Meal Plan Monday - April 30th

Lacrosse Tournament Season begins this week.  Both kids have a tournament this weekend and my son has tournaments the following 2 weekends.  This means Saturday and Sunday at the lacrosse fields, playing multiple games.  Hydration and high protein/carbs are the key to keeping both kids in top playing form.  It's going to get a bit crazy around here!  Most importantly is eating at home, so I make sure they get a good balanced diet and NO sodas this week.

Sunday - Grilled Hamburgers and Sausages, Baked Beans, Strawberries
Monday - Man Pleasing Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Broccoli
Tuesday - Toasted Sandwiches, Chips and Veggies with Dip
Wednesday - Leftover Hamburger and Sausages, Baked Beans,Salad
Thursday - French Dip Sandwiches, Chips and Veggies
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Lacrosse Tournaments - Lots of Water, Gatorade, Banana and Orange Slices!  Deli Sandwiches or Chef Salads after all the games are over.

For more menu plans, visit I'm An Organized Junkie.

Meal Plan Monday - April 23

The first fresh corn of the season hit our stores this weekend and it was delicious!  I really wish I had bought more.  Fresh corn just screams summer to me.  This week is full of busy days, so I am depending on my freezer and pantry to get us through.  I have 2 parties this week, Bunco on Thursday and Bubba's 13th Birthday Brunch on Sunday.  Lots to do!!!!

Sunday - Grilled Hamburgers and Sausages, FRESH Corn on the Cob, Salad
Monday - Grilled Chicken Salads
Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday - French Dip Sandwiches, Veggies and Dip
Thursday -  Bunco (my house)
Friday - Dirty Rice or Ravioli with Roasted Vegetable Sauce
Saturday - Out for Mexican

For more great meal ideas, visit I'm An Organized Junkie

Caramel Puff Corn - AKA Crack Corn

This is ADDICTIVE, so addictive, that we call it Crack Corn in our house.  Do not make this when you are home alone, or I promise, you will eat the entire batch by yourself.   You have been warned!

Caramel Puff Corn

2 bags Cheetos Popcorn - butter flavored

1 stick butter

1 c brown sugar

1/4 c lite corn syrup

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

Put both bags of popcorn in a large aluminum roasting pan.

In a large saucepan melt butter and add all ingredients EXCEPT baking soda.  Cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes, until "bubbly". 

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda (mixure will froth and bubble up a lot).  Stir until creamy and smooth. 

Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir well, coating all pieces.

Bake at 200 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. 

Cool and store in an air tight container. 

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Tuesday Garden Party #3

Lots and lots of new stuff in our garden and yard this week!  Sod, flowers, dirt, sand, vegetables and herbs! 

 This picture makes me just a little sad.  You see, our backyard playset used to sit here, but as it was in pretty bad shape and my kids had mostly outgrowning it, we took it down last fall.  In it's place was a big bare dirt spot.  Hubby and the kids spent most of Monday afternoon and evening laying sod and filling it in with river sand.  It looks so much better!

 An up-close look at some of their hard work.  If you have never laid sod, let me tell you ,it is hard, dirty work and I appreciate all their efforts.

 I just had to show off my lavendar rhododendron. It is full of blooms, with more buds growing.  It looked better, but we had a rain shower right before I took this picture.

This lovely little lady will be finding a permanent home in my peony bed is a couple of days.  I got her for a STEAL at Home Depot this weekend as she was just about bloomed out and no one wanted her.  Don't they know she will be even more beautiful next year?  I'm thrilled add her to my peony garden as all my others are double blooms, so this single bloom will be a interesting addition.

And here is my next project -- peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and melons all waiting to be planted.  I planted some last week, but lost my 2 cucumbers to a late frost.  I thought I'd  lost 2 tomato plants too, but they seem to be recovering quite well.  I also have bean seed to plant along the back of each bed.  I'm going to try to get them to grow on the trellis, we will see just how trainable beans are. 

I ran out of dirt a couple of weeks ago, so this bed needs to be amended and then my basil will go in.  I'm planting 3 plants now and will add another 3 in a couple of weeks.  I only planted 3 last year and we ran out of pesto in December.  I'm hoping this will be enough for several pints to freeze. 

Thanks for joining my lawn and garden tour.  I'm linking up to An Oregon Cottage's Tuesday Garden Party.

Meal Plan Monday - April 16th

More meals using the stash I found in my freezer last week. 

Sunday - Out with Lacrosse Team after Game
Monday - Meatloaf, Mac and Cheese, Lima Beans (didn't make last week)
Tuesday - Two Timin' Pasta Bake, Salad
Wednesday - Chicken Quesadillas or Nachos, Fruit Salad
Thursday - Chicken Cordon Bleu, Mashed Potatoes, L/O Lima Beans
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday -

Extras - Best Brownies

For more great menu ideas, visit I'm An Organized Junkie.

Salsa Chicken

I have seen this recipe all over the internet in various forms, but had never tried it.  I created my own version and served it over rice, but I bet it would make a GREAT burrito filling as well.  Or serve it over chips for creamy, flavorful nachos.  YUM. 

Salsa Chicken Bowl

2 pounds chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup (I'll probaby make my own next time)
4 T taco seasoning
1 c salsa ( fresh is best)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
shredded colby-jack cheese
chopped cilantro
chopped scallions
long grain rice, cooked

Put first 5 ingredients in crockpot and cook on LOW for 5 - 6 hours.  Remove chicken, shred and return to sauce in crockpot.  Stir well.  Add corn and cook one more hour.

