failing to plan is planning to fail

The days of being a stay at home mom for me are over.  I'm loving working.  It is so rewarding and I really love my job.  I do feel like I have to stay on top of my household chores during weekend.

Every single Sunday we prep our food for the week.   We boil 20 eggs so that Gary and I each get 2 eggs every morning for breakfast.  We shred our beloved butter lettuce for salads.  I'm addicted to pepperjack cheese wedges and I eat them with celery, so I wash, clean and chop celery sticks.  We are loving the spring strawberries, so we clean and slice strawberries and put them into snack size bags for easy snacks at work.  The kids eat cantelope for breakfast.  All that stuff gets done on Sunday for the week.

My goodness it is hard work to work and keep up a household, but thankfully Gary is amazing. (and I only say that b/c I was a SAHM for 11 years) We share chores and since he is home every night for dinner we share cooking meals too.  Thankfully the kids put away all their own laundry and I try to do a load every other day.  They pack their own school lunches.  I can't imagine doing everything all by myself every single day.  I did that before I worked because it was my full time job.  I also know that I have to make the kiddos do their own chores. The are old enough and we are trying to make them independent so they can go off to college and not be in shock.  I'm hoping I rub off on them and  they learn a thing or two about planning!

the food images on my camera roll

I have a problem. If you really know me you know about my problem. 

I love taking pictures of my food.  

I always have high hopes of posting the pictures somewhere.  I want to write blog posts about my meals, but I don't.  I was just scrolling through my photo feed a minute ago and I decided I must post what we ate last week.   

I really think with a little work I can clean up our menu a bit.  I see so many clean eating pictures on Instagram.   Sigh.  Some days I want to eat more healthy and other days I don't really care.  Not so much bread, stop eating beef.  Do you get me?  I do so well during the day, salad for lunch, fruit and nuts for snacks.  I usually make good choices and then my evening meal I tend to just eat whatever.  

Anyway, clean or dirty here is what our little family of four ate last week.  

Monday Gary worked half a day and he grilled steaks for dinner.

This is a beef fillet on the grill with steamed broccoli and scalloped cheesy potatoes.  I sliced the potatoes with my veggie slicer and added some milk and cheese to a casserole dish and baked them for about 30 minutes.  Wow...maybe not so much cheese on the potatoes next time, huh?!  But I LOVE CHEESE and you know, its for the kids.  

Tuesday I fought a headache all day long.  

This is a quick decision meal.  I didn't know what to make for dinner, so I grabbed 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and seasoned them with spices. I added a can of low fat cream of mushroom soup mixed it with water and threw it in a baking dish.  I added sliced yellow squash to the mix and baked it for 25 minutes.  

When it was done I sliced the chicken into chunks and plated it on a bed of saffron rice.

Wednesday was a BLT wrap.  

I found some multi grain 'infinity' shaped wraps and loaded them with fresh warm strips of bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes.  You can bet the dogs were swarming the kitchen while the bacon was frying.  They can't resist the smell of bacon.  Who can?   I served the wraps with pizza dip and my favorite organic tortilla chips from Aldi.

Thursday I was feeling yuck from a head cold.  It was one of those things where I never sneezed or coughed, but the sinus pain and congestion was awful!  

I needed comfort.  I made black bean and green chilie chicken enchilada casserole.  First line a casserole dish with canned enchilada sauce.  Second, in a separate bowl mix a softened block of cream cheese and green chilies with shredded cheddar and diced chicken breast (2 cooked breasts).  Layer the shredded tortillas, the mixture of chicken and more enchilada sauce until all the ingredients are in the pan.  Top with shredded cheddar and bake until the top cheese is all melty and brown.  Maybe 375 for 25 minutes.  I am an eye-baller when it comes to casseroles, so just bake it until it's warm when all the ingredients have already been cooked.

Friday was pizza night.  

We have been dying for the bacon cheeseburger pizza from Papa John's.  I was so excited to over indulge and then when I tasted it I only ate one piece.  I had one piece of bacon cheeseburger pizza and half a piece of the kids pizza.  They ordered hamburger, pepperoni and black olives.   I just wasn't that hungry, still with the sinus mess I guess.

Saturday we decided to go out to dinner.  We went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant and I didn't take my phone out of my purse.  Shocker huh?!?  I ordered chicken fajitas and they were amazing!

Sunday isn't really part of last week because I feel like Sunday starts a new week, but I'm posting our burgers anyway.

Mine was the first picture.  It's just a plain ole yummy cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and onion on a seseame seed bun.  Gary's is an insane burger.  He always stacks his burger to the sky and the kids love watching him make it.  We also had oven baked fries and we tried a new kind of canned baked beans.  They are pulled pork flavored and they didn't disappoint.  They were very good!

Now, I am off to do a little meal planning for this week.   I'm thankful the nasty sinus headache and congestion is gone. Woohoo!

need a meal idea?

This is what we ate last week.  

I love having my meals planned out because it helps with the evening rush!

Monday

Salmon cakes with baked red potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Tuesday 

Slow cooker pinto beans and cornbread.

Wednesday 

Cream cheese and jalapeno stuffed chicken cutlet, beans and corn/zucchini saute.

{For the stuffed chicken I mixed half a block of cream cheese with shredded cheddar and chopped pickled jalapenos.  I smeared it onto the chicken cutlet and secured it with toothpicks.  I baked it on 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.}

Thursday 

Sloppy Joe pasta casserole.

{I obviously changed this up a bit.  I added black beans and subbed pasta for the crescent rolls.}

Friday night ... last night we ate out!

I had a crab cake with mashed red potatoes and broccoli

I love looking back through my old posts to see what we ate.  It gives me great ideas of things I may have forgotten about!