All posts by Nichole

Please send me your secrets for making perfect fried squash

opray

It turns out that I haven’t been Living My Best Life this month. Sorry Oprah. Between the summer cold and the dual-eyed conjunctivitis and watching too much of the Republican National Convention and the poison ivy that keeps spreading all over my person and the water leaking through the roof and into the microwave, I just haven’t been able to take my glory and run.

I have, however, made rather nice pickles and terrible fried squash and delicious zucchini muffins using produce from our garden. I’ve listened to “Hamilton” a time or two (or twelve). I’ve ordered most of the children’s curriculum for this school year. I’ve captured a number of Pokemon.

So things are not all gloom and doom. August is on the horizon, as are tacos. Here’s what we’ll be dining on this week:

Monday: Shake ‘n’ Bake Chicken
We had a box of Shake ‘n’ Bake conveniently placed next to a box of mac ‘n’ cheese in the cupboard. Rockford, who made this week’s menu plan, though they’d make a fine pairing for this evening’s dinner.

Tuesday: Spaghetti
Poppy requested spaghetti last week, and then she ended up having dinner with a friend on spaghetti night. So here, again, is spaghetti.

Wednesday: Tacos
We are fond of taco night.

Thursday: Chicken masala
Rockford planned Poppyseed Chicken for Thursday night, but I had to veto that because it isn’t the appropriate season for Poppyseed Chicken.

Friday: Pizza
I have had a hankering for the meatball pizza from the pizzeria down the road. It’s pricier than Domino’s, but it’s also local and better. I think we’ll splurge this week.

What’s the most memorable thing you’ve done this summer?

There oughta be a law against being sick on vacation.

We were at my dad’s house last week, and there were a lot of good things about our trip — the kids spent lots of time in the pool; we had an evening at a Lansing Lugnuts baseball game; sizzling rice soup; time with family; catching some Pokemon — but I’m trying to figure out where to apply for a redo of my summer vacation because I was sick all week. We arrived late Friday night, and on Saturday night I had aches and chills and a fever. That turned into a cold, which turned into conjunctivitis in both eyes. We got home this Saturday, and I went straight to bed and stayed there pretty much until this morning. I still don’t feel great, but I can open my eyes now. So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

We are continuing the Summer of So Much this week with a trip to the aquarium for Poppy and a few days at Camp Poppins for Pete. I plan to spend most of the week coughing and applying eyedrops every three hours.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made a menu plan, and judging by this week’s offerings I am clearly in need to more practice before I get my menu-planning mojo back. Here’s what we’re having for dinner this week:

Monday: Something simple
We’re meeting Rockford’s sister this evening to ship Pete off for a few days at her house. I’m not sure what we’re having for sustenance along the way.

Tuesday: Takeout, maybe?
Pete will be at his cousin’s birthday party, Poppy will be out with her youth group, and Rockford and I will most likely pick up tacos or something.

Wednesday: Ham
Some of our closest, dearest friends are moving 2,200 miles away at the end of the month, and they’re working on clearing out their freezer. So they invited us over for a ham dinner.

Thursday: Pizza
You’d think that after so many days of not cooking, I’d be ready to actually make something one day this week. You’d be wrong, apparently.

Friday: I have no idea
Friday is Pete Retrieval day!

Still hungry? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie for more menu plans.

We’re kicking off the summer with a fancy cheese sandwich

Happy Summer!

This weekend a lady brought a snake to our yard sale and didn’t buy anything, I got a sunburn on my right arm and a bit of my right leg because the sun weaseled in around my shady spot at the pool, and I discovered that the lid to my grill is about to disconnect itself and fall off as I prepared to make fajitas for Father’s Day dinner.

Alas, poor Akorn.
Alas, poor Akorn.
All of which might sound like it wasn’t a good weekend, but it was actually a very nice weekend indeed. The snake lady left quickly, the rest of my person is not sunburned, and I have faith that the Chargriller people will email me back any time now to help me figure out how to fix the grill.

After a nice weekend of playing video games and lounging around at the pool, the children are continuing Operation Busy Summer this week with a half-day church camp. The crew at church is loading the kids into the van every morning and taking them off to a charity organization to spend a few hours volunteering. Today they’ll be working in a garden that provides fresh produce to a local food pantry. Pete wasn’t particularly thrilled about the idea, but he signed on when he found out they’re going to the pool on Friday. And also I told him he could download a Pokemon game if he went without complaining. I’m not proud of resorting to bribery, but there you go.

Here’s what I will not be grilling for dinner this week:

Monday: Grilled cheese
Tonight is Poppy’s Choice night, and she’ll be having the standard-issue American cheese sandwich. The rest of us are going to have something we sampled a few weeks ago at Trader Joe’s. It’s a sandwich with white cheddar, some greens and a little bit of bacon jam. Bacon jam sounds like a disgusting idea, doesn’t it? But it added the perfect sweet-salty note to the sandwich. I don’t know what greens they used, but I’m using spinach because I have some in the fridge.

Tuesday: Fish sticks and mac & cheese
This is never my favorite meal, but fish sticks were on sale and I already had some mac and cheese in the cabinet. There’s a good chance I’ll just have cereal.

Wednesday: Tacos
We can always count on Pete to pick either tacos or cheeseburgers on his night.

Thursday: ???
I ran short of inspiration when I was making the grocery list. I’ll figure this one out later this week.

Friday: Pizza
I’ve been enjoying the meatball parm pizza from the place down the street. We’ll probably order that this week.

Still hungry? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie for more menu plans.