Recipe: Fruit Salad

The girls love their fruit. If I allowed them to only eat fruit for every meal, they would never object. I found this quick (but healthy) way to make a fruit salad when our favorite fruits aren't in season by using frozen fruits.

Ingredients:
1 small box of instant pudding mix of your choice
4 bags of frozen fruit

I generally use vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix. For the frozen fruits, I generally do 2 bags of mixed berries (the girls' favorite), 1 bag of peaches, and 1 bag of mango. We've done lots of varieties and do I change it up often.

All you do is put the frozen fruit in a bowl. Sprinkle to pudding mix over the top. Cover and place in the refrigerator until thawed.

I generally make let it thaw over night. As the fruits thaw, the juices run causing the pudding and fruit to mix. Before you serve, be sure to mix together until well combined. The pudding and juices make a nice sauce for the fruit.

My girls go through this so fast. I have to portion size for them or they would eat it in one sitting. Most of the time I can get 3-4 days out of it by doing that. Keep refrigerated and covered to hold freshness.

Meal Plan Monday: Thanksgiving

Here's a sneak into the dinners we plan to have during the week of Thanksgiving.

Dinners:
1. Loaded Potato Soup
2. Chicken Alfredo
3. Spaghetti
4. Beans and Sausage over rice
5. Steaks with yams and collard greens
6. Chicken, Sausage and Okra Gumbo
7. Baked Chicken Tenders

Lunches:
sandwiches, tuna and crackers, pasta salad, green salad

Breakfast:
croissants, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit

Snacks:
yogurt fruit bars, pretzels, frosted mini wheats,  fruit, carrots and celery

Meal Plan Monday - November 17

1. Cabbage and sausage over rice
2. Tuna Noodle Bake
3. Chicken and asparagus pasta
4. Chicken Pesto
5. Baked Tilapia
6. Chili with cornbread
7. Grilled chicken salad

Mr. Man is away for 4 days, so we are keeping it light and simple. With Thanksgiving next week, no need to stuff ourselves silly. :)

Lunch: chicken salad sandwiches, turkey and feta salad, peanut butter and honey on bread or crackers

Snacks: trail mix, fruit salad, fruit filled frosted mini wheats, cucumbers and tomatoes, and pretzels

Meal Plan Monday - Nov 10

I really am trying to get back to meal planning and posting on here. I shop for two weeks and then pick up odds and ends once a week. Not sure I'll be doing hauls, but we will see.

Meals:
1. Chicken Nachos
2. Beans with Sausage over rice
3. Baked Tilapia
4. Spaghetti with meatballs
5. Chicken Pesto Pasta
6. Baked Chicken Breasts
7. Italian Dressing Steaks

As always, if there is any recipe you are interested, let me know and I can post it during the week!

Meal Plan Monday

1. Beans with Sausage over rice
2. Chicken Spaghetti
3. Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes
4. Pesto Ranch Chicken
5. Turkey Cabbage Rolls
6. Beef with Broccoli over rice
7. Chicken pot pie

This week is a busy week. We have soccer on Thursdays and other events throughout the week. Since the fall is here, I've been planning some warm and comforting dinners. I have also been making and preparing in advance so I can reheat or throw them in the crockpot. It has been working out really well.

If there's a recipe you are interested in, let me know.

Meal Plan Restart

As most of you know, I iwas doing Meal Plan Monday for the longest time. Everyone seemed to enjoy them, and I loved hearing everyone's feedback and how they meal plan. Here we are and it's been a lost thing. I really want to start it back up, but I've been in a rut. I can't find meals that suit my goals or I plan biweekly or monthly. There are obviously more than one or two Monday's in a month. So what should I do? Bring it back? Include recipes on Monday's that I've already shared the meals? Maybe share organizing tips or grocery hauls? What do you want to see?

Menu Plan Monday : {12/16-12/22}

This week of meals is probably the most comforting of meals that I have planned in a while.

1. Lima Beans and Sausage
2. Roasted Chicken (Crockpot)
3. Cabbage with Sausage
4. Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast wrapped in bacon
5. Beef Stew
6. Coca Cola Chicken (Crockpot)
7. Tuna Noodle Casserole

This week I am also planning for the teacher's holiday gifts and food item stocking stuffers.

More on these later :)

Would you guys be interested in me sharing grocery hauls via video or photos? Let me know!

