This week will have a 'loose' meal plan. DH wants to go to his parents or have them come up to support them. Yesterday they went out in the morning and when they came back Mia, their miniature pincher, was lying on the porch. She had passed away during the short time they were out.

In addition to that, my mom has been at the bedside in ICU of her longtime companion. John has been in a nursing home for several months, and took a terrible turn for the worse the other night. His passing is inevitable, and its just a waiting game right now. Although she's stayed in the relationship more from duty (love passed a long time ago) she will of course still grieve and I need to be there for her. I am so grateful that our move occurred when it did as I am able to care for her dog and cats with ease and its one responsibility off her shoulders. While I was in driving distance before, a 6 minute drive makes it much easier then a 30min drive.

With all that said - here's this weeks dinner menu plan:

Sunday - Chicken and dumplings - one of our cool weather favorites!
Monday - moo shu pork
Tuesday - simple fried chicken
Wednesday - Soup and sandwiches, nothing fancy
Thursday - grilled steak, baked potatoes, mixed veggies  - recipe is for pork, but I'm using it for beef
Friday - dinner out somewhere per Joe's request
Saturday - BBQ with the new neighbors at our place, I think I'll do just hot dogs and these burgers, one neighbor is bringing pasta salad, not sure about the others.. we'll make do with whatever shows up, lol.. and worse comes to worse.. the grocery store is 2 min away, lol. May also make my favorite mac and cheese recipe for the kids as there will be 5 or 6 ( possibly 8 or 9) here as well, lol.

Joe is going in for surgery again on Wednesday. Not as major as the last time, just to have a compression screw removed that was holding the bones together while he healed. It usually wouldn't come out but it bothers him a lot and he says its like sitting on his keys all day. He thinks he can manage to get the crock pot from the fridge to the counter so that dinner can be cooked when I get home. Wednesday I'll be handling it, Thursday I'm home and hopefully by friday he'll be good to go. Hmmm I may take the crock pot to work with me on Wednesday and let it cook there so it doesn't overcook.


Sunday -  Crock Pot Fried Rice
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday -  London broil with herbed butter
Wednesday - Chinese take out - Joe made an excellent point that we will be out till late with my work sched, and then to pick him up from his parents house after the surgery. If all goes well I'll pick up something before I pick up Joe. Knowing how well he did with the anesthesia the last time, he may not even want to eat more then soup.
Thursday - Slow cooker lasagna & tuscan panzella salad

how about some yummy pics?








I'm also trying something new this week. While on my favorite crock pot blog (www.crockpot365.blogspot.com) I saw a brief mention on bento boxes. If you've never heard of these, they are a Japanese lunch box.  I was directed thru another site to one of the many bento box stores on the web and was enjoying window shopping. In the back of my mind was my boss and a recent business trip she took to Japan. Now my boss is tiny.. 5 feet  and maybe 3 inches tall? and a size 0 I believe. She commented that she felt like a huge giant in Japan. Looking at these little boxes in the store and having that comment rattle in my brain made me think of something. Portion control! In the somewhat typical american eyes I looked at the bento box sets and thought 'but I'll never be full'. Hmmmmm.. Yes i would be full if I do it right. I'm going to try a week of bento box style lunches. Even if I make my heavier main meals, the bento box portions will be controlled. Now of course I enjoy shopping. And of course I want to get a traditional bento box set to start off with. However I also want my new crock pot and what if I don't like the lunches like this? I then figured I'd go to Target and get some small containers to create my own bento box. I have a great insulated lunch tote that will work perfectly.  Lock and Lock containers are wonderful. Again though my frugal, budget conscious  side said wait a minute. I have a good container for an entire meal. The only challenges are that it won't keep sauces from spilling to other  sections if it tips... and well... its a lunch thing for JP and has cartoon animals on the top, lol. It will be perfect to start with. If I like this way of lunches then I'll invest in different containers. The more I thought about this, the more it makes sense for me. I'm going back to at least 80% raw foods (nuts, seeds, grains, fruits and veggies) and cut up fruits and veggies with a dip will work great, slice vegetables thin and put over rice, add some nuts in the tiny containers, etc etc etc. (Keep on the lookout for my newest blog on a raw food lifestyle). I love variety in my meals and sometimes eat too much in order to get that.

Some recipes to try in the future:
Lemon and Herb Crock Pot Roasted Chicken
Steak and Blue Cheese Roll Ups - Joe will hate this... I will love this, lol
crock pot yogurt