Menu Plan Monday

Every Monday over at Organizing Junkie menus are posted for the week. Go check it out (www.orgjunkie.com)! I've gotten some great recipes from this group!!! But, I've never done my own menu plan, until yesterday, that is!
*

We've been a bit disorganized around here with menu planning, so yesterday I sat down with DH, clipboard in hand and came up with a menu plan for the week. The grocery shopping list for items needed was written at the same time, with Little Boy adding apple juice, pizza and watermelon - and then he got really silly so that was the end of that. But at least he did help contribute and he knows ALL about not buying anything at the store unless it is on the list.

*

Having a pre-schooler to feed can be tricky! I am lucky because mine loves fruits and veggies and just about any starch. Meat? Not so much. BUT - he will eat pork/chicken as long as it is cooked as weinerschnitzel. As a matter of fact - it is the entire weinerschnitzel thing that got me to thinking we really need to have a menu plan. This past week - it was his most asked for item for... breakfast. And dinner. And supper. And he likes to dip it into horseradish cream sauce - his Omi just sent him some more from Austria. Getting him to try new foods can be accomplished by combining the new item on his plate with lots of things I know for sure that he does like.

*

Seeing that this is our first week doing a menu plan, I kept it very simple. Pasta on Wednesday, fish on Friday, 1 night of weinerschnitzel, 1 night of stew (this week it will be chili) and 1 night of pizza. Since my son eats a bit differently than we do, I tried to incorporate what we are eating into his meal, but made his "kid" friendly. The object here is to get him to eat a variety of foods, not eat like an adult! OK - so that does not leave that many more spots and this is what we all came up with, together, as a family, keeping in mind that we have some ground meat in the freezer to use!
*

MONDAY

Chili - http://starfishyskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-chili.html
Rice
Cornbread http://starfishyskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/sweet-corn-bread.html
Green salad
Grapes

My son will have
Hot dog
Mashed Potato
Carrots
Grapes

TUESDAY
Weinerschnitzel
Pan-fried potatoes
Carrots & cauliflower
Whole cranberry sauce
Watermelon

My son will have the same thing

WEDNESDAY
Speghetti with meat sauce
Garlic bread
Green salad

My son will have
Plain speghetti with milk/butter
Meatballs on the side
Hot buttered bread
Watermelon

THURSDAY
Beef stir-fry over rice
Pineapple
Coleslaw

My son is having
Ham Steak
Pineapple
Rice
Brocolli

FRIDAY
Baked fish in paper
Couscous
Green Salad
Cantelope

My son is having
Baked breaded fish filet
Couscous
Peas & Corn
Cantelope

SATURDAY
Meatloaf (DH's request)
Mashed potatos
Carrots
Green bean casserole

My son is having
Lentil burger
French fries
Carrots
Watermelon

SUNDAY
Pizza
BIG green salad

My son likes pizza too! Plus cantelope.
*

We tend to eat very early so at about 6:30 or 7 pm my son likes to have toasted rye bread with peanut butter and fruit for a snack or milk.
*
As I go along, if I make something I will try to pay attention to how I make it - so I can post the directions! Directions will be posted on my cooking blog - Starfishy's Kitchen, which is on my links in the sidebar. Also, I will be making extra chili, meatballs, lentil burgers and meatloaf for the freezer. I am hoping to get some foods pre-made and frozen for later. Yesterday we had frozen shepherd's pie I had made awhile ago and it was really nice not to have to prep an entire meal - just had to make the mashed potato! As a matter of fact - if there is any left-over ground meat I will make up another batch of Shepherd's pie mix for the freezer.
*

Now, the plan is posted on the fridge, and I don't care what - that is what we are eating this week! And it is already working!!! This morning Little Boy KNEW that he was having grapes tonight with his dinner. Yes, oh yes!!! No more discussions. Just look at the chart and there it is - all spelled out. What do you all want to bet that he is going to be even more interested in the menu planning/grocery list next week?

Valentine's aprons!

What to do with this Betty Boop fabric? I bought it with a quilt idea in mind - but it wasn't going to work. Nope, no way. But I knew that if I didn't find a use for this fabric - it would sit on my shelf, and sit and sit.

