a couple weeks ago at Superstore. I couldn't add a photo of it because I was not risking getting caught by the kids with a giant chocolate rabbit.....
The goal for the next two weeks is the clear the freezer. Every time I meal plan there is at least one meal that we don't end up making. Whether because we have too many leftovers or we end eating out an extra night. I freeze any of the ingredients that I can and save them for another meal plan. I keep doing this for weeks, sometimes months. Once I get a good collection, or things are starting to get a little too frosty, I meal plan based on what is in the freezer and in the pantry.
I was a little surprised at how much extra food there was in the freezer; 5 lbs of ground beef is a little excessive. We definitely didn't have to buy any protein and there was still a good amount of vegetables chilling in the freezer. So here is what I planned from our stash!
As I'm going these links I see that I really need to up my game on posting new recipes. I could have sworn I already posted some of these but apparently not...
