This is a very big week for me: Next Sunday is my 27th birthday! With that in mind, I'm continuing my tradition of making my own birthday cake (I know, I know, but my husband doesn't have time to make me one and homemade is so much better than store-bought), but I have no idea what kind I want this year. Would you guys please leave me your favorite cake recipes in the comments? I am seriously feeling uninspired, and I want to celebrate my birthday in style! Okay, on to the meal plan. I'm making an effort to be much more budget-conscious this week (and every week from now on) due to the fact that I go back to work at the beginning of April and we'll be doubling our weekly daycare costs. I can't promise you won't see Hamburger Helper and Pasta-Roni pop up on my menus once in a while. I'm going to try not to let that bother me.
You may have noticed that I've been using my slow cooker every Saturday. Due to my husband's work schedule, I have to solo parent the boys every Saturday, and the last thing I want to do at the end of such an exhausting day every week is make dinner. (And yes, I know that stay-at-home-moms do this very thing, all day every day, and to them I say: YOU ARE AMAZING.) It's much easier to prepare a slow cooker meal in the morning when my husband gets home from work, and then dinner is done by the time evening rolls around. I want to build my repertoire of slow cooker recipes, too, because I have a feeling I'll be using it a lot more than once a week when I go back to work.
And look: no red meat this week! I'm anxious to see if Joe notices. If he doesn't, I might try to do this more often.
Monday: BLT salad with buttermilk dressing (I'll probably add chicken to make this more dinner-y)
Tuesday: Cauliflower pie with potato crust, salad
Wednesday: Cheesy chicken lasagna, salad
Thursday: White chicken enchiladas
Friday: Sesame-ginger chicken, bean sprouts, steamed Asian vegetables
Saturday: Slow cooker macaroni and cheese, broccoli
Sunday: It's my birthday! Joe and I are having dinner out and seeing a movie to celebrate -- probably Alice in Wonderland, which looks amazing!
4 comments:
Doubling the cost of daycare= OUCH!! I absolutely understand the need to make meals more budget friendly. I'm trying to do that too, though I'm not always that successful. I've gotten away from using my crockpot, but I need to get it out!! Such a great sanity saver after a long day with the kids.
That doubling day care costs is the part I'm least looking forward to about having a second.
You have to promise to post the macaroni and cheese recipe if turns out. I tried the one from the A Year of Crockpotting website and while it tasted delicious, the texture was kind of icky and I'm anxious to find a good slowcooker macaroni recipe.
Great looking menu, Cassie! I love to use crockpot recipes for easy meals, too. I have a method for shredded taco meat that I use a lot, and it is so easy and so tasty. And we always end up with a ton of leftovers (we make quesadillas or salads or burritos or even omelettes with the leftover meat)!
Recipe: I use beef brisket or a roast (or even use pork tenderloin or a pork roast) or chicken breasts, season with fajita or southwest blend seasoning, toss in chopped garlic and chopped onion and top with a can of rotel and about a half can of water (about halfway to 3/4 covering the meat) and cook. I usually pour some of the cooking liquid over the top of the meat as it cooks to keep it moist. Then just shred the meat when it is ready and serve with taco fixings. So easy and so delicious!!
I love your blog! -like look at it everyday kinda love!
I am a stay at home mom and you have totally inspired me to plan out my meals which makes things so much easier!! I wanted to share my favorite cake recipe- CHOCOLATE MALT CAKE! My mom makes it every year for my dad's birthday so I have grown up eating it every year. I would love it more than once a year but we keep it like that so it's extra special when you eat it! I will email you the recipe. You won't be disappointed!
Thanks for having such an awesome blog!!
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