10/27- 11/2 Meal Plan, Semi Drake Update, Diet Change!

I have been dairy free now for a whole week... the results are less than exciting.  I know I may be premature to judge but with Deacon I noticed MAJOR improvements after day two.  


I cannot handle seeing my son in gas pain hell because of something that I ate... it's breaking my heart and well, I am exhausted!


I know that this all just may be him but the chances of it being something that I am eating are well... better (based off of the diaper evidence).  So after practically no sleep last night (again) I have decided to go extreme with my diet... almost caveman/Paleo  style but with some modifications so that I am not starving- I still need enough calories to feed us both!


So here is our meal plan for the next week.  The only allergy item that I am not yet cutting out are eggs.  If in a week he is still miserable then see ya later eggs!  


I feel like I sound crazy but if I don't try this I will never know.  Talk about eating HEALTHY!  lol


All homemade, of course, and absolutely nothing processed in any way /-;

• Veggie Soup
• Fish, Veggies & Rice
• Large Salads w/ Egg & Chicken
• Roasted Chicken & Veggies
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Chicken & Rice Soup
• Dinner with my parents

So we shall see... this way I don't have to try just tomatoes, peanut butter, soy, dairy, etc. etc. etc.  I can just nail it all out and in a while bring things back one by one if when we are ready.


I'll keep ya posted!

9/11-9/17 Menu Plan

I feel like I am planning dinner this week for a bunch of 5 year olds!  But these are the things that are sounding great to me today… and of course it will all be made from scratch so I'll be able to put healthier twists on it all (-;

• Sweet & Sour Chicken over Brown Rice
• Sloppy Joes & Salad
• Tacos
• BBQ Chicken, Red Dill Potato Wedges, Yellow Squash & Pasta
• Pizza Dippers & Salad
• Eat Out/Grab Night/Left Overs
• Dinner with my Parents

9/5-9/10 Meal Plan

So this is super late!  The holiday weekend totally has me all thrown off!  My produce even showed up today- opps!  (I need to pay them next!)  


Anyhow I guess everything works for a reason because I was slacking on my menu plan on Friday, then forgot the cancel the produce delivery for the week... and it all worked out because I ended up making my menu plan based off of the goods that showed up at our door this afternoon.  


Tuesday:  Playdate at my house- Nacho Bar!  (fun kid meal!) 
Wednesday: Giant Salads (with Turkey, Cheese, Eggs, and a bunch of veggies)
Thursday: Veggie Bean Soup with Rolls 
Friday: Dinner at my parents house
Saturday: BBQ Chicken, Yams & Salad


Okay- going to pay for my produce now!  lol  (=  Total whoopsie!  

8/27-9/2 Menu Plan

Next week I am challenging myself not to grocery shop… it is rare that we have enough milk (my husband went and bought some yesterday) and produce to get us through but we are actually in a good position this week.

We have a ton of things for meals and they just need to be used as well as a few frozen meals that I have made and have in the freezer.

So… no menu plan this week.  I will just have to get creative on a nightly basis and hopefully use everything up so that nothing goes to waste.  We already have two meals from last week that will "roll over", then dinner with my parents, and I am sure a night out (or an event or something) so there is a good chunk there…

If I succeed at this and we only spend say $20 on odds and ends or a meal out then it will make up from my Chiropractic appointments this week in hopes to get this little man to flip (this wasn't my reason for doing this... my stuffed freezer this morning was... but hey- another perk!)!

Hope you have a wonderful week!

8/20-8/26 Menu Plan

It's downright CRAZY that next week my menu plan with include dates for September!! 

WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?!?!

Anyhow... we are still in August!  Here is our last full week of just August dinners:

• Marinated Grilled Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes & a veggie
• Veggie Burgers, Homemade Mac & Cheese & a veggie
• Cheese Enchiladas, Rice, Beans & Avocado
• Lasagna (frozen meal from a few weeks ago), cheesy garlic bread & a veggie (or salad)
• Leftovers/Grab Night
• Tuesday: Playdate night at a friend's house (we will probably have build your own pizza's for the kids)
• Friday: Parent's House

Hope you have a great week and stay cool! 

