Menu Plan Monday 9/26

The last week of September, whaaaat? This is ridiculous.  We had yet another super busy weekend.  Friday night, we witnessed the football team of high school at which I teach lose by 3 points to their biggest rival... but the game was SO good and the team played SO well that I'm still very proud of them.  We spent the rest of the weekend with Grant's family- Brooke if you are reading this, we had a great time hanging out and surprising your Dad!! I'm also finally starting to look pregnant.  Which is good, because I'm now a few days over 18 weeks, and I did not want to hit the halfway point without a little bump! I'll upload some pics on here sometime, once I have work stuff more under control.  I am so relieved we have an open weekend so I can maybe hopefully relax with Grant and catch up on everything... like facebook, preggo books, blogs and sleep.  You know, the important things.   

Dinners are again fairly simple this week.  We had our first crock pot meal (as in I left it going all day, with Grant & I both praying the house would not burn down), so it officially feels like fall!

Sunday: Vegetable Barley Soup (I used beef broth, a chopped onion, frozen mixed veggies, herbes de provence, barley, garlic, onion, salt & pepper and dumped it into a pot... I am not good at following directions when I cook soup. But since there was no meat, it cooked quickly.)

Monday: Crock Pot Carnitas, mexican rice & salads

Tuesday: Whole wheat spaghetti & meatballs, salad

Wednesday: using the carnitas for some pulled pork sandwiches, mac & cheese, peas

Thursday: Broccoli & Cheese Quiche (using mozz and goat cheese this time), fruit

Friday: frozen pizza.  I can already tell it's going to be one of those weeks where I am going to crash on the couch.  And hopefully one night this weekend will involve a owl of popcorn and the movie "Bridesmaids," which I've been waiting to see for months.

Saturday: leftovers

Menu Plan Monday 9/19

We had a fun weekend in Akron but now I'm back and swamped in grading.. and the stack keeps growing.  I know some people think teachers don't work hard and blah blah blah... but please know, that there are some of us who work from 6am-4pm and then from 7-9pm every night.  Sigh.  Not sure how this is going to work out when baby Miller comes along.  

Anyways, here are our meals for the week:

Sunday: whole wheat penne with fresh tomato sauce (used tomatoes from our garden!!).  I sauteed onions in evoo and did add some herbs from our garden as well... but other than that, this sauce was all tomatoes. And delish. 

Monday: Chicken sandwiches, egg noodles & green beans.  

Tuesday: Chili & cornbread.  I don't follow a recipe for chili nor do I make it the same each time... I'm using ground turkey, kidney beans, tomatoes, green pepper from our garden and onion for sure... other than that, it'll depend on my mood!

Wednesday: Omelettes with goat cheese, herbs & tomatoes, hash browns & sausage

Thursday: Chicken & Rice bake, peas

Friday: going to the North vs Central football game with my dearest prego friend & her husband :-) I usually have tons of cheerleaders & band kiddos in class, but this year, I have football players taking French! High school football is much more interesting when you have people to cheer for!

Saturday: celebrating Grant's Dad's 60th birthday out and about... possibly the Columbus Oktoberfest, definitely watching the Buckeyes game...

And on that note, as I read how busy our upcoming weekend is, I'm going to get back to the grading.  Have a good week, whoever is reading this :)

Menu Plan Monday 9/12

It's my birthday week!!!! Emily T. if you are reading this, I think I need a birthday month like you next year because some ridiculousness this weekend made the beginning of my birthday week pretty awful :-/ So perhaps I need a whole month too :-) Anyways, my husband is the most amazing man ever and helps me remember what is really important in life.  Thanks GLM :-) So besides our dinner date on Weds night, I am super excited for a few other things: I have a free coupon from Caribou Coffee (even though I like Starbucks better) for a free drink that is good only on my birthday, plus my free birthday drink coupon from Starbucks came today (but I have 2 weeks to use that one), so that means I will be getting delicious Pumpkin Spice Lattes TWO mornings this week! I just wish I was able to drink the caffeinated versions of my favorite drinks.  This getting up at 5am business is still an adjustment after a summer of sleeping in til at least 6:30!  We are also headed to Akron this weekend to celebrate with my parents and my youngest sister, and that trip will either start out Friday with a free dinner at Noodles and Co.   

Anyways, I'm cooking a few nights... and then we have a few meals out :-) Woo hoo!!! Here's the menu plan for this week:

Sunday: leftover grilled pizza... and I made Pumpkin Cookies (using pumpkin pie spice instead of the spices listed, as one reviewer suggested) with Cream Cheese Frosting (instead of the glaze on the cookie recipe, I also cut the frosting recipe in half) for our small group

Monday: Pumpkin Pancakes, sausage & fruit

Tuesday: Vegetable White Bean & Orzo Soup, salad

Wednesday: My birthday dinner date at Lindey's in German Village!

