Monday, September 19, 2011

Menu Plan Monday 9/19/11


I'm linking up to I'm an Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

Okay, so last week I didn't post a menu plan. I like things better when I plan dinners! Although I have to stop trying to do it PERFECTLY (it takes too long and doesn't work anyway) and just plan!

Monday: We had Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna. It was delicious! (And yes, it was on my plan earlier. Didn't make it until now.)

Tuesday: Greek Stuffed Peppers (Slow Cooker), Greek Salad and maybe a Greek Pasta Salad, too. (Because I think the Stuffed Peppers may not go over well with a couple of the kids.)
I got these recipes out of the newspaper. This recipe looks like the one I have.

Wednesday: Cheesy Shells from 30 Day Gourmet.

Thursday: Parsley Parmesan Chicken

Friday: Tacos filled with seasoned ground turkey

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Menu Plan Monday (on Tuesday) 9/6/11


I'll be linking up to I'm An Organizing Junkie, if it is not too late.

This is my third consecutive week to plan menus. This plan is kinda wimpy. I didn't want to do it at all, but I really want to make this a habit.

{Report from last week: I had four dinners and Sunday lunch planned. I made two of the dinners exactly as planned and one needed some improvising. It was a new recipe that I didn't read carefully. One dinner was moved to this week. We did have the Sunday lunch. Why I feel compelled to clarify all that, I don't know, except that I try to keep it real.}

Tuesday: Frito Pie with salad (recipe from HEB)

Wednesday: Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna (from Finding Joy in my Kitchen)

Thursday: Crockpot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese from Food.com.

Friday: Homemade Pizza with Salad

Saturday: Greek Stuffed Peppers with Greek Salad (got these recipes from my newspaper a long time ago, but here it is on Martha Stewart).

Sunday After Church Lunch: Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce and Green Salad


I also hope to make this week:
Classic Bran Muffins (didn't get done last week)
Greek Pasta Salad (for snacking)
Millionaire Pie (didn't make last week; for dessert one night).
and maybe some Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have teenagers, you see. Hungry teenagers.


I am also evaluating my method of planning. I'm just not sure about Say Mmm. I want to like it. But it seems like it is taking me too long to get the hang of it. I also wonder....what if it is not successful? Will all my work inputting recipes and grocery items be for nothing?

In many ways, I am still a pen-and-paper planner. What appealed to me the most was that grocery list, but maybe writing a grocery list out each week isn't that hard?

I found these excel templates for menu planning. One even generates a grocery list! Pretty handy. I downloaded them and I may play around with them a bit.

The other option is one I tried a while ago, after I had put most of my recipes in page protectors and then into binders. One binder is dinner recipes, another is all the rest.

My plan was to pull recipes and move behind tabs. I was hoping to plan for four weeks, so I had "Week 1," "Week 2" and so on. That didn't work for me, so I recently changed the tabs to things like "Pasta," "Beans," "Chicken" and so on.

Planning a week at a time is plenty. So I will just pull the recipes to the front of the binder and then refile in the proper section next week. If I put them to the back of their section, then the recipes I have not made will be near the front of the section when I look through the dinner recipe binder for ideas next week.

I also need to organize pantry and make a grocery list of the staples we keep on hand.

But now, I just need to get through this day and dinner on the table this evening!

By the way, I would love to know how others plan their menus and generate their grocery list. Please comment if you want to share!

Prayer Appointed for the Week: Sunday 9/4/11

(This is late. A headache and a holiday...)

Grant me, O Lord, to trust in you with all my heart; for as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with 7ou and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Vineyard Church in Ann Arbor has the Divine Hours prayers on its website, here.

This prayer originates from The Book of Common Prayer. It the Collect (Contemporary) Proper 18, for the Sunday closest to September 7th. Page 233 in my copy of the BCP:

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In the Divine Hours, the prayers have been changed for individual use. In the BCP, they are written for use in a group.


(Vineyard Church in Ann Arbor is using the Collect for the Sunday closest to August 31st.)

Friday, September 2, 2011

Siesta Scripture Memory Team: Living Proof Ministries Septbember 1st Blog

One day late posting my memory verse to the Living Proof Ministry blog, but this is my verse:



Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes[a] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 53:10 (NIV)

This is the Suffering Servant passage about Jesus:

Isaiah 52

13 See, my servant will act wisely[b];
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him[c]—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,[d]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.