Date Night: Grown up Fort

Since Dan and I have been together, date night has been very important to us. It's been a time where we can catch up on what's happening in our lives and just spend time together. Now that we have a son, we aren't able to go out alone every week like we used to. Typically Fridays were our date nights. Now we have date night at home on most Fridays after the little one goes to bed for the night.

Think back to your childhood. Do you remember going around your house and gathering up sheets, blankets, and random pieces of furniture to use to build a FORT? Of course you do! Well this week for a date night at home, get back in touch with your inner-child and build a grown up fort! Gather up your sheets, blankets, and pillows. Build your fort using whatever furniture you have. If you have a futon mattress or air mattress put that inside. Bake cookies or brownies, grab your favorite drinks, and climb inside your fort with your sweetie! We laughed and chatted for a while about our week and then grabbed our iPad and watched recorded episodes of our favorite TV shows that we missed all week. One piece of advice- if you have a little one, make sure to gather everything you need before you put him/her to sleep so that you don't have to tromp all around the house and possibly wake him/her up.

 We used our mantle and the couches as anchors to make our fort as big as possible.

Inside our fort enjoying cookies and milk.

This date night was inspired by my sister in law. She is currently in medical school and spends a lot of time studying and going to class. She and her husband built a fort to unwind one night and they had a blast. Building a fort may seem silly to you, because it is! But being silly together is fun! We had a blast and got to just enjoy each other's company for hours.

March Meal Calendar

March is here! March is one of my favorite months. I'm still really enjoying planning our meals for the month and shopping just twice a month. Instead of doing seperate posts I am going to share our monthly meal calendar at the beginning of each month and any special plans I have to save money for the month.

 

We always have some favorites that are rotated and used every month. You'll always see tacos, chili, and asian stir fry. We love these meals and they are very easy! I also color code the calendars so that I know the main protein for each meal. This helps with planning to shop so I know how much of each meat I need that time around.

 

This month I am going to purchase a large package of chicken and a large package of pork at Sam's Club. I'll get whatever cut of pork is the best prices, but it's usually bone-in pork chops, which we love! The chicken will last for the month and the pork will likely last into April. This will make my grocery bill a little more on the front end, but much less towards the end of the month. I am also shopping at Aldi for most things and couponing some at Food Lion.

 

I worked in some new meals this month.

 

Pesto Pasta is one of our favorites. I use pesto that I freeze as the sauce and throw in vegetables and parmasan cheese. Balsamic Chicken wraps are just grilled chicken breasts that I marinate in balsamic vinegar and honey and then we eat them on a wrap with lettuce. Lemon Chicken pasta is grilled chicken marinated in olive oil and lemon zest served on pasta with asparagus, broccoli, spinach, parmasan cheese, and a homemade lemon vinegarette (I'll be sharing this recipe soon). For Grilled Pork Chops, I usually marinate them in some type of seasoning and/or vinegarette and then we grill them!

 

One thing that I am most excited about this month is all the fresh vegetables that will be back in season at the grocery store. Asparagus is one of my favorites! It's really only good in the spring, so we'll probably be eating it with lots of meals this month!

 

 

Spring Cleaning

Oh Spring. I love Spring. I love the flowers starting to bloom and the warm air. I love being able to go on walks without having to bundle up and I love the longer amounts of sunlight. I do not love spring cleaning. Spring is just around the corner and I admit that I have never done a great job of spring cleaning. Typically it hit during a very busy time at work and I would spend a Saturday cleaning as much as possible, but never really did a thorough job.

 

This year I want to do a very deep cleaning of the house for Spring. The task seemed daunting when I started to think of every thing that needed to be done and because I knew there were things that I wasn't even thinking of. So I started searching for lists online of things that needed to be done to get our house in order. I found a great list on the Martha Stewart website. It breaks it down by whole-house tasks and then room-by-room.