Menu Plan: 8/13-8/19

Here is next week's menu:

BBQ Chicken/Steak, Summer Pasta Salad & Corn on the Cob

Calzones or BBQ Pizza & Cesar Salad (super easy & FAST pizza dough recipe to come!)

Mexican Bean Soup w/ Avocados

Chicken Pockets & Salad

Date Night to celebrate our anniversary (=

Grab/Left Over's Night

Dinner with my Parents

Hope you have a wonderful week!

We have been needing the 'free' night (aka grab/leftover/etc.) as with all of the summer events, BBQ's, etc. I have been over planning...

My Weekly Goals... my Pregnancy 'To Do' list [Week 1; Aug 1-7]

I plan to share more about this in my 'Pregnancy Vlog Week 30' but I figured I would post the first week here and now.  I am hoping that by sharing it with you guys I will keep myself honest and ON TRACK!  I decided to break out my weekly goals for myself as a way to sleep at night, seriously!  Granted I only wake up once or twice a night to pee when I do it takes me a good hour to fall back asleep.  I literally lay in bed thinking about all of the things that I have to get done prior to this baby's arrival.  It is truly intimidating.

My list is long and aggressive but it is the only way that I can get it all done!  So in addition to my weekly menu plan I hope to post and share how things are going with my massive 'to do'.  Much of it may seem petty to you but they are things that honestly weigh on me day after day and night after night. 

Here is my list for this week:

• Organize pictures & print for Boys'  Baby Books
• Fill out d's Belly Book to date and complete D's 3rd tri-mester scrapbook pages
• Complete Deacon's pregnancy journal by watching my old YT videos (wk 20-38) - I may just burn a CD of these and put it in his book?
• Breastfeeding Videos (My journey w/ D) and my hopes/dreams w/ d
• Blow up Birth Ball

As of today I have…

• Spent about 8 hours so far this week working on filling in the gaps (all of the book writing), finding pictures (I had four computers to search), etc.  I cannot ever let myself get this far behind again!  It's been crazy trying to find everything and fill in all of the spaces.  I so wish I had just kept up with it as things happened!  I need a better system for organizing all of this stuff too! 
• I ordered 151 photos off of Costco.com and plan to get them all in their appropriate places this weekend.  I am picking them up after work (these pictures are simply the ones that have a designated home in one of the many books that I am working on). 
• I posted one of the two BFing videos I wanted to post this week (I have until Sunday to get the second one up!  Happy WBW!
• I have not watched any old videos/burned a CD or blown up the birth ball.

I'd like to think that I am about half way done which isn't too bad seeing in which I am coming off of the work week and have worked on these things after Deacon goes to bed (yes, I am tired!)

Well this post is long enough… but thanks for listening!  Feels good to see what I have done/need to do typed out and in my face (=

Menu Plan 8/6-8/12

This week was a little funky so we didn't get to eat all of our meals which was nice because I was able to roll them over.  I am going to swing by Costco after work and skip out on Whole Foods and Wal-Mart this week.  I did however order from our Organic Produce delivery company this week!

• Big Baked Potatoes w/ Broccoli, Cheese & all the other goods
• Calzones & Salad
• Tilapia, Artichokes & Pasta
• Spaghetti, Salad & Garlic Bread
• Mexican Bean Soup w/ Avocados
• Grab Night/Left Over's/Home Made Freezer Meal
• Dinner with Parents

Hope you have a fantastic week!  (=

7/30-8/5 Menu Plan

Yay- I promise next week's video will be much better than the last!  This last week was 'normal'!

Here is next week's menu:

Stacey's Enchiladas & Salad (Stacey is a co-worker of mine)

Shish Ka Bobs, Cheese bread & Salad

Tilapia, Artichokes & Pasta

Spaghetti, Salad & Garlic Bread

Turkey Breast, Stuffing, Mashed Spuds, Green bean casserole Parents House for dinner

Grab Night or Homemade Freezer meal

Hope you guys have a great week!

