Meal Plans (and then something even better)

10 more days of meal plans:

10/1 - Breakfast for dinner: pancakes, bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs
10/2 - crock-pot chili (not completely decided on the recipe yet, but probably one similar to this) with grilled cheese sandwiches
10/3 - tortellini pasta with spinach, chicken, and alfredo sauce
10/4 - leftovers
10/5 - pepperoni pizza or calzone with french fries and lettuce salad
10/6 - kebabs on the grill
10/7 - snacks (this is the night we get together with folks from church)
10/8 - crock-pot pork roast with oven-roasted vegetables and lettuce salad
10/9 - Mexican enchiladas (tweaking this recipe)
10/10 - sausage and wild rice casserole

One tiny thing I've added in is a "leftovers" night.  If I'm making casseroles and soups that serve 6-8, there's always plenty for at least an extra dinner.

Since a lot of my recipes tend to have the same kind of ingredients in them, I try to save myself some time by prepping large quantities at once so I can pull them out of the fridge later.  For example, this week I will cook up a pound of dry beans to use in chili and then in the enchiladas (also, the kiddo loves beans for snacks).  I'll make a couple loaves of bread (in the bread machine, of course) for grilled cheese and breakfast toast, and when I chop up veggies for kebabs I'll chop a little extra to roast a couple of days later.

Both the chili (on 10/2) and the casserole (on 10/10) have sausage, so I may try to prepare the casserole a few days early and stick it in the freezer.

And now, for something even better than a ten-day meal plan: this sweet girl!  She's 21 months old today, and is into hairbows (she calls them "he-bows"), books ("Mommy read" and "Daddy read" rarely gets a "no" around here), and playing games involving giggles.  She's practicing the stink-eye when she doesn't get her way (which makes standing firm on discipline rather difficult) and loves giving the dog his treat after a walk.  What a fun kid!

We can't get enough of this face.