Monday Meal Plan: Cooking Light: Annual Recipes 2016

This week I'm going to Cook from Cooking Light: Annual Recipes 2016. The MAY theme couldn't fit my life needs more... 25 mains in 25 minutes or less!!!

MONDAY (I'm out of town)

• Sausage, Cannellini, and Tomato Ragout (p.138)

TUESDAY (I'm out of town)

• Green Curry Stew with Potatoes and Cauliflower (p.141)

WEDNESDAY

• LOBSTER that I will be bringing home, fresh, from Rhode Island!

THURSDAY

• Peking Turkey Wraps (p.132)

FRIDAY

• Sriracha Shrimp Rolls (p.122)

SATURDAY -

• LUNCH: Avocado-Egg Salad Sandwiches with Pickled Celery (p.130)
• SMALL GET-TOGETHER: 
• Palomo Frio (DRINK) (p.123)
• Cheesy Masa Pancakes with Pico de Gallo (p.124)
• Mango Guacamole (p.24)
• Esquites (Creamy Corn Salad) (p.125)
• Pineapple Chicken Kababs with Cilantro-Lime Slaw (p.112)
• Grilled Flank Steak with Chipotle- Orange Mojo (p.125)
• Soft-Serve Mango-Banana Sorbet (p.124)
• Kids: Marshmallow Popcorn Treats with Dark Chocolate Drizzle (p.133)

SUNDAY- 

• Leftovers so that I can do meal prep all day for next week when I am out of town! 

Cooking Recap: The Quick Six Fix and Blue Apron

ALMOST completely stuck to the meal plan this week... with the exception of take out TWICE. Ugh. I worked late one day and Emma had to be somewhere, already fed, at 6 :15 one day so I took the easy way out.

SUNDAY

• BREAKFAST: Open-Faced Tortilla Breakfast (p.9) 
• DINNER: Bow Tie Pasta with Mushy Peas, Pork Sausage, and Ricotta (p.79) - not a fan of this one. Felt like breakfast sausage didn't give the dish the right flavor... Next time I would use a sweet or spicy Italian Sausage. 

MONDAY

• Chowdered Scallops (p.92) - really good! I ended up adding more cream ;-) The only thing that I would have done differently was a better sear on the scallops.  

TUESDAY

• Seared Salmon and Lemon Aoli with Red Potatoes, Asparagus and Collard Green Hash (Blue Apron)

WEDNESDAY: PIZZA

THURSDAY

• Seared Pork Chops with Two-Cheese Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach (Blue Apron)

FRIDAY: Five Guys 

SATURDAY (Had friends over for dinner)

• Asian Burger (p.153) 
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p.166) - Used regular potatoes that we already had on hand to save some money 
• Easy Blender Aoli (p.167) - Easy and I will add some herbs next time 
• Mexican Street Corn (p.188) -- SOOOO AMAZING That I'm going to make this again next weekend! 
• BBQ Baked Beans (p.194) - Really good and easy 
• Raspberry Custard Pots (p.203) - Yummy but needed to cook for a bit longer 

I will cook the Almond Fig Roasted Chicken (p.118)  for dinner tonight since I didn't get to it during the week and I have all of the ingredients. 

I was also really good about my snack prep for work this week! Fruit for the morning, PB and Banana Toast for the afternoon, and veggies to eat in the car on the way home! #WINNING

The Quick Six Fix Cookbook has quickly become a favorite! 

And on Blue Apron... I'm not blown away the same way that I was with Plated. I'm going to cancel the subscription. 

Monday Meal Planning: The Quick Six Fix and Blue Apron

I'm actually hone ALL week and in terms of cooking this week I'm going to switch it up a bit...

After hearing so many positive things I'm going to give Blue Apron a try this week. We have two meals coming today... I'm interested to see the quality and ease of the meals but initially I have to say I'm not yet impressed. We have been a Plated family in the past and one of the things that I like most is the variety of meals that you can pick from and so far with Blue Apron I dislike that you can only pick between four dishes.

Outside of the two days that I will be using Blue Apron I'm going to be cooking from The Quick Six Fix again.

