Menu Plan Monday 1/30/-2/5/2012

Last week was a nightmare on the menu planning. I ended up making some recipes I have never made before, but we ended up having to eat out a few more times than expected. We had a major catastrophe when a piece blew off the toilet and water flooded the downstairs. God only knows if my wood floors are going to make it. I keep expecting to wake up and see bowed floors. We will see… this is the 4^th flood of one type or another we have had in the 7 weeks we have lived here. I will be getting flood insurance this afternoon!

Any-who I hope this week, will be a good week for rocking it out in the gym and eating much better, and at home! What’s on your menu plan this week?

Week Day	Main Course	Vegetable	Side Dish
Monday	Crockpot Ham and Potatoes Au Grautin		Spinach and Egg Cups
Tuesday	Quick Mushroom Barley Soup
Wednesday	Low Fat Chalupas		Spanish Rice
Thursday	Crunchy Pecan-Crusted Chicken Fingers	Pan Fried Cabbage	Sautéed Mushrooms
Friday	Fiesta Tamale Pie	Caramelized Carrots
Saturday	Dinner Out with Family
Sunday	Coconut Shrimp and Rice		Salad

For More Menu Planning Ideas Visit www.OrgJunkie.com

Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Shape Cookies Giveaway

I have never been a fan of Valentine’s Day, but I love Valentine’s Day candy and I especially love Valentine’s Day cookies!!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to show those who are near and dear just how much you care with a treat straight from the heart and fresh from the oven!

New Valentine’s Day Pillsbury® Ready to Bake!™ Shape® Cookies will fill your home with love and now the magic of Disney®. Whether you bake these cookies for, or with your loved ones, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Shape Cookies are perfect for bringing those you love most together on Valentine’s Day!

Quick and convenient, Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Shape Cookies are ready to enjoy in 8-10 minutes and can be found at your local grocer Celebrate the holiday with your family’s favorite Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Disney Princesses Belle, Cinderella and Tiana Bake your way into your family’s hearts this February with new Valentine’s Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Shape Cookies. To spread the love even further,  CLICK HERE to download a printable coupon for $1.10 off of the purchase of (1) package of Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Shape Cookies today!

www.Pillsbury.com

*Pillsbury Valentine’s Day*

Prize Pack Giveaway

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*As required by the Federal Trade Commission: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark to Colie's Kitchen at no cost to Colie's Kitchen, nor is Colie's Kitchen being paid to endorse this product. All that was asked of Colie's Kitchen was to review the product, and give our honestly opinion.* 


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"Fancy" Ham and Cheese Sliders

This was a really fun meal for the family. It was quick and easy, and relatively inexpensive. Everyone likes sliders and finger food. These would be great to serve at a get together or a party.  This is also a great meal for something for a midweek meal when you need something fast.  I have seen a lot of recipe on the web that is similar to this one that uses a lot more brown sugar. I made the heavy brown sugar recipe once, but it was a little too sweet for us. I like this recipe much better because it’s a little milder!

Ingredients:

• 12 good white dinner rolls
• 12 pieces good honey ham
• 12 small slices Swiss cheese
• mayonnaise
• miracle whip

Poppy seed sauce 

• 1/2 Tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1 Tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 Tablespoon minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ teaspoon brown sugar

Directions:

1. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll may or miracle whip. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. You do not have to use all of the sauce! Just use enough to cover the tops. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy. Serve warm.

Recipe Source
 

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Pillsbury Coupon $1.10 off 3 Pillsbury Refrigerated Products

Head up for a great Pillsbury coupon!!  This past Christmas I was invited to host a Pillsbury Holiday Idea’s Made Easy Party and found this coupon to be very helpful. Here is a coupon for $1.10 off when you buy THREE of any size/variety Refrigerated Pillsbury® Grands!® Biscuits, Crescent Dinner Rolls, Ready To Bake! Cookies, Sweet Rolls OR Grands!® Sweet Rolls

Be sure to visit Pillsbury.com to find convenient, delicious recipes and remember to share the coupon offer with your family and friends so they can take advantage of the discount as well.

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*As required by the Federal Trade Commission: The VIP has been provided by Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark to Colie's Kitchen at no cost to Colie's Kitchen, nor is Colie's Kitchen being paid to endorse this product. All that was asked of Colie's Kitchen was to review the product, and give our honestly opinion.*

Menu Plan Monday 1/23/-1/29/2012

Hi everyone!! I hope your week is off to a good start. My day has already been over the top busy with a big trip to Sam’s Club. I am trying to get my menu planning under control. We need to start eating at home. I can’t tell you the last time I cooked dinner… at least a week ago which is shameful. The expense and the calorie intake are insane, and out of control. Here’s to a better week! What's on your menu this week?

Week Day	Main Course	Vegetable	Side Dish
Monday 23	Yes Virginia There Really Is a Good Meatloaf	Butter Roasted Carrots	Au Gratin Potatoes (boxed)
Tuesday 24	QuickMushroom Barley Soup	Salad
Wednesday 25	CrockpotHam and Potatoes Au Grautin with		Spinachand Egg Cups
Thursday 26	Crunchy Pecan-CrustedChicken Fingers	Green Beans	Sautéed Mushrooms
Friday 27	Fiesta Tamale Pie	Caramelized Carrots	Salad
Saturday 28	Dinner Out Family
Sunday 29	CoconutShrimp and Rice	Pan Fried Cabbage	Salad

For More Menu Planning Ideas Visit www.OrgJunkie.com

Crockpot Sesame Chicken?

