Weekly Meal Plan!

1.  Minestrone Casserole - there will be a separate post soon about this dish.

2.  Morrocan Stew - there's many variations but I can't find the one I'll be using as it's from a cookbook.

3.  Creamy Chicken Soup - from a cookbook and can't find it online

4.  Turkey Sausage Pasta -  I love sausage and pasta!

5.  Chicken Divan - I have made variations of this but this one has been lightened.

6.  Spinach Lasagna Rolls - a favorite in this house!

So again I've been trying lots of new recipes with the family as I work my way through old cookbooks copying good recipes then getting rid of them.  Stay tuned for more exciting posts featuring food and new recipes in addition to my weekly meal plan for the next year!

Weekly Meal Plan!

Lots of new recipes again for this week!  I look for somewhat healthy, quick recipes that are both toddler and baby friendly!

1.  Rosemary Zucchini Pasta

2.  Parmesan Turkey Meatloaf - we used chicken instead and I didn't fry the onions ahead of time, I omitted the egg and I used oatmeal instead of bread crumbs and it turned out fine

3.  Summer Veggie Chili - can't find this

4.  Baked Chops and Stuffing - can't find this either and from the looks it's not very diet friendly! 

5.  Chicken Express - from a cookbook 

6.  Chocolate Zucchini bread - not for dinner but to use up old bananas

Temptations Review, Contest and a Giveaway!

A little shake of the bag and my cats came running.  With a crunchy outer shell and a soft tasty center my cats will do anything for Temptations.  When it comes to cat treats they are a little bit picky but they enjoyed all three flavours they were sent to try; chicken, beef and tuna.  At under 2 calories each and in a resealable pouch I feel great giving these treats to my cat's and they love all the flavours and will gobble them up every chance they get.  

Each Temptations bag comes with a pin code right on the front of the bag which can be entered here. You can instantly win one of thousands of prizes including up to $100,000!  Each pin that's entered that doesn't win adds Temptation bucks to your account and at the end of the contest you may be one of the five lucky winners that gets to take home the equivalent of their account in Canadian dollars!  

Check out the Temptations Canada facebook page and while there try out the really cute #KittyCat Hijack. It's a button you add to your favorites bar and if you press it on any website then shake the Temptations bag that appears cats will takeover the screen meowing and doing everything they can for Temptations.  Personally I love using the app to drive my cats crazy! 

For the giveaway one of my readers will win a $50 Temptations prize pack perfect for the kitties!  To enter just comment with your email address.  Contest is open to Canadian residents only and ends at midnight June 15th, 2012.  

Weekly Meal Plan!

I know I didn't post anything last week.  I just returned to work so we were getting used to the change in schedule for everybody and I had to get used to that awful 5:30 am wakeup!  So now that things are back to normal here's this weeks plan:

1.  Zucchini treats - never made before but I love zucchini!  These will probably for for breakfast/snack

2.  perogies and veggies - the frozen variety for the night I have no time to cook or feeling lazy

3.  Veggie Chili - from a cookbook and can't find online

4.  Chili Hash - also from a cookbook and can't find but basically another chili variation with rice and beef

5.  Zucchini Risotto with Sundried Tomatoes - sounds yummy

6.  Almond Chicken - from a cookbook and couldn't find the same version online

7.  Chicken nuggets - box or homemade

Most of the recipes from this week I've never made before.  Stay tuned for some exciting stuff coming up on my blog including more delicious recipes!

Lay's Launches Two New Flavours For Western Canada!

Lay's is happy to announce the launch of two new potato chip flavours exclusively to western Canada including BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The new flavours are Smoky BBQ and Old Fashioned Ketchup and both are the wavy style potato chips.  PepsiCo Foods supports the western market through partnerships with professional sports teams and new products choices so these two flavours were created with the Western tastebud in mind.

Smoky BBQ is spicier and smokier with added heat for those looking for a stronger bite and Old Fashioned Ketchup is a sweeter, more tomato taste sure to please those who love the classic Ketchup flavour.  Lay's takes pride in providing Canadians with potato chips with homegrown potatoes provided by Canadian Lay's potato farmers.

I was generously provided with both flavours to try.  It was perfect timing with the long weekend and company coming to visit.  My family loves potato chips and I happen to love the wavy chips over the thinner ones that tend to break more easily.  I don't know how true it is but to me the wavy chips tend to be more flavourful.  We enjoyed both flavours!  I don't like chips that are too spicy but I found the Smoky BBQ to have just the right amount of heat without being too overpowering and the flavour was smoky delicious.  Ketchup is one of my favourite chip flavours and these ones didn't fail to please me.  They were a good balance between sweet and tomato.  Sometimes I find with a bag of chips is some chips will have no flavour on them and others too much but these ones were pretty evenly coated which was nice.

These new flavours are available at all major retailers in Western Canada (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for suggested retail of $3.49 for 270g bag.

Chips were generously provided to me for review purposes only and all opinions on the blog are my own.  

Weekly Meal Plan!

1.  Mardi Gras Pilaf - quick and easy and both kids will eat it! Also pretty good for my weight watchers!

2.  Porcupine Meatball Stew - can't find the recipe for this but it's quick to throw together then roasts for 2 hrs!

3.  Chicken Quesadillas with Corn Tomato Salad - from a weight watchers cookbook

4.  Greek Roast Chicken - from a cookbook and can't find it online

5.  Penne with Creamy Garlic Parmesan Sauce - haven't tried but it's pasta so we'll love it I"m sure!

I've been following weight watchers for almost four weeks now and what I do is have a simple breakfast, a light lunch (usually different from what I feed the kids) then we all eat a healthy dinner together.  If dinner isn't light enough for me then I'll just eat less of it and top myself up with fruits and veggies.  What I've been doing is working so far since I've lost 8.5lbs just on the weight watchers alone!

20 Days.....

In 20 days I leave my wonderful job of being home with my babies and go back to my part-time out of the house job a little bit sadder than when I had to do this the first time around.  For some reason I find it harder to leave 2 babies at home rather than 1.  I think part of it is being a little more overproctective with my daughter than my son at this age.  When it was just him there was no one else around to take toys away from him and knock him over.  He's pretty good with her so I really shouldn't worry but she's also a lot smaller than he was at this age and "more breakable" in my opinion and he has knocked her over and hit her a few times.  Having siblings myself though I know it's going to happen and I can't protect her forever.

Lucky for me my kids don't have to go to daycare.  They'll spend their mornings home with dad while I go to work then when I come home he'll head off to work.  We have a great arrangement actually with both of us having to work to support the family.  I can't complain....  A lot of my friends have it worse having to work full-time and feeling like they barely see their children apart from a couple hours at the end of the day which is often filled with making dinner then an early bedtime and weekends which are filled with grocery shopping and other errands.  I have more time to get everything done during the week and hubby is more than willing to do the grocery shopping with kids in tow as long as I have a list.  So, I am really lucky!

Still not looking forward to getting up at 5:30 for work though but who does!