Sunday - Chicken Parmesan with pasta and sauteed zucchini
Monday - Pizza ($8.25 for a plain cheese pie)
Tuesday - Sausage and peppers - Joy of Cooking version
I decided to make a dessert and I wanted chocolate, but kicked up a bit. So I found a recipe for this...
Wednesday - Leftovers as I get home after 8pm and Joe's at work
Thursday - Potato and Bacon Torte with Cafe Green Salad and applesauce granita
Friday - Chicken over tossed salad with choice of dressing
Saturday - To be determined

I was actually given a hint by a friend that she missed this blog so I am starting it up again. Although by her emails she is well on her way to out doing my attempts and could do her own blog. She even makes home made bread regularly, lol. Instead of overthinking it today I just sat down and said lets get this done!

If you watch the the Food Network a couple of things may look familiar up there. I enjoy watching the Next Food Network Star and the competition just ended with Melissa, a SAHM with no formal training, was the winner. Her new show is called Ten Dollar Dinners and I'm all for that. Thursday's meal is the menu featured on today's episode, lol. The Chicken Parmesan is also partly from her. On the last episode she shows how she does a 4 step chicken that can have endless options. One of the steps is to dredge the chicken in flour using a ziploc bag. Now this is nothing earth shaking or new, but I just hadn't really done it before. I did this with some chicken breasts the other night and they came out wonderful! I made a pan sauce with evaporated milk, butter , salt and pepper. It needs something else but was tasty none the less. I'll have to experiment more with the base recipe in the future, lol.

yep.. once again I've been slacking. However I have a good reason with explanation that does NOT involve major injuries to my husband or holiday stress, lol.

Like so many in this country I battle a weight problem. I will not divulge my starting weight for some time. My eyes seeing it was tough enough as well.

I have 3 good friends that have either started or restarted Weight Watchers over the last several months, all with great results. Due to cost I never really explored WW all that much and relied on my own self control to devise a 'quick' plan to get the weight off. As you can probably figure out, that was met with dismal failure, lol.

My favorite program so far has been Take Shape For Life, with which I dropped nearly 40lbs in 3 months!! I did not however have the strength of mind to keep on it with Joe's collapsed lung last summer and I got off track. I did go back and forth to it and while I put the weight on again, it was not the fault of the program. Being that I live with 2 toddlers (one aged 2, the other aged 34) who are picky eaters, I've tended to make foods most appealing to them. Well the 34 year old (sorry dear!) quit smoking when he was in the hospital for a broken hip. Now he's adding weight as well and it's time for me to start planning healthier meals. about 1.5 weeks ago I decided to start WW online. It was a less expensive option and a better way for me to start. I am happy to say that I am very pleased with the program and I do a combination of WW and Take Shape For Life which works very nicely for me. As of this morning I have lost 8.7lbs! This is including the dinner we had at a chinese buffet place on Monday night. With all the unhealthy choices and salt I managed to put on 2lbs with that dinner alone, lol.

What this means for this blog is a few things:

1. Planning meals that are healthier and fit into a daily points range better
2. Allowing for the occasional splurge (be it ice cream sundae's or a buffet dinner)
3. Tracking my weight loss
4. Finally reaching a goal weight that I like so that I actually will get in a pic with my son, lol

I hope you enjoy the new direction, and if you have any favorite recipes or ideas please pass them on!

Sunday - Ponsette (stuffed veal breast) w/ homemade french bread and cucumber salad
Monday - Leftovers of roast sticky chicken and stuffed veal - whichever anyone wants
Tuesday - grilled chicken breast over salad
Wednesday - frozen chicken parm - Joe's specialty of course
Thursday - Chicken taco's
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Sloppy Joe's

I also wanted to add a link for a new favorite drink. Several weeks ago I tried, and loved, the sweet tea at Mc.D's of all places. I'd heard of sweet tea before but couldn't figure out how to make so that it tasted right. I finally thought to look for a recipe and found the missing ingredient! I now make this at home and am probably drinking more then I should.. but oh well. Oh and I also plan to try this with green tea. A popular higher end bread/sandwich shop makes a yummy iced green tea and I think its the same principle behind it.

Sweet tea

What a crazy few months! In January I was all set to get started again and then my husband broke his hip! Lucky for him he's young (34) and has made nearly a full recovery. Really amazing since he spent the first 16 days in 2 different hospitals. Today is a cozy, soft, gray day and I've been looking at recipes. Time to get back into my meal planning!

Sunday - Mexican Baked Fish - I'm using Tilapia
Monday - BBQ Beef Casserole ------> this was changed to beef stroganoff over mashed potatoes
Tuesday - Ham and cheese or grilled cheese sandwhiches - easy dinner night
Wednesday - Frozen chicken parmigiana - Joe thinks this is high cuisine..sigh
Thursday- Italian sausage casserole
Friday - Pizza night
Saturday - Crockpot Roast Sticky Chicken - this was soooo good! The house smelled incredible while it baked and I couldn't wait for it to finish. I am definitely making this again! I also made a pan gravy that was equally delicious, although a bit spicy from the cayenne pepper. I may experiment the next time and omit the cayenne as Joe can't eat spicy food

Wow - just about a month without a new menu. Sorry about that folks.. my only excuse is that the holidays got me distracted. Without further ado... and because I'm desperately wanting my pillow and a good nights sleep.... here's this weeks:

Sunday- Kate's mac and cheese
Monday- Chicken parmigan - homemade with some 'oven fried' chicken breasts
Tuesday- homemade waffles - just JP and I and we like to take it easy on tuesdays
Wednesday- soft chicken taco's
Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs
Friday - 'eggplant 'steaks' - trying for one solid vegetarian meal a week now
Saturday - moo shu pork

Sorry folks, life has been a touch more hectic then usual of late and I've not been able to keep up with my planning. I'll be starting again this coming week so check back for next weeks menu.

Thanks!!

I had a head start this week as one of my SIL's had their new baby girl 6 weeks early. I wanted to make a few nights worth of meals to help her as this was quite unexpected. Thankfully mom and baby are doing just fine. What I did last night was to make doubles of 5 meals. This gave me 5 for her and her family and 5 for us.

Sunday - Beef stroganoff over noodles
Monday - Moo shu beef with rice
Tuesday - Homemade chicken noodle soup
Wednesday - chicken enchiladas
Thursday - beef stew
Friday - take out
Saturday - spaghetti and meatballs