-Jeni

28 Weeks 1 Day Pregnant

27 Weeks 1 Day Pregnant

7/23-7/29 Menu Plan

I'm EARLY!  (-;

I feel like we haven't even had dinner at home once this week!  It's been crazy... a wedding (thanks, hubs for telling me about that one!), a baseball game/girls night out, a night where I was not up to cooking... needless to say there will be a lot of repeat meals from last week as we didn't use them.

• Calzones* (this was requested many times to show)
• Turkey Chili* (again, a very requested item)
• Veggies Burgers, Spinach & Potato Wedges
• Shake & Bake, Salad & Mashed Potatoes
• Turkey & Spinach Lasagna & Bread sticks
• Dessert (well, it's my contribution… were BBQing at a friend's house and I am in charge of the sweets! :-)
• Dinner with my Parents

Hope you have a great week!

-Jeni

*there will be how-to/recipe videos posted on my YouTube Channel, CandidMommy, next week as I make them (= 

If you have any other requests please just let me know!

7/16-7/22 Meal Plan

Late... AGAIN- and the lame part is that I totally had it done on Friday.  I even showed it in a video I posted on Saturday!  So I am sorry... but here it is (=

• Turkey Lasagna, Salad & Bread
• Veggie Burgers, Dill Potato Wedges, Steamed Spinach
• Green Chili & Cheese Tamales, Refried Beans, Mexican Rice & Avocado (we had this Sat. night)
• Chicken Nuggets, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Salad
• Shake & Bake, Salad & Mashed Potatoes
• Grab Night/Left Over's/BBQ/Freezer meal/Etc. (this 'free' day we used last night as I was out of the state taking a photography class and my husband has issues boiling water)
• My Parents House Friday Night

I hope you all have a fantastic week!!!

7/10-7/16 Meal Plan

Here is this week's menu plan... Sorry it's late!!  Last week's Grocery & Meal video is uploading now!

• (Sunday night we had one of last week's meals)
• Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches & a Veggie
• Calzones & Cesar Salad
• Chicken Chili with Cornbread (this meal is getting funny- although last week I did have everything out but we ended up BBQing instead-I blame my husband!)
• Chicken Picadillo over Quinoa
• Spaghetti, Salad & Garlic Bread
• Friday- dinner with my parents

We kind of meshed weeks this weekend and some things flip flopped but overall over last week and this week the menu plans pretty much match up.  We also grocery shopped early (Thursday instead of my normal Saturday) so that opened up more options (-:

7/2-7/8 Meal Plan

I just realized that my blog is getting boring!  I had to look back at an old post and saw how much I used to blog… it's like vlog more blog less or blog more vlog less- ugh.  Hopefully I can find a happy medium!  In the meantime here is what is on the menu for next week.  Kind of boring… I was trying to use up some things we already had.

• Tortellini with Alfredo sauce, Salad & Cheese bread
• A Freezer Meal & a TBD Veggie
• Chicken Chili & Cornbread (I keep forgetting to put this in the crock pot…next week… next week!)
• Turkey Burgers, Corn on the Cob & Pasta
• Breaded Tilapia, Crab Cakes, Rice & A TBD Veggie
• 4th of July (we usually order a pizza and eat it in the back of our truck while we wait for the fireworks)
• Dinner with my parents on Friday

Hope you guys are doing well!  (=

6/26-7/2 Menu Plan

Here is this next week's menu plan... we were finally able to hit our local Farmers Market so I made the majority of my menu plan based off of our finds there (=

This coming week I am also going to be making Chinese Food for the first time (and not just the pre-made sauce over chicken and rice...).  I am not going to go nuts but I am going to try to make some yummy chicken chow mien.  We shall all see how that goes! 

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Homemade Pizza, green beans

Chicken/Brocc/Rice/cheese casserole, Corn

Chicken Chow Mien

Turkey burgers, cucumber salad, BBQ squash

Taco Ring, Avocado, Beans

Chicken Chili & Cornbread

Friday Dinner w/ my Parents Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream Hope everyone has a great week!  -Jeni

6/19-6/25 Meal Plan

I am glad that you guys are enjoying my meal plan/grocery shopping videos!  Please let me know if you want to see anything specific... or a recipe video for any of the below recipes.

