Kid Friendly Meals

Weekly Meal Plan

Meal Plan for the week of March 16-20:

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–Crock Pot BBQ Meatballs (freaking LOVE these!)

–Slow Cooker Corned Beef & Cabbage

–One Pan Lemon Garlic Chicken Pasta (**new recipe for me)

–Tilapia w Garlic Roasted Tomatoes & Corn (already made a few weeks ago, just have to remember to defrost it this time!)

Who else is cooking Corned Beef on Tuesday? How do you like to cook it? I’ve only ever done it in the crock pot and it always turns out delicious! Yummmm!

I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures especially of the new recipe I’m trying out.

Happy Cooking!

P.S. Would you be interested in a shopping list if I added it along with the meal plan? It’s easy to do. Just let me know, I would be happy to include it!

Lasagna Soup? What?!

A few weeks ago, my sister told me that she made Lasagna Soup. I was like, lasagna soup?? What?!? How in the world can lasagna be made into soup?! She went on and on about how much the WHOLE family loved it…even the kids. Well, once she said the kids loved it I knew I had to give it a try.

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Skinnytaste‘s recipes are absolutely, without a doubt, DELICIOUS! So much so, that I even bought her cookbook last year! I should have bought some kind of protector for it to keep it clean from all my cooking though…

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I’m not usually looking to reduce calories so I always find myself making the dishes “un-skinny”. With this one, I used regular sausage and most definitely added more cheese.

The girls didn’t try it because I ended up feeding them before it was done. I had a MNO to go to and I wasn’t feeling up to having them try something new. That takes a whole lot of energy…and time. Both of which I was lacking that night.

Next time, I will have them help me prepare and eat this meal. I just know they will LOVE breaking the lasagna noodles as much as I did. It was a great stress reliever!

Happy Cooking!!

Katie 🙂

The “Perfect” Cake

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Before motherhood, I was a perfectionist and I had that quality perfected. Now that I’m four and a half years into this motherhood gig, I’ve finally determined it’s not worth all the time, effort, stress and craziness that it brings along.

I’m embarrassed to say that this lightbulb just went off this weekend. I mean really went off. I’ve heard it pretty much all my life but it wasn’t until I took my daughters baptism cake out of the refrigerator that it hit me. Actually, it hit the cake. The top shelf of the fridge hit it…when I pulled it out for the party. Eesh! The old me would have been devastated!! But in all sincerity, it really didn’t phase me. That’s when I realized I’ve changed. Maybe I’m so delirious from the lack of sleep these days or maybe I’m finally coming to terms with motherhood and all its twists and turns. Either way, it’s all good…I created happy memories for my girls that day. And in case they happen to forget, I took LOTS of pictures to show them later.

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I’m in the process of storing all of my recipes at Plan To Eat so that I can efficiently meal plan for the entire family (blog post coming soon!). So here’s the link for the buttercream icing:

http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/3238551

Your Charmed Wedding made Elizabeth’s gorgeous headband for me. Head on over to Etsy and check out this wonderful shop!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/YourCharmedWedding

PS…I’m new to all this “linking” of websites so if for some reason it’s not working, just let me know.

Beautiful the mess I am.

Love & Prayers,

Katie

Overnight Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal by Circle B Kitchen

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http://circle-b-kitchen.squarespace.com/food-and-recipes/2013/10/18/overnight-apple-cinnamon-oatmeal.html

As promised, here’s a pic and the link to the Overnight Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal. It was absolutely delicious!! I may or may not have had a few bowls this morning. My oldest described it in one word- “Delicious mom!” Alright, that was two words. And my 2yr old made a squinty face and said, “yucky”. She didn’t even try it! She woke up cranky (2yr molars AND her canines are coming in) so I rejected her opinion. I know she will love it. The kid eats everything!

I ended up doubling the recipe so I have plenty of leftovers for a few days. I’m curious to see how it will reheat in the morning though. I may add a little milk (and maybe even some honey) to it and heat it on the stove. I promise to let you know how it goes.

Let me know if you like them or if you have any tips to share! I would love to read them.

Love & Prayers,

Katie

Malaspine Meatloaf

I never gave meatloaf much thought until I tried my BFFs mother’s recipe. Oh my! Ever since then, this is the only meatloaf I crave and now with the cooler weather coming, it’s the ultimate in comfort food. Serve with some egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Or heck! Serve it with both and enjoy! Let me know if you decide to add it to your meal plan for the week. I would love to know how you liked it!

Katie 🙂

Malaspine Meatloaf

  • Servings: 4
  • Print

Credit: The Malaspine Family

Ingredients:

Meatloaf:

  • 1-1.5lbs ground beef
  • 1-1.5lbs ground pork (not the original Malaspine way, a Roemer addition)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c ketchup
  • 2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
  • 1/2 c breadcrumbs
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper

Glaze:

  • 1/2 c ketchup
  • 2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

  1. In a large mixing bowl, scramble 2 eggs. Add the ketchup, mustard, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Mix well. The mixture should be kind of gooey.
  2. Add the ground beef and the ground pork and mix well.
  3. Place into 13×9 pyrex and evenly distrubute to cover the majority of the dish.
  4. Use a small bowl to prepare the glaze. Add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, and apple cider and mix well.
  5. Pour the glaze over the meatloaf.
  6. Bake at 350degrees for 1hr 45mins to 2hrs or until meat is thoroughly cooked. 10416981_10203362826047530_5676529786616810818_n

Got What I Asked For

I’ve been complaining about my lack of sleep lately. More specifically, my lack of uninterrupted sleep. Well ask and ye shall receive, right?

The girls were in bed by 7 and I’m pretty sure I was asleep by 7:20. Next thing I know it’s 11:30, the tv is blaring and the hubby is snoring. In those four hours I slept like a ROCK! I’m not exactly sure how a rock would sleep but I didn’t move or hear a thing. I woke up feeling so refreshed and full of energy.

Not the best feeling at 11:30pm especially when the littles are super early risers. But hey, I’m not complaining about that tonight!

Instead, I took this opportunity to try a new recipe – Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oats. I’ve never made them but have always wanted to. I’ll post the link (and of course a pic) tomorrow and let you know how they were. Fingers crossed the girls and the hubby love them!

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Beautiful the mess I am.
Love & Prayers,
Katie

Seeking Comfort

I have been doing a lot of cooking this week and its only Wednesday. It seems that when my anxiety is through the roof, I tend to skip my early morning bible study and when I skip my early morning bible study, I cook…alot. I start doubling recipes, stuffing them into a Ziploc and freezing them. While its awesome to be prepared and have a stocked freezer, I’m not focusing on whats really important… God and my family. That all hit me this morning when I was telling a girlfriend about the amazing Shepard’s Pie (my ultimate comfort food!) that I made last night. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Hmm… so here I am searching for comfort, so I make comfort food. When all along I should have searched for comfort from Him.

I was up early this morning and while the whole house slept, I did get about twenty minutes of study time in. Maybe that’s why I was able to see my previous actions so clearly. Maybe that’s what I needed. So I made the comfort food yesterday and found comfort from Him this morning. I do have to admit that my anxiety is at a much more controlled stated. There has been no yelling today and that’s a win for this house!

Did I receive the seed that fell on good soil? Today, I did.

“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23

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Click here for the delicious Shepard’s Pie recipe from Once A Month Meals.

Happy Wednesday

Beautiful the mess I am,

Katie