Menu Plan Monday June 17-23, 2013

Last week we did a horrible job follow our menu plan. For some reason I was feeling extra lazy and didn’t do a whole lot in the kitchen. This week I am planning on getting a lot of thing accomplished one of which will be sticking to our menu and cooking dinner. This is close to the same menu we had last week nothing much will be much different expect we will actually stick to this one.

We have so much to get done in the next four weeks before vacation so I am planning on sticking to my to-do list which is always a problem. I think my to-do list is longer than my leg, yes leg not arm lol it’s that bad.

I am ready to get a bunch accomplished this week! My time is limited! Ha! Here is our menu plan for the week!!

Week Day	Main Course	Vegetable	Side Dish
Monday	Bacon Sandwiches		Chips
Tuesday	Grilled Cheese Sandwiches		Tortilla Soup
Wednesday	Tandori Chicken Wraps		Potato Cakes
Thursday	Hearty Ham Casserole	Okra	Roasted Carrots
Friday	Spaghetti Pie	Green beans
Saturday	Chef Salads		Fruit Cups
Sunday	Homemade Chicken Tenders	Corn on the Cob	Brussels Sprouts

For More Menu Planning Ideas Visit www.OrgJunkie.com or Check Out Our Previous Menu Plans.
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Wendy's Father's Day Frosty Weekend! #FirstFrosty

Happy Father’s Day everyone!!!

I have always loved Father’s Day! Each year I would try to do something creavtive with my Dad for his special day. He always loved the varity and changes each year. The only thing that didn’t change was where we had dessert each year! Are you looking for someplace to take Dad for dessert on Father's Day? How about to Wendy’s? 

There couldn’t be a better time to take Dad out for a Frosty than this weekend!!! 50 cents from each Frosty purchase will be donated to the Dave ThomasFoundation for Adoption on Father's Day weekend (June 15 & 16). These donations will be used to benefit the cause of Wendy's Wonderful Kids, which is a program that helps foster children in need find great homes. 

HOW DO I DONATE?

• There are a couple different ways to donate! Facebook and Twitter – Use the hashtag #FirstFrosty and share your first Frosty memories. For each story, image or video, Wendy's will donate $1, up to $50,000. 
• Go to Wendy's – For each Frosty purchased on June 15-16, Wendy's will donate 50 cents to DTFA. Any Frosty purchase counts! Even their newest product, the Frosty Waffle Cone! YUM!

What Dad wouldn’t love a trip to Wendy’s for dessert?

*As required by the Federal Trade Commission: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by adverting funds for services rendered 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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Trail Mix Cookies

There are a plethora of these recipes floating around the web. My cousin posted a version of this recipe online but the directions were lacking… direction. I decided to take the concept and change them up a bit but not much. More than anything I just game them directions.

These cookies are really good. She said they had a weird texture and boy was she right. They are more oatmeal bites than I would say cookies. You are not going to get a chewy crispy cookie more like a chewy oatmeal bite. To me they taste like banana bread but in a cookie form. I really like them and think they would be awesome for breakfast. Who says you can’t have cookies for breakfast? Better yet they are only 66 calories each. 

I didn’t add stevia to these cookies but I think I will to the next batch. I will also be leaving the coconut out because I didn't think it added anything to the flavor. I was going to make more then realized I would be shy two bananas. I think I might also only make them 1 tbsp. each instead of two and bake them in ball form and make them bite size.

These are super healthy and you can really do anything with them. I look at a recipe like this as a guide to another version of what you can do. You could put any type of fruit, milk flavor, and different extracts like almond or coconut, leave this out or add that.  I would only suggest watching what you add or adding up the calories before you add the ingredients because the calories could get out of hand quick.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium ripe bananas mashed
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce (unsweetened with cinnamon)
• 2 cups of old fashioned oats (Not minute oats)
• ¼ cup almond or coconut milk (rice, soy, chocolate)
• ½ cup raisins or Crasins (nuts, chocolate chips_
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (or almond, coconut, rum)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (pumpkin spice)
• 4 tbsp. sweetened coconut flakes
• 2-3 packs stevia (if desired taste the batter first)

Directions:  (Yields 20 cookies) 66 calories each (2 tbsp. of cookie dough per cookie)

1. Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer. 
2. Scoop out into two tablespoon cookie scoops
3. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes

Number of Servings: 20 cookies

Nutritional Information:

• 66 calories per serving
• 13 carbs 
• 1 grams of fat 
• 1 protein
• 5 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Triple Berry "Ice Cream" Sandwiches (102 Calories)

If you are looking for a wonderful low calorie cool snack for the summer this recipe is for you. These are delicious and they are only 102 calories each. They are super easy to make. For me it was just taking the time to sit down and actually make them. To say they were a big hit is an understatement. We all loved them and I have no doubt we will be having them over and over again. 

