Meal Plan!!

Well, now that the craziness of the holidays are over, it's time to get back in the swing of meal planning.  Ok...the holidays have been over for a little while, but I'm still getting organized :) 

Week of January 9
Monday- Grilled Cheese and veggies...we have a young married event at church, so dinner needs to be simple!
Tuesday- Lentil Soup...I'm going to try this recipe
Wednesday- Chicken Divan...a classic in the Eschbach house
Thursday- Sweet and Sour Chicken...I've been craving this for some reason, so I found this recipe on Pinterest
Friday- Breakfast for Dinner!!  I think I'll make pancakes...
Saturday- Tacos
Sunday- Homemade pizza...with whatever toppings I happen to have on hand. 

Some other homemade things I am excited to try out...and I'll share if I have any success...are: cleaning products, pancake mix, season mixes (like taco seasoning and onion soup mix), pitas, and english muffins. 

Another New Year!

Like everyone else, I am spending my day sweetly remembering this past year, and hopefully anticipating what is to come!  We have had such an amazing year.  Nothing too monumental happened, but sometimes, that's a good thing :)  We celebrated three years of marriage, Calvin turned one, we camped for the first time as a family of three, we tagged along through many "firsts" for Calvin...walking, running, climbing, Mama, Dada, and figuring out how to get in to just about everything!  And we made and shared memories with many friends and family!

God continues to bless us with good health.  And we are so grateful Jake has steady work.  It isn't his dream job, but in today's economy, we are beyond grateful.  It's easy to hope and dream about what the next year may hold, but one of my "goals" is to leave more in the hands of the Lord and do less planning on my own.  Now, don't get me wrong, there will still be plenty of planning going on.  But there will hopefully be more leaning on the Lord's wisdom rather than my own and seeking His will above ours. 

Here are a few other "resolutions"...

• Always have a dining table ready to be eaten at.  That may sound silly, but I hate it when we can't sit down to eat because the table is covered with junk.  I guess I'm hoping to be more organized :) 
• Be more aware of what we are eating.  Specifically the ingredients in the food we are eating.  I really like to cook, and I do make a lot of things homemade (spagetti sauce, tortillas, refried beans, croutons, etc.) but I want to do more!  I want to start baking my own bread and rolls, and pizza dough.  Not only to be healthier, but to try and save money!
• Of course exercise more!  I have been somewhat of a lazy slug since Calvin was born.  Oh, I've gone through phases of being really motivated, but I need to get my rear in gear!

And of course there are the intangible resolutions...the ones you can't really measure, like being more patient with Calvin, and making my husband , family, and household more of a priority over my own desires.  But those will probably be on my "list" every year. 

Happy New Year from the Eschbachs!

A Favorite Recipe...

For our wedding, a family friend gave Jake and I a recipe book of their "family" recipes.  In it was this jewel!  So, so easy, and SOOOO delicious, and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  In fact it's so good, I had three helpings of it last night...and Calvin had two helpings tonight for dinner! 

Paprika Chicken

2 T Butter
1 1/2 T Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 T paprika
1/2 t salt
6 cups chicken stock
Frozen chicken (as many as you need for your family)
2 cups sour cream
1 T flour

Melt butter and oil in a heavy pot or dutch oven.  Add paprika and onion and simmer until glossy and red.  Add salt and chicken stock.  Once ingredients come to a boil, add frozen chicken (how awesome that you can put the chicken in frozen!  I love it!)
Simmer, covered, until chicken is tender and cooked through (about 45 minutes)
Stir flour and sour cream together in a small bowl.  Stir mixture slowly into the pot and simmer about 5 minutes until thickened and smooth.  Do not boil. 

Serve at once over rice or noodles. 

So good!!  Enjoy!!

"Just Wing It" Dinners

So, as I mentioned before, the end of the month seems be the time to scrounge in the freezer and cupboards and just hope there are enough decent ingredients to put together a few meals.  And I'm happy to say, we made it to the start of a new month rather successfully.  I hate reading recipe books and getting discouraged by not having the ingredients, but I'm not usually creative enough to adjust it for what I have.  And I really like to cook, but I often lack inspiration.  We have our favorite meals and I tend to make them, or a version of them, on a regular basis. 

Here are a couple of "just wing it" meals that I'm pretty proud of this month :) 


Dinner 1: Apple Cider Pork Roast
(I didn't take exact measurements of the ingredients...so hopefully this is close)

Pork Roast
2 cups of apple cider (ours was homemade and I'd already added some cinnamon and mulling spices)
Garlic (as much as you can handle...we like alot)
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, chopped

Throw everything in the crockpot and cook on low about 6-7 hours.  I threw my roast in straight from the freezer, so if it's thawed (which in my house it rarely is), it would probably cook less. 

