Vacation Week and Food Review

What a fabulous week off!!!  While we were a little sad not to be on the beaches of Cabo, I think everyone should take a staycation when they need a little break, too.  We managed to get a lot of random things done - cleaned out the garage a bit, Greg spent an entire day smoking pork shoulder, I did a little cleaning out of our closets, cleaned a few over stuffed drawers, and rearranged our pots/pans so everything kind of fits.  I still have a long list of other things I'd like to accomplish (potty-training, some yard work, putting away outdoor furniture, and a few more drawers/closets that need organizing) but I feel good about what I was able to accomplish :)

In addition to spending a few days in Canada, we also:

Made breakfast!  A lot!  There is nothing like whipping up some pumpkin pancakes, bacon and eggs and enjoying several cups of coffee over a lingering meal.

I left the boys at home so I could enjoy meeting/holding baby Emmett and visiting with Becca!  He is perfect and they are now an adorable and happy family of four! 

Greg chopped down a tree that he has been detesting ever since we moved in :)  And Ben watched.

We went on a few walks:

We went to the park.

We picked up some flowers and brought them to Grandma at work.  And we got a balloon for being such a good boy.

We played trucks.

We had Myles (and family) over for dinner:

I think this was the week before last, but Lisa came up and we made cookies:

The boys watched a few Steeler games (while I escaped to yoga classes) :)

And we OBVIOUSLY cooked and drank wine :)

I'm trying to get a little better about using up what might be leftover in the fridge from another meal.  The book I'm reading suggested throwing any about to go bad vegetables or cheese on top of a flatbread, cracking an egg on top and making a pizza, or throwing the vegetables into a pot with some chicken stock and making soup, or sauteeing it all up and making a scramble of some kind (all strategies I plan to try in the upcoming weeks).  But when we returned from Canada and wanted to make something, I was SO pleased to discover that I had everything leftover that was needed to make Pan-Seared Chicken with Bulgur. 

Since we were away on vacation we didn't do much of a meal plan, but this is a bit of what we cooked up last week:

The Tilapia over rice was great with vegetables was pretty good.  Jade rice is something new to me - and I liked it.

The turkey meatballs over linguine was great, although it's hard to beat the Italian meatballs you can buy frozen from Costco.  (So easy)!  But I've been wanting to incorporate turkey instead of beef once in awhile and this was a delicious way to do it. 

The cuban sandwiches with kale/plantain salad were amazing - my only critique would be to use a panini press instead of using oil in a pan to get the bread crispy.  We made a variation of this with smoked pork this past weekend and it was much less greasy using the panini press.

I made Lagered Turkey Soup (which I had thought was LAYERED Turkey Soup the first several times I made it) and it was great.  I could eat this chili every week.

No meal planning for the next couple weeks because Greg's mom arrives on Tuesday and I'll be happily handing over the kitchen to her!  (I'll be her sous chef) :)