Building an Ark: May 2012

One more month's worth :) and then I am back to a regular blog schedule.

Life is calmer and more organized, until it gets disorganized again.

Day 152

Joe had a work dinner tonight--which for us means we probably had quesadillas or McDonald's. I don't remember which :)

Day 153

Spinach, Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

We had a yummy Our Best Bites Salad tonight. Find it here.

Day 154

Spaghetti, french bread, veggies and dip

Always a good "go to" meal. Just dress is up a little different with salad, veggies, rolls, bread, etc.

I don't follow a recipe, just brown some ground beef, throw in a few cans of tomato sauce, maybe some mushrooms, some basil, oregano, garlic, onion, maybe some thyme or parsley, salt and pepper.

The kids love it, especially Peyton! He always ends up with a red mouth and a smile on his face.

No pic!

Day 155

Azteca

I didn't want to cook tonight :) And since tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I thought we could go get some Mexican. I am pretty sure we won't be back. For what we got and the price we paid I was not a happy mommy:) I'll stick to cooking at home ;)

Day 156

Tamale Pie

Tonight we had our Cinco de Mayo dinner.

We had a yummy Tamale Pie that we found on the back of the Alber's conrmeal box.

You can find it here.

Joe said it was one of his favorite and why didn't we have it more. The kids complained about it a lot before eating it and then they ate some and found out that they liked it.

Then we had to rush off to baseball :)

We were to have homemade Churros for dessert, but I ran out of time and energy.

So we'll make them tomorrow :) Or else the kids will have my hide!

Day 157

Sausage Pasta and Homemade Churros

We had a version of our favorite yummy italian sausage pasta.

Italian Sausage

Bowtie pasta

Tomatoes

Onions

Garlic

Italian Seasoning

Chicken Broth

Mushrooms--normally I like fresh but we had to use canned this time

Normally we add bell peppers too.

Then the kids talked me into making the Churros. I was pretty sure that I would not be able to get away without making them! They were really easy to make, but took a long time frying each of them.

I had to pipe them out into the oil in a pastry bag and the dough was VERY thick.

The kids LOVED them however! And they did help make them.

Find them here at AllRecipes.

Day 158

BBQ hamburgers, fruit and veggies

It's those normal regular meals that I always forget to take a picture of :)

Day 159

Fresh tomato and Squash Salad, Fresh Green Beans, Roasted Red Potatoes and Strawberries

We started getting Bountiful Baskets--a coop produce business here, and so we have a lot of fruits and vegetables each week. The kids love seeing what we get because it is always a suprise on what you get. You never know what the variety will be. But you get roughly 50% fruits and 50% vegetables.

Anyhow, most of our dinner tonight was from Bountiful Baskets-

The salad was from a Cooking Light book and it was actually really good. Even Joe liked it and he doesn't like squash much :)

Day 160

Chili Mac

Another Cooking Light recipe. We are trying to cut calories without giving up flavor. So fa so good. The chili mac was yummy but Peyton was desappointed that it didn't have more cheese in it :) Not so much like mac and cheese for him

Day 161

Joe went to a dinner for work again, who knows what we had :)

Day 162

Blackened Chicken Salad

This was another Cooking Light one that no one really liked. Probably won't be making it again :)

It looks good though!

Day 163

Subway

Day 164

Mother's Day

Steak, Sauteed Mushrooms, Roasted Red Potatoes, Fresh Fruit

Joe cooked :) It was delicious!

Day 165

Fresh Tomato Basil Quiche

This was pretty yummy. We had some artichokes and honey dew that we got from our Bountiful Baskets. Another Cooking Light recipe. Joe said it was good as a leftover.

Day 166

Red Robin

Happy 5th Birthday Addison!!

She loved the Birthday sundae!! And the singing after a minute :)

Day 167

Chicken Soft Tacos

Easy, quick chicken soft tacos.

Boil some chicken, shred it up, add some onions, cumin, garlic, chili powder. . .cook until a bit crunchy.

Warm a tortilla, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, salsa. . .add chicken.

Oops, no picture :)

Day 168

RS Enrichment

They had dinner, I don't know what my family had. But I had a nice time visiting with the women in my ward.

Day 169

Activity Day Mother/Daughter

"Un"-Tea Party

I am the Primary President in my ward and I have some of the most FABULOUS people serving with me!!

The Activity Day leaders had a fantastic Mad Hatter Tea Party!

Three of the leaders have girls in Activity Days so I got to go attend and help serve food and manage one of the games.

The served some yummy food!

Croquet with pool noodles and flamingos

Tweedle Talk--a trivia game

and a giant chess game.

Day 170

Costco Spinach Salad

Addison and I went to Costco yesterday, so we picked up a Spinach Salad for dinner.

Today we had her friend birthday party so we needed an easy dinner :)

Day 171

Kneader's Turkey Sandwiches, Fresh Fruit, specifically Watermelon, Potato Salad, Spinach Salad, Chips

We had Addison's family birthday party today.

The only thing she requested was watermelon. I had to get her to add some other things :) We settled on Kneader's turkey sandwiches.

Which is roasted turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, avocado, Kneader's sauce (mayo and mustard with some salt and pepper), on a nice soft bread.

Mmmmmm! Delish!

Day 172

Joe went out to dinner again for work?!?!?

Lucky guy!

I don't know what we ate--might have been McDonald's :)

Day 173

And again ?!?!?

He did bring me some truffles tonight from John Howie's Steak House :)

Day 174

Tuscan Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce.

Find it here

It was very easy!!

It was good, not great :) The kids gave it a thumbs to the side. They didn't like the sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce.

Day 175

I can't even remember what we ate because Joe and I got invited to go to a Body Pump class that a friend teaches at Gold's Gym

Yikes!!

Both of us were sore for days afterwards, we had obviously not done any weightlifting for some time. It did feel good though (after a bit).

Day 176

Temple and Thai

at Thai Ginger

April Date night (in May)

Because April was so crazy with the move we failed to have our April date night :( So we moved it over to May. We went to the temple tonight and out for Thai afterwards. The kids stayed with Paul and Caprielle.

Day 177

Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy's has become my new favorite take out pizza. They have a lot of choices, the are close, it seems fresher becuase you watch them make it, I think that makes it less calories as well :)

Peyton and I had been out to get him new glasses :( He got new ones in February, then he tripped and fell yesterday scratching (badly) one of his lenses. However did you know that they (at Target) will not replace just one lens? And because we had used our insurance already, and I had failed to purchase the protection for $35 because I thought that they would be fine. Well almost $200 later for new lenses (luckily our HSA will pick it up) I did not feel like cooking dinner, so pizza it is.

But we did do S'mores afterwards in the backyard. They kids thought that was great.

Day 178

Sausage Ratatouille

I found this recipe years ago in a Family Fun magazine and have threatened to make it ever since then. We got eggplant in our Bountiful Basket this week so it seemed like the perfect time.

We had Ratatouille for dinner and watched the Disney movie Ratatouille. Addison was suprised that there was such a food :)

Day 179

BBQ Hot Dogs, Melon (Honeydew and Cantaloupe), Corn on the Cob

Since it was Memorial Day we figured we should BBQ (because isn't that the opening of BBQ season?, I actually BBQ anytime of the year, but. . .) but we thought we would go easy.

The kids of course thought is was great, BBQ is the best way to eat hot dogs in my opinion, and Joe added chili to make his a chili dog.