*

I wanted these aprons done for Valentine's day dinner so last time I was away shopping I picked up the fusable interfacing. The bistro apron is fused on one side with lightweight fusable interfacing - the back is ALSO Betty Boop fabric. The bib apron - I only used the fusable interfacing to "glue" the heart down. NOT thrilled with the fit of the bib apron (Simplicity 3949), but for a holiday event, it was fine - and maybe it will fit one of my sisters better. The bistro apron is my own "design" if you can call it that - I just cut a big rectangle, fused 1 of them, layered them together and put binding all around. Extra long binding ties across the front.

*

A quick and easy way to do machine applique - I cut fusable interfacing 1/4" smaller than the piece to be appliqued. Put the heart wrong side up, put the fusable interfacing - sticky side UP. Very carefully iron the edges of the heart onto the sticky part of the interfacing. Now - position heart on bib and FUSE in to place. Blanket stitch around the heart. No raw edges. No pinning. No slipping. Crisp edge. I LOVE this technique! Here's a close up of the heart - the green is actually a very bright, shocking green.

Not much of that green fabric left - I really like how it POPS right out at you so will probably cut the tiny bit left into little squares - to be used here and there. And, I used up almost ALL of that Betty fabric - although there is enough to make some more hearts - next apron will probably be a carpenter's style apron with a heart fused on, but I have a whole 'nuther year before Valentine's Day rolls around again.

*

Which might be a good thing, considering we had a blow up in the kitchen this year and things were very hectic to say the least. A word of warning - never, ever, ever put a glass pyrex dish on the stove - this is what happened (nope, not me)- and the thing exploded with a huge BANG and sent glass pieces everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Blessings though - no one was in the kitchen, phew, because if you could have seen the glass - if someone was in the kitchen they would have been hurt for sure! Alot of the do-ahead prep work had to be thrown out, yikes! But in the end everything was fine, no one got hurt and everyone said their dinner was very good. So, still a success. Although I must admit - Friday was a bit of a bust because I was super tired.

*

My Sunday Stash-busting report is Betty Boop. And yesterday I spent 1/2 an hour at the machine chain piecing HST's. That's it! But, it was fun - a great use of that fabric!

Indoor doings

First things first today - I needed a 30 minute sewing fix. My sewing machine went onto the spare table for a bit and Little Boy was happy to color on my rolling "typing" table -it is an old table for a typewritter and it is a perfect "spare" table because it is short enough to store under my regular table - makes a good art area for him when needed. My sewing machine might just live in this room for the rest of the winter - trying to heat as few rooms as possible. Last month our electric bill was $674!!! Electric heat, blah. And it isn't like we have a McMansion to heat either. Our bedroom - usually we turn the heat on 1 hour before bed to high and then turn it off when we go to bed - usually at 4 am I am cold so get up and turn it back on. Even though Austria is probably colder, our apartment there is warmer - surrounded by other apartments, on the 5th floor and facing - south - we opened our windows on a sunny day! Anyway - I am trying to consolidate our activities so we can close the doors to some rooms. So maybe this entire office re-organization is very timely! The good thing about my office is that it is upstairs so the floors are warm! Just ignore all the piles - I am still sorting!!!

*

Today I finished putting together a filing cabinet that I started this summer, except this summer I wasn't feeling well and just ran out of energy 1/2 way through the project. Here's a photo from after I got some segments together - still lots of pieces to go! Well, it was nice to have it 1/2 done when I started because it took long enough as it was! It is going to be put to immediate use. I won't have to put last years files up in the attic - they will go in the bottom drawer of the new cabinet. All my "personal" files can go in the top drawer. And my other filing cabinet will be my working files. It will be nice to have everything organized like this because sometimes I need something that is up overhead and hard to access. AND - it is important to have a seperate drawer for your own personal files when your office is in your home. But let me tell you - this took a bit of time to accomplish - even with the help of my "helper"! If you "set" the nails for him he is very handy at hammering them down! Here is the finished cabinet - fits perfectly in the closet! I USED to have a bookcase here, but that has been moved into my son's room as he likes to have his own area for his books.

