Meal Plan Monday: Why Frozen Food Month Makes Meal Planning Fun

March is Frozen Foods Month!  You will start to see lots of sales for items from your friendly grocer's freezer section.  Embrace it!  Start clearing room in the freezer!

The reality is that I'm a food hoarder.  No matter how I try, the start of March rolls around, and I have a full freezer.  Albertson's, in particular, will have a sale (at least in years past) where you fill a paper bag and receive a percentage off of the items in the bag.  Ice cream will go on sale.  Frozen veg will be cheep cheep. Frozen convenience items (step back from those--they are the road to heartache) will be attractively priced.

But on to the meal plan for the week.  Josh is on-call this week, so he's responsible for planning out the meals on his days off (but on call) as they fall in the middle of the week (Wednesday-Thursday).  I have this odd feeling that spaghetti will occur one day and that  grilling will occur the other, but who knows.

Monday:  leftover tourtierre, green veg, gravy

Tuesday:  sandwiches/hot dogs (maybe a sandwich or hot dog bar?)

Wednesday:  Josh prep

Thursday:  Josh prep

Friday:  pizza using two-ingredient pizza dough

Saturday:  meatball subs or leftovers from the Blackberry Pie Murder party

Sunday:  baked chicken, roasted veg (if the weather is cool; otherwise canned veg), rice and gravy

(The crock-pot baked chicken will be used for other meals throughout the week)

What are you planning for the week?

I am linking up at "I'm an Organization Junkie's" Menu Plan Monday.

Summary Sunday: LFam's Exploits This Week

Sunday:  Muffin slept late this morning (thank goodness)!  For breakfast, we had sausage, eggs, and toast.  Muffin had apple and grapes, as well.  Josh began smoking the ham, as it had been decided and thawed for lunch meat this week as well as dinner tonight.  Josh and Muffin took down the Christmas tree while I worked on blog posts for the week (and posted the recipe for chicken spaghetti and chicken noodle soup).  I played Juice Cubes, my newest addiction, and organized some things on my phone and computer.  Muffin went outside to keep Josh company while Josh was smoking the ham and building the fire pit.  It looks great!  (both the ham and the firepit)  Then, they went out front to play (translation:  tire Muffin out).  For lunch, we had leftovers (chicken tacos and leftovers from last night) as well as some truly frightening combination of Muffin’s.

After lunch, Muffin and I enjoyed the fight of nap time (which for Muffin meant a three-hour nap after the fight ended).  I worked some more on the blog while he napped.  After the nap, it was time to prepare for dinner.  I made Peppery Parmesan Biscuits (looking forward to the leftovers with Sister Syrup tomorrow), and Josh prepped the ham (he had sliced it during Muffin’s nap), sweet potatoes (canned), and English peas (canned).  While he was prepping dinner, Muffin and I snuggled in the recliner with Tracker, my stuffed TY basset hound from when I was younger that Muffin has now inherited.  Josh also grilled some chicken for the fried rice (as well as for other uses in the week to come) Tuesday.

After dinner, Josh cut up the pineapple, and Muffin ate most of it (Josh and I snagged a bite or two).  Then, Josh and Muffin went to play outside again while I caught up on more blogging.  Then, they played a Bubble Game on the Wii.  Something seems to be wrong with the Wii (maybe it got dirty).

Speaking of dirty, earlier in the day when Muffin and Josh were outside playing and building, Daisy decided to roll around in Muffin’s turtle pool.  She had to be hosed down.

After supper, Muffin took a bath while Josh and I set up and started grinding a pork loin.  Then, Muffin joined us for some grinding fun, family-style.

Monday:  Today was spent prepping the week’s meals (chicken fried rice and red beans and rice–as well as two loaves of artisan bread!) and snuggling and playing with Muffin.  We played a game of toss the balloon, where, according to Muffin, the loser wouldn’t get a badge but the winner would get badges.  We watched Thomas and Friends Blue Mountain Mystery five times…I counted.  He even built a track for me.

