Meal Monday

Good Morning! How was your weekend?

So we had a poor week last week. So this was a meal plan, using lots of things from the freezer or what we had on hand.

• lasagna -- which I had made a double of the week before and froze
• pork loin and fixed up mashed potatoes -- pork loin I had in the freezer from a buy on get one free deal, and the mashed potatoes were a left over that I spruced up with sour cream and cheese.
• tuna hot dish
• eggs and sausages -- another freezer find
• ham steak and scalloped potatoes -- had the ham steak in the freezer from when Hubby bought ham from the butcher shop. Scalloped potatoes recipe from PW found here.
• spaghetti -- this got moved in favor leftovers
• mac n' cheese with tuna -- this got moved in favor of grill tuna melts and grilled cheese sandwiches

See nothing real special but that's how we rolled this week. What do come up with for meal on a poor week?

Erak's Ransom review

Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan

Type: young adult, adventure, fantasy?

Synopsis: This is book 7 in the Ranger's Apprentice series. Timeline wise though it come between book 4 and 5. Will is at the end of his time as Halt's apprentice. And they are off on a new adventure to help their friend Erak, who has been taken hostage.

Review: I really like this series of books. They are a nice little adventure series, with knights and rangers and what not. This book would have been a lot better as the 5th book in the series, where it fits in the timeline. There is no worry about the characters because you know that the they all come out at then end, because they were in the previous books or at least mentioned. Still I really enjoyed reading it. 

3.75 out of 5 stars.

meal Monday

How was your weekend? We had a fairly quite one. The Hubby worked some OT Friday night and Saturday, so we made it a quite weekend.

Here's what was on my meal plan last week:

• lasagna
• roasted chicken
• Chicken spaghetti -- I used the left over roasted chicken. This one was from PW cookbook, will have to say I like the recipe that I got from Paula Deens magazine better
• pizza 
• red bean and rice
• hamburger rice
• french toast

I also made a treat last weekend. Peanut Butter Brownie cups recipe found here. They came out pretty good. Definitely will make them again.

See nothing special. But it was good. Anybody try anything new this past week. I'm on the hunt for some new recipes.

What I've been watching.

Well it's been a fairly quite week her. The Monkey has 3 days off of school this week. But she's off to daycare to play with all her friends there, that she hasn't seen much of since school started. We've had some interesting messages from the Boy. More on that later, once things get settled. Other than that, I haven't been reading a lot this week. But there has been a lot of TV watching going on.

Well I finished watching this:

I absolutely loved it. And I can't wait for season two to start here in the US on January 8th.

We've caught up on through season 3 of Fringe. But won't be watching the current season on TV, we'll wait until next fall and watch the whole season all in a row.

Here are some of my favorite new series that started this Fall.

Revenge which is on ABC.

2 Broke Girls which is on CBS, it is funny.

And we have The Secret Circle on CW. Diffidently a teenage drama, witches and what not. But still good.

So have you found any new shows that you're loving?

Meal Monday

So did everyone have a good weekend? Make anything tasty?

So here was my meal plan for last week:

• pork roast
• Shepard's pie (tell you in a little bit how I make my Shepard's pie)
• ham and bean salad - got this out of an old Real Simple magazine. We did not like it. I thought the taste was okay but nobody else did. I thought the chick pea's were too hard.
• split pea soup
• breakfast burritos
• out to eat on Thursday (we had conferences at school)

 Shepard's Pie
 
So my Shepard's Pie recipe isnt' really a recipe at all just a keep how to that seems to always produce excellent results.

1. take the leftover roast and cut into bit size pieces
2. mix in left over gravy and place into a casserole dish.
3. top with veggies (leftover or frozen)
4. top with leftover mashed potatoes
5. And then finally top with some cheese.
6. bake until heated through.

City of Glass Review

City of Glass by Classandra Clare

Type: Young Adult, Fantasy, paranormal

Synopsis: Clary and Jace and Simon are still trying to deal with all the new changes in their lives. Jace is trying to protect Clary by leaving her behind. And the Cleve is on the brink of war.

Review: So far my favorite book out of the series. So many of the ends are coming to together. Lots of emotions going on.

5 out of 5 stars.

Sink Reflections review

Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley

Type: self-help, cleaning, organizing

Synopsis: Marla helps us set up routines and to take baby-steps to clean and organize our homes.

Review: Good thoughts for most of this. I only read about a third of the book and just scanned through the rest. All of the info can be found on her website. Which is why I'm giving the book such a low rating. 


1 out of 5 stars

Meal Monday

So here was what was on the menu last week.

• Potato and Dumpling soup -- posted about here
• Ham dinner
• Texas bean bake (recipe found here) -- I cut the ketchup down to 1 cup and cut out the 1/4c of sugar, and still found it a little too sweet. Will need to do some more doctoring.
• french toast -- this got bumped, I wasn't hungry and the kids wanted cereal. I know not the best dinner, oh well!
• ham and black eyed pea salad -- this also got bumped as some of the ingredients got used for other things.
• Shrimp Scampi
• baked turkey taquitos found here -- these were alright, Hubby and Monkey liked them. They were missing something, I'm just not sure what.

So what are you making this week?

Weekend Eye Candy

Since it's the weekend, and I have nothing to show for myself. I thought I would share some recent internet finds with you.

First is this crafting blog. Some quilting, some needle work. Very pretty:

Then this cottage that I'm loving. Go here to see pics.

And then check out this house.

Well I hear my laundry calling me. Hope you have a good rest of the weekend.

The Iron Daughter review

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Type: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis: Book 2 of the Iron Fey series. After learning she's the daughter of the Summer King and defeating the Iron King in the last book, Meghan is back and trying to deal with everything she's learn. She's trying to deal with her new feelings for the Winter Prince and someone is taking over as the new Iron King that needs to be dealt with. Old friends and old enemies are back.

Review: I find this to be a real intriguing series. I started this book Saturday afternoon during nap time and I finished it before I went to bed. But then I'm a sucker for these types of books. Some are better then others.

4 out of 5 stars. It seems I'm on a streak of fairly good books. I don't think it will last. I started a new one last night and didn't even enjoy the intro. And I've heard great reviews on it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Meal Monday

Good Monday Morning!

I've posted before about meal planing so I won't bore you with that again. So I thought I would stop by and share what my meal plan was for last week.

• soup from the freezer -- Homemade Chicken Noodle
• taco salad
• spaghetti
• cheese stuffed pasta -- The Monkey loved this, she had seconds and wanted more.
• hamburgers
• grilled cheese and tomato soup
• shrimp scampi recipe found here -- This got bumped to the this week, we had a leftover night instead.

I still don't like to meal plan, but mostly that's because I have a hard time thinking of what to make.

Well I hope everybody off to a good start of the week.