Here is the plan for the week:

SUNDAY

• BREAKFAST: Open-Faced Tortilla Breakfast (p.9) 
• DINNER: Tagliatelle with Mushy Peas, Pork Sausage, and Ricotta (p.79) 

MONDAY

• Chowdered Scallops (p.92) 

TUESDAY

• BREAKFAST: Lemon-Chili Avocado Toast (p.10) 
• DINNER: Seared Salmon and Lemon Aoli with Red Potatoes, Asparagus and Collard Green Hash (Blue Apron)

WEDNESDAY

• DINNER: Seared Pork Chops with Two-Cheese Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach (Blue Apron)

THURSDAY

• Almond Fig Roasted Chicken (p.118)  
• Sweet Potato & Broccoli  

FRIDAY

• Asian Burger (p.153) 
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p.166) 

SATURDAY

• BREAKFAST: Goat Cheese Scramble (p.18) 
• DINNER -- We are having friends over for a cook out 
• Sticky Ribs (p.138) 
• Mexican Street Corn (p.188) 
• BBQ Baked Beans (p.194) 
• Raspberry Custard Pots (p.203) 

Mother's Day Recap 2016

Last week we celebrated Mother's Day and I wanted to share a few of the details from my day...

It included LOTS of snuggles with the kiddos! They were the cutest bringing me little "presents" all day, like legos and trains, and they would scream, "Happy Balentine Day." A+++ for effort and heart Park Boys! They knew that it was a special day but couldn't remember Mother's Day. 

We, of course, also had my mom over and ate crabs! (Next week I will share the gift that I made for her)

On Mother's Day the boys and I planted the flowers in the planter on the table above.

On top of the crabs I also made some other yummy dishes.

Artichoke Dip Stuffed Bread

Bacon Sriracha Avocado Deviled Egg

PERFECTION!!!

AND... we cannot have crabs without this lady at my house.... so much fun!

LeTote Love

I have to reveal that I still love using LeTote! In fact, I'm a bit obsessed!  I feel like any time I get a complement on what I'm wearing I have to reveal that I'm just RENTING the clothing or jewelry item... Yes, you heard that right!

Here is what came in my last box...

Vice Camuto- Twist Knot Dress 

Retail $128 // LeTote $96

Octavia- Alanna Quilted Skirt

Retail $68 // LeTote $54

 

Potter's Pot - Multi Plaid Sweater

Retail $48 // LeTote $41

 

Ava - Quilted V Pouch

Retail $42 // LeTote $28

 

Lucky Brand - Triple Beaded Necklace

Retail $49 // LeTote $22  

The Way It Works!

1. Complete a style survey on-line and add items that you like to your virtual closet. 
2. About a day before your Tote ships you receive an e-mail which shows the items that are scheduled for you. The newest LeTote feature is that now you have the ability to swap out items that you're not a fan of. ** This is a SUPER helpful feature for me as my needs change based of my work and travel schedule and I can customize my box to meet my needs. 
3. Two - Three days later you come home to an awesome box from LeTote with FIVE goodies. Three items in the box are clothing and two are accessories (i.e.- Jewelry, scarfs, bags...) 
4. Wear your items for as long as you want to! 
5.  Return any items that you don't want to purchase! If you do decide to keep something just don't send it back and you will be charged the LeTote discounted price. OR you can send back all of your items. 
6. The second that LeTote receives the notification that you have sent back your tote (in the USPS pre-paid pouch that they provide to you) the whole process starts back over. AND you can do this for an unlimited number of times per month. It all just depends on how long you hold onto each Tote.  
7. Important to Note: All Items are dry-cleaned and sanitized before they're sent to you! I've never received anything that I could even tell was warn by someone else.

Best Part about it is that by clicking HERE you can join and get $25 off your first Tote! Why not give it a try for a month!

Even better though... if you are one of the first TWO people to leave a comment on this post I will send you the first month for FREE!!!

Go-To Marinade

Today I wanted to share a super easy marinade that is perfect on ANYTHING!

INGREDIENTS 

• 8 Cloves Garlic, minced 
• 3/4 t. Kosher Salt
•  1/2 C Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 
• 2 T. Rosemary, Chopped 
• 2 T. Flat-Leaf Parsley, Chopped 
• 1 T. Thyme, Chopped 
• 3/4 t. Fresh Ground Pepper

Mix all of the ingredients together and you get a delicious marinade! This is perfect on fish, shrimp, chicken, or steak! You can also freeze some of the marinade in ice cube trays to use a a later date!