60 Dinners and Counting

Recently, I started a 2-month menu plan, hoping to rotate some of our easier, more affordable dinner favorites, but still have a good variety so we don't get bored and I no longer have to hear "What's for dinner?" and not have an answer. I'm going to post it on the fridge, like I used to do.

In case you are interested in some meal ideas, here is my list. There is room for growth, please suggest and share links and/or recipes if you have a favorite I didn't include! Some of these are a tad obscure or have personal references, so I will post recipes or links to recipes if you ask for them!

EDIT: I was about to post this and I realized it is really more of a cold weather list. I won't be making soups as much when it gets warm outside, so I think I will dub this the Fall/Winter list and make a new Spring/Summer list as well...

Fall/Winter Dinners List:

1.    Spaghetti

2.    Soft tacos and burritos

3.    Burgers & dogs

4.    Crock pot fettuccine w/chicken

5.    Olive oil linguine with garlic shrimp

6.    Lasagna, salad

7.    Roast beef

8.    Roast chicken

9.    Jeni’s crock pot chicken

10.Jeni's Pink sauce chicken

11.Enchiladas

12.Tomato soup & grilled chz

13.Cheesy potato soup

14.Broccoli soup

15.Chili

16.White chili w/ckn.

17.Chicken noodle soup

18.Apricot chicken

19.Meatloaf

20.Tortilla soup

21.Salmon & rice

22.Fish sticks or fillets

23.Beef in gravy over potatoes

24.Beef stew

25.Chicken in gravy over potatoes

26.Mexican pork nachos

27.Pulled pork sandwiches

28.Sloppy joes

29.Chicken nuggets & fries

30.Hamburger helper

31.Chicken sandwiches (grilled or breaded)

32.Crockpot meatballs & noodles

33.Stroganoff

34.Shepherd’s pie

35.Mona’s chicken

36.Fried chicken

37.Egg rolls

38.Teriyaki chicken

39.Beef & veggie soup

40.Ckn enchilada soup

41.Ckn & wild rice soup

42.BLTs and potato salad

43.Chicken salad croissants

44.Macaroni & cheese

45.Ckn fajitas

46.Steak fajitas

47.Steak (financially seasonal)

48.Bbq chicken

49.Pork chops

50.Chicken tacos

51.Chicken quesadillas

52.Breakfast for dinner

53.Dirty rice & meat

54.Homemade pizza

55.Frozen raviolis

56.Greek chicken, lemon rice

57.Chicken pillows

58.Fresh fish (seasonal) & rice

59.Stuffing casserole w/ckn or turkey

60.Cream cheese chicken (Pinterest)

Side dishes include:
Salad

French/garlic bread

Homemade fries

Homemade chips

Rice pilaf

White rice

Mashed Yukon Gold potatoes

Roasted Red potatoes (SO YUMMY)

Various veggies frozen, fresh or canned

Red Potato salad

Lion House rolls

Ramona’s rolls

Kentucky biscuits (so much better than regular buttermilk biscuits)

When is 20 Minutes Really an Hour?

Photo courtesy of Southern Cross

I'm not a fitness person. I've been amply blessed with a high enough metabolism and a generally healthy body, and as such the only reason I would exercise would be to have more energy or to just be generally healthier (less fatigue, less common illness, etc.).

Every now and then, I get the urge to move my body, and I have found a couple of things I really like to do. I don't like walking-- it is tedious and makes my feet require special, expensive shoes (I have flaaaat feet). I despise running. It's too jarring and also dull dull dull.

I do, however, really like Tai Chi and Yoga. I have a couple of decent videos to do both, but still I don't do them regularly. I set goals... I ignore them. I make plans... I sleep in instead.

Dewey Decimal Must Die

I know, demanding the death of an ancient tradition is a bit dramatic, but now that I've been a librarian for nearly two years, and having done volunteer shelving for a year before that, I hope my opinion isn't considered uninformed or without merit. And though three years isn't long, I've also been using libraries my whole life. Well, okay. Maybe my opinion is without great merit...

An Internal Repartee and a Demon Kitty

Because I work mostly alone, and because I'm socially phobic (a little), I frequently have little conversations in my mind. 

Favorite Things

Some of my new favorite things:

Single-Minded to the Point of Annoying

Lately I find myself saying the same things over and over, my voice tinged with excitement, my eyes slightly damp. I think I'm going to start driving people crazy, but so far I've only gotten positive reactions. I'm slightly excited about all the things coming up this year for my family. My oldest will graduate from high school. My second oldest will (finally) get his drivers license AND begin his senior year of high school. My third son will finish up his Eagle Scout rank and enter High School. All three boys will go on a Mormon Pioneer Trek adventure in early June. And my dear daughter will get a kitten (if she can just keep up the litter-box duty for a while longer), enter sixth grade, and will probably learn to style her hair.

Fear and Rationality

Today, during the game I was playing with a group of 25 4th graders, someone softly said, "is that a spider?" And I had to exercise serious self-control to not run out of the little reading area, tossing papers and pens as I went. I slid to the side and said, "is it?" And they said no, it was just a piece of fluff floating down. Which it was. I said, "well... you got me!"

Also today, my daughter mentioned (I posted this on Facebook, so if you are my FB friend, apologies for the repetition!) that she thinks mascots are scary. She said, "I have mascot-a-phobia." and proceeded to compare the various costumed characters that have visited her school and tell me which one is the scariest.