Monthly Archives: October 2013

menu plan Monday, partner campaign

In which I try to take the “planning” out of the menu-plan equation

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Disclaimer: eMeals.com has provided Nichole with a free subscription in exchange for a review. Because of the nature of the product and the fact that Nichole writes/thinks about food a lot, you can expect to read at least a little bit about eMeals every week for the next month or so. Nichole’s opinions remain her own, and she remains very opinionated about food.

My meal-planning routine usually consists of taking a spin through my Menu Plan Monday archives — because I can never seem to remember what we eat from week to week — and then looking through my I’d Eat That board on Pinterest for a few new ideas.

For the next couple of weeks, though, I’m not going to do either or those things.

Instead, I’m going to be downloading a weekly menu plan from eMeals, which will include a grocery list of everything I need for that week’s meals. I usually spend at least 30 minutes of my Friday evening pulling together my menu plan and compiling the grocery list; I’m looking forward to finding out what else I could be doing with that half-hour. (Handicrafts? Learning a new skill? Watching more television? The possibilities are endless, but the probability is sadly the latter!)

I’m not expecting to follow the eMeals plan to the letter every week, because (1) we can be kind of picky and (2) our schedule lately means I haven’t had time to actually prepare a meal every night. This week, for example, we have “Nutcracker” rehearsal, an American Heritage Girls meeting and all sorts of soccer practices, so we’re only going to be having two of the eMeals meals. It’s not that they’re especially complicated or lengthy; I just tend to lean on recipes — and I use that word lightly here — with which I’m already familiar.

Monday: Grilled cheese sandwiches

I used to always serve tomato soup with our grilled cheeses. And then we all admitted that none of us really likes tomato soup, so we don’t bother with that anymore.

Tuesday: Spaghetti

I think might even have some meatballs in the freezer!

Wednesday: Beef Chalupas

This will be the first eMeals recipe we’re trying. It’s supposed to be served with “crispy zucchini and corn.” Side dishes are never my strong suit; I’m hoping having it all planned out for me will help with that!

Thursday: Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli

And this is the second of the eMeals! It uses refrigerated pizza dough and roast beef from the deli, among other things. It’s served with Cajun french fries, which are really what sold me on trying this meal.

Friday: Out

Poppy will be doing her very first tae kwon do testing on Friday, and I’m preemptively planning to go out for a celebratory dinner. Go P!
Kids are weird

The Adventure of Pirates, Part Four

One afternoon last September, Pete was playing with our “Story Cubes” by himself in the living room floor. This is the final part of the story.

The Adventure of Pirates, Part Four
by Pete

Welcome to the new adventures of Pirates and Pete! Still looking for the key to unlock the gears of the door and escape the apple!

And [the turtle and the sad alien] followed the footprints of the alien, and they stopped at a clock and they saw the alien in it so they had to go inside the clock! (This is an extremely long story.) And then he met an arrow that showed him the way to the door. The alien had to go this way, but they had to go this way. And then they met a little fish guy that said, “Go right here, please.”

Then apparently they said, “Alien! Come back out of there!”

And then he said, “I’m the one who set up that temple, and I’m the one who used the magic wand for putting the apple in the gears of the key lock!”

And then a hand came out. It was the guard’s hand! And he said, “That is his home.” So he was the guard of his home, for whenever people wanted to see him.

“Go back to the pyramid,” said the alien. “We’re having a party for aliens.”

And then one of them fell asleep. And then a lamb that was upside-down usually put people in a different land, so he put them in the lock of the intergalactic alliance! And then there came thunder coming down from the sky. And then when he said something weird, the keyhole opened and he rushed back to the pyramid and began looking for the princess. Was she in the water fountain? No! Was she at the top of the castle? Was she in her room reading a book, or inside the book? And then he found her on the skyscraper of the tower!

I don’t understand anything anymore! Am I in my room reading a book, or am I inside the book? In conclusion: Pete has a weird and wild imagination.

Kids are weird

The Adventure of Pirates, Part Three

One afternoon last September, Pete was playing with our “Story Cubes” by himself in the living room floor. This is part three of his tale.

The Adventure of Pirates, Part Three
by Pete

Welcome to Part Three of the Adventures of Pirates! Dun-dun!

And then [the turtle] searched around the globe for the key! Dun-dun! And then he said “Lightbulb!” and he took a magnifying glass to the moon. And then they met a sad alien, and he cheered him up with going to the moon with him. And they went back to the pyramids and looked for it in the ocean, where the fishes lived. And then they used a magnet to find the key. And then apparently another alien came down.

What will happen next on the Adventures of Pirates? (I betcha can’t wait for Part Four. It has ten parts.)

But it doesn’t really have ten parts. It ends tomorrow! And there are, as yet, still no pirates!