90 calorie homemade peppermint brownies

Ok, so I may of fudged a bit they were actual like 92.444 calories and then I sprinkled a little organic powdered sugar on top. :) Never the less yummy! It makes a really light and fluffy brownie. Now, you could cut this into as many slice as you like. I chose to have a good size brownie so I did 9 slices. So an 8 x 8 pan is about 832 calories total.

I haven't really posted recipes since I started my clean eating journey. No particular reason I guess I just didn't realize how little I was focusing on the "chicken" side of my blog. :)

I used the ingredients I already had in my pantry. This was a quick and easy dessert I whipped up on a whim after dinner. Now the clean eating world how this whole "eat clean train dirty" or "you don't have to count calories because your eating whole foods" thought process well....one year and 10 lbs later I'm here to tell ya that's a damn lie! I personally am not a big work out person. I go through whims when I feel the need to run but it soon fades. I'd much rather prefer to count calories or points.

Anywho, so I decided I was going to try and post more recipes. But I wanted to share some clean eating recipes that are low calorie too. With out further a do....

Peppermint Brownies

1/4 cup organic raw cacao powder(coco powder will work)
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder(regular will work too)
1/4 cup organic unbleached flour(all-purpose flour will work)
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup coconut sugar(brown sugar will work)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
DoTERRA Peppermint oil
*optional organic powder sugar

My husband is always nagging about "the mess" I make in the kitchen. So when I made this I used a few dishes as possible.

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. oil an 8 x8 pan and set aside ( I cheated and used coconut oil spray from Trader Joes)

3. Mix together the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and vanilla until well blended. Gently mix in your cacao, baking powder, and flour. Last, add in a drop of peppermint oil. It is almost impossible to get one drop so tilt it slowly. :) I pretty much wasted a drop b/c I DID NOT want more than one drop b/c that stuff is strong.

4. Bake for 14 mins, set out, and let it cool.

Now even if you make the non clean ingredient version the calorie count shouldn't really change. I know coconut sugar actually has 1 extra calorie per serving than regular sugar.

**optional** sprinkle about a teaspoon of organic powder sugar over the brownies

Enjoy :)

Look at that huge piece of deliciousness for just 93 calories :)

Pumpkin Parade



Hello my sweets! To say it's been a while is an understatement. I've just been busy playing mom. Oh AND I switched grades AGAIN. I know I'm crazy, but this time wasn't really an option. They didn't need as many teachers in fourth grade this year. Ya know the golden rule: last one in is first one out. So I'm teaching 5th grade ELA and SS this year. So I get to join the slave to STAAR club. If you don't know what STAAR is lucky you. :)

Anywho, one of my favorite things about playing mom is cooking with my little princess. That girl loves to cook. It's actually my new favorite sentence from her, "I cook wit mama", love her!  She cooks it all. I've even been brave enough to let her help with the meat. I just can't turn my back b/c she thinks she has to taste everything I pull out.



It looks like she was praying here, it's a possibility.

Well last weekend I did my once a month crazy cooking sessions. I cook tons of things to prep for her school lunches and weekday breakfast. I came across this recipe and decided to clean it up a little. It was AMAZINGLY delicious and I decided this should be the post to get me back in the blogging world, mainly b/c my friend Amber was helping to host the pumpkin parade and I told her I would link up. (check out her Fashion Fridays LOVE them)  Enough with the jabber, on to the deliciousness.

Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Muffin

First thing first preheat your oven to 350

Gather your ingredients

Muffins

1 1/2 cups of organic unbleached flour
1tsp baking powder (I use Rumford Aluminum Free)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda ( I use Bob's Red Mill, just seems to blend better)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
15oz organic canned pure pumpkin
1 1/4 cups of sugar (see why I said cleaned it up a little)
1/3 cup safflower oil
2 eggs from your neighbors backyard

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup of organic unbleached flour
1/3 coconut sugar (you can use brown)
1/4 cup Trader Joe's unsalted dry roasted pecan pieces
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp. soften butter

You will need 3 bowls. One for your dry ingredients, one for your wet ingredients, and one for your topping. First, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pie spice, baking soda, and salt. In the second bowl mix the can of pumpkin, sugar, safflower oil, and eggs. I guess you could use any type of oil or melted butter. But that's what I had in the pantry so that's what I used. Combine your dry and wet ingredients and set aside.