• Father's Day- Dad's choice (Deacon may be cooking?)
• Chicken Chili with Cornbread
• Spinach Stuffed Shells, Garlic Bread
• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Red Dill Potato Wedges & a TBD Veggie
• Tilapia, Red Garlic Mashed Potatoes & a TBD Veggie
• Farmers Market (we will eat something amazing there)
• Friday Night with my Parents

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Meal Plan for 6/13-6/18

We are back from our whirlwind of a weekend get-a-way!  It was C-R-A-Z-Y… I am actually glad to be home and ready to be bored!  (=

• Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches & Asparagus
• Shredded Chicken & Bean Tostadas with avocado & tomato
• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Artichokes & pasta (didn’t eat this meal last week)
• Chicken Enchiladas, Rice, Beans & Avocado
• Girls Night In!  Were making melted subs and watching a movie
• Friday night dinner at my parents house

The video of last week's grocery shopping trip & meals for the week will be up tomorrow.

Have a great week!

21 Weeks 2 Days

My view today... I am really starting to feel pregnant!



6/4-6/9 Meal Plan

I am back and 100% back to meal planning.  I hope to pick up my grocery shopping/meal videos again too- the computer that I assembled them on has decided to work again so yay to that!  I did not expect this pregnancy to take such a toll on my meal plans, then with a vacation away, people coming and staying with us for a week and my son's birthday/party it's just been downright nuts! 

So with that said here is my meal plan for next week.  I am actually excited to go grocery shopping tomorrow and to get things back on track!  It has been way too long!

• Homemade Chicken Gnocchi Soup & Salad
• Cheese & Green Chili Tamales, Rice & Beans
• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Pasta & Artichokes
• Big Salads (the works- with eggs, chicken, cheese, tons of veggies, etc.)
• 2- Frozen Meals (from the freezer cooking days- look back at previous posts for what it may be)
• Airport Food- blah!  But we leave right after work and will be cutting it close so it may be more like airplane food

I am so excited to get back to saving money and knowing what we will be eating each night (I HATE the "what's for dinner?" question!).  Over the last few months I have not at all stopped with our normal at home, homemade, meals and my standards have stayed the same… just the way I do it all has changed and I have noticed the effects with our dinner time and our bank account.

So I MUST get back to normal and stay on track! 

Deacon's 2nd Birthday Party!

I plan to do a video with many more pictures of the entire party but I thought I would share a few on here in the meantime!

 The Birthday Boy!

His Tray!

The Goody Table

Freezer Cooking Day (Take 2)

Once again this weekend a good friend of mine and myself got together for a big freezer cooking day.  The boys (her son and Deacon- they're 2 months apart) didn't want the day to be super easy and although they were trying at times we managed to finish up a 1/3 of a month's worth of dinners!  We each tackled 3 recipes and split up/doubled (well quadrupled) batches where it was easy.

We each ended up with the following:

Chicken Pot Pie
Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches
Chicken Spaghetti (2 dishes worth)
Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells (3 dishes worth)
Chicken Picadillo (2 dishes worth)
Chicken Enchiladas

My freezer as of last night (the bags were freezing flat)

And although it is a LOT of work in one day were learning… next on our priority list is to do more of the little prep the night before and start earlier so we don't push so far in to nap times.  Were figuring it out- one month at a time but man it's sure making life easy.  Again, I wish I would have done it sooner!

First Party Decoration is UP!

I am trying to get as much done as possible now so come party time there is less on my 'to do' list.  This is the first sign/decoration that is up.  Below it will be the Goody Bag table.

Sorry the lighting is not so hot... I took it on my phone.

18 Weeks 2 Days

First thing in the morning- prior to eating (-:

15 Weeks 4 Days

Easy Custom Candy Cupcake Toppers

These are the cupcake toppers I made for Deacon's Airplane Party.  I of course recorded a "how-to" but I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak (-:  I will post the video soon!

"Freezer Cooking"

This is something that I thought a ton about a while back yet I never got serious.  Then a few weeks ago my girlfriend and I each made a few meals, swapped and we have been enjoying them since.

