New Menus!

Hey y'all,
I am sure you think I have forgotten all about you but honestly things have been so boring and quiet around here that there just hasn't been much to share! We are hibernating!!

 The kids have had snow days all week long, we were snowed in for days and we are going to starve if I don't venture out to the grocery store!  Our first snow day it was fun. We made red velvet donuts! Yum!

We had fun playing with the pets in the snow. Our smelly little beagle looked so cute in her new pink sweater. My son tortured the cat by plopping him in the hated white fluff. Don't feel sorry for the cat, he is a fish murderer. RIP Mu-Shu!

So I pulled myself from my winters sleep and wrote out menus and a shopping list yesterday so I thought I would share. Our meals are so much more well rounded and interesting if I actually plan them! That should be obvious, right? But I always forget that fact when I am being lazy and don't want to take the time. I think we have had chili, tacos, breakfast for dinner, and spaghetti every week this year! I am embarrassed to admit it.
 So I am pulling my shit together and getting busy. The house needs a solid scrub, we need some decent healthy meals and I need to get my butt in gear on some workouts! Spring Break is next month!! Sexy summer abs are 70% diet and 30% sweat. Sexy summer asses on the other hand are 70% sweat and 30% diet. Just to keep it challenging, I guess. But either way I need to put some thought and prep into what we are eating. My boys are like a plague of locusts, if they can find it, they will consume it!
 Here is the menu plan I came up with for the next 9 days, beginning today. I will remind you that these are in no particular order. I try to make sure we have everything we need for them and then make whichever one fits our mood and schedule that day. Although I seem to have a special knack for picking the same thing for dinner that the kids had for lunch at school. I swear I am not using the middle school menu to make ours!!! But kids like the same old foods, don't they?

Here goes:
Day 1:Kale,white bean, sausage soup. I will be using tofurkey italian sausage. Crusty bread,fruit salad with pineapple and an olive medley salad

Day 2:Baked spaghetti squash with spinach and cheese, like a casserole. I will use soy cheese. With Boca  chicken cutlet served with mushrooms and grape tomatoes in a balsamic glaze and melted soy provolone cheese on top. Crostini with a fresh roasted garlic spread and a cooked chocolate pudding made with rice milk and served with a melty marshmellow.

Day 3:Stromboli stuffed with marinara, cheese banana peppers, onion, garlic, mushroom and if I can find it a tofurkey pepperoni. That is a challenge to get a hold of here in KY. I will serve it with an italian fresh salad  full of pepperocinis, black olives, tomatoes and romaine and for dessert a cool whip fluff with fruit

Day 4:Beer BBQ tofu, oven roasted cauliflower with lemon, olive oil and cheese bake, baked beans, fresh cabbage salad with grated carrots, scallions and as a sneaky sneak some grated broccoli, the kids will never notice. I will make a lemon vinaigrette to dress it and a pineapple upside down muffin

Day 5:Soba noodles and tofu with a sweet ginger scallion sauce and  home made spring rolls

Day 6:Jasmine rice with  vegies (broccoli, green pepper,carrots and cauliflower)and tofu in an Indian curry sauce and candied fennel

Day 7:Falafel, olives, spinach,pepper strips, tomatoes, pepperocinis with a hummus spread in a toasted pita with soy cheese or feta. Served with a couscous salad with mandarin oranges, roasted red pepper strips and fresh parsley. Baby carrots

Day 8: Lemon garlic Zucchini strips with wilted spinach, crispy tofu and a chocolate chip, oat and flax bar.

Day 9: Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. (stuffed with a selection of seasoned black beans, tomatoes with chilis, green onions, cilantro, soy cheddar cheese, tofutti sour cream and a taco seasoned tvp. Maybe I will mix up a tomatilla verde salsa too if I can get tomatillas. Strawberry oatmeal smoothie.

Ok so that is the plan. Reasonably healthy and plenty of variety, maybe to many desserts but I am trying out some new recipes for healthy substitutions in desserts I found on Pinterest and my family is my test group, aren't they lucky?! Not all these experiments work. At Christmas I tried a vegan flourless chocolate sponge cake. It was supposed to be the base for our Buche de Noel and it was a massive flop! It tasted horrid and looked worse!! I threw it in the trash and the littlest one and I made some quick cupcakes  instead!
I wish we ate a bit less processed food but I have to find a balance between time saving and convenience and purity because I am human and there are only 24 hours in a day.

Now I will go back to my regularly scheduled daydreaming of warm breezes and staring at last year's Mother's Day orchid, that is in full bloom, longing for spring gardening.