Menu Plan Monday... Plus What Everybody Needs to Know About Menu Planning And Feature Family Fav Recipe: Shrimp Creole.

I love Menu Plan Monday.

I just don't feel organized for the week unless my menu plan is done.

I love when dinner time comes around and I have a plan.

I know lots of people who don't do menu planning but wish they did.

The first comment I hear is that they don't know where to start.

Here are my top 3 tips for making a menu plan.

1. Ask family members what some of their favourite meals are. Make a list of meals to pick from for future menu planning.You might think you know what their favourites are, but I have learned that when I ask this question, sometimes I am surprised by the answer!

2. Take a look around your fridge and freezer. What's in your fridge already that needs to be used before it goes bad? What's in your freezer that can be made into a meal? Incorporate these into your meal plan for the week. This saves you money by using things you already have before spending more money on duplicate items. This week, I have broccoli in my veggie crisper that needs to be eaten....so that's the green vegetable for today's meal.

3. Read the grocery flyers to see what's on sale this week. Take advantage of sales in your menu planning. This saves you money, especially in the fruits and vegetables department!

Now, write down 5-6 meals for the week using the information you have collected!  Now you can create your grocery list! Save cooking with new recipes for the weekend when more time is available.

Would you like more menu planning examples and ideas? Visit the blog I'm An Organizing Junkie. She hosts Menu Plan Monday every Monday and over 300 women link up with their menu plans for the week. It's fabulous! Click on the link below to visit!

My menu plan for this week:

Monday-Basa fish, jasmine rice, broccoli & carrots.

Dinner Time: 3:00 pm

{The basa fish was bought on sale and in my freezer already. Broccoli and carrots already in the crisper and need to be used.} Due to sports activities, we are eating at 3pm when the kids arrive home from school starving and hungry. We all need to be out the door by 4:30 pm. Each child will also have snack before bed such as: fruit, toast & yogurt.

Tuesday- Greek chicken with Greek salad, pita bread and tzatsiki.

Dinner Time: 5 pm.

{The chicken is already in our freezer from Costco. The tzatsitki needs to be eaten before it expires soon, as does the romaine lettuce.}

Wednesday-Pulled Pork Sandwiches & coleslaw.

Dinner Time: 3:00 pm

{We are eating dinner early today because of sports activities.Pork already in the freezer from Costco.}

Thursday-Italian wedding soup and crusty bread.

Dinner Time: 5:00 pm

{Ground turkey from Costco already in the freezer.}

Friday- Order out night.

Saturday- Make your own Pizzas.

And now for one of our family favourites:

Shrimp Creole

This is a classic Louisiana dish which tastes great on a cold night.

1 tbsp.  vegetable oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 staulks celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp. drimed thyme leaves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/2 to 1 serrano chili, finely chopped

1 can 28 oz. diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 cup clam juice, fish stock, or white wine

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Zest of 1 lemon

1 lb. shrimp, cooked, peeled with tails off.

Directions: In skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, celery, and green pepper and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, & chili pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, stock or wine and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Turn heat to a simmer and add shrimp, parsley and lemon zest. Stir thoroughly and heat until shrimp is hot. Serve immediately. {Don't allow to simmer once you have added shrimp because the shrimp will turn tough and chewy.}

Serve with hot rice, a green salad and hot crusty bread.

Our entire family loves this meal. It tastes great when heated up the next day too!

This blog post is linked to these great parties:

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A Special Place for Vintage & Sentimental Jewellery...

I have been looking for a way to display some of my vintage & sentimental jewellery for some time.

Anyone who visits  my house knows how I love to display things that I love.

I finally found something which I think works perfectly.

While trolling through Home Sense {the Canadian name for Home Goods} one day last spring, I found this 'shadow box' type display box.

It differs from a shadow because it has a door with an adorable little crystal knob, so you can change things out quickly and easily.

The price was only $16.99...which I thought was super reasonable.

The 'A' monogram on the door completely sold me.

The inside featured this floral but neutral fabric pin board.

My imagination started perculoating with ideas.

I came home and picked out some special-to-me jewellery pieces to start playing & arranging.

I settled on this mix of pretty pieces.

The small amethyst brooch belonged to a great, great aunt and is circa early 1900's, as is the larger amethyst brooch.

{I can just imagine them pinned at the throat of a lovely muslin dress in days gone by.}

The pearl drop earrings I wore on my wedding day. {costume jewellery}.

The sterling silver flower & leaf necklace in the middle belonged to my grandmother.

The little charm bracelet on the top right was an Easter gift when I was 7 or 8 yrs. old.

And the little gold bracelet was mine as a child as.

I cannot remember where it come from. Maybe my Mom can remember?

I am still debating about where I am going to hang this.

I am thinking in the master bedroom for now.

I love how the door with it's magical crystal knob allows me to change out the jewellery pieces when I want.

I could even change the fabric on the pin board if I grow tired of the pattern.

Don't you love Home Sense?

This post is linked to these great parties:

Nesting for Fall....

I had a super day at home today.

I puttered.
I played and had fun!

I tweaked the house for fall by changing some tablescapes.

My decorations are very simple.

I used items from around the house along with things that I have slowly collected over the years.

Nothing is the same from year to year.

Canadian Thanksgiving is one month from today!! {October 11}

So I am celebrating Fall & Thanksgiving.

{It is too early for Halloween for me. I don't decorate for Halloween until Thanksgiving is over.}

The tablescape below for the coffee table is my fav so far.

I started with the piano top.

I find the piano top the hardest to make look interesting without making it too 'granny'.

Does anyone else have this problem?

My piano is old....over 100 years old. It came with me from Nova Scotia.

