Before Christmas + some meal planning.

We're home, & I'm on my 7th load of laundry despite the fact that we came home with clean clothes in our suitcases. I'm still not entirely sure how this happened - all of the laundry - but we'll all have clean sheets tonight & my house is finally starting to feel put back in order. I'm working through my to-do list with a vigor, but also enjoying the mellow feeling of this week & staying in my cozies today, as Q would say. It's cold in Texas (the 50's!) & I don't really want to venture outside. We've all gone totally soft, & despite having a fantastic time in the snow of the Northwest for the past week, I'm happy to not be putting a thousand things on my kids every time we have to go outside. I like the south.

I had lots of time with a sleeping baby in my arms on Monday (hooray! our flights were so successful), so I did a thorough meal plan / grocery shopping list for the week so that I could do a big shopping trip Tuesday morning. I do much better with life even just planning the simple meals like breakfast, & lunches for a toddler seem to go much more smoothly when I'm not scrambling to figure out what to pull out at the last minute. 

For a while, I was pretty good at posting our menus, & I might try doing that more consistently. I already swap emails with a few friends with our weekly menus (so helpful!), & it's nice to go back & look to remember what I actually like to cook.

Cooking is such a pain! The planning & shopping part, anyway. But I grew up with a mom who fed us well, & those are special memories (warm breakfasts go a long way when you're out the door before 6am, & I think family dinner is such an important concept). I really aspire to be like her.

I'm still mostly avoiding dairy & gluten in my diet (thanks to West's tummy), so I adapt a few things below for myself accordingly. I'm mostly used to it at this point, although I still miss being able to grab a lot of the convenience foods I'm used to (like great burritos, flatbread pizzas & pastas from Trader Joe's!). But, I feel good, it probably has helped me kick the baby weight a bit, West is happy, & I'm able to continue exclusively nursing. It's worth it.

Anyway - here's what we're eating this week. Nothing complicated (per usual - I don't do complicated), but just a plan. That's half the battle.

|| Tuesday || 

B: Egg-in-a-hole + green smoothies (kale, apple, banana, frozen peach, orange juice, coconut blueberry yogurt)

L: Turkey / avocado / cheese panini sandwiches

D: Garlic + rosemary baked salmon + roasted veggies (I always do something along these lines - last night I did beets, turnips, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, red onion, rutabaga)

|| Wednesday ||

B: Simple French toast (w. HEB french toast bread)

L: Bean + cheese + cilantro quesadillas + green smoothies (kale, etc) 

D: Maple rosemary chicken with roasted garlic red potatoes & a spinach salad with beets, etc

|| Thursday ||

B: Scrambled eggs + toast + green smoothies (spinach or kale, etc)

L: Annie's Macaroni & cheese w. peas

D: Steak w. mushroom sauce & cauliflower puree (from this month's Real Simple)

|| Friday || 

B: Waffles + green smoothies (with spinach or kale, etc)

L: Turkey / avocado / cheese panini sandwiches 

D: Baked potatoes w. Trader Joe's turkey chili / cheese / tomatoes / green onions 

|| Saturday || 

B: Eggs + toast + green smoothies

L: Out?

D: Fish tacos w. grilled corn (frozen, in a bag, from Trader Joe's) + avocado (or maybe red onion + tartar sauce). I just use corn tortillas & the fish sticks from Trader Joe's + some cabbage, cilantro, etc. (This non-recipe is a favorite)

|| Sunday ||  

B: Vegan Blueberry cornmeal pancakes 

L: Snacks at church (we move to 11am... ugh)?

D: Halibut w. couscous & beets (from this month's Real Simple)

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In other news, I have a ton of photos from the week before we left for Washington. 

I bought a Houston snow globe to match the New York one that my mom gifted us a few years ago (such a treasure). When it came in the mail, Mike & I couldn't figure out if it was actually Houston or not, given that we couldn't recognize most of the buildings. It turns out Houston isn't quite as iconic as New York City. Sigh. Also, Q has learned how to turn out the quick water-works, & we seemed to have a lot of alligator tears that week. ALSO, I've perfected (a stretch?) my haircut routine with him - an Ikea highchair purchased for this very purpose, Chuggington or Gaba on the TV, & lots of snacks. I've also abandoned my scissor technique & just use the buzzers. He looks a little less homeless now.