*

Our week is a bit off - Little Boy had that huge fever on Wednesday... and that meant we did not get to the library Wednesday night - we went yesterday instead (they are closed on Sat. and Sun. and Thursday wasn't an option because of work). I got 2 books about scrapbooking that I am looking forward to looking through. I was anxious to get to the library yesterday because the weather forcast was c-c-cold and true to their word - it is hardly a tropical day out there... I hope to have everything sorted/organized come spring because when warm weather hits - I will be outside again! I have said before that I would like to get my photos a bit more organized this year. This week I managed to crop and frame 2 photos of one of my niece's - from oh about 25 years ago - and mailed it off to her Mom (one of my sister's). Not a HUGE dent by any means, but certainly having them framed - those photos will be enjoyed much more than stuck in one of my boxes. I even walked down to the post office in the freezing cold - sometimes you just need a bit of fresh air - oh, and I went by myself so I got to walk extra fast - which kept me warm so it wasn't that bad.

*

Thank you for all your well wishes for my son - he was fully recovered by the next morning. As a matter of fact, by 9 am he was at pre-school - although the teachers were told that he had a high fever the day before and to call right away and he would be picked up and he got sick again. But honestly, he was perfectly fine and I thought it best for him to go seeing that he was bouncing off the couch like a yo-yo at 8:30. And - he had been looking forward to the Valentine's Day party. They played musical chairs, had treats, glued hearts onto brown paperbags for art - for the cards - and came home with a bag of Valentines. No outdoor play time because the playground is sheer ice. What more can you do in 2 1/2 hours? Maybe they did more stuff, but sometimes I don't get the full story from that boy! There are 23 kids in his class (3 teachers) and he was the ONLY one who made his own cards. Hummm. Not that I am bragging or anything - Martha Stewart I am NOT, but he had a very good time making those cards and delighted in giving them out (1 went to the library). And the cards he did get - they are TINY - the companies probably get 8 or more cards to a 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper. Just curious if anyone else makes their own cards anymore???

*
*A SCARY moment -

As I've mentioned before - my son loves to play hide-and-go-seek. What child does not? His very favorite hiding spot is big boxes - and look at the BIG one we got this week. Since this photo it has been poked full of holes and turned into a "spy" box. Next trip to the dump - it will be out of here... but it has been fun. But poor me - I had a big scare this week over hide-and-go-seek. While I had my eyes closed and was counting - he went behind the couch and I heard this rustling around - so I investigated - he was trying to get into a big, black plastic garbage bag that he got out of the kitchen. I thought I would just about faint and then got to crying because it just hit me all of a sudden - all the very careful parents who lose their precious children to awful accidents. What if he had been playing with other kids instead of me? I explained all about breathing and air and everything and hence the holes all in the box - "so you won't cry when I hide in there Momma". So not like me to cry over something like this, but I think I was just in shock a bit. I remember when we were growing up my Mom would tell us not to hide in the fridge because it was one of those old fashioned ones where you pulled the handle to open it - you could get trapped in there! They don't make them anymore - probably for that very same reason - but they sure do make garbage bags. And just this summer I read about kids who hide in the car trunk and died. After I read that I started to keep the truck doors locked all the time in my own yard - just in case he decided to wonder out there to get something out of the truck and got stuck in it - without me knowing. It happens. My box of garbage bags have been moved to the very TOP shelf. Out of reach. So - just thought I would share in case any of you have little ones underfoot - move those garbage bags UP. I never thought I would turn into a worry wart, but it has happened. Amazingly enough, I escaped some interesting feats when I was a kid myself - one being jumping off the roof with an umbrella - with my nephew - thinking we could fly like Mary Poppins!

*

In my "free" time I have been studying this book... playing around with PowerPoint. It is very good, lots of pictures and easy to follow. ISBN # 13:978-1-59863-378-8 if anyone is interested. Oh - and I've been playing around with my blog format a bit! Hopefully in the next day or two I will figure out how to get Judy's weblink back in place - she e-mailed members a new code not that long ago, but for today - I am out of time!