Serve over rice, topped with shredded cheese, chopped cilantro and chopped scallions

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Hair Bows

Boo Boo and I have been making lots of things lately.  She really wanted some new hairbows, but I didn't want to pay a lot for them, so I read several tutorials and took the best of all of them to create these hairbows.  What I like best is that they match all her new spring outfits perfectly because we got to choose the colors and color combinations. 

Flower Hairbows

Materials

large silk flowers

sparkly buttons, gemstones, etc.

alligator clips

ribbon (colors to match or your flowers or white)

Hot glue gun and gluesticks

Directions

Cover alligator clip with ribbon . 

Remove flower from the stem and separate the layers.

Using hot glue, glue each layer of the flower to the center of the ribbon covered alligator clip. 

Once all layers have been glued, glue your decorative piece (button, gem stone, etc).

Corkscrew Ribbon Clips

To make the corkscrew ribbon clips I used the tutorial I found at The Frugal Girls. 

How to Make Korker Bows

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Tuesday Garden Party #2

I posted a few weeks ago about my struggle with weeds in my raised beds.  Here they are, weed free (at least for the moment) and ready to plant!

I amended most of the beds with fertilizer and enriched dirt.  I also treated for vermin.  I have fought squash bugs for the past 2 years and I lost half of my strawberries to ants last year, so I mixed in some bug killer, trying to avoid those issues.   

And here are my remaining strawberries (This bed was full of strawberries, but due to the ant infestation last year, this is all that are left.)  Look at all those blooms and infant berries!  Our very warm spring has caused them to bloom early, I just hope we don't have a late season frost...   I have ordered 30 more strawberry plants, just waiting on them to arrive and get those in the ground as well.
 

This weekend I will begin planting tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.  Hopefully by mid June I will have my first homegrown salad. 

Linking up at

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

I knew I wanted to make cupcakes for our Easter dessert, but coming up with the perfect spring flavored cupcake was difficult.  I had finally settled on Key Lime Cupcakes but couldn't decide on a frosting.  While looking through cookbooks and Pinterest, I came upon a Raspberry Frosting that I knew I HAD to make, but I wasn't sold on putting Raspberries and Key Lime together.  Enter my next quest... the perfect cupcake to go with Raspberry Buttercream...(are you beginning to understand my cupcake dilemna?).  I happened upon a recipe for Lemonade Cupcakes in one of my Southern Living Cupcakes.  What better to go with Raspberry?  This is a GREAT spring flavor combination. 

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

1 (12 oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)

1 package white cake mix

8 oz. sour cream

1 (3 oz) cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

Combine concentrate, cake mix, sour cream and cream cheese and eggs in a mixing bowl.  mix on LOW until ingredients are moistened.  Beat on HIGH for 3 minutes, scraping sides as needed.  Spoon batter into lined muffin tins.  Fill 3/4 full.

Bake at 325 for 20 - 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes.  Remove from pans and place on wire rack.  Cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

6 oz. fresh raspberries (rinsed and dried completely)

1 t vanilla

1/8 t salt

32 oz. confectioners sugar

Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. 

Gradually add powdered sugar, blending well after each addition.

Frost cooled cupcakes using 1M tip.

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Meal Plan Monday and Freezer Clean Out - April 9th

One of the items on my Spring Break To Do List was to inventory my freezers.  Not such a big job, as we have been utilizing my freezer stash for several months.  However, organzization had gone by the way side and I wasn't quite sure what was lurking in the depths.  I found several items that needed to be used up fairly soon, so I planned my menu this week around many of my "discoveries". 

Monday - Easter Leftovers (Filet, Scalloped Potatoes,
Tuesday - Meatloaf, Mac and Cheese, Broccoli Casserole
Wednesday - Chili, Grilled Cheese, Fruit Salad
Thursday - Spaghetti with Roma Pasta Sauce, Garlic Bread
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday -Spicy Crockpot Chicken, Couscous, Asparagus
Sunday -

Extras - Lemon Sugar Cookies

For more great menu plans, visit I'm An Organized Junkie. 

Easter Decorations

Traditionally I don't do a lot of decorating for Easter, but since I am hosting Easter Dinner this year, I thought it would be a good idea to decorate a bit.  I made the Hydrangea Covered Eggs last year, so this year used them as my table center piece.  I also made some new napkins to complement the quilted table runner my mom made for me years ago. 

To bring a bit of spring color to the rest of the house, I made 3 paper pennant bannesr in about 30 minutes.  I  pulled spring scrapbook paper from my paper stash,cutting them in 4 x 5.5 x 5.5  inch triangles.  Using a hole punch I threaded them on jute and hung them with clear push pins. Quick, easy and they really make a statement. 

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Meal Plan Monday - April 2nd

It's Spring Break at our house and we have plans to stick close to home, have some fun and accomplish some projects around the house.  We also plan on cheering the Cats on to victory Monday night in the NCAA Basketball Championship Game.  Our goal is to eat at home each night.  We want to revisit some family favorites as well as try some new recipes.

Sunday - Chef Salads
Monday - Sliders, Tortilla Roll Ups and UK Blue Velvet Cupcakes as we cheer on the Cats with friends
Tuesday -  Pizza, Chips and Dip, Fruit Salad
Wednesday - ordered pizza
Thursday - Salsa Chicken, Cilantro Lime Rice, Fruit
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday -BBQ
Sunday -  Easter Dinner - Beef Filet,  Scalloped Potatoes, Lima Beans, Asparagus, Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

Extras - Blueberry Zucchini Muffins and Orange Creamsicle Smoothies

Linking up to Meal Plan Monday at I'm An Organized Junkie