In a smaller bowl combine all the ingredients for the topping. I just pinched the butter off into little pieces and then mixed it all together until it was crumbly. I used my fingers and gently squeezed and smushed until it was crumbly. Yep, those are legit baking terms right there.

Lightly grease your muffin tins. I filled each tin up with mix and left a little room for the topping. I got 12 muffins. Plop them in the oven and let them bake for about 20 mins. (If your in a good mood be a good wife and wash dishes while you wait). You can stick a fork in the middle to double check. When you take them out they will continue to cook a little while the pan is hot. My muffins were nice and plump. Most of all amazingly delicious and moist.

I would love to tell you they were low cal but that's just not the truth. But they are worth every bite. I plan to play around with it and try some applesauce and banana to reduce the calories. However, they are just perfect for a little princess that is not counting calories.



I'll be sharing this post on WillsCasa. Check out her pumpkin post pretty nifty and gave me an idea. Princess is working on the color green and rectangles at school. I'm thinking of spray painting pumpkins pink, cutting rectangles out of those cheapy sponges, and letting her dip them in green paint to put on the pumpkins. But we aren't heading to the farm until next Saturday so that will have to wait for now. :) I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as we did. They are even better warm!


I'm also sharing here and here and here

Cooking with Toddlers



Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I started this little blog. 31 post, 6532 views, and 1 lone follower later I'm glad your reading! I am not worried about the lone follower. I am Queen of stalk your blog w/o following. :) Clearly people are reading from the stats. But thank you, thank you, and thank you some more for reading!

So, I've talked a lot in past months about my new natural lifestyle. I've been pretty honest with the one area of struggle being FOOD. I do really well at cooking clean but I still crave sweets. Yes, I know about Whole 30 and No I'm not interested. :)

Any who, part of my tot school schedule was to cook with princess on Thursdays. I find myself trying to duplicate a healthy version of crap food. I thought I would share some of the easy things princess and I have done together this summer.




Pineapple Freeze Pops

1 fresh pineapple diced
1 cup of coconut milk beverage
splash of vanilla
2 TBSP raw honey

Toss everything in the blender and pour into mold of your choice. This was super easy to do with Layla Grayce. She tossed in the pineapple and the milk and I did the rest. I ordered these molds off amazon.

Banana Fudge Pops

 

1 banana



1 can full fat coconut milk (comes in a can, look in the Asian aisle)
1/2 cup coco
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla

Toss it all in the blender and pour in molds of your choice. Are we seeing a pattern here? She literally just turned two a couple of weeks ago. So we are keeping it simple folks. :) I got these molds from Target but Dollar Tree had pretty much the exact same molds.

Breakfast smoothies

1 cup of strawberries
1 cup of ice
1/2 pomegranate juice
fresh lemon juice

Toss it all in the blender and then sip away. :) You could totally make this a frozen treat too!

Homemade cheese crackers

Now this recipe is not my own. I originally saw it here. It's pretty easy, flour, cheese, butter, pinch of salt. They were amazingly delicious. When I made the cheese mixture I could of just eaten it with a spoon. It reminded me of velveta. Could it be possible, a healthy, chemical free version of velveta.... Now, it would of been 1,000 times easier to just roll these into cylinder logs and slice. I actually tried this but it was way boring to princess to just put the crackers on the cookie sheet. So I started rolling the dough and pulled out the cookie cutters. We were working on circles this week, so she used a circle cookie cutter. Here is a picture of the dough once it was all mixed.

I hope you get your little tot in the kitchen and whip up some deliciousness!

May's Menu

I know it's been a while since I've posted a monthly menu. Well I've been a little busy trying to figure out this whole clean eating thing. Trust me, some most of the recipes you could live with out. Finally, this month it hit me. Why am I making this so friggin hard! Think about what you would normally cook and search and scour the net for it in a clean version, ya idiot! So that's what I did. I'm really excited to share this clean menu with you. Keep in mind  you have to buy clean ingredients to make the meal clean. So keep the clean eating rules in mind as you shop. I've listed 12 dinners and 4 of breakfast, lunch, and snack. Oh, and how could I forget 2 ice cream recipes. Mr. Spouse has begged for ice cream the last two weeks. Now I will tell ya this, I am a lazy cook. I prep and cook breakfast and lunch for the entire week on Sunday nights. In other words, I eat the same breakfast and lunch all week long. It's not as bad as it sounds, give it a try. It takes a lot of the planning away and it makes the meal about nourishment not mmm what am I going to have today. I hope these recipes help you and perhaps start you on your clean eating journey!

