Vacation Time

We had house guests and are going on vacation until the 5th of July. I'm taking a break from posting!! We have had a lot of pizza, tuna steaks, shish-kabobs, eggs, waffles, and burgers. More to come later!!

Farmer's Market Chicken and Apples Wednesday

The boys and I picked on 1/2 of a $5.50 rotisserie chicken from the farmer's market (yum!!), as well as the boys each had an apple. Dad may have fed them some more snacks (bananas) after I left for the evening. Dad ended up eating at East Side Pies again.

It's nice having pizza across the street!

Sesame Shrimp, Rice, and Edamame Tuesday

I loved this dish. Unfortunately, dad didn't like the rice... not enough flavor I guess. Here is what we made from Allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 dash lemon-pepper seasoning
• 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Hot cooked rice
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a resealable plastic bag, combine the soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, lemon juice, garlic powder and lemon-pepper; add shrimp. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Drain and discard marinade. In a skillet, saute shrimp in remaining sesame oil until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. Serve with rice if desired. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

The boys ate the rice and edamame- but needed extra fruit on the side!

Pesto Pizza with Black Olives and Jalapenos Monday

I'm getting way too lazy. Haven't been shopping in days and days and don't feel like thinking or stocking up before our vacation!!

June 23- June 29 Menu

Monday- Shrimp, Edamame
Tuesday- Bison
Wednesday- Refried Beans
Thursday- Black Bean Burgers
Friday- (Christie and the kids are here- going to 4th Friday event)
Saturday-
Sunday-

Mexican Restaurant Sunday

We decided that we had too much fruit today (lots of pineapple, cantelope, honey dew, grapes, and strawberries) so we went to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Whew. Something about that guacamole and queso that just makes you want to go to sleep!!

That's probably our fill for a bit. The boys shared some chicken nuggets and hand cut fries. Chaz made himself a re-fried bean and cheese taco. The rest of us had some cheesy enchiladas and such.

I need to make a better menu for this next week. I'm tired!

Grilled Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta Friday

We had some East Side Pies Pizza for lunch (pesto sauce and black olives- yum!!).

For dinner, we grilled up some farmer's market shrimp and threw it on a bed of angel hair pasta with garlic powder, olive oil, and parmesan cheese!

Ravioli, Pizza, and Wine Thursday

We had the regular ravioli tonight. The boys ate everything (as well as the adults- we had a 3rd adult guest tonight). Unfortunately, dad had to go out again after dinner for pizza and rum. Hmmmm.. the days of Jimmy Buffet and cheese burgers in paradise. I wish we could live this way every night.

Not very healthy though!!

Black Bean Avocado Burgers, Cucumber Sunomono Salad Wednesday

Hump day!! Yay, it's all down hill from here!!

We had some yummy grilled Morningstar Black Bean burgers with cheese and avocado. Those are soooo good... I think the best vege burgers yet. I also made a Sunomono Cucumber Salad that was very good... it consists of rice vinegar, ginger, sugar, cucumbers and carrots. It was so sweet and spicy! Nice!!

The boys also had some left over pesto tuna pasta from last night along with their burgers. We were afraid to give them the cucumbers... thought they might have burning ginger mouths after.

Honey Mustard Grilled Trout, Salad, and Pasta Tuesday

The boys couldn't wait for the grilled food to be done (like always) and they needed to get to bed before midnight, so I served them up some Orzo with tuna, pesto, and basil as well as some edamame with salt. The boys loved it.


For the grilled trout, we made an awesome honey mustard sauce:

• 1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Then put sliced onions on the grill, topped them with the trout, cooked a bit, then added the sauce, and cooked a bit more. The onions helped the fish not stick to the grill... I'm not sure if it gave the fish any taste or not because our trout had a thick skin.

We served this with a strawberry and avocado romaine salad with spicy French dressing. It was quite a yummy combo! Chaz thought the fish was too spicy. Next time we make it, I may lay off on the cayenne a little... just for the boys. And I'll definitely save half of the sauce for dipping later too... it was that good!!

Tuna Steak and Salsa with salad and potatoes Monday

We're grilling up some tuna steaks with a salsa to go on top- shredded carrots, chopped mango, chives, lime, cumin, and S&P. We'll grill some potatoes and also eat a salad.

The salad turned out awesome!! I added some spicy French dressing, capers, pine nuts, and cracked Ritz Crackers on top. So good with romaine lettuce!! The tuna turned out great too... I'll have to remember that one for sure! It was so easy too!!

