Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Meal Planning, Recipes, Etc.

One of the things on my list of goals for the New Year is to meal plan and cook at home more than I did last year. I'm happy to say that I sat down and planned two weeks worth of meals while Amelia was napping and then went on the longest grocery shopping trip of my life.

That last part about the grocery store wasn't the happy part.

Thanks to my sis, Joy, for watching Amelia! I'm not sure she would have enjoyed sitting in the grocery cart for that long and it made it a lot easier on me. Joy gave me a notepad that's made for meal planning - it even has a place for your grocery list off to the side that you can tear off and take with you. Except I used a notepad because my grocery list was 5 pages long.



Don't judge the lack of nutrition on my calendar for this week.

Maybe that will be a goal for next year.

Plan more nutritious meals.

Or maybe not.

I make cinnamon rolls every Saturday morning and we have donuts every Sunday at church. I see no reason to change tradition.

One area I would like to change is lunch/dinner for Amelia. Girlfriend is quite picky these days. I need some more ideas on getting her to eat different veggies. She likes green beans. Sometimes she'll eat raw carrots. She loves tomatoes. And that's about it.

It was so much easier when I could just feed her baby food. :)



See this happy girl in the picture? Remember how I told you she was doing so well in her big girl bed? Well she's still doing well - she sleeps all night - BUT she has started realizing that big girl bed = I can get up whenever I want. And she wants to get up at 6am! Or sometimes 3am, in the middle of the night, just to come in and take her Daddy's hand to say hello in a soft (semi-creepy) voice. She walked into our room this morning at 6am and said (in the loudest voice possible) "Mommy, have you seen my rabbit!??? I need my rabbit!!!"

I jokingly told Alex that if she's going to wake me up that early, the least she can do is learn to make a cup of coffee (we have a Keurig - it wouldn't be that hard) and bring it to my bedside.

And greet me with a softer tone. That would be nice.

I can just tell she needs more sleep than what's she's getting. She has always been all smiles in the morning and now she's waking up a cranky-britches. We just can't have that. I'm having to sing Psalm 118:24 to her several times a day - so things obviously have to change. I'm so thankful my parents sang scripture verses to me. They're coming in quite handy now that I'm a parent.

So we're still in the transition stage of the big girl bed and I'm so glad we started this process early. Way before Sydney arrives.

I was going to make strawberry muffins this morning but Amelia's mood called for something extra special, so I made applesauce puffs. These things are so easy to make and aren't too bad for you - until you dip them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar.



Look at the joy on her face. Can you say, "early nap time is a comin'?"



I'm trying out some new recipes over the next few weeks. Last night was the Queso Chicken Pasta from Evil Shenanigans. It was DELICIOUS. I think next time I'll make half with chicken (for Alex) and I'll just have the pasta with sauce. The sauce was amazing. I'll also use two jalapenos next time instead of just one. You should definitely try this recipe!

Love to all,

7 comments:

bb said...

I really don't like to give others suggestions, but sometimes I can't help myself. Regarding Amelia getting up.... we did what I NEVER thought I would do... we put one of those doorknob deals on the inside of her room. Keeps in there. I really don't want to think that she's wandering around the house without me being awake. Or, some have had good success with one of those nighttime clocks things. I don't remember what they are called but you set the time and teach the kid that as long as the moon is out, they have to stay in bed. It's like an alarm clock but with a moon and a sun instead of numbers and the clanging/buzzing. Seems to work wonders for others. Good luck!

The chicken pasta dish sounds yummy!

Amber said...

I always love to see your recipes you are trying! I totally just pinned the applesauce drops (or whatever they were called). Maybe I'll make them this weekend for Drake and my nephew.

Christi said...

We just got a keurig...love it!
Don't forget to put pured vegetables in foods if she won't eat them otherwise. I usually baby sweet potatoes, squash and carrots to sneak in things like chili, spaghetti, etc. Yes, I should puree it myself....
I've heard caulifower is great too...so that's on my future list since it's not sold in the baby food aisle.
I'm doing meal planning to this year...it takes effort.
Also, try putting a head of broccoli in a gallon ziplock bag with some olive oil and shake it all around. Place it on a foil lined baking sheet and sprinkle parm cheese and cook for 10 min at 425... And SE if she likes that.

Megan said...

Omigosh I was laughing out loud and you describing Amelia getting out of her bed. SO funny! Also I can't wait to try that recipe...the website it down today so I'll have to get it tomorrow.

Ashley E. said...

Can I come on fried chicken night? ;)

Mama Up! said...

Super excited to try the puffs!

And we've been super lucky in that the Babby knows she can get out of bed but doesn't. Just cries when she needs us. It's a good thing, too, since she can't open doors yet so would be effectively trapped in her room. I know one day I will be woken up in the night in that kid creepy voice. *maaamaaaa waaaaaake uuuuuup* I blame old horror movies for how scary little kids can seem at night!

Mazzy said...

We kept L's door shut and put a door knob cover on the inside. The door was not opened for her until she was potty trained. I still use a monitor, so this worked well for us. I also made sure she understood that getting out of the bed for any reason at that age was disobedience and would result in punishment. She was not a child that tested boundaries much, though, so that may have just worked for us because of her personality. We also got her a Tot Clock (look on amazon) and she LOVES it. Yellow for awake time and blue for nap time. In the mornings she'll yell "IT'S YELLOW, MOM!"

Good luck with your meal planning. I really need to be better about this, too, especially now that I can EAT AGAIN. Love your recipes, thank you for sharing them!