 

I'm sharing these recipes with my fellow cooks at Six Sisters Stuff, I heart Naptime, I should be mopping the floor, and Skip to my lou.

Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe is pretty easy. I actually came up with it on my own. I guess the term quick is relative. It probably took me about an hour. That's pretty quick considering the way I learned to make them, which was DELICIOUS and completely from scratch took about 4 hours. I'll admit, I'm one lazy sister and a four hour dinner making session is just not on my agenda. I mean it could probably be done in less time once you are confident w/the recipe. But, after I had them I of course wanted more. So, I started browsing the web for a quicker version. I didn't really have any luck.I did find a quick cook method. But, it just didn't taste close enough. Here is what I came up with while trying it out on my own.

Your Ingredients

For the Soup portion
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Celery Seasoning(The Kroger brand cost $1.00)
10-12 baby carrots sliced
1 cooked chicken
48 oz Chicken Broth
about 1/4 cup of coke

Dumplings
2 1/4 Cup of  Bisquick
2/3 Cup of milk

Directions

Pour the chicken broth and coke into your pot. I have no idea why it needs coke but it does. Not exactly the same without it. I'm sure when I originally learned to make dumplings she told me why it needs coke but I just can't remember.

Add in your salt, pepper, and celery seasoning. Now of course you could actually chop up some celery and just take it out before you eat. But, I'm lazy and this is quicker AND I can get a whole jar of seasoning that will last longer than the actually celery stalks and for less money.

Slice your carrots and toss them in. The amount is really up to you. That's just how many I used for ours. Mr. Spouse doesn't like a bunch of carrots in them. But myself and the little princess love them.

Get your broth going on a low simmer to get the flavors meshing. This is when you start to shred your chicken. I just picked a rotisserie one up from Kroger for like $5. I just pull it all apart and dump it in the pot. I even put the skin in the pot. It has yummy flavor that helps add to your soup flavoring. I just fish it out before serving. Ok, so now that everything is in the pot turn the heat up to medium. It should look something like this..

You need to bring your soup to a boil before the dumplings go in. While your waiting on that to happen we are going to make the dumplings. :)

Dump the 2 1/4 cup of Bisquick and 2/3 cup of milk in a bowl and mix together. It will feel like biscuit dough. I then sprinkle more Bisquick on the dough. I want it a little less sticky so I can roll the dough into dumplings without all the dough getting stuck to my hands. And the extra mix will help thicken your soup so no worries.

Once you have your dumplings and your soup is boiling drop the dumplings into the soup. Just let them sit for 10 minutes. Your dumplings will expand as you cook. (Keep that in mind when you are forming the dough balls.)  After 10 minutes carefully flip your dumplings over so the tops can cook. You are going to let the dumplings continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Now, sprinkle in a couple tablespoons of flour for thickening and stir it all together. All done!

Enjoy :)

Before we go I have to share a picture of the little princess. She heard the camera click on the first snap and automatically said CHEESE. So how could I not take her picture :)

And yes, that is a medicine thingy in her hand. She had just had her allergy medicine before we started cooking. She didn't want to give it up, it was empty so why fight with her. Gotta pick ya battles right?

Happy 30th Birthday Mr. Hubs

This post is a little late but better late than never right. Mr.Hubs turned 30 at the beginning of the month. I wanted to do something special. I know when it was little princess' birthday I talked about traditions. We decided to do a birthday lunch. But, school has started for me and I had to work that day. So, I started thinking what could I do that no matter the month or day of the week and it could still be tradition. And...what could I do that Mr. Spouse could duplicate it totally on his own when my birthday rolled around. I originally thought of a donut tower. But that idea was quickly tossed out b/c I already knew getting up early for fresh donuts and be on time to work wasn't gonna happen! So then cinnamon rolls popped in my head. I know making them from scratch would be best but it wasn't realistic for my little family. Mr. Spouse could not do that when my bday rolled around. So it was decided cinnamon roll tower using Grands Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls.

