Fell off the wagon...

The writing wagon at least.. It was a VERY busy week of back to school, back to work, traveling hubby and the whole single mama game.. Oh well.. I really cannot complain..we are all healthy!

For Breakfasts this week the kids had  eggs with toast, they finished off the frozen waffles and pancakes I had stored up and I allowed Pop Tart Friday.  There might have been a cold cereal day in there.. Mornings are fuzzy for me!

For the first 2 packed lunches this week, the kids finished up the leftover homemade pizza with juice boxes, carrots and cucumbers,sliced oranges and yogurt tubes.  Other lunches this week included the basic PBJ on wheat, pretzels, baked chips, cookies I pulled from the freezer, Spaghetti Oh's or Macaroni and Cheese in the Thermos containers, veggies, bananas and yogurt.    I have no problem with the occasional *junk* lunches like O's or boxed mac and cheese, I know what they are eating for breakfast and dinner and that this is a very small portion of their overall food intake.  They enjoy it and it makes packing easy on those days I am running low on motivation or other packables! 

Dinners this week...
Monday GiGi came over to  visit before she left town for a few weeks..I baked a frozen meatloaf I had made and wrapped the last time I made meatloaf.  LOVE doing this.. Buy the meat  at a lower price in bulk and then only have to make the mixing mess 1 time!  I tightly wrapped the loaf in foil and it was ready to thaw and bake!  I prefer to freeze it raw.. I have baked and frozen then just reheated.. but I was not impressed with the meat texture reheated.  Since mixing is the worst part.. just prepping it is a huge help for future cooking.
Meatloaf was served with oven roasted potatoes ( I had purchased a small bag over the weekend) and a bag of green beans from the deep freeze.  Steamed and sauteed those in garlic butter!  There were a handful of roasted potato halves left.. kids demolished the beans and meat.
Tuesday we had an appointment in the late afternoon so I promised the kids dinner out if their behavior was good.. We went to Bob Evans- kids eat free on Tuesday.  Since they are in that 1 kid for 1 adult meal game I just had Ben get the adult burger on the $6.00 menu.  He has been wanting additional side when he gets their kids meals so the bigger burger fed him well and he ended up sharing his fries b/c there were so many more...
Wednesday I had defrosted a pack of 3 chicken breasts so I tossed 1 in a pan and poured the remaining half jar of salsa over and tossed into the oven to bake... I split the other 2 pieces and marinated in Italian dressing then sauteed them in a hot pan.. served with frozen corn and a box of stuffing.

Thursday I pulled a ring of Kielbasa out of the freezer and cooked that up for the kids.  Mom brought this over from her house so I figured I might as well get it used.  Kids ate that with steamed frozen peas and ramen noodles...I was in a hurry to get everyone fed before basketball practice and running out of ideas.  I saw the ramen and grabbed two packages.. kids loved it and did not complain so I ran with it!

Friday night we ate out since we went to pick up the hubby at the airport at 630. The kids were begging to go to Pizza Hut so we went there.  One local store does a kids eat free on Friday night where the kids can make their own personal.  It was packed.. and the line for the kids prep station was so long... With the high rates of influenza lately.. we skipped that and ordered the 19.99 meal deal.. 2  medium 1 item pizzas, 5 breads sticks and a small pan of pasta... We took home 5 slices of pizza and half the pasta.

Saturday- I mixed up a double batch of baking mix pancakes and that was breakfast and some freezer supply.  Lunch after basket ball and errand running was the remainder of the pizza hut night for the kids, I had the leftover Veggie soup I have been eating for lunch this past week.. Hubby had hummus and carrots and other random items he saw to munch on!
The weather was amazing Saturday so it was definitely a grill night.  I defrosted a 3 pack of chicken breasts so we have grilled chicken for dinner.  I pulled out a few cubes of frozen Pesto and mixed them with parm for hubby and I to slather on our chicken,  I steamed a bag of frozen broccoli and whipped up a pan of sweet corn cake/bread*.  While we ate I tossed in a pan of chocolate brownies with white chips and slivered almonds to bake.  Maddie picked that recipe out of the Hershey's cookbook and helped me pull it together.

* Sweet Corn Cake.  Chi Chi's had the best corn cake.  The restaurant is gone but you can still buy the pre packaged mix.. and I used to... but the pricing has made me stop and think that I could re create this.. so I tried and I totally mastered it!  I buy the  cheapo box of corn bread - Jiffy or Aldi brand, in a bowl dump that, 2-4 tablespoons sugar, 1 can creamed corn, 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk.. Mix and pour into a sprayed loaf pan or 8 inch casserole dish.. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes... Kids love it and it is fast and easy!