The great thing is this recipe is just an idea. You can really do anything with it. You could use chocolate cool whip, different berries, or bananas instead of cool whip. Get creative with them. They are fun, delicious, and best of all low in calories.

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces frozen triple berries (I used blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
• 18 whole cinnamon graham crackers (Low fat-lower in calories)
• 16 ounces  container lite cool whip (large one)
• 2 packets of stevia

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet or pan with tin foil then set aside. If your berries are frozen defrost them in a microwave for 30 seconds then add stevia to the berries. Using a fork smash the berries just until they are starting to break up and get juicy.
2. Add berries to the cool whip and mix well. Keep mixing and get in there deep to make sure that everything is evenly coated.
3. Break each graham cracker into two pieces down the middle until you have a top and a bottom for your ice cream sandwich.  Using a spoon add a large blob of your cool whip berry mixture to one side of the graham cracker. Because I was trying to keep the calorie count on these I measured each graham cracker with ¾ ounce of filling.
4. Then top your filling with the other side of the graham cracker, then add to pan. Repeat until you are out of mixture. I was able to make 18. Place pan in the freezer for 4-6 hours. 

*If you use low fat cinnamon graham crackers they will be lower in calories. The honey graham crackers are higher in calories*

Number of Servings: 18

Nutritional Information:

• 102 calories per serving
• 16 carbs 
• 3 grams of fat 
• 1 protein
• 4 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Wordless Wednesday: Salad Perfection

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Low Calorie (Mock) Butterbeer

This past weekend we decided to take a box set of Harry Potter movies we had purchased over the Christmas holiday and have a Harry Potter movie night. In honor of Harry Potter I decided to make butterbeer to go along with our popcorn.

Unfortunately butterbeer is super high in calories and loaded full of sugar. When I am not as concerned about watching my calories I would love to try this recipe for butterbeer, but that won’t be for a while. In the mean time I found a very low calorie recipe for butterbeer on Pinterest. I was super excited to give this recipe a try.

It’s super simple, and super delicious. OK so is it as good as the real deal?… NO, but is it a great dessert for someone trying to watch their calorie intake? You bet it is!  I have even left the cool-whip frozen in this recipe to make it like a low calorie ice cream float! Excellent!!

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. butter flavor extract (zero calories)
• 3 tbsp. cool whip (I used low fat) (30 calories)
• 1 can diet cream soda (A&W is the best) (zero calories)

Directions:

1. Place butter extract at the bottom of a glass
2. Pour cream soda on top of the butter extract
3. Top with cool whip then stir

Original Recipe Source



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Menu Plan Monday June 10-16, 2013

A few days ago I was struggling to get our new freezer door closed. You may recall we purchased this freezer in January and it’s already full. How absurd!  I decided that for the remaining part of June, except on my husband birthday, we would be eating out of the freezer and only buying what we had to like fruit and veggies. I found ground beef in the freezer dated September 2012 …insane!

By just opening the freezer door I could come up with at least 20 meals we could make. There is no way this freezer should be full and I would hate for anything to get freezer burn. We started working on eating out of the freezer this past weekend so we are already off to a good start.

This week is going to be a busy one so we need to keep it easy and quick. Nothing will be too complicated but at least it’s going to be good!

Here is our menu plan for the week! What’s on your menu?