This came out AMAZING!!  The subtle sweetness from the apple cider was so good, but it still left enough pork flavor.  I did end up dipping mine in bbq sauce because I'm a total dipper and I'm falling madly in love with bbq lately :) 


Dinner 2: Taco Casserole. 
I've had a few different versions of this, but I'm pretty sure this was a unique creation :) 

Tortilla Chips
1 can chili beans (I randomly had this in the cupboard, next time I'll just use pinto beans)
1/2 pound of ground beef, cooked and seasoned with Taco seasoning
1/2 an onion, diced
1-12 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 t. cumin
Grated cheese

Crush tortilla chips to line the bottom of pan (I used something like a 10x8 casserole dish).  Mix remaining ingredients and spread 1/2 over the crushed chips.  Top with grated cheese, then repeat with another layer of chips, filling, and cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

This turned out really yummy too!  I was afraid that the leftovers were going to be mushy and disgusting, but they were actually pretty good!  The chips just tasted like a corn tortilla.  I am blessed to have a husband who will eat just about anything, including leftovers, so I usually only have to eat it once or twice :) 

Meals

For some reason, I thought that Thanksgiving would feed us for the whole week, so I neglected planning meals last week.  Well, Thanksgiving wasn't until Thursdsay, so we were a little under-prepared for the beggining of the week.  I'm doing better this week :) 

Monday - Apple Cider Pork Roast...just took a bite of this and it's DELICIOUS and Calvin is gobbling it down!!!  With roasted potatoes and green beans
Tuesday - Taco Casserole...I'm going to try and wing it with crushed tortilla chips and a meat/bean concoction. 
Wednesday - Leftovers or salads
Thursday - French Toast...I read a suggestion of having breakfast for dinner once a week as it can tend to be pretty inexpensive. 
Friday - Roast Chicken with caesar salad
Saturday - I think we'll be over at someone's house??
Sunday - Homemade Pizza...but don't let me fool you, I buy my crust at Trader Joe's.  You can't beat $1.29 and no hassle. 

I feel like I'm struggling a little bit sticking to our budget for the entire month and still having hearty, yummy meals.  We're usually scraping the cupboards to figure out meals for the last few days of the month.  And we are total meat eaters, but I am trying to plan a meal or two each week that is vegetarian, yet still hearty.  So, I would love any and all ideas for budget friendly but delicious, family favorite meals!! 

So Very Blessed

I was struck today with an abundance of gratitude to the Lord for how richly He has blessed me.  Of course, it is the week of Thanksgiving, I've read a number of "I'm Thankful for..." blogs and statuses.  But what really made me realize how truly blessed I am?  Today, I was out running errands and I noticed a long line down the sidewalk.  I'm in that part of town pretty frequently and I'd never seen that many people before.  I peeked down the street and realized it was a line for the Food Bank.  I didn't even know that's where the food bank was.  And it struck me...I have no doubts that I will be eating a delicious Thanksgiving meal surrounded by people I love, and who love me back.  We will be warm and cozy, stuffed to the brim, and totally happy.  It will be a day free of stress (for me at least, since I'm not doing much cooking) and full of joy.  And I know that isn't true for everyone. 

Honestly, I've been spending a lot more time lately being stressed out about what we don't have, or the fact that we need to "save up" to buy a new dust buster after ours broke.  I've been overlooking the fact that God has blessed us ABUNDANTLY...well beyond what we need, and even beyond what we ask for. 

So I am going to try a little harder, not just this week, but every week, to focus on the things I am grateful for, and thank God for them. 

Two of my favorite blessings : ) 

Two weeks of Meals!!

So I failed at meal planning last week, and I'm trying to make it up by planning two weeks worth of meals.  I'm also hoping this will mean I can just do one large shopping trip and then just run out for fresh produce as needed.  I don't know Jake's schedule for next week, so there will probably be some shuffling around, but here's the plan:

11/7-11/12

Monday - Pulled pork sandwiches...our FAVORITE!!  And pretty much the all time easiest meal :) 
Tuesday - Tacos...which means i need to make homemade tortillas and refried beans first!
Wednesday - Hoppin' John Stoup (from a Rachel Ray cook book...basically a sausage and veggie stew)
Thursday - Chicken Divan with rice
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Tuna Casserole
Sunday - Seahawks game...so probably pizza??


11/13-11/19

Monday - Chicken and veggie stir fry with rice
Tuesday - Pork chops (cooked somehow...I don't know yet)
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Chicken Curry
Friday - Double date night!!
Saturday - Spaghetti
Sunday - Pumpkin Soup