Banana Recipes

Surfing Pinterest for some inspiration for my son's Sock Monkey themed 1st Birthday, I came across all these banana recipes.  I'm thinking I'm going to use some of these to do an all banana desert table.

Click on the link to see the recipes from some UBER talented people!

This baby is my favorite!  This is a MUST do.  Instead of a pie I'm going to do these mini parfait style.  I think the layers are going to look fabulous in clear cups.

Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache and Salted Caramel Sauce

Banana Cookies

Banana Truffles

Banana Split Cupcakes

Banana Split Minis

Meal Planning Made EASY

Meal planning is something I have never been particularly good with.  I plan it out, it doesn't stick.

A few weeks ago I read an awesome series on meal planning from Stephanie @ Somewhat Simple.

She goes through in a five part series how she manages her weekly meal schedule.  THIS is the first part.

VERY inspirational, VERY motivating, and EXTREMELY helpful.

I have taken in her advice and am currently working on separating my recipes into two notebooks just as she does.

I have also made categories for our days to make it easier to plan.  Here are my days and this weeks meals!

Self explanatory, vegetarian or vegan meals.

This week...Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili.

We eat a lot of "italian" dishes.  So tuesdays will be for pastas and Italian dishes.

On the menu for Tuesday... Whole wheat Linguini with Spicy Chicken Meatballs.

New recipe for the week...One Dish Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Thursday's meals will be things that can be quickly done in the evening, or things that can be set in the crock pot in the morning.  I will also add a few freezer meals here and there.

This Thursday...All Day Stew.

This week our Thursday and Friday are going to get down right chilly {I'm soooo excited} so I'm going to make my personal favorite...Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

Summer Recipe

Heat wave is making our garden a little scarce, but with the help of friends and the Saturday farmer's market, I was able to make this yummy-ness for dinner.

It was super easy to do.  I sliced peppers, eggplant, white eggplant, yellow squash and baked them until they were soft.  I added a can of stewed tomatoes (ours aren't fairing well) and coated it all in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  After another dip in the oven, I served it over a bed of whole wheat spaghetti.  Lotte LOVED it!

We are going through that weird "cheese" face phase.

Freezer Meal Adventures

I've been researching freezer meals a little bit lately.  Recently I got a bee in my bonnet and jumped into some breakfast and lunch meals.

My favorite were the pancakes!  I make a GIANT batch of pancakes and added all kinds of stuff!  I like to make the really thick pancakes and the add-ins were so yummy I didn't even need syrup.  They were more like pancake-muffins...panffins or muffcakes.

My favorite! Apple pie!  Diced apples and pie spices Cinnamon, All Spice & Nutmeg. 

Fresh Blueberries

Chocolate Chip--I told you they were thick!

Some plain minis for Lotte's breakfasts.

I made half a dozen breakfast burritos {no pics sorry}.  I browned sausage, scrambled eggs and put those along with a hand full of cheese on a tortilla folded up and wrapped in aluminum foil.  Mr. Man really loved taking these to work this week.

I cut up all kinds of peppers and onions to freeze in a large bag.  This way I can just dump them in a pan when I make stirfry or need them for steaming.

Mr. Man really helped out with the lunches.  We cooked some brown rice, added veggies, cooked chicken cut in strips and added teriyaki sauce.  We put these in freezer bags.  So for a healthy CHEAP {about $.80} lunch just open the bag a little bit and microwave!

Freezer Meals

I really am excited for Lotte's birthday party, but I'll be ready for it to be over.  But not really because that means my little girl will be 2!!!! I am currently pushing back tears to get on to the post.

One of my first home projects post-party is taking care of my freezer and doing better meal planning.  Basically, I'm going to ORGANIZE my kitchen head to toe or cabinets to appliances.

The Man has had a hankering for a deep freeze.  Finally we found one the size we were looking for {smallish} and it was only $25!!!!  So now I want to take some time to fill it up for the busy nights when I don't want to "cook" something.  I have found several links to freezer tips and tricks and organizing.  I wanted to share them with you in case you have a hankering for a beautifully organized and yummy freezer.

Natalie from A Turtle's Life got it started when I found her AMAZING post.  So comprehensive.  If you didn't read it earlier in the week when I posted it, DO.IT.NOW.

Look at how beautiful this storage is...and the beautiful soups...GASP!

Tons of freezer recipes from Joelen at "What's Cookin' Chicago"

Tips for what freezes well at Annies Eats

A good overview of freezing "for dummies" from Or So She Says

I would also really love to find a group of girls from around these parts who would like to do a meal exchange once a week or even once a month.  It's sooo easy.  Make one meal several times and then exchange them and you have several different meals!

The best non-pasta-y pasta!

So I have been crafting up a storm around here now that brother is sleeping a little better throughout the day.  But I haven't taken the time to post everything!  Shame shame.

Today I wanted to share my favorite pasta recipe.  We eat this every time there is a day on my menu that I can't find something that sounds good enough to fill it.  It's my favorite, and it is super easy to make!

I guess you would technically call it a pasta toss.

You will need...
Spaghetti noodles
Polish sausage
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
Sliced olives
Artichoke hearts
Parmesan cheese
Italian bread crumbs

While you cook the noodles, brown the sausage.