June 16- June 22 Menu

Monday- Grilled tuna with salsa, salad, and potatoes (maybe corn on the cob too)
Tuesday- Grilled trout, strawberry and avocado salad
Wednesday- Black Bean Burgers and cucumber salad (and corn on the cob if we didn't eat it Mon)
Thursday- Ravioli
Friday- Mom's night out? Pizza?
Saturday- Pasta of some sort
Sunday- Party food

Angel hair pasta with baby squash, shrimp, onions, garlic, and hotdogs Sunday!!

Thanks to my sister-in-law's party yesterday, we had some lovely shrimp, veges, and hotdogs left over. I boiled some angel hair pasta, sauteed up some garlic, onions and baby squash, and then added the hotdogs for the boys and the shrimp and peppers for us. I topped it with parm cheese and it was quite yummy!!

Shrimp, Steak, Vege Kebabs, Corn, Peaches Saturday

For my sister in law's birthday, she and her boyfriend grilled up some yummy shrimp, steak, vegetable kebabs, some corn on the cob, and then some peaches! We had some Mexican Wedding Chocolate cake (Yum!!) for dessert too.

The boys loved the corn and the special hotdogs made for them!

Bison and Pineapple Kebabs, Mixed Salad Friday

The boys couldn't wait as long as it took to grill the food, so they started with PBJ, banana slices, and green beans.

We had Thunderheart Bison Rib Eye steak kebabs and pineapple (Chaz ate it up!) and also a mixed green salad with avocados, pine nuts, baby squash, and homemade vinaigrette dressing (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, S&P, spicy mustard, and a bit of honey). I had prepared potatoes with olive oil and butter, but we forgot to throw them on the fire!!

Shrimp, Pineapple, and Asparagus Thursday

Dad grilled some shrimp and pineapple on kebabs and then some asparagus too!! It was really yummy! I had purchased a few slices of cheese pizza to tide the boys over, but Chaz ended up eating half of my shrimp and pineapple and Cooper ate at least 15 asparagus spears!

Very good meal for all involved! Sorry, no pics! We couldn't wait to eat it and it didn't sit very long on any of our plates!! There is a piece and a half of cheese pizza in the fridge though!! That's what I like- kids refusing pizza and eating asparagus, shrimp, and pineapple instead!! Woo hoo!!

Tacos and Pizza Wednesday

Okay, so we played hard at the hot farmer's market from 4-6pm, so naturally I bought the boys tacos--- bean, cheese, and potato. Chaz scarfed 1 1/2 of them down. Cooper had an organic mango snow cone.

When we got home, us adults were too tired to prepare anything so we ordered a nacho pizza from East Side Pies... YUM!! It had jalapenos, black bean sauce, cilantro, tomatoes, guacamole, and I'm sure there was some cheese on there too. My favorite of their pizzas!!

Broiled Squash Pasta with Cheese and Salad Tuesday

For lunch, we had two on-the-go lunch boxes ready for both boys. Mine was a Caesar salad turkey sandwich with cheese and a hard boiled egg. This is what the boys' looked like:



For dinner, I cooked up some broiled squash pasta with cheese and made a salad with avocado and vinaigrette dressing. I thought it turned out quite nice (even if dad was really late home from work- he's still not here actually! We'll see if he likes it!!). The boys ate some cauliflower too (and then a lot of it ended up on the floor after a fit of rage).



Oh- and I almost forgot about the banana pudding with real banana slices for dessert! Yum! Chaz gobbled it down!! Cooper didn't like it... he preferred a plain banana.

Grilled Salmon with Curried Peach Sauce Monday

Today for lunch we had mac and cheese (colby jack and parm with butter) and beef/cheddar sausages. The kids LOVED this meal---especially the sausage.

For dinner, we're having grilled salmon with curried peach sauce, grilled asparagus, and Caesar salad. Yummers. You can see it here in preparation:



The sauce calls for these ingredients sauteed for about 10 minutes until the peaches are soft:

• 2 fresh peaches, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• salt and pepper to taste

June 9- June 15 Menu

Dinner Menu:

Monday- Grilled Carmelized Ginger Salmon with asparagus and Caesar salad.
Tuesday- Broiled Zucchini (or squash) Pasta with Cheese, salad with diced avocados, and green beans
Wednesday- Order take out (after playing at the Farmer's Market)
Thursday- Grilled Shrimp with Pineapple and Asparagus
Friday- Bison Ribeye, Edamame, Potatoes
Saturday- BBQ at Erin's
Sunday- Trout with Rice and Edamame

Lunch Menu-

Monday- Mac noodles and Beef/Cheese sausage
Tuesday- Turkey Sandwiches and veges
Wednesday- Left over broiled squash casserole
Thursday- English Muffin Cheese Pizzas
Friday- Tuna and bagels

Shrimp/Beef/Chicken/Tuna Fajitas Sunday

We went to my sister in law's house for a BBQ today. We had one of everything... shrimp, beef, chicken, and mahi mahi fajitas with corn on the cob, cole slaw, deviled eggs, chips and guac, and yummy upside down pineapple cake.