 

 

With a baby in the house, I knew that it will be impossible to do a whole day of cleaning, and I knew I wouldn't want to either. Spring Cleaning wouldn't be so bad if it was split up over several days. The lists that I found from Martha Stewart helped remind me of things that needed to be done that I don't normally think of.

 

 

So, I love a good to-do list/plan! I used the lists to decide what needed to be done in our house and then made a calendar to get it done over several weeks instead of one weekend. Here's what I came up with:

 

I didn't plan anything for Sundays so that we have a whole day for family time. For Saturdays, I planned simple tasks that I also needed Dan's help for. He is home on Saturdays so he will be able to help with moving furniture, climbing ladders, etc. on those days. Having a plan helps spring cleaning not seem so daunting. I left the last week blank so that I could add tasks that I forgot about. I've already added that I need to vacuum and clean the couches and each bathroom needs a good scrub. By the end of the month, our house will be completely cleaned and ready for the new season! I do hope to work some garage organization into there too!

How do you manage spring cleaning?

Meal Planning Part 3

This is part 3 of my series on meal planning. Last time I shared two weeks worth of meals, recipes, and a shopping list. This time I'm going to share two more weeks!

 

For the last part of February, here's what we've had:

 

Week 3

Day 1/2: Taco Soup

Day 3/4: Baked Ziti

Day 5/6: Baked Chicken and Veggies

 

Week 4

Day 1/2: Asian Stir Fry

Day 3/4: Red Beans and Rice

Day 5/6: Taco Night

 

Like I mentioned before, I have a lot of things that I keep on hand. Some things that I did not have to buy this time because I already had them were rice, tortillas, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, jar of minced garlic, cajun seasoning, chicken, spices, and veggies (The chicken, tortillas, and veggies, I bought the previous week).

 

Shopping List

Cost: Approximately $40

• 2 lb. ground beef/turkey
• 2 cans black beans
• 3 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can dark kidney beans
• 1 can light kidney beans
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 jar of salsa
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 small container part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• Ziti pasta
• 1 bag shredded cheese of your choice (used for ziti and taco's)
• Vegetables of your choice
• Soy sauce and Rice wine vinegar
• Frozen corn
 

Recipes

 

Taco Night: You can find this in my Part 2 post

 

Baked Ziti: I use the same process for baked spaghetti found on the Part 2 post, except in between the layers I add a layer of ricotta cheese. This recipe is very versatile and you can add in vegetables, your favorite pasta and sauce, and made totally different meals.

 

Baked Chicken and Veggies: This is one of Dan's favorites. He works out a lot and craves healthy foods [I know, weird! :)]. I place two-three chicken breasts in a small casserole dish and coat with 1 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (or a favorite vinegarette bottled dressing), salt and pepper, and 1 tsp. garlic. Then throw in vegetables of your choice. I ususally put in frozen broccoli, frozen green beans, and some fresh carrots. Bake at 350 until chicken is cooked through.

 

Asian Stir Fry: Dice 2-3 chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Cut vegetables that you want to use (my favorites are broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, and corn) into small pieces. In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp. garlic, and some hot sauce. Start with a large skillet with some olive oil on medium high heat. Add chicken and cook for about 3 minutes. Add in vegetables and sauce. Cook until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice.

 

Red Beans and Rice: This is one of our vegetarian favorites although sometimes I add smoked sausage. I don't claim to know anything about cajun/Louisana cooking or that this is even cajun at all. It would probably be a disgrace down there, but we like it! Saute 1 bell pepper, 1 onion, and 1 tsp. of garlic in a skillet with olive oil until tender. Add in 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of kidney beans, 2 tbsp. of cajun seasoning, and 1/2 cup of water. Let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Serve over brown rice.

 

Taco Soup: In a crock pot combine 1 lb. ground meat, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of water, and 1 package of taco seasoning. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours.

 

This month we spent $150 on groceries total! Using this meal calendar, planning for breakfasts and lunches, shopping only twice, and not going out to eat really made it easy to save lots of money. Next month, I'll share our meal calendar and shopping lists again!