Menu (nowhere near Monday...) April 21

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Pancake sandwiches	Fish nuggets cooked in coconut oil, cucumbers and dip	10 hour chicken, roasted veggies, brown rice	Apples with peanut butter and honey
Tuesday	Cereal with fruit	Noodles with butter and parmesan cheese, broccoli	Slow cooker chicken curry, jasmine rice	Yogurt with strawberries
Wednesday	Eggs and toast	Tacos: beans and cheese with tortillas, corn	Veggie lasagna, rolls, salad	Chia pudding
Thursday	Yogurt with strawberries	Crackers with peanut butter and banana slices, carrots	Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries	Popcorn with nutritional yeast
Friday	Pancake sandwiches	Broccoli cheese frittata	Homemade pizza, salad	Banana bread
Saturday	Pancakes	Peanut butter and jelly, veggies with dip	SWAP picnic	Frozen banana smootie
Sunday	Omelets (to use up leftover veggies)	Family meal	Leftovers	Whatever is left!

 

Pancake sandwiches are just Trader Joe's organic silver dollar pancakes. I stick two together with some cream cheese :)

Fish nuggets taste way better when cooked in coconut oil. Wait. MOST things taste way better cooked in coconut oil. Right?

My husband is obsessed with cipollini onions. Have you tried them? Roast them with some sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Holy cow they are good! We eat them every week J

Thank  you, Melissa, for introducing me to mixing peanut butter with honey and dipping apple slices in. Now there is an amazing snack.

The SWAP picnic on Saturday afternoon/evening promises to be an awesome time. It is becoming a tradition in our Attachment Parenting group (through meetup.com) and has been a time when we make some amazing memories with our ‘extended family’. We are taking sweet potato fries and zucchini muffins to share. I am sure there will be pictures to share next week!

On a final note, have you tried the app Favado? I just put in on my phone last weekend and love it! Basically, it lets you comparison shop through your favorite stores. It even has Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. If you are working on keeping your grocery budget in check, I highly recommend it!

Menu Monday April 14

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Cereal with berries	Picnic at the zoo: PBJ (cream cheese sandwich for Alice), carrots, apples, pita chips	Lemon pepper chicken, roasted sweet potatoes and boiler onions; creamed spinach	Popcorn with nutritional yeast, orange slices
Tuesday	Eggs and toast	Turkey cheese roll-ups, cucumbers and dip	Slow cooker spicy chicken tacos (I'm making up the recipe)	Banana bread
Wednesday	Yogurt with berries	Tacos: beans and cheese with tortillas, corn	Fresh lemon and sage veggie pasta, rolls, salad	Veggies/pita chips with hummus
Thursday	Cereal with bananas	Noodles with butter and parmesan cheese, broccoli	“Brinner” breakfast for dinner J Pancakes, fruit, sausage, eggs	Orange slices and popcorn
Friday	Eggs and toast	Fish nuggets, green peas, pita chips	Homemade pizza, salad	Banana bread
Saturday	Pancakes	Leftovers	Fish and chips	Veggies and hummus
Sunday	Omelets (to use up leftover veggies)	Family meal	Leftovers	Whatever is left!

 

I didn’t get to make the fish and chips last week! And, of course, I have been craving it like crazy.

We went to the zoo and had a wonderful time. By we, I mean I took the two kids. That's a whole other post! I honestly think the secret to my kids’ happiness (and mine) is snacks. Lots and LOTS of snacks.

Out of PEACE, JOY, SIMPLICITY, the concept of ‘brinner’ now enters our dinner menus J I have never seen a husband or daughter as joyful as when they make pancakes together! I get the night off from cooking, Sergio gets to perfect his recipe (which is apparently a life mission), and Alice gets to eat pancakes. Win-Win-Win!

I’m looking for favorite warm weather recipes now. I would LOVE to know if you have any recipes that just make you feel “spring”!  

Menu Monday April 7

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Eggs and toast	Turkey and cheese roll ups, crackers	Peppercorn marinated pork, roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and boiler onions; creamed spinach	Celery with cream cheese, orange slices
Tuesday	Cereal with banana and berries	Yogurt (Plain mixed with vanilla extract, maple syrup, and berries)	Cheesy chicken and rice casserole, rolls	Popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast
Wednesday	Whole wheat waffles with yogurt	Noodles with butter, parmesan and peas	Tacos	Pita chips and hummus
Thursday	Eggs and toast	Peanut butter banana crackers, carrots and cucumber	Lasagna (with mushrooms and spinach), rolls, salad	Orange slices and popcorn
Friday	Cereal with bananas	Broccoli cheese frittata, pita chips	Homemade pizza, salad	Celery with cream cheese, raisins
Saturday	Pancakes	Leftovers	Fish and chips	Veggies and hummus
Sunday	Omelets (to use up leftover veggies)	Family meal	Leftovers	Whatever is left!

 

I don’t have a single recipe to link to for this week! I went super back to basics because I realized in the past few weeks that the fam wasn’t too enthusiastic about the new things I was trying. Also, the ‘moving towards vegan’ idea was just leaving us hungry and cranky. I figure it’s better for now to have us with full bellies, even if this means I am spending more than I want to on organic/free range/happy hippie stuff J It’s a work in progress!

I did discover that everyone LOVES the yogurt situation, though! The sugar content in flavored yogurt (even vanilla) was NOT ok with me. So I read around and decided to try plain yogurt. I’ve been mixing in a little vanilla extract (not homemade yet, but maybe someday), local maple syrup, and some organic berries. Alice just asked for a second bowl! Yay. I fee l good about that.

Also, I have never made fish and chips before. I used to LOVE Long John Silver’s. I found out while I was pregnant and having ridiculous cravings that there are NO Long John’s around here. I even called my mom and made her search for it while I was pulled over in a parking lot! No dice. There is an Arthur Treachers, but that is simply not the same. Fast forward 4 years, and here we are with me searching frantically for an acceptable fish and chips recipe that will take me less than half an hour to make and doesn’t have any crazy ingredients that are not in my cupboards. Anyone have a recommendation??

Happy eating J