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Menu Jan 7-9

This week features a condensed menu since I leave on Thursday morning for my scrapbook retreat that doesn't end until Sunday.  I asked Evan if he wanted me to plan meals for when I was gone and he said "nah I can go to the store or order pizza".  lol  We are going around the world in our menu this week.....Asia, Mexico and America.  :)

Monday--Hungry Girl's Sweet and Sticky Sesame Chicken
Tuesday-  Skinny Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas
Wednesday-  Skinnytaste Chicken Taco Chili

90% off the Christmas clearance at Target is finally here!

Yesterday there were reports of a few places in the country where Target had taken their Christmas stuff to 90% off.  I checked yesterday and no dice--still at 70% off.  Granted that is still a great deal but it's hard for me to get excited for that when I know 90% is just around the corner.  ;)  I did pick up some small gift bags yesterday that I knew wouldn't be around to get marked to 90% off.  So......today I totally forgot to go first thing this morning and check!    When I realized it.....I was in shock and said "all of those people are getting my good deals".  lol  I just went (3pm) and was pleasantly surprised there was still almost a full isle of stuff left.  I am not taking a picture of what I got because about 14 of the items I got will become gifts for people next Christmas.  (some will be given as is and others will be altered craftily-lol)  I got a ton of tissue paper, gift wrap, a bunch of wine gift bags, gift tags, those gifts I mentioned before, fake snow, and a "snow" blanket all for.......$7!!!!!  Just so you know......31 items in total.  This was at the Target by our house which had a lot of clearance left--the one by the gym had less stuff the other day but I will probably be stopping by there after hockey tomorrow to check it out!  ;)

Yonanas machine--OMG

Have you even heard of this machine before I mentioned it?  I had seen it mentioned on a blog I frequent and the girl on there loves hers.  Basically the idea is very simple--it takes frozen fruits plus a banana or two and makes fruit "ice cream".  No sugar, no fat, way less calories etc.  I wanted to try it!  I got it on Amazon before Christmas at a great deal ($34) and wrapped it up for the  boys to give to me on Christmas day.  :)  We finally got to try it yesterday.  I had seen a blog that the machine was very loud so I decided to try and make it before Brody went to bed and then freeze it for later.  Just so you know.  It tasted the same before and after being in the freezer BUT the ice cream texture was a lot better when it was fresh out of the machine.  The bananas by the way is what gives it the ice cream like texture.  You don't have to use bananas at all---it would be more like a sorbet then.  Or less banana etc.  The flavor combinations are endless.  So here is our experience in pictures:

We started with a banana/peach combo

He loved working the plunger--I read it was best to alternate the fruits in the chute to get the flavors right.

Mmmmmm

He just had to lick the plunger when we were done!

So overall I love this machine.  It's easy to use, all of the parts are dishwasher safe and it makes a great frozen fruit ice cream treat (and ZERO WW points if you are on WW).  I can't wait to try all kinds of fruit combinations!  It did come with a recipe book for fun combos like "cookies and cream" which is one banana, then one cookie, then one banana and then one cookie and mix it up.  That may be our next one.......I just need our bananas to get spotty first so I can freeze them!  :)

Hungry Girl's Apple Chicken Raisin Pack

I made a new recipe the other night out of my Hungry Girl to the MAX cookbook.  Unfortunately there isn't a link to the recipe online anywhere but it was pretty easy.......I can copy the recipe for anyone who wants it.  It was basically chicken, apples, raisins and onions with a yummy balsamic/brown sugar sauce.  It was super easy to prepare and tasted so good.  Evan, Travis and I really liked it.  I paired it with some roasted brussel sprouts that I sprayed with some oil, garlic salt and rosemary.  Yummy!

Brussel sprouts ready for the oven

My dinner plate

The crazy little boys that I live with......

See what I deal with daily?  LOL

Christmas part 2

Normally we spend Christmas afternoon/evening at my parents house but this year we didn't.  Annabelle was still recovering from her 5 days in the hospital and almost everyone had a bad cold.  So we had Christmas part 2 this past Sunday!  As luck would have it the batteries died in my camera about 2 minutes into opening gifts but what can you do?  ;)  Everyone seemed to really enjoy their gifts....enjoy the few pics I got before the batteries died!

I told them both to say "cheese" and clearly only one had a clue what I was saying.  ;)

Annabelle is now taking my picture

Brody checking out the chalkboard

Playing trains

Ditto

Paxson gets in on the action

Everyone had to help Paxson open his 1st gift

What is it?

AN ELMO!  Paxson LOVES Elmo.  He was thrilled (which means Aunt Sandy did well on that one-lol)

Annabelle is helping Brody now--def a group effort going on

It's a Strider bike?  He rode it around the house so many times--he loves it!

Paxson says "mom you have to cook dinner in this?!?!"  lol

Brody got a helmet too!  Safety first!

Christmas morning......

As always Christmas morning was a blur.  Brody for the 1st time was all about opening presents--it was hard to slow him down!  lol  Travis has always been the same way--I think everything was opened in under an hour and that included a stop to eat breakfast!

Running to the tree

Brody got some new Play Dough in his stocking so he just had to go get his letters!

Look at what Travis found when he was waking up Grammy!

YAY!  A NEW iTOUCH!

He opens the packages very carefully

Look!  Letters!  My favorite!

Daddy likes his new shirt

And Travis likes his new jersey

Helping Brody open a gift

More stuff?

Reading one of his many books after everything had been opened

Everyone needs one.....

I know I have said this before but everyone needs a Roomba.  I used mine today while I was at the gym in just my family room and look at how much crap it picked up?!?!?  That dusty linty thing is almost an inch thick--amazing.  Yes it had been a few days since I had run it in that room but wow!  (I think I ran it on Friday am)  It will pick up almost anything--it's picked up legos, puzzle pieces and cut up chicken nuggets!  lol  My normal schedule is to run it in the high traffic areas every other day--and I still get a ton of crap off the floors.  Seriously....I love it.

Menu Jan 1-5

Now that the holidays are almost completely behind us it is time to get back to weekly menus.  It helps me in a few ways......it forces me to make a list of needed ingredients on the weekend for the store and it helps by keeping the meals healthy and not of the frozen/ fast food variety.  Here is the 1st menu:

Tuesday Jan 1- NYE leftovers and Spaghetti Squash and Tomato Bake
Wednesday Jan 2- Hungry Girl's Apple Raisin Chicken foil pack (no link)
Thursday Jan 3-  Cheesy Salsa Tuna Burgers served with a veggie or two
Friday Jan 4-  Hungry Girl's Cheeseburger Mac Attack (crock pot)
Saturday Jan 5-  Hungry Girl's Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs (though I will be using ground turkey instead of beef)

The meals on Jan 2nd and 5th are new for us so I will likely review them later in the week.  :)