I picked up the 'Give Thanks' blocks from the Real Canadian Superstore on sale last year for $2.94.

The black candle sticks and candles are also from Superstore.

The books are turned around so that the different colours of the book spines don't make it look 'busy'.

I put away the glass bottles on top of the martini bar and it went from this:

To this:

And I changed out the little table by the front door from this:

To this:

I am going to  'tweak'  this a bit. I think it needs something else.

And then I put the shells and candles on the tray on the coffee table away. It went from this:

To this arrangement of items. The apples are fresh. They smell wonderful!

Fall leaves tucked into a white pitcher.

The white pitcher was a previous 'makeover' project. You can read about it here.

The cozy corner in the living room went from this:

To this:

A  fall wreath went on the door of the pantry in the kitchen.

All small changes to reflect the season.

And then I used my new pictures to make a new fall banner for my blog!

Super fun day!

Finally,  I would like to share with you this very special homemade decoration.

It will stay the same from year to year.

Yes.

You see my son's name carved into the coffee table.

t.y.l.e.r.

The little stinker.

I told him that the next time he wants to carve something in this house... be smart about it and carve

h.u.n.t.e.r. {his sister's name.}

{There is a story here which I will share on another day. But it was so out of character for him to do something like this!}

We won't mention how this was the first new coffee table that I ever owned.

It was only a few months when this new decoration appeared.

But we will mention how this table is going with him to University some day.

Getting Ready for Crazy Times Ahead: Kid-Friendly & Ready To Eat Meals in Minutes

Fall is so busy with after school activities.I see crazy times ahead. Both my children are heavily entrenched in winter sports.For my daughter.....it's synchronized skating and figure skating.For my son....it's hockey.Both will be out of the house after school a few evenings a week for their sports.This leaves me with the task of feeding them nutritious food that is ready at the quick and can be eaten in minutes.

I was doing my daily round of blog reading this morning and enjoying the parade of recipes at Balancing Beauty & Bedlam when I came upon this idea for healthy burritos for the freezer from "Eat At Home" blog. I loved the idea, so after my walk this morning, I decided to hit Costco to pick up the things I needed to put this idea into action.

Burritos are the perfect food for a hearty after school snack that will tide a child over for a few hours, or it can also be a dinner. Or just eaten whenever!

Although the original idea I saw was for bean & rice burritos,  I know that my family prefers beef burritos...so I made those instead. I picked up some organic brown rice and a big package of flour tortillas. {36}, and a $10 package of lean ground beef at Costco.

I started cooking the brown organic rice according to package directions. I made 9 cups of rice.

I placed the ground beef in the frying pan and added:

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

3/4 cup  Clubhouse taco seasoning {I added 1/2 cup at first, then adjusted it up}

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

1 tbsp. regular chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

salt & pepper

{I hope my husband isn't reading this...but I put in a can of mashed black beans too....for extra fiber.}

I found this can of enchilada sauce in my pantry, so I added one can just to add a little more flavour.

When the rice was finished cooking, I mixed it with the ground beef mixture in a big bowl.

Then Hunter and I stuffed  & rolled the burritos and added shredded cheddar.

 I rolled the burritos individually in saran wrap.

And all the burritoes went into bags for the freezer.

I also had some ground beef & rice mixture left to go in the freezer as well.

To serve: Heat in the microwave for a minute or two {depends on your micro wattage.}

Add salsa and sour cream as desired.

Only 32  of my 36 burritos made it into the freezer.

The others were kidnapped before they made it to the saran wrap stage.

The only way that today could have been better was if my Mother was here to help me! She is the queen of the freezer and a master at pre-planning meals!

 

A Very Simple Harvest Supper...

Despite the threat of clouds and rain, Hunter & I hit the local Farmers Market on Saturday.

We found lots of fabulous looking fruits and vegetables.

The fruit below looked so scrumptious and yummy, and for $8.00 for this selection,

how could I pass it up?

Below shows everything we came home with.

It all smelled so good.

I decided that a very simple harvest supper would be our meal that night.

I started with building a simple heirloom tomato salad.

It was simple: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, freshly cracked black pepper & salt, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.

Fresh corn was the next course for our meal.

By the way, I have learned to cook corn in a new way.

Previously, I  have always shucked the corn ears before adding to boiling water.

However, I was told by the corn farmer to leave the corns in their husks while cooking to seal in the nutrients and juices.

I did as I was told.

The taste of the corn cooked this way was so good...so tender & juicy.

I don't think we will cook it any other way from now on.

And to finish the meal, a sampling of fresh fruit.

An hour later, this fruit plate was empty.

Our simple harvest supper was such a hit that it was requested for Sunday night supper.

And  for Monday night supper.

And I had to go buy more corn.

This post is linked to:

Metamorphasis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Motivate Me Mondays @ Keeping It Simple
Delicious Dishes @ It's A Blog Party
Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
All Things Domestic @ Crazy Domestic

I am not ready....

{A favourite  image to get me juiced up for fall.}

Everyone around blogland, it seems, is decorating for Fall.

Not me.

I am  not ready yet.

My children just went back to school yesterday.

And I live in a northern Canadian city.

Winter, once it starts, lasts forever.

And a day.

We just had our last snowstorm on June 1.

3 short months ago.

Soon enough, I will be driving my daughter to early morning skating practice

in below minus-pray-my-car-starts weather.

So I am going to hang on to summer a little longer.

Fall decorating for me will start after Labour Day Weekend.

I will wear my flip flops a little longer.

My hometown is Nova Scotia is having a 3 day heat wave of temps above 40 with the humidex.

I would certainly welcome a 3 day heat wave here!