Menu Meal Pan - Dec 9 - Dec 15

This week's meal plan is going to be super boring. Mr. Man is working an exercise, so he is working swings and mids (aka night shift). I planned quick and easy meals, as well as crockpot meals. I definitely didn't want anything where I could get side tracked with the kids and it burn.... story of my life. :)

1. Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Beef Stroganoff
3. Chicken Tacos
4. Blackeyed Peas with Sausage
5. Baked Tilapia
6. Stewed Pork Chops over Rice
7. Tuna Noodle Casserole

My grocery trip was super quick this morning. I only  had to grab a few things to have with the meals, snacks for the girls between meal time, and the everyday milk/cheese/eggs.

My total spent was $58.

Interested in a recipe in the list? Comment below, and I will share it! :)

Meal Plan: 11/25 - 12/1 including Thanksgiving

This week is a bit different since Thanksgiving is this week. I planned a regular meal plan, but also added in our Thanksgiving plans. Since Mr. Man will be off, I figure that some of the meals will be used for lunches. It should even out since we will do Thanksgiving at a friends and still come home and need to have leftovers or make dinner.

For our regular meal plan:
1. Lemon and Sage Trout
2. Blackeyed Peas and Sausage over Rice
3. Honey Garlic Chicken
4. General Tso's Chicken
5. Minestrone Soup
6. Roast Chicken
7. Soft Tacos

For Thanksgiving we will be going to a friend's house. They are making the turkey and some sides. There are about 5 families invited, so we will be bringing some dishes as well. Some of these dishes will be made for Thanksgiving and the others will be for us to have during Mr. Man's time off for our own little family to-do.

Dishes include:
Maple Carrots
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo with Rice
Potato Salad
Mexican Corn
Turtles
Pumpkin Bread with Honey Butter
Pumpkin Pie
Meatballs
Ham

We don't really have any plans for the holidays. There has been snow in the mountains for the last two weeks, so we are thinking about taking the girls sledding. We are undecided. Arianna still is in school, but we will pull her out on Thanksgiving (Thursday) but send her on Friday. They are doing a fun activity and I really don't want her to miss it since she loves school so much. Other than that, we are going to enjoy some family time and probably prepare for Christmas.

That is my tradition, wrap presents for Christmas during Mr. Man's time off. Hopefully it works out and I get a lot accomplished. I know the girls will hve many more things coming in the mail from family, and I will have to wrap those. Then we need to start thinking about a tree and decorations. You know the typical day after Thanksgiving Christmas decorating. At least that has always been our families' tradition.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week. I would love to hear what your traditional foods are and what you look forward to having on this day!

Meal Plan - October 18 - November 24

This weeks meals are pretty simple. I am keeping with the theme of some crockpot meals to help with nightly routines. It seems to be working well.

Here is what we will be having this week:
1. Blackeyed Peas with Sausage over Rice
2. Meatball Stroganoff
3. Chicken Breast stuffed with asparagus and wrapped in Bacon
4. Crockpot General Tso's Chicken
5. Crockpot Pineapple Salsa Chicken
6. Crockpot Chicken Curry
7. Lemon Sage Trout

This week for groceries including breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner for our family of 4, I spent $90. This also included some carpet cleaning, stain remover, and several smell goods (candles (4), sprays (4), and melts (2)).

Meal Plan Monday

Now that A is in school for half a day, I have time to ran more errands during the week. This means I can now grocery shop once a week like I was doing before. I go once a week to the commissary for the basics and the American things, then I go once a week for the things off base that I prefer. 

I thought since I am grocery shopping once a week again and couponing that I would start back the weekly meal plans and include a recipe at the end of each week if anyone is interested. 

My plan for meals is that there is always 1 quick meal and 3 crockpot/slow cooker meals. With Mr. Man's new job, he gets home by 5pm and not it gets dark early. By planning crockpot/slow cooker meals, this allows us some family times in the afternoons once Mr. Man gets home from work and A wakes from her afternoon nap. 

Here are our meals for the week of October 28 - November 3, 2013: 

1. Crockpot Pesto Ranch Chicken

2. Crockpot Creamy Spinach Tortellini Soup

3. Crockpot Pineapple Glazed Chicken

4. Meatballs and Gravy over Rice

5. Red Beans and Sausage over Rice

6. Baked Chicken Thighs

7. Baked Trout

Of course, these are in particular order. They are never set to any particular day. Each morning I look at my list and decide what will be for dinner that night. Then I also decide for the next night that is the crockpot meal so the meat can be defrosting and I can prep for that as well. Makes life so much easier! 

