What is on your menu this week?

My two "little" boys trying out the new ninja course near us. Hi all!   I was thinking today about how much easier life would be if I actually planned a menu and shopped for it.  We're in a super busy stage of life (with kids in elementary, middle and high school) and often dinner is my family members choice of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, multigrain cheerios or leftovers.  I have found that when I actually do make dinner and we all get a chance to sit at the table and eat together, everyone eats so much better. A couple other things I wanted to share from my day today: 1.  It's a beautiful day today.  I'll take any sunny, non-foggy days during the winter we can get! 2.  I went to the temple today.  Can't wait to go back.  So nice to take time away from my normal distractions and focus on eternal things.  I can feel my loved ones that have passed on cheering me on in my life.   3.  I found the most ...

Happy Monday!  It's been forever since I've planned and posted a menu.  I'm feeling like I want to use my crockpot a lot this week, so my meals are a little crockpot heavy.  Feels good to have a plan!  Monday:  BBQ chicken sandwiches, baked fries Tuesday: Crockpot San Francisco pork chops \, rice, veggies Wednesday:  Crockpot chicken stew Thursday:  Slow cooker flank steak sliders , potato casserole, fruit Friday:  Greek Instant Pot pork pitas Saturday:  easy night Sunday:  Honey lime crockpot chicken tacos Feel free to share your menu for this week in the comments.  I love it when you do.  Have a good week! More from Jenny:  

View from one of my early morning runs.  I love sunrises!  Except that the sun starts to rise at like 4:30 here. Hi friends!  I've got to keep this short and sweet.  I have a few thoughts: 1. A bird was chirping at 4 am this morning and woke me up.  My kids still have 14 more days of school. 2.  That's three more weeks before summer. 3.  I might need to stay off instagram so I'm not mad at my friends that are "in summer" now. 4.  Making dinner is a good thing. 5.  I love food. 6.  My family is happier when I make them food, especially if they're not already starving when I start making dinner. Here's my plan for this next week: Friday: tacos Saturday:  easy night Sunday: chicken/bacon/pineapple kabobs, rice Monday:  bbq burgers and hot dogs Tuesday:  pizza Wednesday: meatballs, potatoes Thursday:  breakfast burritos All righty!  Menu made.  Now to hit the grocery ...

Hi there!  We are on our 6th school snow today today.  Luckily it's sunny and the snow is trying to melt a bit before we get another storm tomorrow.  It's a little insane that we have had so much snow this month and no snow at all the rest of the winter.  (My kids didn't go to school for 11 straight days a week or so ago.)   Anyway...menu planning is becoming really important again, especially with hungry kids around all the time and the hill going to our house being super snowy and slick.   I shoveled off my deck today so I can use my grill.  At least our food can taste like it's summer. :) So, I'm menu planning today.  Here's the plan: Monday:  we had broccoli beef  Tuesday:  teriyaki cedar planked salmon , orzo pilaf, green beans, salad w /homemade ranch dressing Wednesday:  try creamy black bean taco soup Thursday:  7up grilled chicken, bacon, tomato and corn pasta salad ...

Hi friends!  It's been forever since I've posted a menu.  I'm determined to get back at it.  I spent last week in Phoenix with my husband, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for keeping the kids alive and on schedule!  I got to hike, eat yummy salads, shop, go to the temple, visit my aunt and lots of other fun things while my husband attended a conference.  We did some fun things together too. But, now I'm home and back at mom-life full-force.  Menu planning is a must, so here goes! Monday:  breakfast burritos Tuesday:  try  Italian herb roasted chicken and little potatoes Wednesday: try Asian-style meatballs and instant pot brown rice Thursday: grilled chicken salad with tortilla strips Friday: homemade pizza - pepperoni for the littles, BBQ chicken pizza for older Saturday:  easy night Sunday:  crockpot Kalua pork , maybe in tacos Well, that's what's on my menu.  How about you?...

Hi there!  It's definitely fall at my house, but we've been lucky and it hasn't frozen yet.  We're still picking raspberries and making freezer jam.  And I finally picked all my green tomatoes this weekend.  I hope the warmish weather stays as long as it can.  :) Soccer season is over.  Yay!  We have our first free Monday evening in months and months.  I thought about making doughnuts for our family night treat.  My kids loves making them around Halloween and we haven't done it for a while. Monday:  chicken and wild rice soup Tuesday:  easy night Wednesday:  taco soup before trick-or-treating Thursday:  honey lime pork enchiladas (I have them all ready to go in the freezer. Yay!) Friday:  beef stroganoff  Saturday: easy night Sunday:  crockpot chicken stew What about you?  What's on your menu this week?   More from me:     Butter...