Thursday: Pork Chops (the recipe says tenderloin but I'm using chops) with Figs & Onions, baked potatoes & green beans

Friday: using my free noodles coupon from Noodles & Co

Saturday: out to dinner(s) in Akron w/ my parents and w/ Emily.  Yes the game plan is currently to go out to dinner with my parents before they go to the Akron Symphony Orchestra concert, (we decided to pass on that this year) and then out to dinner with Emmers when she gets off work at 7:30. I am eating for two, you know.  Juuuuust kidding. I'm really not eating much more than normal.

Since we are going out much more than normal, you might want to check out www.orgjunkie.com for a few more menu planning ideas.

First comes love, then comes marriage...

I wrote this post in late July so I could remember the details of the day I found out we were going to be parents.  Enjoy :-) Or stop reading now!!

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes... YES, a baby Miller!!

Two days before I left for Canada, I woke up feeling a bit off (and by off, I do not mean sick; just off). So naturally, I took a pregnancy test (isn't that what you do when you feel "off"?) The cheapo kind from the dollar store (literally, a $1 test.). I'd taken 2 a few weeks earlier and then both almost immediately showed up negative, but this one was taking awhile longer. All of the sudden, I see two lines appear. I literally could not believe my eyes.

Grant had always joked (but I think he was serious) that if I ever got pregnant, he wanted me to tell him in a special way, since he had to do so when we got engaged. I always hoped I would be able to keep it a secret from him, but when you are about to leave the country for 3 1/2 weeks in TWO DAYS, you are definitely emotional. And very short on time.

So he is lacing up his running shoes downstairs and I run down with the test in hand, and was like "Look at this." He responds, "What does that mean?" I showed him the explanation on the box and well, I still didn't believe it was true.

I was supposed to meet one of my best friends for coffee followed by lunch at 10, so I was heading to a 7am jazzercise class. I went to class and worked out as hard as ever. After class, I ran to Meijer and bought a more expensive test- the kind where the word "pregnant" shows up on the screen. Still in disbelief, I drove home. Took the test... and the word "pregnant" appeared. Took another one... the word "pregnant" appeared again.

I immediately called my family practitioner who let me come in at 10 to talk to the nurse practitioner... she says, "Congrats." And I go "ummm no I'm not pregnant. I do not feel pregnant." And she asks, "HOW many tests did you take?" I said 3. She said, "Yeah, you are pregnant, congrats mama!" Riiight.

I had a great coffee and lunch date with my friend Emily, and then on the way home, stopped at Target and bought a few things I still needed for my trip and yet another brand of test.

What do you know... the final test of the day also said pregnant...

Don't laugh.  I know I'm not the only one who took 3 different brands of tests...  And a total of 8 of them before I went to my first OBGYN appointment at 9 weeks :-)

Menu Plan Monday 9/5

One week of school down, 35 more to go.  Just kidding, I don't look at the school year like that.  I'm hoping this year will be better than the last.  So far, so good.  It has just been super busy.  The kind of busy that kept me at school til 6pm on Friday (not cool, that's a 12 hour day people) and kept me working on school stuff over Labor Day weekend.  Ok, I always work on school stuff on the weekends... but Labor Day weekend, the weekend after the FIRST week of school? That is just not right. I'm going to be celebrating my birthday the next two weekends (it's on a Wednesday, so that makes sense, right?), so I am working so hard this week to try to avoid doing school work either of those weekends.

Here's the menu this week.  Which is delayed due to the massive amount of schoolwork I had to do on Monday. 

Sunday: Grilled TJs Andouille Sausages, Dill Red Skin Potato Salad

Monday: City BBQ :) 

Tuesday: Modenese Pork Chops, TJs Harvest Grains Blend, broccoli

Wednesday: Gnocchi (frozen) w/ Creamy Garlic Sauce, Green beans, bread

Thursday: Baked Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Basil & Parmesan (spaghetti squash is a new one for us... one of us is excited about it... the other is already slightly concerned).  There will be some TJs frozen meatballs on in the freezer should the concerned spouse be in need :) 

Friday: Turkey Tacos & refried beans

Saturday: Pizza on the Grill, round 2!!! Who's gonna join us?? 

Well... tomorrow is Wednesday! Halfway through the week! Hope you all have a wonderful next three days :-)