Can I just say why in the world were we not doing this sooner?!?!?!  I am almost mad at myself for it!

We each finished our last little cooking day with 4 meals to enjoy for about a month's time.  Well, they're gone.  I feel spoiled, lazy and madly in love with homemade meals ready to go in my freezer!

We plan to meet again and have a bigger cooking day on 5/22.  In the meantime I am going to start working on doubling some meals [and freezing half (or more)- I have done this in the past and it is so easy]!

                These are my White Chicken Chili Enchiladas… it will be interesting to see how they freeze!

If you haven’t done this- DO IT! 

And if you do, do you have any tips, ideas for yummy meals, etc? 

Were still new at it but what could beat hanging out with a really good friend, letting your children play & keeping your hands busy cooking for the month ahead?  I am telling you… this is a MUST DO!  (oh and the new recipes we are sharing are awesome!)

I am anxiously waiting for our next day and this time we will each go home with 8 meals (-;



Happy Earth Day!

You couldn't pay me to go back to disposables! (-;

[easy] Custom Birthday T-shirt

I will be posting a "how-to" in a day or two but in the meantime I thought that I would share the shirt that I made for Deacon's 2nd Birthday Party.

Well technically Old Navy made the shirt but I re-designed and decorated it. 

Total I spent less than $6!

(Front)

(Back)

Hope I can inspire you (=



[Homemade] Frozen Meals

I mentioned in my Meal Plan last week that I was going to be having a frozen [homemade] meal at one point this week.  We had one last night- Chili Rellanos.  They were DELISH and I had no prep. no dishes. nada.  My husband threw them in the oven before I left work and about 45 minutes after I got home we threw some beans in the microwave and chowed.

A very good friend of mine and myself have been talking about doing some freezer cooking since we were first pregnant.  Needless to say it's taken two year but we FINALLY set a date and did it!  Our boys are only two months apart so it was a mix of a play date, cooking, chatting and fun!  We had a blast and spent about 5 hours getting everything done and visiting.

We each planned two dishes to double totalling 4 total dishes.

These pictures are terrible as you can see very little… but under I label what it is (-: 

Everything is homemade & from scratch!!

Chili Rellanos

Lasagna (with marinara from scratch)

Potato Soup

Chicken Enchiladas (with enchilada sauce from scratch)

This is a picture of the bottom of the dish.  The top is all cheese (-;

Granted it is only four meals but that is one meal a week that is DONE for the next month! 



Airplane Birthday Party Invites

His invites are completed! 

If you would like to see a "how to" or hear me read the actual invite click 'here'

13 Weeks 2 Days

I took this picture at 6:45 this morning... about 45 min. after waking up

totally empty stomach

4/17-4/23 Menu Plan

With what I would consider last week being quite a success I am excited to plan our meals again this week!

Here is the plan:

• BBQ Packets
• Sloppy Joes & A veggie
• Creamy Chicken & Rice with broccoli
• Grab night
• Spaghetti, salad (maybe- most lettuce tastes like dirt to me right now) & garlic bread
• Frozen Dinner (before you gasp it's one I or a friend of mine made…I will try doing a post on this next week)
• Dinner with my parents

So that's the plan… hope it works as well again this week- man life is a hundred million times easier with a menu plan!

How this week's Menu Plan is going…

I am proud to say that I am actually sticking with it this week! 

We have had the following:

• 
  Stuffed Bell Peppers
• Tuna Casserole (this was the grab night item)
• BBQ Chicken, Homemade Pasta Salad…
• Homemade Pizza
• Thanksgiving Dinner

Items left:

• Mexican Bean Soup (which grrrrrrrrr I had every intention to start the beans before I left for work but forgot)-;
• Veggie/Turkey Burgers
• Dinner with my Parents

All in all things are getting marked off of the list.  I am shocked!

I did not record my grocery shopping portion of these items as I didn't have to buy much (had most of it already from previous hopes to make it!) but I have recorded the meals each night.   

Were already working on compiling our menu plan for next week and I will have it posted tomorrow.

4/9/11 to 4/16/11 Menu Plan

Can you believe this post?  It is actually a menu plan!