Week Day	Main Course	Vegetable	Side Dish
Monday	Chef Salads		Fruit
Tuesday	Veggie Plates: Roasted Brussels Sprouts,	Piggy Corn	Parmesan Sweet Potato Cubes
Wednesday	Taco Pie (Pampered Chef)		Caesar Salad
Thursday	Ham Casserole	KFC Coleslaw (Copycat)	Fruit
Friday	Braided Spaghetti Bread	Roasted Carrots	Salads
Saturday	Tandori Chicken Wraps		Potato Patties
Sunday	Chicken Tenders	Corn on the Cob	Lemon Strip "Pasta"

For More Menu Planning Ideas Visit www.OrgJunkie.com or Check Out Our Previous Menu Plans.
Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

100 Day Weight Loss Challenge Week #9 Check In and Link Up!

I hope everyone had a successful week #9 and I hope you are ready for week #10. 

Remember we only have 5 weigh in’s left let’s make the last 5 weeks count! You know you can do it. If you are up to a 5 week challenge message me you can hop on!!

Let's face it! In 5 weeks you could lose a pant size maybe even more. I know you can do it and I encourage you to join is if you are not already part of our group! Let's do this together!!

How did week #9  go for you? Have you found it easy or difficult? If difficult what have been your struggles? If easy what has gotten you to where you are now? What advice would you have for others? Share with us! What things might you change in the next few weeks?

What are you doing?

• Are you getting in enough exercise?
• Is what you are doing working?
• Are you getting enough sleep?
• Are you taking your vitamins?
• Are you counting your calories? Check out MyFitnessPal Let's be Friends: Readytoshine
• How much water are you drinking? Check your body weight to see how much water you should be drinking here: Water Calculator

Up Coming Check In's

1. June 17
2. June 24
3. July 1
4. July 8
5. July 15

Final Day July 16

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Bacon and Brussels Sprouts

This recipe is so good, no really so SO good! I had some Brussels sprouts that needed to be used up, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. I had a feeling they would taste great with bacon, but I had no idea just how great.

This is a super easy and fast recipe to prepare and considering its simi-homemade with the premade bacon bits it’s ready in no time. It’s not very high in calories considering it feeds 3-4 people as a side dish.

This was served along the side of roasted chicken breast with mushroom cream sauce. Delish!

Ingredients:

• 15 large Brussels sprouts
• 2 tbsp. salted butter
• 3 tbsp. bacon bits (real bacon bits like Hormel or fresh made)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt

Directions:

1. Slice each Brussels sprout into very thin slices removing the center core the sprouts should be in thin ribbons.
2. Heat the butter over medium heat in a large skillet and sauté the garlic for 30 seconds then to the garlic butter then add the bacon bits. 
3. Cook another few minutes then add the Brussels sprouts slices and continue sautéing for another 4-5 minutes, until bright green and tender. 
4. Add salt as needed. 

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My View on Kangaroo....

 

A few weeks ago my husband and I were at Sprouts picking up some produce when he stumbled upon a one pound package of kangaroo. My first thought was YUCK who eats a kangaroo? Then I thought… well why not? What do I have to lose?

I must admit I have been putting it off for weeks on the menu plan hoping my husband would forget about it. Although interesting I wasn’t sure I wanted to try it that bad.

Last night I decided get it over with make it for dinner.  Kangaroo burgers anyone? My initial impression was I am NEVER making this again. The meat was terribly bloody. I mean horror film bloody. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The patties were very hard to form because the meat has no fat I mean literally no fat.

I started cooking the patties on medium as to not dry them out. They seemed to take forever to cook because I wanted all of the blood gone. Like I said before there was a lot of blood.

So what’s the verdict? Not bad actually. I noticed something tasted different about the meat, but not enough to make me not want to eat it, just different. I made a roo-patty for my Mom but I didn’t tell her what it was. She asked me if it was a frozen patty or a Bubba Burger because it tasted different. She said she thought it was great but it just tasted off a bit. My husband and I thought the same thing. In all honesty my husband and I both had a terrible time downing the burger because we knew what it was. If we had been in the dark the whole time we would have eaten it without a second thought.

So would I make kangaroo again? The answer is probably no! Kangaroo meat has its good and bad points. The good points are that it’s actually good meat. The flavor is nice, it’s super low in calories, it’s basically fat less and it’s probably pretty good for you (verses ground beef). The bad points are the price…. $8 a pound, the bloody mess it makes, and the off flavor.

In all honestly I just don’t see the point in eating kangaroo when it doesn’t taste any better than ground beef and it’s twice the price of the leanest ground beef.  And truth be told as my cousin put it… Winnie the Pooh would be mad at us for eating Kanga and Roo.

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