meal planning: vol 1

the kitchen is my favorite room in my house. Actually, in any house. I feel most at home in the kitchen. I used to believe that I wasn't a creative person. But I've come to find that I'm just mostly creative in the kitchen. If I have a Saturday to myself, I want to spend a good portion of it planning a meal and prepping in the kitchen. Dinner parties? I'm always in. There's a harmony that comes from cooking well and feeding people. My heart feels fullest with friends at our table.

 

Yet, sometimes, when I'm meal planning, I find myself in a bit of a slump. And so, mostly because Ruthanne posted her meal plans, I decided I wanted to start sharing what our week looks like in the kitchen. (Also, it's much easier to find these links for myself if I post them here. ha!) I normally plan + grocery shop on Saturdays. We like to do a fancy at home meal one night a week, usually Saturday or Sunday, just depending. Weeknights are mostly busy for us. I've got class a couple nights a week, we have Bible groups, it just get plain busy. Insert the crock pot meals.  I find looking at our weekly schedule before even attempting meal planning results in a lot less frustration.

Saturday:

Thai Steamed Mussels

Parmesean Brussel Sprout Crostini

 

Sunday:

Lunch- Baked and filled avocados

I don't normally cook for lunch, but we've been wanting to try these so badly, I made an exception!

Dinner- Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Viniagrette

This has been a staple in our meal rotation for over a year now. Just make it. You'll love it.

 

Monday:

Chile Shrimp with butter beans and lemony couscous

We had this for the first time last week and Sam went crazy for it. It's up again.

 

Tuesday:

Baked Salmon (30min at 350--we bake it in a little olive oil and lemon pepper)

Roasted Carrots

 

Wednesday:

Mongolian Beef

 

Thursday

Crock pot chicken tacos

This is a meal my mom taught me--4 chicken breasts, 1 can cream of whatever, 1 jar salsa. Dump it all in the crock pot in the morning on your way out the door, (the chicken can even still be frozen!) and when you come home, pull chicken and serve on tortillas. Delicious and easy.

 

I don't plan Friday--that's our weekly date night. And then it starts all over!  Also--there's always a box of cereal in our pantry and sometimes, the plan for the night gets scrapped. It's real life.

6 weeks of life

I could have alternatively titled this post, I don't know how to catch you up on 6+ weeks of not blogging, so I'm just going to throw it all at you at once!

**************************

My foot has completey healed and I've returned to running. This is really a whole post within itself. Suprise! After 3 months of not running, I'm pretty far physically from where I was immediately post-marathon. I've struggled like never before to get back into running, and the summer heat isn't encouraging my runs.

This summer is a busy season for us. I've got one last class to take that's going on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We've got something booked for every night of the week. These seasons can leave us ragged--so I'm reading through the ebook Jessi and Hayley wrote--Refresh. I'm hoping to have some of my sanity left at the end of the summer.

I started a bookclub. Best decision. It's a smallish group of girls that are quickly becoming my best of best friends. Books + cookies + laughter? Good recipe for success, if you ask me. 

Mumford and sons concert: one of the highlights of my whole summer. It was a perfect June day, just my man and me. I couldn't have asked for a better night.

My baby brother got married. Oh Lordy, help my emotions. He married the most beautiful woman, inside and out. And now she's my sister. Enough, before I start crying again.  

It always seems when I'm busiest I find the ways to make the most lists of what I'd like to do when I have free time. Since this summer is a season like that for us, I'm working on a good list and being intentional about my free time. Instead of trolling twitter and IG. Tell me I'm not the only one. I'd like to post on it later--intentional resting. 

**************************

What's your summer filled with? What's it looked like so far?

back to blogging

 

Normally, when I take a 6 week haitus from blogging, it's because too much is going on. And that couldn't be more true this time.  When I get quiet + vansish, it's all because under the surface everything is bubbling over.  After I posted about how I didn't get into nursing school, life just got tough.  It was a dry, hard spring. Most days felt like "getting by" days. And yet, He was there. In the midst of the hardest time in a long time.

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing" Zep 3:17

But, there's a new morning and we're on the edge of a new, sweet season.

these dreams of mine

I applied to nursing school. Back in December, I packed up all my hopes and dreams and work and mailed them off in an envelope. And we waited. We prayed and we waited.

We pleaded and told God it was what we wanted. This school, this timing was what we wanted.

And I got a letter of denial. This isn't the school, this isn't the time.

I've been quiet about it, even though I got the letter a few weeks ago now. It's been hard. But we're releasing our goals into His hands. Still pleading, still wanting. Planning to try again.  There's 5 more schools that are accepting applications this fall to begin in January of 2014. We're trying again. We're pushing into Him harder, knowing His dreams for us are bigger and shine brighter than the ones we have.

But day to day? It's raw. It hurts. My pride doesn't want to admit I didn't get in. My heart clings more to plans than to God on days. It's showing me how much I put faith in work and in myself. Thinking I can work my way to whereever I want to go.

The dreams are still there.  Though we may feel a bit lost, we're trusting that it's best we don't see the whole plan.

juicing

For a marathon runner, I don't eat as well as I should. We eat well--but I'm known to skip breakfast and enjoy an afternoon cookie.

Until I started to feel a tugging at my heart to change the way we eat. To cut out all the crap. To fill our plates with veggies. And then, just like when you buy a new car and see it EVERYWHERE, I began to see healthy eating everywhere.  Jami Nato blogged though cutting out sugar.  I got a random text from my husband that said "Want to try a fruit and veggie cleanse?" I went home with a massive sugar/caffiene induced migrane and watced two food documentaries back to back that I randomly found on Netflix. If you haven't watched "Hungry for Change" and "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" you need to. They're available to stream. 

So we took the plunge and coughed up the money for a juicer. Found some good recipes online (I'll be sharing my favorites on here) and bought literally 30 pounds of fruit + veggies at Costco.

And now, it's Tuesday afternoon and my breakfast has been a yummy concoction of cucumber + apple + lime juice. It's good. I'm getting food but fighting my brain that wants bread and eggs and coffee. Really, really, fighting the coffee.  I'm also reading though the Youvision app devotional "Made to Crave" because really, this is a big heart issue. And I'm a believer that my heart + soul + body are all connected and all given to Christ. I just skip out a lot of giving my food over to Him. 

It's going to be a tough 5 days. I'm hoping to shed a few pounds and re-start my body. To give it nutrients and a clean slate. To treat it right.