Sunday, December 18, 2011

MPM--It's Not Just the Goose Getting Fat

I wish I had pregnancy as an excuse, but I do not. It is pure holiday gain, which I rarely succumb to. (I just stay at holiday weight year-round.) But with a week to go, I'm just trying to be careful from here on out.

I have stocked up on my favorite easy light lunch (Trader Joe's chicken-cilantro wontons and chicken broth), and I am hoping to make the bean and cabbage dish later to have this week for lunches and mom-alternatives to other dinners this week. But I'm also hoping to just not worry about it with the magic of the season upon us.

One fun piece of magic from last week's sprint of the season: Little Mr. Picky ate a spinach stromboli! Wonders may never cease. Many thanks to the intrepid hosts (from Fever) for an amazing party and Christmas miracle of food.

It was a great week, full of train rides and Santa visits and cookie decorating and pretzel hugs-making, and all kinds of goodness. The trees are up, if not decorated, but Christmas will come just the same. Here's wishing a great week to you and yours. And for my many friends who are missing someone this year, permanently or temporarily--I am holding you in my heart in a special way.

Monday: Apple-Sausage-Potato Bake. It's the second grade party and I know it's all I'll be up for. (I do love "Place ingredients in vessel; bake" recipes.)

Tuesday: Oh, alas, as the year comes to a close...Taco Tuesday might close too. My taco-loving guy has decided that if it isn't a hard-shell taco, he's not interested. Mom considers hard-shell tacos to be an every-once-in-a-while treat. The snits are not pretty. But for this week--still with the tacos.

Wednesday: I had this awesome crockpot pork at a party this week and would like to replicate it. Leftover macaroni & cheese; beets.

Thursday: Last day of school! Cranberry brisket, baked potatoes, some vegetable. I hope. If I get my act together.

Friday: Not sure. The boys have been grooving on pesto quinoa lately so hopefully leftovers + that will get us to the weekend.

Saturday: Feast of the 7 Fishes, MemeGRL's family style. We do a family take on it. We cheat with cioppino (getting scallops, shrimp, anchovies, cod, and mussels in one take), lobster bisque, canned oysters on crackers, and salmon for those who do not enjoy oysters or lobster bisque. And, to keep it totally traditional, we have pizza for the boys.

And that's as far as I can go right now. I think I made other things this week but the only item of note for here: I tried these three-ingredient Nutella cookies. They were easy but I did find I had to knead the dough by hand, not spoon. The original recipe may have worked better (though yum--they were delicious). There were others that I can't remember right now...and oh, I had a great non-cooking weekend, taking advantage of her and her generosity and yumminess. Thanks, blogfriends! I loved seeing so many online friends in person.

Have a wonderful week, everyone. See you on the other side of the holiday! Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus.

2 comments:

Lora said...

I'm so glad you guys made it over! Jake loves the boys and wants to hang out more- which totally works for me!

Mom24 said...

I recently discovered I've (re)gained 10 lbs, so I feel your pain. Tis the season, I guess. *sigh*

It sounds like a lovely week. I hope you have a fabulous Christmas and a blessed New Year. I also hope you get to have some vacation time to be home with your little ones.