Birthday Cinnamon rolls
1 can of Grands Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls
Sprinkles
candles

Bake your rolls according to the package. I took mine out about 2 minutes before the max bake time. They will continue to cook on the hot cookie sheet once you take them out. This will ensure that your rolls are light and fluffy not hard as a rock.

Once they have cooled off just a wee bit spread them with the yummy icing that is included. I then stacked them to resemble a tower. I did four on the bottom and one on top. Next, dash on sprinkles of your choice. Lastly, add the candles on the very top.

Light the candles and call for the lucky birthday person!

Sing happy birthday and enjoy! I literally made this in between getting ready in the morning. It was quick and easy. I woke up about 20 minutes earlier than usual.

 

I also planned a surprise party for him that weekend. He had no idea. He walked in the door, heard surprise, and walked right back out the house. haha :) I just wanted to share his cake. It came out pretty cute. I will say it looked a lot better than it tasted. I know how to make cakes yummy but I can't exactly make them pretty so I had to hire a baker.

It was the game of life with all his accomplishments so far. :)

On another note, when I logged in to create this post I saw that I had over 2200 views. Just 18 little post (this makes 19) and that many views. I don't even know if that's alot. I'm not up to date on the average views per post for a new blogger. Anywhoo....I figured people must be a little intrigued. I've had a couple comments asking about the followers tab. I was a little chicken at first about doing that. But the reality is the number of followers doesn't matter, if people are lurking and enjoying it that's fine too. :) But, if you're lurking and you want to follow go right ahead! I'm doing my first Social Studies QR code lesson this week. If it goes well I'll upload the file and share :)

Sharing this idea here:
sixsistersstuff
iheartnaptime
chefintraining
skiptomylou
Cheerios and Lattes



October Dinner Menu Ideas

**UPDATE** I've added a follower button if you would like to come out and follow in the open :)

 

First off I just wanted to say, I'm oober excited about that new little button to the right! I guess the stats aren't lying, people are actually reading my little blog. Okay, menus...now I know it's almost halfway through the month at this point. Well, I had tons of food left over from last month. In fact I just went to the store on Monday. I've decided 20 meals a month is to much for my little family. We either eat a lot of left overs or go out to eat way more than I originally thought. It's probably a combination of both. The reason I say that is that the past two months we've had a ton of food left over. So much so that the only meat I had to buy this month was chicken. This month I think I planned like 12 meals or something. Ok now on with the food! It's Fall, well kinda...so I have tons of soups this month!

Pot roast
Chicken and Dumplings I made the chicken and dumplings this week. It made ALOT!!! We've eaten about 5 or 6 bowls and there is still a ton. I did add celery for flavoring and a 1/4 cup of coke.
Chili
Potato soup
Pepperoni Pizza Burgers
Chicken tortilla soup
Ground Beef stew
Taco soup
Skillet porkchop w/fried potatoes
Italian porkchops
Homemade meatballs and pasta
Fried fish-sorry no recipe here, Mr. Hubs just whipps that up when he wants fried food

Dessert Ideas
lowfat pumpkin muffins
pumpkin roll bars (love this idea)
cookie cake

Sharing this list on these wonderful blogs
skiptomylou.org
iheartnaptime.net
thisweekfordinner.com
sixsistersstuff.com
orgjunkie.com
scrapsoflife

Dinner Menu Ideas for September

**UPDATE** I've added a follower button if you would like to come out and follow in the open :)

The once of a month grocery shop last month was totally awesome and cheap. Although, I did find myself going back to the grocery store for things like fruit and bread.The hardest part was doing it with a toddler. She was definitely a trooper! The best part about the menu was that I didn't make anything the same the whole month. So this month I just took things we really liked and added them to the menu for this month. My favorite were the Italian Breaded Pork chops. Micah liked the Knock You Naked Brownies. We eat a lot of brownies in this house and these were his all time favorite. I had to make myself share with 2 other families so we wouldn't eat them all in 2 days. I'm pretty sure we demolished the half I didn't share in 2 days. Y'all I seriously made my menu list for the whole month in like 5 minutes or less. This storing all your meal ideas in one place was one of my best ideas. I'll share my ideas for this month with you guys and hyperlink the recipes. Bon appetit!

