If you recall, three out of four of our boys were at their grandparent’s house for several days last week. I missed them like crazy. But I sure did get a lot of work done! I helped Matt paint the front of our house (leaving the high ladder parts up to him). And I was able to spend hours writing a new eBook that I’ve had tons of requests for. This felt like a great accomplishment, as I’ve been working on this book here and there for almost three years. More details coming, just as soon as I feel I’m far enough along in the process to get my hopes up about ever finishing it. ;)
Our boys are all home, so now all is right in my world. A great friend of ours got married this weekend. We are so excited for her and her new husband! Here’s a shot of our family, taken just before the wedding started.
Is it just me, or do any of you married gals feel a little sense of “vow renewal” after attending a wedding? I always leave a wedding with all kinds of sappy feelings of newly married affection toward Matt. Eighteen years and four kids later, I remember how I felt on the day of our wedding so clearly. They tell you on your wedding day that your love will continue to grow. At that time, you can’t imagine that it’s possible. But wow, it’s so very true. Okay…just needed to share all of that since I’ve been feeling all kinds of mushy since yesterday. :)
Moving on to talk of food, since this is my menu plan post, let’s talk homemade chicken nuggets. I find that if I prepare (cut and bread) several batches ahead of time, then freeze them – grabbing them out to make for a quick lunch is super easy!
In case you were wondering, I had served the nuggets with
peas and Creamy Mac and Cheese the day of this picture.
Here’s our menu for this week:
Sunday, July 8
Oatmeal, apples
Grilled marinated Italian chicken, grilled potatoes, tossed salad, peas
Grilled hotdogs, carrot sticks, watermelon (We use all beef, organic Applegate hotdogs that we get from our health food co-op, Azure Standard.)
Monday, July 9
Whole wheat pancakes, blueberries
Homemade chicken nuggets, peas, cantaloupe
Hamburgers, green beans, watermelon
Tuesday, July 10
Coconut flour banana muffins, applesauce
Tuna salad with tomatoes, cottage cheese and pineapple
Spaghetti, zucchini and yellow squash
Wednesday, July 11
Giant breakfast cookies, bananas
Calzones, watermelon
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans
Thursday, July 12
Whole wheat waffles, applesauce
Ham and cheese with crackers, smoothies
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad
Friday, July 13
Whole wheat donuts (frozen and rewarmed in the toaster oven)
Corn dog muffins, raw veggies
Leftovers
Saturday, July 14
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Creamy mac and cheese, peas
Bbq chicken, corn on the cob, tossed salad
If menu planning is a struggle for you (or even if it’s not!),
be sure to check into Plan to Eat and enter to win a free year’s subscription!
Laura,
Where do you get your chicken for making things like chicken nuggets? I know someone who sells pastured chicken breasts at $6.75 a lb but we just can’t afford that. I do buy pastured chicken and shred it whenever I can but some meals need “chunks” of chicken. Debating whether or not to compromise once a week to use store bought chicken breasts.
I wait until “Smart Chicken” brand goes on sale at my local grocery store. It’s still not completely great chicken, but much better than other brands. So when it goes on sale, I stock up!
Trader Joes is a great place to get organic chicken if you have access to them. Also in the SE Ingles Supermarkets has their own brand of ‘better’ chicken that often goes on sale. This week bone in, skin on breasts are on sale for I think $2.28.
I use organic ground chicken for my nuggets. It’s cheaper than breasts, contains healthy dark meat too, and has a store-bought nugget consistency which is great for a husband who has an aversion to healthy real food.
We buy whole chickens from our organic/raw/pasture farmer and then cut ethem up in a flash with a cleaver. http://www.yourfamilycow.com They are in Chambersburg, PA but have food drops all over PA including the MD and NJ borders.
I can’t eat grocery store chicken anymore, including organic, I just can taste something ‘off’. It’s getting to the point I either bring the food or don’t eat at other people’s houses honestly!
Just thinking about how much was spent on our wedding ($7k!) makes me sick thinking about getting married again. BUT I have thought about a renewal ceremony since we were not believers when we got married 8+ years ago but now we are :)
Whole wheat donuts (homemade and put into the freezer to rewarm)
This made me chuckle…lol
Ha! That was a well worded phrase, huh?! :)
Fixed it, I hope. :) What? Your freezer doesn’t warm donuts up for you? :)
Our middle son got married 3 weeks ago and our youngest son gets married in 3 weeks. I am still trying to sort out how this has made me feel. Not mushy! We have 2 married children already but their weddings were 4 years apart. This summer is just emotion after emotion with both of them graduating from college AND getting married.
If my sons were getting married that close together, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be feeling very mushy either. :)
Need a proofreader for your ebook? :>)
Yes, I definitely renew our vows in my mind at every wedding!
You know it. :)
I use Organic Prairie brand ground chicken to make my homemade chicken nuggets. My husband isn’t in to healthy food, and my nuggets have a store-bought texture from using ground chicken, so it works for us. I’ve also made beef nuggets from ground beef, and my picky meat-hating daughter loves them.
That sounds good…I’ve been thinking about grinding up some chicken to
make nuggets for my 20-month old since meat is still tricky for her to
eat. She’s gotten a hold of commercial nuggets and was able to eat them
so will have to try!
My sister got married earlier this year and at her reception I looked over at my husband and said, “We should totally do this again!” I loved our wedding and I would definitely marry my husband again :)
A friend of mine got married last weekend, and I was in the wedding. Normally my husband and I aren’t that mushy, but we couldn’t take our eyes off each other for the vows. Kind of nice to know we still have that connection after 4 (soon to be 5) kiddos!
As for the chicken, I buy the smart chicken thighs for nuggets. They go on sale more often than breasts, and no one here can tell the difference! I am very excited that in August our boys are getting 7 chickens to raise for 9 weeks as a 4-H project, and then we will have them processed at a local locker for $1.30 a chicken! The chickens are free, so I will have 7 whole chickens in my freezer for a whopping $9.10 total. Best part? I will know what they have eaten from the day they were born! So I see a lot of chicken stir fry in our future!
When you take the chicken nuggets out of the freezer how do you prepare? Do you let them thaw first? This is a very appealing idea.
I’m laughing at the ipad in church behind you :)
I totally feel the same way after going to a friend’s wedding :)
Please tell me how you make chicken nuggets out of GROUND chicken ????? Are you talking like meatballs ?????? Not getting this one :) Please explain…..all chicken nuggets I’ve seen is a solid piece of chicken deep fried or baked, so ground chicken is ground chicken……:)
Forgot to add comment about your family…you have a lovely family Laura and seem to be a super mom…..your kids are so fortunate to have a mom like you…..
I see mothers shopping in the grocery store, and everything they pick up is either all ready cooked and ready to eat or frozen, just stick in oven…..and I wonder why they buy all that prepared food for their family…..when they could be making it from scratch like you do…..and it’s really sad to see how the people who use food stamps/I think they call it some kind of card now…what they have in their cart…..these women I would say mostly stay home, so why are they not cooking decent meals ???? You see a lot of frozen taco foods, frozen this and frozen that…..and a $10.00 cake….when they could buy a box of cake mix for a dollar and make their own icing a lot cheaper……just something to burn about……
And the Ipad and cell phones in church……a totally disgrace…..don’t even get me started on that……those things should be left at home….why does a family of 6 need 4 cell phones when they are out ????? Does anyone really know ?????