This Week's Menu + Free Menu Planning Printable

This week I'm slowly jumping back into meal planning by utilizing quick family favorites and those freezer meals I stocked up on before having baby #2!

For the first time, I'm planning my breakfasts, lunches and snacks along with my suppers. This is totally new for me, but I decided it was necessary to make sure I'm taking in enough calories while breastfeeding Reese!

Another reason I decided to expand my meal planning is because I am one busy Mama! These two beauties are keeping me on my toes and I don't want to waste time trying to think of what to make for lunch!

Aren't they SO adorable...I can't get enough!

I really like seeing everything laid out for the week and it doesn't take long to fill it out! I hand write them in and add them to my meal planning binder to save for future use, when I have brain block and don't know what to plan :) Stay tuned for my detailed posts on how I meal plan!

Here's what our family is eating this week!  Click on the meal for the recipe!

I wanted to share this Meal Plan template with you all in hopes it'll make things easier around your house and hopefully give you some extra time to spend with your favorite people! Just download, print and plan away!

FREE PRINTABLE HERE

Do you have a meal plan guide that you use? What do you love about it?

What are some of your family's go-to meals?

Happy Meal Planning!

Welcome Reese Elizabeth

It feels so good to be back in the blog world!!

I about died laughing when I saw the date of my last post. Ha. I was well into my third trimester and miserable! It was hard enough making it through the day with a toddler, let alone blogging. And who am I kidding, I wasn't doing any meal planning...heck I was hardly even cooking!

I had my first baby 5 weeks early, so I had no doubt in my mind, I'd go early with #2 as well. (insert laughing here!) Every week that went by seemed like a month. My due date of January 8th came and went. I feel so bad for my husband and daughter...I was MISERABLE and probably unbearable to live with!

I was beginning to think #2 was never coming! My husband and I found out the gender, but decided to keep it a secret from everyone else. I was so over that! Come on baby! Finally, showing up fashionably 5 days late, Reese Elizabeth was born! Weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long!

hi. i'm reese!

 It is so much fun being a family of four. God has blessed us in so many ways. I often can't believe that God chose ME to be Mommy to Lenna and Reese!

Lenna gets the Big Sister award for adjusting like a champ. She has been such a big helper and gives Reese more kisses than one can count!

 Adjusting to 2 kiddos has been a task! We're starting to get on a decent schedule. Big props to my hubby for helping me get everyone out of the house when we need to go some where!


We are just eating this precious little peanut up! I'm excited to slowly getting back into full blown meal planning. For now, I'm using up those oh so helpful freezer meals and easy 5 minute meals!

Just a few more because I can't help myself!!

meal plan monday

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.

I'm enjoying this beautiful snowfall...I'm one of the few who actually LOVE winter :)

I'm spending this cold and blustery evening with this adorable munchkin who's obsessed with babies and kisses! A perfect combination for a soon-to-be big sister!

Here's what's for dinner in our house the next two weeks! Just a note...don't be afraid to plan on having left-overs! Our family loves left-overs. We use them for lunches and easy supper nights!

Don't forget to adapt the grocery list to meet your family's needs!

GROCERY LIST

RECIPE CARDS

Happy Meal Planning!

help me find it

Don’t you just love those moments when you hear something you so desperately needed to hear!

Recently, I was driving home from the grocery store…alone…doesn’t happen often…and the song, Help Me Find It, by Sidewalk Prophets came on the radio. I was immediately drawn into worship!

Take a minute and listen to the song if you haven’t heard it before! It’s great! (Side note: if there is a commercial for the "Plan B" contraceptive before the video...please know I do not support or agree with this product at all). 

 Did you just have a great worship experience or what?!? :)

In my own walk with Christ, I’ve often viewed finding God’s will as a daunting, intimidating, and overwhelming task. That’s all a result of my sinful pride getting in the way, thinking that I need to find His will on my own.  How the heck am I supposed to know what God’s will for my life is? Am I the only one who’s struggled with this? :)

This song was the reminder that I needed…that I don’t have to seek God’s will on my own. He will help me find it, if I trust in Him. 

I love the line- “You’ve never failed before!” PRAISE GOD!! Isn’t that the best thing you’ve ever heard?! I’m sure you’re thinking…duh Debi, of course God hasn’t failed…but that reminder just nailed my heart! Why would I trust myself, the failure, when our perfect unfailing Creator is willing to guide us!

I love the chorus – 

“If there’s a road I should walk, Help me find it.

 If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment.

Whatever Your will

Whatever Your will

Can You help me find it?”

I don’t know if it’s the go-getter personality I have, but I typically assume when I’m seeking God’s will, I need to be DOING something. This chorus reminds me that there will be times when I should be active, and times when I need to be still.

I hope you’re blessed by this song!

Thank you Jesus for sending this gentle reminder.  Help me to trust in you, even when it hurts, help me wait for you. Thank you for your grace.

meal plan monday

What a gorgeous weekend!! Sunshine...colors changing...ahh it was glorious!