Although this recipe is good it’s not exactly what I would call sesame chicken. At least it’s not sesame chicken in the sense that I am accustom to it. This reminds me more of a bourbon chicken they would sell in the mall food court. Everyone really loved this recipe, but if you are looking for a traditional sesame chicken keep looking. I would make this again but I would present it to my family with a different name! HA! *I doubled the sauce part of the recipe so that there would be extra to put over the rice. * 

Ingredients:

• 2 1bs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs.
• 1/2 c. low sodium soy sauce
• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 large Onion Chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ketchup
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Place chicken thighs in the slow cooker. 
2. Whisk together remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 or 4. Serves 4 - 6.

Original Source

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Follow You Follow Me Friday!!

I would love to have you join in! There are no rules for "Follow You Follow Me Friday!" Post your blogs, Facebook pages, Pinterest page, or Twitter account. Follow who you want! It is "Follow You Follow Me Friday!" 

If we are not already following you we WILL follow you just simply post your links! I love getting to know everyone and I love checking out your blogs and other pages!! 

Let’s all follow and get to know each other! 

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Are You Feeling Lucky ... $100 Wal-Mart Gift Card Giveaway!!

Are You Feeling Lucky? In Honor of St. Patrick's Day We are Giving Away a  $100.00 Wal-Mart Gift Card Thanks to a Very Generous Sponsor! 

$125.00 Wal-Mart Gift Card

**Open to U.S. and Canadian Residents ONLY**

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*This giveaway will end March 17, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and notified by e-mail. The Winner will have 48 hours to respond. If we don't hear from the winner we will choose another one. The email will come from the address colie@colieskitchen.com add this to your address book so that it doesn't go to spam, or keep checking back for the WINNER!! 


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Burger King Home Delivery.... What Do You Think?

I was reading online last night that the Burger Kings in the Washington DC and Maryland area are doing a test market for Burger King home delivery.  They are guaranteeing to get your food to you hot and your fries nice and crispy! I would love to see if that actually happens. I can’t get them home crispy when I got get them myself. I hate soggy fries. We have pizza joints that deliver here in my neighborhood up to 2am why not burgers?  

Personally I love the idea of Burger King home delivery because I can’t always get out because of one thing or another or the weather is crummy or whatever. For a $2 charge I would be up for it occasionally. 

I can’t tell you how many pizza joints we have that deliver but unfortunately we don’t have anything else that delivers not even Chinese food. I envy people who have that option!

So what are your thoughts? Would like you like see Burger King home delivery in your neighborhood? Would you utilize their services? This is not an endorsement or anything like that I am just curious about what your thoughts are! Here is the original article I found on www.usatoday.com.

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Week Two Results: Spring Chick Challenge

Week #2 wasn’t perfect, but it was interesting... and eye opening! We ended up in an unavoidable situation where we had dinner at a buffet and ate way too much, not that the eating too much wasn’t unavoidable because it was. I did pretty well considering... What was awesome about this place was the fact that their entire menu was online so I could figure out exactly what I ate and how much I needed to work out.  In order to make up for it I had to work out like a mad person, but I did it. You pay you play… remember?

That night I was really beating myself up over it and really feeling defeated, but then I had to reflect on my own words to my husband and remember that not every day is going to work out exactly the way we had planned and not every day on this weight loss journey am I going to be able to follow my calorie count to the letter, some days I will go over my 1200 calories. Life happens and we just have to remember that we can only do the best we can, and we also have to remember that even when we get to our goal weight there will still be things in life that happen that will not fall within our calorie range. If I told my daughter that I wasn’t going to have cake at her birthday party she wouldn’t get it… I am going to have cake regardless, but I am going to work it off before it lands on my butt or hips. Life happens we just have to adjust to the bumps and curves that are thrown at us.

I feel good about week #2 because I came to a lot of conclusions about myself that I needed to figure out. What I figured out is:

I fail at diets therefore I am not on a diet. I am changing my lifestyle and reprograming my brain.

I need to learn not only eat healthier, but I need to learn how to eat the foods I love in moderation and find alternatives within those recipes to bring the calorie counts down. If I give up eating everything I love in this world I will fail. I don’t have any intention on never eating the things I love once I get to my goal weight so why would I stop eating them all together now? I won’t! For instance I am not going to stop eating pizza, but what I am going to do is stop eating half a pizza and instead eat a large garden salad and 1 to 2 slices of pizza on the side. I am not going to stop eating dinner out, but what I am going to do is make better choices where I eat, and what I eat. Once again for me this is a lifestyle change, and reprograming my brain. 

Another thing I have figured out (at least for me) is exercise is the KEY to my weight loss. It seems that my body responds very well to exercise and I seem to lose weight when I do workout. My goal is to work out at least once each and every day.

I only lost one pound week #2 but that was more than I was expecting because it’s that time of the month and I am swollen up like a blow fish yeah I know too much information, but just being honest! I am hoping for two pounds for week #3!!

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