December Traditions

It's been a fun and tradition filled December. I just love the holidays and all the excitement in the air. I love the smell of our fresh cut tree in the front room and the lights on house! There is truly something magical about this time of year.

Here's my menu for the week:
Monday: Baked Southwest Egg Rolls with Creamy Chipotle Dipping Sauce and Spinach Salad
Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff over Brown Rice with Green Beans
Wednesday: Artichoke Chicken over Pasta and Sauteed Vegetables
Thursday: Crockpot Egg Casserole, Spinach Salad and Fruit
Friday: Pizza Night!
Saturday: Mom's night off!
Sunday: Greek Chicken and Vegetables with Artisan Bread

An Unconventional Thanksgiving!

We returned home last night from our unconventional Thanksgiving! Just think, sitting by the pool on Thanksgiving morning, not even thinking about whether the turkey will be done on time, or how long the rolls need to rise! Yes, that's what I did. We went to St. George with some close family, and we had a blast! Thanksgiving morning we spent at the Paintball course, I refereed, while the boys and cousins and uncles played pretend war with paint! It was a lot of fun! We spent a lot of time at the pool, did some Black Friday shopping, lots of paint balling, went on a great family bike ride, enjoyed the St. George temple, and dressed Jud up like an old geezer and paraded him around town for his fortieth birthday! And yes, we ate dinner at the "Golden Corral!"

Here's my menu for the week:
Monday: Fabulous Orange Chicken, Brown Rice, Vegetable Stir-fry
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken Stacks
Wednesday: Jud's birthday dinner! French Dip Sandwiches, Cottage Fries, Spinach Salad and Banana Birthday Cake! (Here's how I do my Cottage Fries: Peel and slice potatoes quite thin into rounds and spread out on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle generously with olive oil, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check them often to be sure they don't burn!)
Thursday: Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup, Cheese Toasties
Friday: Pizza night!
Saturday: Mom's Night Off!
Sunday: Brown Sugar Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chives, Spinach Salad

I love food!

It was such a busy week, and I would like to think that next week will slow down, but I know I'm fooling myself. Oh well, life is to be lived, right? I'd hate to be bored....:)

Here's my menu for the upcoming week. Did I mention I love food!
Monday: Chicken in Basil Cream over Angel Hair Pasta with Steamed Broccoli
Tuesday: Taco Soup with Avocados, Sour Cream, and Shredded Cheese
Wednesday: Chile Verde Enchiladas with a Mandarin Mixed Green Salad
Thursday: Bacon Roasted Chicken, Oven Roasted Potatoes, and Mixed Veggies
Friday: Pizza Night!
Saturday: Mom's night off! :)
Sunday: Larson Family Dinner

A bit of everything....and nothing! :)

I've been looking forward to today for about a week now, my husband is finally back from a business trip! I can finally sleep again! It's seems when he's gone, I always find myself a good book and then stay up all night long reading. No one's there to make me go to bed! Myself and my children :) always suffer the next day!

The snow has fallen, and I'm looking at about 4 inches on the grass. I went to feed the chickens this morning and their water was frozen solid. Poor chickens! They have to get cold out there!

Well, here's my menu for the week (a lot of these recipes are from a cookbook called "Eat Free", I highly recommend it!)

Monday: Chipotle Lime Salmon, Artichokes with Basil Lemon Butter, Steamed Broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken Thai Curry with Basmati Rice
Wednesday: Omelets, Zucchini Muffins, Spinach Salad
Thursday: Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Spinach Salad
Friday: Pizza night!
Saturday: Mom's night off! :)
Sunday: Roast and Carrots, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Green Salad

Beautiful Oregon!

I was lucky enough to have a few days of my husband and beautiful Oregon this week! We took a quick getaway to the land of GREEN (and red and yellow and orange--oh the fall leaves!!!!). It was a great trip, and we came back to happy boys and their mother is refreshed and ready for a new week. Here's my menu for the week:

Monday: Anniversary Chicken, Quinoa, Acorn Squash and Green Beans
Tuesday: French Dip Sandwiches, Carrots and Celery with dip, Chips and Salsa
Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan, Pasta, Green Salad
Thursday: Crustless Quiche, Pears and Peaches, Zucchini Muffins, Spinach Salad
Friday: Pizza Night!
Saturday: Mom's night off :)
Sunday: Wall Family Dinner

Pumpkin Picking!

We travelled down south for Keaton's Lacrosse game this weekend and afterward stopped at the Warner's farm! We had a blast picking pumpkins and catching flying corn! All of the pumpkins in the patch were enormous, and the boys are quite excited about the prospect of carving the massive pumpkins. But, I have made it clear that I will not be the one scraping the slime out this year!

Landon was pretty cute tonight, trying to get my attention while I was reading on the couch. He looked right into my face and said, "MOM, do you have your listening ears on?" Too cute!

I'm trying to use up as much garden produce as possible this week, so I looked at the garden and then I made my menu. We still have a lot of tomatoes, peppers, onions, green beans, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatillos, cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, squash and beets! I love fresh food!

Monday: Colorful Vegetable Fajitas with Steak, fresh salsa and chips, cantaloupe
Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie, Spinach Salad, and Fresh Peaches
Wednesday: Authentic Enchiladas Verdes, Zucchini, Tomato and Squash stir-fry, Watermelon
Thursday: Roasted Beet and Potato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Friday: Pizza Night!
Saturday: Mom's Night Off!
Sunday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, Spinach Salad, French Bread, and Watermelon

Happy Birthdays and Conference time!

We had a fun weekend, full of fiestas and family! My mom and my darling niece celebrated birthdays, so we broke a pinata, ate mexican food and fiesta'd! Homemade ice-cream and all! And then, we enjoyed family as we watched General Conference. I have to laugh that I spend most of the last session of Conference in constant battle with my children, but I suppose one day I'll miss it....yeah right! :)

Right now we are in full sports mode at our house. There is never a day (besides Sunday) that we are not involved in some sport. Right now Keaton is on the highschool Lacrosse team, which involves a hefty practice and conditioning schedule. Chase is on the Tsunami Swim Team at our rec center, and Brooks is doing Lacrosse as well. It's fun to watch them progress. Chase had a meet this weekend, and both Lacrosse boys have games every Saturday. So we are BUSY! But it's been so nice to spend the time outside watching the games in the beautiful weather we've been having. I'm sure it won't last forever, so I'm sure enjoying it while it's here.

If you notice some repeats in my meals over the next few weeks, you'll know it's because our busy schedule didn't allow me to be home to make the dinner I had planned. I'm sure we'll get back to normalcy sometime soon.....yeah right! :)

Monday: Turkey Burgers, Relish Tray with Herbed Cottage Cheese, Chips and Salsa
Tuesday: Artichoke Chicken, Quinoa, Steamed Green Beans, and Cantaloupe
Wednesday: Grilled Pizza, Garden Green Salad, Apricot
Smoothie
Thursday: Southwest Lentil Soup and Cheese Quesadillas (The Lentil soup is from a new cookbook I'm trying out, it's called Eat Free by Rhiannon Lawrence)
Friday: Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Bacon and Orange Juice
Saturday: Mom's night off!
Sunday: Juicy Roasted Chicken, Red and Purple Garden Potatoes and Carrots and Green Beans and My Favorite Zucchini Bread