My hubby and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this weekend with a night out! Thanks to my parents for keeping Lenna over night. It's definitely a treat waking up on my own time and sipping coffee on the couch with just Terry in the morning!

We had a fun time at our Fall Family Fun day on Saturday at my Aunt and Uncle's farm. It's always refreshing having a fun day with family!

This bi-weekly meal plan is compiled of family recipes and ideas from the blog 100 Days of Real Food.

If you've never checked out that blog - DO IT! Lisa, the originator of the blog, is dedicated to feeding her family tasty meals made without processed ingredients. Just a warning...you will spend HOURS looking through her recipes. Everything we've tried has been delicious!

Happy Meal - Planning :) Leave a comment and let me know if you tried any of the recipes!

 Click on the picture to download!

Don't forget the GROCERY LIST

Just a reminder that the grocery list does not include all of the pantry ingredients needed for these meals. Be sure to check your pantry after looking through the recipe cards and make adjustments.

This week's RECIPES

The recipes featured from 100 Days of Real Food are below! 

Quiche w/ Whole-Wheat Crust 

Pork Carnitas Tacos 

Whole-Wheat Banana Bread

happy eating!

meal plan monday

This weekend, we had our Fall Women's Retreat here at Camp. It was so great - perfect weather, amazing speakers, fellowship, and delicious food! A big thank-you to my hubby for spending the weekend with Lenna, so I could be a part of the retreat!

I got to talking with one of our speakers, Sherene McHenry, about life and I started telling her about this new blogging adventure I've started. Did I mention that she's a life coach!?! She was so encouraging and uplifting and got me even more excited about meal planning! She was on a roll, planning a meal-planning book I could publish...oh the possibilities :) You can find one of Sherene's amazing books here! I'm so thankful I had to the chance to chat with her...she's one of those people who give off energy and joy. I want to be more like that!

The next two weeks are sure going to be tasty! You can download the menus, grocery list, and recipes below!

MENU #1

 

MENU #2

The grocery list includes all necessary ingredients for each of these meals planned, minus staples we all generally keep in our pantry or baking cupboard.

Take a look at what your family might need for breakfasts, lunches or snacks and be sure to add those to your list before shopping!

GROCERY LIST

Let me know how you like the recipes this week! You can download all of the recipes for the next two weeks by clicking below!

RECIPES

You can find the recipe for the Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza over on 100 Days of Real Food Blog!

happy meal-planning :)

diy wreath

I'm a sucker for easy projects :) I'm not a creative person - It's so hard for me to come up with original ideas. If you give me a prototype, I can create anything!  I found this adorable idea on Pinterest, see the pin here, and decided to give it a whirl!

I grabbed all of my supplies from Walmart - a plain brown wreath, spray paint, piece of white felt and a roll of burlap garland. The garland was 10 yards for only 5 bucks and I know I'll use it for a lot of other things as well.

I started with a plain jane wreath. I chose a plum color spray paint, thinking I could use this wreath throughout the year!

My yard and dining room table were my project spaces for this one, because my hubby was hogging the garage while cutting up his deer!

Just lay the wreath face down on your surface and spray away! Because of all the vines twisted and tangled, you really have to spray from all directions. I wasn't too picky about the back side. Flip it over and spray the front. I did a very heavy first coat, and that's all it took!

While the wreath was drying, I went to work on the burlap flowers. There are a million tutorials on how to make burlap flowers, but to be honest...it's all trial and error!

I started by cutting my burlap garland in half because it was 6'' wide. I cut strips about 18'' long.

 Fold the strip in half...I dotted glue along the bottom half, then folded it over so it would stay while I was working with it!

You're GLUE GUN is your best friend for this project!

Next, start at one end and roll a few times and glue to hold it together.

From here - you just need to go for it. I rolled and twisted, and unrolled and untwisted until I got it how I wanted. There is more than one way to do this. I kept rolling and twist the burlap as I went. Use your glue gun frequently to help keep the rolls together and it will help you form it better!

I tried to keep the fraying edge down, and if I couldn't, I used the glue gun to tuck some loose strands in. Keep twisting, rolling and gluing until you run out of burlap. Glue the very end. If you need to trim off a little bit, that's fine.

I wasn't in love with my flowers at first, they aren't exactly alike...but that's fine :) Cut a round piece of felt, smaller than your flower and hot glue it to the back of your flower. This will help stick your flowers to the wreath better (sorry I didn't take a pic of this)!

You can spruce up the flowers by adding beads, buttons, etc. I found a random plastic pearl necklace and some old buttons that were in my great-grandma's sewing box.

I made 5 flowers total - 3 smaller ones (18'' long) and 2 bigger ones (24'' long). The great thing about a project like this, is you can do as many or as few as you want. I didn't have a wooden letter to add to my wreath, so I did a few more flowers.

Next, you need to make a big bow. THIS IS SO HARD :) Thank goodness my super-crafty Mother-in-law was over and helped made one for me :)

I'm happy with the finished product! I hope you craft away and get even more creative than I!

happy crafting :)