1.       Taco salad

2.       Baked Ranch pork chops

3.       Lemon pepper chicken

4.       Penne w/chicken sausage and tomatoes

5.       Tuna sandwiches

6.       Italian Meatloaf

7.       Cream of mushroom porkchops

8.       BBQ chicken

9.       Chicken Jambalaya

10.   Dirty Rice

11.   Italian Breaded Pork chops

12.   Chili dogs

13.   Chicken bacon ranch taquitos

14.   Sloppy Joes

15.   Potato chip chicken nuggets

16.   Burgers with special sauce

17.   Chicken pot pie

18.   Chicken caccatorie

19.   Mexican Cornbread Pie

20.   Layered Enchiladas

 

Desserts

York Peppermint Brownies

Rolo stuffed cookies

Peanut butter chocolate bars

 

Breakfast

Sausage and Egg Burritos

Oatmeal

Waffles

Pancakes

Grits

 

Toddler Friendly Pasta

**UPDATE** I've added a follower button if you would like to come out and follow in the open :)

I have a new recipe I want to share with y'all! My sweet girl isn't really a picky eater. But there are things that are harder for her to eat than others. You know like spaghetti! So one day I thought to myself, how can I still have my spaghetti that I love and something that's easy for baby girl. Then I figured it out, shells! Yes, shells and peas because she loves those. Here is the recipe, I won't keep ya waiting any longer.

Ingredients

About 8oz of medium pasta shells
1 jar of your favorite tomato basil marinara sauce
Italian seasoning
seasoned salt ( I use Lawry's)
pepper
2 cups of peas
1 lb ground beef meat

I cook for 2 adults and a baby so this makes enough for our family to have left overs.

The first thing you want to is get your pasta started and cook according to the directions on the box.

Next, you need to brown your ground beef, make sure to add in your  seasoning to taste. Mr. Hubs is big on flavorful meat. If you haven't tried Lawry's Seasoning Salt you need to buy some, pronto. It adds so much flavor. I prefer it to regular salt. I sprinkle with a heavy hand. I don't have exact measurements for the seasoning. I go up and back down the meat with the seasoning salt and pepper. I do it double for the Italian. Yep, those are legit measuring terms. :) You don't want to skim on this it really adds great flavor.

After my meat has browned I add in the sauce and the peas. We are pea eaters big time! That's why I used 2 cups, baby girl eats them like I eat baked goods. By the handful that is :)

I let this cook just long enough to warm the sauce. I cheat and pop the peas in the microwave ahead of time. That's all folks! Put it in a bowl, add a fork, and get ya grub on!!

This picture may not do it justice. I mean I'm a wanna be chef not professional photographer. :) Go ahead pin it now and enjoy later. This recipe is toddler tested and husband approved!

I plan on sharing this recipe on the sites below.

mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com

chef-in-training.com

skiptomylou.org

33shadesofgreen.blogspot.com

sixsistersstuff.com





20 Dinner Menu Ideas Under $200

Last month I wrote about the frustrations of grocery shopping. I made a big list of meal ideas. This month I gave the once a month shopping a go. I created my menu, made a list, and headed to the grocery store w/my sweet girl tagging along. She was a trooper! It was quit a haul.

I planned for 20 dinners, 3 lunch choices, 4 breakfast choices, and 2 desserts. I also picked up a few household items and treats for Layla. I figured we will go out to eat a few times and at least have left overs from something once a week. Layla is the only one that eats breakfast/lunch daily on a regular breakfast. So I didn't have to buy to much of that. My grand total was $195. I almost fell over. Just two weeks ago my husband grabbed enough for about 8 dinners only and spent $130. Now, I will say that we already had 2 pounds of ground beef and 2 packs of pork chops in the freezer. So that saved a little money. I spent about $155 at Wal-mart and $40 on chicken from the farm. (We're trying something new w/meat starting this month.)

I'll leave you with my list of meals for the month of August.

