Honey, What's For Dinner?

I don't know about you, but if you have kids in the house or work full-time (or both!), it is a wonderful thing to have dinner done before dinnertime! Slow cookers are the way to go.

When Colin was a baby, I started prepping and sometimes completing dinner in the mornings. It usually gets pretty hairy around our house come 4:30 pm (when I would normally think about making dinner) with a clingy baby and a tired mommy. Today, I knew that my husband would be out late for work and that I had to babysit after school, so I got dinner in the slow cooker before 9:00 am. Whew!

Here's what we're trying tonight:
Green Tomatillo Chicken with Rice and Salad


I started with a recipe from one of my favorite slow cooker books (The New Creative Crock-Pot Cookbook by Robin Taylor Swatt) and made a few changes!

Here are the ingredients you need:
Chicken breasts or thighs
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed (so much easier!)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
half of a squeeze lime (or you can use lemon juice)
1 cup green tomatillo salsa (I used green taco sauce).
sour cream
1 cup brown rice

1. Mix everything but the chicken and sour cream together
2. Place chicken in the slow cooker (I always spray mine with oil first!)
3. Cover chicken with sauce
4. Cook on low for 8 hours or so.
5. Cook rice according to package directions (we use a rice cooker)
6. When chicken is done cooking, remove the chicken and add the sour cream to the sauce.

Serve with rice, pouring sauce over each piece of chicken.


This is what it looked like when I was done prepping, 10 minutes!

(Yes, the chicken is frozen. Even easier!)

I'll let you know how it comes out. This is a new one for me, too.
Have a great day. Here in New Hampshire, it is snowing in a beautiful way!

Another crafty Mama blog? Really?

Yes, really!

I'm crafty, love to cook, and I'm a mama! So, obviously, I want to write my own crafty, mama blog. This has been on my mind to explore for awhile now and I figured I would give it a go. I follow many wonderful blogs and just love the platform that blogging allows a person.

Why am I doing this?

If you know me, you are probably thinking, does she have time to do this? I am sure that is what husband, Doug, was thinking when I broke the news to him -"I'm going to be a famous crafty mama blogger"! Well, we're not sure about the famous part, but it should be fun. I work part time, have a toddler and a husband, and make most of our meals from scratch. Oh yeah, and I have a sewing business. Why can't we add a bit of variety into our lives?

I want to share what I love. I love to make things - whether it be a sewing project or a great meal, I love to create. I also enjoy sharing what I am doing with my friends. I look forward to sitting around with a cup of coffee and a girlfriend and talking about what projects I'm working on or the cool tutorial I found. (These are called playdates when you have babies and toddlers!!!). And, if God gave me the ability to do certain things well, I want to share them and inspire others.

What can you expect?

I'd like to start off writing a few times a week. My posts will focus on crafty things, maybe some tutorials or pictures of cool projects I find time to do. I'd also like to share how I meal plan, grocery shop, create healthy meals for my family and maybe video a few cooking lessons (with my husbands help, of course!) I have a whole list of other ideas, but you'll just have to check back and see for yourself! Oh yes, and I'd like to have some guest bloggers! Some fellow crafty mama's will be highlighted here at Create, Inspire, Share in the near future.

By the way, you don't have to be crafty or a mama to read my blog. =) God Bless.

Meghan

Menu Planning: How To (4 Simple Steps)

It's Monday morning and if you are like me, you need to plan your meals for the week. What? Plan meals? I've been meal planning since I first got married (7 years in April!). My best friend, Kristen, explained to me how she planned her grocery list and I've been following this plan ever since. Now that I have a toddler (Colin, age 16 months), it is even more important to plan out our weekly meals to include healthy options.

Here are some simple steps to making the best meal plans and efficient grocery lists around!

1. Grocer Circulars
I always check out my local grocery store circulars before making my meal plan. You'll save more money if you plan your meals around what is on sale for that week.
Example: Canned tomatoes are on sale at Market Basket this week, so I'm making chili and more tomato sauce. I also have a coupon, which seals the deal! My favorite creamer is also on sale and I have an extra coupon, so I am going to stock up on that, too.
2. Freezer/Pantry Check
Sometimes, I stock up on certain staple items if they are a good price and stash them in my freezer or pantry. Or, maybe you make extra of something and freeze it for later use! I usually do this with pizza dough and my tomato sauce. Then, if you are in a bind budget wise, you can plan an easy and cheap meal with what you already have on hand. Check to see what you have to use before you plan your meals!

• Example: Pasta and Sauce - last week, I made a double batch of yummy tomato sauce (yep, homemade, I'll write a post on that one later!) and froze the second half in a freezer bag (love them!). I knew I'd have a ready made meal for one of our crazy nights. When meal planning, all I had to put on my grocery list was pasta. I serve salad with my pasta and sauce, and I already buy that anyway weekly. Easy, quick, and healthy!
  

3. Calendar Check
What kind of week are you going into? If you are like us, we have a few evenings a week where either one or both of us have commitments, which make for hurried meal times. To lessen the stress on me (the meal preparer!), I chose easier recipes for nights like these. Slow cooker meals and less step meals like the pasta and sauce (from above) are great options! Soup, sandwiches and salad are are a great way to go, too!

4. Menu Plan
Once you have exhausted the first three steps and hopefully have at least 2 or 3 meals written down, you can begin filling in the blanks. This is an example of what my meal plan paper looks like:
I choose meals that my family enjoys, are budget friendly, and are healthy. Once I have chosen meals for the week, I fill out my grocery list with the ingredients I need. Then, I add in the other items we need for breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc.

What do you do for menu planning?

If you need a new approach, try this out and let me know how it worked for you.

Check back next week for tips on how to make the best grocery list ever.