Granted I won't know until the week is over as to how it went but I am going to try to stick with it.  It all just depends on how I feel and what sounds good which is once again, unpredictable! 

Here are the meals I am 'planning' on for Saturday-Saturday:

• Mexican Bean Soup
• Homemade Pizza & Veggies
• Stuffed Bell Peppers
• BBQ Chicken, Homemade Pasta Salad & Grilled Potatoes with Veggies
• BBQ'd Veggie (or Turkey) Burgers, Leftover Pasta Salad & a Veggie (depends on what looks good when I go shopping!)
• Thanksgiving Dinner (Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Green Bean Casserole,  Gravy from scratch, Rolls)
• Dinner with Parents
• Grab Night (=  (I may need more of these!)

Now to see how it goes… sighhhh

Music to a Mommy's Ears!

We met with our midwife for the first time yesterday.  It was wonderful!!!

This is a still from the first time we heard this sweet little one's heart beat.  Simply Amazing.

I will post a video update tonight or tomorrow morning.  Happy Wednesday!

First BBQ of 2011

Mother Nature was kind yesterday and decided to give us a beautifully warm day.  We hadn't seen the sun in months- literally (and this grass never died... it's strange!)!

We took advantage of every second and grilled out, ate out and had a fun family night! 

Snow is supposed to be back this evening /-;



Is it me or him? Big milestone today!

As you may or may not know I have gone and seen/nursed/rocked Deacon to sleep every single day he has been in daycare (with the exception of the day I couldn't get up (literally) from mastitis).  Last week I threw out the idea of seeing if he could fall asleep on his own.  So today we tried it.  He falls asleep without me the majority of the days that he is home with my husband so I thought just maybe he could do it at daycare too? 

Today at lunch he went to sleep without me… After eating lunch he [like always] went right over to his cot & laid down.  Normally they would give him  a few books to read while he waited for me if I hadn't already been waiting for him.  Today they didn't.  Instead they made a "Deacon sandwich", as she put it, in two of his blankets (I think the sheets they use on their cots are too rough so I like to have a blanket under and over him :-) After laying down he was still for a minute and then started getting a little restless like he couldn't get really comfy.  He looked back at the door a few times and at one point I sent my husband a text asking why I was even doing this.  After about a minute of him being a little restless but never getting up or leaving his tummy his teacher sat down next to him and rubbed his back for a few minutes.  She got up, he stayed down and he was passed smooth out. 

Less than 5 minutes from lunch table to snoring.

I called just a few minutes ago to see how he slept and she said that he slept like a rock!  They had to wake him up.  Granted he was a little more tired than usual (the weather is AMAZING today so they have been out a ton) he still fell asleep [almost all] on his own.  He is having snack now and seems like all is normal.

I don't know why I felt compelled to share… I wanted to keep it for my own personal keep sake and who knows, I may help someone?

All in all he did great… I bawled like a baby!  I couldn't believe that my baby didn't need me to fall asleep.  Sometimes I wonder if it's me or him that creates these "needs."  Part of me feel like if it were him there would have been a fight or a tear… something but nope, nada.  I think I am happy it went so smooth?  I wouldn't have allowed him to fuss or CIO.  I feel like when the time is right it is… no reason to push it or possibly in this case delay?

and in case you were wondering I am not trying to wean him but I wouldn't hate cutting back a bit, maybe even napping on my lunch break? (-:

Baby Movements

So I should wait until my week 11 vlog to talk about it however it is too exciting not to share earlier!

Three days ago I accepted the fact that yes indeed I am feeling this baby move!  It started about a week ago and I didn't believe it.  I thought that I was just plain nuts as it's really early. 

Well since I have been feeling the baby move a handful of times each day (about 1-4).  It's mostly just when I am sitting at my desk, reading something or when I am laying in bed at night before I fall asleep, etc.  It is in just about the same spot every time and it is oh so exciting!!! 

I am however a little worried that this is a really wild one! [-;

9 Weeks 2 Days Pregnant

Just for fun.  I think I am 9w2d. 

Biggest frontal change are the side-lines popping up inside hips.