Dinner Ideas

       1.       Cabbage Rolls w/green beans

2.       Pita bread sandwiches

3.       Oven toasted Ravioli w/salad

4.       Tacos

5.       Baked Ranch pork chops w/garlic potatoes and peas

6.       Lemon pepper chicken w/peas and pasta

7.       Penne w/sausage, tomatoes, and spinach

8.       Tuna sandwiches w/chips

9.       Meatloaf w/peas and rice

10.   Baked pork chops w/rice and green beans

11.   BBQ chicken w/peas and mashed potatoes

12.   Fish tacos

13.   Chicken Jambalaya

14.   Italian breaded pork chops w/black eyed peas and corn

15.   Chili dogs w/chips

16.   Chicken Bacon Ranch Taquitos w/ranch salsa

17.   Sloppy joes w/peas and corn

18.   Talapia w/potatoes and green beans

19. Potato Chip Chicken Nuggets

20.   Burgers w/sweet potatoes

Breakfast options

Pancakes

Waffles

Oatmeal

Eggs

Bacon

Lunch options

Burritos

PB&J

Lunch meat

Chips

Dessert

Crescent roll pecan pie bars

Knock you naked brownies

I can't wait to try these brownies! These sound A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! (That was my inner fat kid singing to you about food.) I think I'm developing a small crush on pioneer woman. Not really, but ya know what I mean jelly bean :) :)

Easy Peasy Chicken Pot Pie

**UPDATE** I've added a follower button if you would like to come out and follow in the open :)

When I gave birth to my sweet girl a lot of my close friends brought dinner to our house. My husband's favorite two meals were a home made pizza and chicken pot pie. I think we ate pizza 3 times that week. My hubby loved it so much and was so determined to duplicate it but it didn't work out. Well, when it came to the pot pie it was pretty yummy. Pre baby I always made my pot pie totally from scratch. Ya know, I got the rue going and spent a couple hours in the kitchen.

So since my hubs liked the pot pie so much I asked my friend for the recipe. There were only FOUR ingredients! I could not believe it. I've never gone the rue route again. I could never remember my friends exact words but I could remember the ingredients. I'll tell ya how I make it and I promise it won't disappoint. I made this for dinner tonight. I like to try and make something savory on Sunday.

Easy Peasy Chicken Pot Pie

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of Veg All drained
1 package of pre made pie dough
4 seasoned chicken breast cooked and cubed

Preheat your oven to 425. I use a 9 inch glass pan. Place one of the two pieces of pie dough in the bottom of your pan. Place the dough in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. You just want to cook it enough so that it's not totally raw. This will help in sure the bottom of your pot pie is crispy not soggy.

While the bottom layer of pie is cooking mix the rest of your ingredients in a bowl. You can use any brand of mixed veggies. I prefer Allen's Veg All because it has potatoes! After the 5 minutes pour your mix of ingredients into the pie pan and top with your other piece of dough. Here is a picture of mine before I added my second piece of dough.

Place your pie in your pre heated oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes. That's all folks!

Let it cool if you can, or just do the chew and blow like me so you don't burn you tongue to bad :)

Here, Layla wants to share a piece with you!

Dinner Menu Ideas

I just went to the grocery store the other day but looking in my fridge it's starting to look empty. I have ingredients for two dinners left. It seems like I'm going to the grocery store once a week. I don't know about you guys but I can't just jump up and go shopping. It's a process. I have to make a menu, write down all the ingredients, and then I can go shopping. But I seem to run into the same problems each time. I get foodie block. I start to think of what meals to plan for and after about 3, I'm at a lost. I try asking Mr. Husband if there are any meals he would like. I always, always, always get one of two answers from him. The response is either hot dogs or I don't care babe. This is how and why I end up at the grocery store once a week simply because I can't think of enough meals on the spot.

Finally, a little idea popped into my head. Out of pure frustration today I started writing down EVERY meal I knew how to make really well. Once I started writing I thought it was a brilliant idea. I sorted each meal by the type of main ingredient. Before I knew it there were over 40 meal ideas. I like to throw in making something sweet for dessert a couple of times each month. After I finished listing all the dinner ideas I wrote down a few dessert ideas.

I am so relieved. Now I can totally make one trip to the grocery store each month. I hear this saves money so double bonus. All I have to do is go through the list and pick out about 4 meal ideas for each week. I try to plan for left overs once or twice a week and I take the day off on Saturdays. Any who, I thought I would share my menu ideas with blog world. And... if you stay tuned and keep coming back you'll have the recipes too. :) But for now I'll leave you with two of the dessert recipes. I have these posted on my old blog. You know, the one I locked myself out of. Here are the Cookies and Cream and Banana Split cupcakes recipes. The Banana Split cupcakes are what you see in the picture. Enjoy :)