I had this menu post all typed up last week and never pushed "publish" because I got distracted. So, better late than never.  Hi friends!  Because of really nice friends and carpools, I've made dinner every day this week.  It's been amazing!  Cross country is mostly over for my kiddos.  This is the last week of soccer too.  And now we can just enjoy basketball.   Funny story...my daughter said exasperatedly the other night that everyone in our house only cares about sports.  I looked at her and said "Are you serious?"  Did she forget about me?  I don't play sports and never did growing up, except for one season of summer softball when I was 12.  But my boys on the other hand love sports, especially my oldest.  He's been dribbling basketballs since he could walk.  So, I support them.  :) All righty friends.  Here's what our plan has been this week: Monday:  Swedish meatballs, mashe...

Happy Monday!   Just for fun, I'm sharing this picture from 2012 when life was way less busy, I blogged a lot and my kids were tiny and squishy.  Lately, I've been trying to remember what life was like back then, before I got a smart phone.  Back in the days before I could text or had social media.  Those were the days!    My husband and I have been trying to spend less time on our phones.  We bought alarm clocks a few weeks ago and have been leaving our phones downstairs at night.  It's so nice!  No more checking email/text/instagram/facebook/news right before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.  It's refreshing and relaxing. I'm also in the middle of a 10 day social media fast (a challenge from the latest talk by our prophet, Pres. Nelson ).  I've realized that I don't really miss any of the people I follow just for fun (people I don't know in real life).  I have a handful of favorite blogs that I f...

I'm trying to get back into blogging, instead of spending time on social media, both posting and browsing.  Life is super busy with all the kids in school and sports, etc.  I've got to do better at realistically menu planning. So this post will be short and sweet. Menu time! Monday:  crockpot taco soup Tuesday:  broccoli cheese soup and one hour rolls Wednesday: easy french dip , chips and salsa, veggies and fruit Thursday: leftovers or easy night Friday: breakfast burritos Saturday:  grilled cedar planked teriyaki salmon , rice, veggies Sunday:  crockpot roast, potatoes and carrots Snacks:  healthy applesauce oat muffins , dark chocolate almond joy bites   What about you?  What's on your menu this week? More from Jenny:    

Some of our backyard where we spend lots of our time in the summer, looking out to the garden. Hi all, The summer is buzzing along!  I can't even keep up, so I'm just enjoying the crazy ride.  This week is a slower week at my house, since my 12 year old is at scout camp.  I've actually made dinner a few times, so I thought menu planning would be a good idea for the next week or so.   This Week Monday:  I think we had leftovers...can't remember. Tuesday:  we had grilled sweet and sour chicken (really good!) Wednesday:  we had instant pot chicken noodle soup and one hour rolls (even though it was 100 degrees outside) Thursday:  we are having taco soup made with peppers, onion and corn from our garden Friday:  easy night Saturday:  lasagna Sunday:  french dip sandwiches Next Week Monday:   grilled Hawaiian chicken , rice, garden veggies Tuesday:  instant pot gr...

Hi all!  It's been months since I've posted a menu.  Life just got busy, I guess.  We still ate dinner and I kind of planned menus, but no blogging happened.  We are starting our second full week of summer break and I'm ready to get organized. Last week was full of camping, mosquito bites, helping at cup scout day camp, a hospital visit to get stitches, etc.  My kids are excited to have a full week at home and actually get to hang out with their friends and go swimming too. My garden is starting to spit out baby zucchini.  I'm so excited...the green beans, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are getting close too.  We've been munching on snap peas and raspberries for a while...but I'm anxious for more garden veggies. It's menu planning time... Monday:   chicken pot pie, fruit, hot chocolate cookies   (taking dinner to a friend) Tuesday :  grilled 7 up chicken , BLT pasta salad , corn on the cob Wednesday : ...

Alki Beach - My boys love this picture since it looks like there's a bird on my head.  We were grateful that the sun was out, thus the squinting.   Hi all!  We are in recovery mode from having spring break last week.  We spent the whole week in Seattle, where my husband worked and the kids and I played (and tried to stay sane while together in our hotel room).  It was fun and we got to do some fun things, ate lots of food that I didn't have to cook, swam in the hotel pool as much as possible and enjoyed the break from our usual schedule. I'm still trying to plow through the piles of laundry, plus my daughter had a birthday and I taught preschool this morning.  I sat down with my planner to plan out meals this week and when I got to Weds, Thursday and Friday, I thought "huh, that's going to be interesting".  Gotta love spring sports season (plus piano lessons, etc.).   So, here's my plan: Monday (yesterday):  I mad...

Hi there friends!   This week has been a good one.  It's been full of yummy food and sunshine!  This January has been so mild compared to last year when we had tons of snow days.  We've had sunny days and have got to spend time outside at the park, even if it's a little chilly.  So nice!  The only downside is there are so many sicknesses going around.  Hopefully the flu season chills out a bit and goes away.   Anyway...I'm loving menu planning from Friday to Friday.  It's a nice change from my usual Monday to Monday planning that I've done since I starting blogging in 2007.   Without more blabbing onto my menu for the week.  (More about the yumminess on the above pictures on Instagram.) Here's the plan for this week: Friday:  sausage, potato, onion, peppers sheet pan dinner Saturday:  roast chicken, instant pot steamed potatoes, gravy, etc. Sunday:  omelets, hashbrowns...