Red beans and rice is one of his favorite things I cook.  Muffin tends to like beans (red beans, refried beans) as well as meat.  However, he licked the butter off of the bread instead of eating the bread!

Tuesday:  Switch up of the meal plan.  Again, plans are meant to be flexible.  I decided to redo red beans and rice (piggybacking off of the success with Muffin eating so much of it last night), and he ate two bowls!  Josh is going to do the final prep work of the fried rice tomorrow.  (He does a better job with the fried rice than I do)  Muffin didn’t have a nap today, so that meant a bit of a struggle for the rest of the day and a test of my patience.  I read a post by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom about patience and apologies in parenting, and it really hit the target today.  There are days when Muffin really tries my patience, and when he hasn’t had a nap (and I’ve been at school all day), those seem to be the most trying days.  We did a family movie viewing of Despicable Me 2, which we all love, this evening.

Wednesday:  Day three of eating red beans and rice.  Muffin fell asleep on the way home, and Josh was late getting home, so Josh and I decided we would just do leftovers again rather than make rice.  We will probably make the fried rice tomorrow night.  I worked some on the upcoming blog entries (including this one).

Muffin woke up during dinner and played with his trains for a bit (as well as the felt shapes and felt background I had made for the trip last summer).  Then, he took a bath.  I think he wanted to sleep with us because, after bedtime, he kept coming into our room.  He and Daisy must have sneaked into our room at some point last night because they are now cuddled up next to each other between Josh and me on the bed.

Thursday:  Muffin was a good boy for Granny and Granddaddy again today.  This is especially auspicious because it rained just about the time he was to get to go play outside in their backyard.  I’m very proud of him for his behavior today.  He was even good when I picked him up (something which almost never happens because he’s usually in “manic” nap time mode).  And then Josh got home.  And Muffin reverted to super-manic mode.  Josh was busy cooking supper (the fried rice rescheduled twice from Tuesday), and I was posting a blog post on tourtiere for Sunday.

Fried rice, for Muffin, was a bit of a struggle.  He did not like the fact that onions were in it.  So, Josh meticulously picked out the onion, and Muffin ate the rest.  Then, Muffin looked through the mail and found a fake car key that a local car company was using as part of a contest entry.  (Muffin likes keys.  He wanted to go try it on his Jeep to see if it worked)

After that, Muffin played trains while watching a Hot Wheels show on Netflix.

Friday:  The evening was a challenge to say the least.  We had planned to go to Rotolo’s, but Josh was late getting off, and there was a long wait.  In my antipathy about restaurants, I am becoming very impatient.  I can wait in lines at stores, but I don’t like having to wait for a table.  Having an active son tends to force the issue even more so.  After another false start at Santa Fe, we settled at Don Juanz, an old favorite of mine.

Saturday:  I awoke Saturday early and completed most of my shopping, returning home shortly after Muffin had awoken.  We then went to Brookshire’s and the library, and Muffin had a lot of fun.  We then went home.  Muffin saw the ducks in our neighborhood and wanted to feed them, so we decided to have a picnic at the playground and let him feed the ducks.  He had a blast, and the ducks are definitely not shy!  Then, we rested a bit before the parade.  Muffin fell asleep on the way home.

The Krewe of Centaur Parade

Muffin called it the circus until the parade started. I'm not sure if it's because Centaur sounds like circus or because parades are supposed to be festive and so are circuses.

When the parade was over, he insisted that he had fun and liked the parade, especially the "train float." Thank you, Krewe of Centaur for including a train float.

The day started well enough, but we had decided to wait to leave for the parade at 3 (because we left too early two years ago when we last went to the parade). Our plan was to park at WalMart, eat at the Subway there, and shop a bit before the parade. Until we got to the place we planned to turn only to discover that the streets were closed. At 3:30 (And the parade did not show up at that location, the end of the route, until 7). The parade itself didn't start several miles away until 4:30.