As always, if there is a recipe you would like me to share, just comment with the name of the recipe and at the end of the week I will share the one with the most requests! :) 

Hope you enjoy!

Do you meal plan? What's your family's favorite meal? 

Meal Plan {December 17-30}

Here is our meal plan for the next two weeks!

Chili
Chicken Asparagus Roll Ups
Beef Vegetable Soup
Ham and Pea Pasta
Shrimp Scampi
Meatloaf
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Parmesan
Meatball Stew
Tuna Spaghetti
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (for Christmas day)
Baked Chicken
Chicken Florentine Lasagna
Turkey Burgers
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Smothered Chicken

I added two extra meals to this week because my weeks have been ending on Fridays so I am trying to get them through the weekends and back to Monday's. I really hate having to shop on the weekends, even though I have my husband available to watch A. So that is why there is more than 14 meals on this list.

For snacks, lunches, and breakfasts for me and A, I plan two a week. Normally we are able to eat leftovers also. For breakfast, I always have oatmeal and fruit handy, yogurt and fruit, and so on because we also eat those as snacks.

For breakfast I planned:
Blueberry Pancakes (make in large batch and freeze)
Raspberry Lemon Muffins

For snacks I planned:
Frozen yogurt with fruit
Carrot Chips

Breakfast and Snacks always roll over into the next week because I make large batches to keep in the freezer, so we always have the option of the previous week's snacks and breakfasts as well as our everyday quick snacks (like crackers and cheese, chex, cheerios, raisins, etc) and breakfasts (like fruit and oatmeal, fruit and yogurt, toast with peanut butter and banana, etc).

For lunch this week I planned:
Miniature Pizzas
Tuna with Crackers

There are some weeks that I actually don't even have to make us a lunch, so I do something I can either make and freeze (last week I made a pasta) or something that can hang out in the pantry for a bit (like this week's crackers and tuna).

As you can see, we are a family that loves tuna. It's something that was just recognized when A always asked for fish when she was hungry. Mr. Man always ate tuna fish as a snack when he got home from work, and that is how she was introduced to it. I also really enjoy tuna fish. I have been making tuna salad and leaving it in the fridge for a few days so it is already made and ready to go. I only make it when I KNOW we will eat it. Mr. Man switches between tuna and peanut butter, so I really try to watch how he is eating and take note from there.

This week is also the week that I have all the baking going on. I ended up adding one or two more to my list.

I spent $260 for this week, and I was impressed considering I planned five or six baked goods and doubled their recipes! I really thought I would spend around $300-$315.

Meal Plan

Now that we are moved and settled I thought I could start getting back to sharing our meal plan. Since we live so far from base, I have decided that I will shop for 2 weeks at a time and utilize local markets and bakerys for things we need last minute. Today I shopped for the next two weeks so I can tell you  how much I spent exactly. The only thing is that this trip and the next couple will be filled of things for parties and such as well. That's what happens around the holidays, right? After today, I figured by doing it this way (I had been doing weekly before this week) I saved about $50-$80 if not more - easily.

Now that A eats with us, I have gone as far as to plan breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. It just seems to be the easiest and helps us save money. If any of you are interested in the breakfast, lunch, and snack planning then I would be happy to share. Just let me know!

I will list our meals this week, then next week I will share one of the recipes if there is any requests.

Our meals for the next two weeks:

Week 1:
Chicken Soft Tacos
Red Beans and Rice with Sausage
Italian Steaks
Boiled Whole Chicken
Shrimp Skewers
Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
Baked Chex Chicken

Week 2:
Beef Strganoff
Stewed Chicken with Rice
Tuna Stuffed Bell Peppers
Swedish Meatballs with Pasta
Mustard Chicken
Butter Beans with Sausage over Rice
Oven Roast

I spent $200 for this trip. I bought the basics along with this, which include our "fancy" weekend breakfasts along with planned breakfast, lunches, and snacks. This was also my first trip doing this, so I had bought in bulk to stock the pantry of things like wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and other things we use frequently in the house.

This trip also included groceries for a holiday party where I am bringing mini chicken pot pies and mini cheeseburger pies. I bought enough to make 48 of each.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I am happy to get back to doing this. I love seeing what I spend and how we eat throughout the weeks.

Any recipes for any recipes mentioned here, please just comment and I will post!