Menu Plan for the Rest Of JULY!

As I've mentioned, I struggle with menu planning. Even though I KNOW it works, it helps, it's good to do, I just don't like to do it, which is why it's so helpful for me to post it because I know I'll get it done then. As you may (or may not) have noticed, I haven't been posting them the last few weeks. And, that means, I haven't been making them. Which means, I sometimes have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner, even half an hour before said dinner -time.

I have a goal of making menus one month at a time, and doing some amount of prepping ahead and freezing what I can. Right now, the most I've done is make a double batch of some things and freezing the extra, and making some mixes. These are helpful, but not what I have in mind for my freezer cooking goals.

Today is Tuesday. I didn't have my menu planned for the rest of the week yet yesterday (on Monday, my menu planning/posting day). But today I am going grocery shopping, so it had to be done. And then, I did the unthinkable.....I planned the menus for the rest of the month! Using this monthly menu planner from $5 dinners, I filled in the rest. I know it's only 2 1/2 weeks, but for me it's a lot. Unfortunately there's not many things I can prep ahead, but I may be able to figure some out.

So, here's what's planned for the next 3 weeks:

M- Baked Potatoes, grilled onion&mushroom toppings, steamed green beans
T- Eggs & toast, OJ
W-Burgers (Father's Day--we never had it)
Th- Rainbow Salad & (hopefully) Homemade Bread
F- Chicken Pot Pie, Broccoli, Challah, Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies&Almond Milk
S- Granola, Raw Granola, Almond Milk, Pasta Tuna Salad

S-Vegetable Stuffed Eggplant
M- Spinach & Chickpeas with pita
T- Homemade Pizza, Greek Salad
W- Pancake Supper
Th- Homemade Hummus, Couscous Tabouli, pita
F- Crock pot Sweet n Sour Cabbage&Beef soup
S- Couscous Salad

S- Taco Casserole
M- Eggs & Toast, OJ
T- L/O Cabbage Soup
W- Spaghetti, Salad
Th- Cabbage & Potatoes (pan fried)
F- Baked Fish, Macaroni & Cheese, Candied Carrots, Spinach
S-Leftovers????

Summertime Fun: Camp at Home

With five children at home with me all day, every day, all summer long, .....um, I lost my train of thought. I guess that's because I have FIVE CHILDREN! At HOME! WITH ME! EVERY DAY! And yes, I'm planning to begin homeschooling (more) after this summer, so this is something I need to know how to deal with.

You may be wondering how I'm going to stay sane. You'll be happy to know that I have a PLAN.

A few years ago I heard from Flylady the great idea to make "camp" at home. Just like when kids go to day camp and they have lots of fun activities around a theme, you can create this at home. And so I did a one-week camp that summer. I called it "Camp Creation" and based it around the seven days of creation. Each day had activities based on what was created on that day during the creation week. It was a big hit.

Last summer, I was very pregnant, and just didn't have it in me to do a camp. The boys attended a 3 week day camp at the preschool, and after that I did try to use some good scheduling ideas to manage things, though, and wrote about them in
Summertime Kids-How Scheduling Can Stop The Madness!

Children definitely have more fun and behave better when they have some kind of direction to their time and they're not just on their own with "free" time all day long.

This year, they're all at home. I decided I needed to plan something. I got great ideas for CampWannaLaffaLotta from LifeAsMom.com

The weekly themes she suggested were just right, so I'm keeping most of them the same. Last week was Week 1, and we were Down On The Farm. This week we're Under The Sea. We'll also have a week going on a Jungle Safari, then Camping in the Great Outdoors, and Blasting Into Space.

That's 5 weeks. I'm not sure yet of the rest; I'm figuring this out as I go along. I haven't had much time to post my links and activities, but there's always next year. Right now it's time to have fun!


And I don't have a name for my camp, so if you think of one for me, pass it along!

Visit Flylady's CampGonnaWannaFly page here

What's your summer-fun plan?

There's A Party Going On Round Here...

A celebration....to last throughout the year.

OK, my eighties brain is coming out. I hope you are singing along with me to those lyrics. The song everyone knows. Kool & The Gang. But I digress.

How can I digress? I haven't said anything yet.

So there you go. This is how my brain works.

What I wanted to say, the reason I started with thinking about celebrating is this: I want to teach you a secret. A concept that my friend Dr. Andrea Hazim taught me. It's a good one that really helps me make better eating decisions.

Are you tempted by your tongue to eat things that you know you shouldn't? (We all are!) Do you argue with yourself about your level of self discipline (or lack of it) and then get angry at yourself for either depriving your inner princess of the yummy stuff or for giving in to that inner princess of yours? I do! Or, I did. Until I learned this concept:

Celebration Days vs. Regular Days

It's just as it sounds. On a celebration day, you are free. You are celebrating. Whether it's an anniversary or a family reunion, a party or a night out, it's not your average day. So, relax your standards and have fun.

And on the flip side, if it's not a celebration day, don't eat cake and ice cream!

You can even decide how many celebration days per month to allow. For me, we allow such things once a week, for a period of 24 hours. Don't get me wrong. This does NOT mean that for 24 hours we eat nothing but sugar and junk! But it does mean that we might indulge some. And I know that our bodies will have at least 6 days free of things hard on our systems.

What happens when things come up that are not on our normal "free" day? Well, we have to adjust for it. Our family attended a pot-luck picnic on the 4th. For dessert there was an array of sugar filled options. I allowed my children to each have 2 items, (their choice). And when it comes time for our end of the week treat, I'll keep that in mind when choosing a dessert to make for everyone. Instead of brownies, I'll make apple crisp. See how it goes?

You can't listen to this without dancing. Go on, try it!