Add the can of tomatoes, the artichoke hearts and the olives to the cooked sausage.

Mix in the noodles (tongs work best).  Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Use more than you think you will need.  I like for everything to be covered in crumbley goodness.

Super easy, super delicious!

I didn't do a post on sunday because I was too busy playing outside with the sweetest little outdoorsy girl in the world!

But here is my serious list for the week.
And don't even ask how last weeks list went...the plague took too much time to recover from to get all that goodness done.

-Food for the Family-

Pasta toss

Steaks

Pork tenderloin

Chicken Parmesan

Left-over night

-Cleaning outside the Norm-

Seriously I MUST do my closet!!!!

-Mommy Magic-

Work on some posts of recent projects

Finish wreath for window project

Finish birthday collages

Do dining room center piece

-Long Term-

Blog calendar

Girl's birthday ideas

Boy's dedication party plans

I'm looking forward to a bunch of awesome posts in the coming weeks!  There is too much I want to do and not enough time to do it all in!

Parenthood FAIL, Desert NON-FAIL!

I feel like a failure today.  I KNOW it is just hormones and I'm not really a failure, but if you are a mom you know that there are just days when you feel like nothing goes right.  Heck even if you aren't a mom you feel that way sometimes too.

Anyways.  I had both the kiddos today.  Which usually isn't so bad, but I have had a LOT of help the past week since I've been ill.  Today for some reason if one child wasn't crying, the other was.  I'm not talking regular crying; I'm talking hysterics from Brother and that whiny constant upset cry from Lotte.  It was so stressful and I feel so bad that today was wasted.  Wasted constantly saying, "That's enough, stop that, no more, please don't."  I wasn't able to give Girl the schedule or activities she needed to make it a positive day.

Now that they are both blissfully asleep I'm able to reflect on where it went wrong.  I know the pressure and stress can get to anyone, and I definitely let it get to me today.  For example: I was prepping dinner during Lotte's snack time after her nap.  I caved and gave her one of her baby cookie cracker things because I just couldn't take more whining.  I was carrying Brother in my Moby Wrap (GREATEST INVENTION EVER!) while making stuffed peppers.  I am mixing all the ingredients together while turning on sesame street after her snack, all while Mister is screaming.  I look down and realize I didn't brown the hamburger.  Who doesn't freaking brown the hamburger?!?  Completely ruined.

So we fed Lotte left overs and husband went and got McCrap for us to eat for dinner.

At least I didn't ruin desert!  But on top of McCrap I ate my entire week's worth of calories in the most delicious desert ever!  I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough without any egg product so you don't have to bake it!  This amazing lady from Cookies and Cups made Pudge Cake and I made a version of it without the cake mix.

I baked brownies.  I used a biscuit cutter to cut up the brownies and layered it with the cookie dough.  I put it in the fridge until it was cold through.  Then we inhaled the Brownie Cookie Dough Brownie sandwiches.  It was so good.  My husband wants me to make the fake Cookie Dough everyday for his breakfast!  I told him that the bus company would end up making him buy 2 bus passes because of how big he would get!

Anyways...tomorrow is another day.  And I am vowing to make the best of it.  Lesson learned, always have some activities pre-planned to keep toddlers busy in constructive ways.  So you don't chase them around the house yelling no!

This is how I MeatLoaf! New Recipe Thursday!

That my friends is a direct quote from my anti-meatloaf husband.  But he said it, he loves my meatloaf, and he had seconds! I told him it wasn't his normal meatloaf so he said okay and put on his big-boy pants and tried it anyway.  I can't take all the credit for it...I just put all the ingredients together and baked it.  But here it is.

Pardon the disgusting brown blob, but if you look at it like, "This is a pretty meatloaf." It isn't so bad.

So here it is...Woman's Day Lamb, Balsamic and Sundried Tomato Meat Loaf.

1 Lemon (oops, I knew I forgot something)

2 Large eggs

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup rolled oats

4 Cloves garlic (or some powder in my case b/c hubby threw the garlic away 2 nights ago)

2 Large shallots

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 1/2 lb ground lamb (I just used a pound b/c A: that's all they had and 2: it's expensive)

I prepped this during a nap time (which seems to be few and far between lately) and put it in the fridge until hubby was on his way home.  It only took about 15-20 minutes to prep and only 40 minutes in the oven.

-Mix the eggs, vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper in mixing bowl and 2 zest strips from lemon.

-Add oats and coat.

-I added my ghetto garlic powder in with the salt and pepper, but now you would add your sliced garlic, chopped shallots, sundried tomatoes, and rosemary.

-Stir it all up and add the meat.  I suppose that ground beef would be fine to use for this recipe too, but I loved how lean the lamb was, and it definitely has a different texture...if meatloaf can have a different texture.

-I used my hand to kneed it together so that the oat mixture was all incorporated.

-Form into a loaf on a aluminum foil covered cookie sheet (making clean up a cinch).

-Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes

-Enjoy the sound of your husband loving meatloaf after he has spent the last 3 years of marriage saying he doesn't like meatloaf.

And just so this post doesn't leave you wanting a cute picture of one of my sweet babies...here is mister mini meatloaf.  In his meatloaf-ish swaddler!

Isn't it the cutest meatloaf you have ever seen!

ps. how many more times could I say meatloaf in this post?!? :)