I've been free-loading for so long, I need to start thinking of a menu for next week!!

Fish, Shrimp, and Turkey Sandwich Saturday

Today was an afternoon of just grilling odds and ends. We made a cod fillet, some grilled shrimp, and some turkey and cheese sandwiches on wheat bread for the boys. Nothing spectacular, but perfect weekend nibble foods.

Oh- and we ate a huge bowl of snap peas. Yum!!

We had lunch at a potluck park meet up for our neighborhood. We didn't get the potluck thing, so we didn't bring anything, however, we had some good hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and beans/tortillas!!

Bison Stew Meat Tacos Friday

I forgot to thaw the trout, so we decided to have the stew meat we bought at the farmer's market on Wednesday. I put the meat in the crockpot with some onions and water. We put them in some tortillas and made some tacos!! The boys liked them too!!

We also snacked a ton on honey nut Cheerios!!

Fusilli Pasta, Roasted Chickpeas and Brownies Thursday

Friday is almost here!! We're digging deep into our cabinets and Greenling box today to feed the family!! It turned out to be 5 stars all the way too! Yay! I love when that happens!!

We put some Annie's Goddess salad dressing on some fusilli pasta, added a can of sliced black olives, some sliced tomatoes, salt, topped it with feta cheese and some roasted chickpeas (in olive oil and salt). It was quite yummy. The boys loved the pasta and the olives. Cooper loved the beans. We all loved the brownies we had along side of the meal too!!

Caesar Salad and Fruit Salad Wednesday

Parents loved the Caesar Salad with pine nuts and fruit salad with cottage cheese. Kids loved their farmer's market rotisserie chicken and fruit salad.

Stir Fry Veges and Chow Mein Tuesday

I made a really yummy peanut sauce I found on allrecipes.com and it was really yummy:

Thai-Style Peanut Sauce
INGREDIENTS
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
* 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter (optional)
* 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoon sesame oil
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
* 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
DIRECTIONS
1. Stir together the honey, peanut butters, rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.

Then I sauteed up some veges- onions, bell peppers, zucchini, celery, added some peanut sauce, then threw in some garbanzo beans. I cooked up some Chow Mein noodles and then added some peanut sauce to them. Chaz loved the Chow Mein with peanut sauce, Cooper slept through dinner, I wasn't too keen on the vege side, but loved the chow mein, and I have no idea if dad was happy or not.

I think next time I'll just make the noodles and peanut sauce. Then maybe do some sort of vege on the side. I did love those noodles though!!

I took this pic off of allrecipes.com- it was posted by MrsSpice. Yum.

Eat Out Monday

Okay, so we ditched the Ravioli and decided to eat out. I brought Cooper with me to my La Mad's meeting, he ate huge strawberries and I had a vege sandwich and salad. Dad and Chaz had East Side Pies Pizza.

June 2- June 9 Menu

Dinner Menu:

Monday- Ravioli (yes, I know again, but I have a meeting and it's easy)
Tuesday- Stir Fry Veges (squash, bell peppers, cauliflower, etc), Chickpeas and Chow Mein Noodles
Wednesday- Caesar Salad and Fruit Salad
Thursday- Fusili Pasta with olives, feta, and chickpeas
Friday- Grilled Trout and Black Eyed Pea Salad with Corn
Saturday- NEED TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING BEFORE SAT.
Sunday-NEED TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING

Lunch Menu:

Monday- PBJ with bananas
Tuesday- Tuna and Crackers
Wednesday- Pasta of some sort
Thursday- Baked Beans and Tortillas
Friday- Carrots and Peanut Butter and Honey

Bison Burgers and Corn Sunday

Dad made some really yummy bison burgers from Thunderheart Bison (farmer's market) with cilantro, onions, and cheddar cheese- YUM! We put tomatoes and fresh onions on top. We also had some roasted corn on the cob. The boys loved the meal, but couldn't keep their eyes open long enough to eat it all!! We'll be having left overs for lunch tomorrow!

Shrimp Scampi Saturday

YUM!!!

For the parents- grilled shrimp scampi on linguine with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, and red pepper flakes. We LOVE this recipe!! The grilling and marinating of the shrimp is really what does it!!



For the kids- Linguine with garlic and olive oil, topped with last night's carrots and cauliflower in chicken broth. Chaz had seconds. From the picture, you can see they like eating "worms"!!