So, we altered our plans a bit. We went down to the next side street and paid the Methodist church $5 for parking (to go to the youth ministry) and trekked with our bag and chair (and Muffin) to the end of the street (only to realize that we were close to Super 1. We decided to trek over there, but we ended up behind the barricade at the last turn (where there was still space). I was still surprised that the area behind the barricade was fairly empty.

Muffin played a bit while I went to track down food. Super 1 was closed! The wine and spirits part of Super 1 was open, but the grocery store itself was closed. Panic set in. Subway was out of the question (we were a mile or so from Walmart). Quizno's in the same shopping center as Super 1 was closed.

I called Josh, and he said there was a Taco Bell down the street. At this point, I entered the "I no longer care as long as it is not alive when I eat it" mode. So, he and Muffin went to Taco Bell while I held down the fort.

We ate our Taco Bell but still had several hours to wait.

We met some very lovely people, a family from Texas and a man and his two sons who lived somewhere around the parade route. But there were some clear negatives. There were no public restrooms (portapotties or otherwise) nearby. Do you know how maddening it is to be in leaping distance of a porta-potty for hours and having to use the restroom so badly...and not be able to go?

Public drunkenness is to be expected. It is Mardi Gras, after all. While this isn't the French Quarter, it is in the state boundary of Louisiana (barely), so raucousness is to be expected. I get that. But drunks who have to help other drunks stay on their feet? And who (in their right mind or otherwise) would risk public drunkenness with no restroom or porta-potty to use (either to relieve oneself or to be physically ill)?

Not I, said the grasshopper.

I think it's important to be goal-oriented in many things. Including parade attendance. Our goal for the parade was to snatch up procure as many Mardi Gras cups as possible. I exaggerate only a smidgen when I say that in the first ten years of my life, I can remember NOT drinking from a Mardi Gras cup at home a handful of times. Mardi Gras cups are fine china.

Our goal was to also keep an eye on Muffin at all times. On our way home (after Muffin had passed out from exhaustion--we will call this time date night), Josh had a mini-rant (that I was in full agreement with): we saw several kids that seemed to be sans parents at the parade. Running around. Almost being run over by floats (the kid's fault, not the parade participants'), hitting other kids with a scooter (I'm emotionally scarred by that one), and just not being supervised. Added to that, there were a few people (one guy in particular) that gave off a creepy, pedophile-vibe. Lots of people who are distracted, lots of kids left to their own devices, one pedophile is all it takes. Super scary.

Muffin was frighteningly well-behaved. Especially for having naptus interruptus after only 30 minutes or so of napping. And having to wait for the parade for hours.

Did I mention (and this is also alarming) that there were no trash cans? I almost feel sorry for the people who were set to clean up after the parade, but they didn't put out the trash cans. And they had the porta-potty that I stared at for four hours unable to use.

Now, let me say this: I was a West Bank baby (not West Bank in the Middle East, but I was born on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in New Orleans). Yes, it's possible. There's a little smidge of New Orleans on that side of the river. As a result of my birthplace, it seems that I am capable of doing the following.

Keep in mind that I have no sense of balance or ability to play most sports that involve throwing or catching or walking and breathing at the same time, even. Yet, in parades my hands have superglue on them; I seem to be able to catch any throw that comes at me or passes me. I also seem to develop this ability to scream and holler and keep my hands held high. Yes, the dirt of my birthplace does that to you. You are coded at birth to capture throws from a Mardi Gras parade float. And to call it to me (if you count screaming like a banshee and waving my arms wildly above my head calling it to me).

At the end of the evening, we managed to catch/be given the following: several pounds of beads, 13 cups plus one that was split that I will use as a pencil cup in my classroom (score!), 2 stuffed animals (including a jester bear made for that particular krewe's float), one large frisbee and several smaller frisbees.

I will be posting pictures soon from the parade. But. I. Must. Sleep. Now.

Welcome to the new homeplace of Full Happy Muffin and Mama. I will be posting here and at the WordPress site while we make the move over. Enjoy (and pardon) the construction.