YES... I am alive

The Dickey's are alive and doing well. We survived the Holidays (photos below!) and a rocky BTSchool week. Our new puppy "Ridley" the Doodle Dickey is adjusting well to our chaotic home. Everyone is healthy and 2 of our 3 scheduled IEPs are behind us (and were successful!).

My coupon binder is an absolute MESS, CVS is worried about how many deals I have missed out on and my menu planning has been sketchy at best but starting today I hope to get it all cranked up again as soon we we finish our award winning Pinewood Derby car :-) wish us luck!

Thank you for all of the emails! I am amazed how many people still check-in with me and email me HOT Deals. I love a good deal. I hit the Target 75% Christmas as well as the Target 75% Toy Sale (which is still underway as some is still 30-50%, I know I am looking at some camping gear if it makes it to 75%). So if you are reading this send me your HOT Deals. I may not get them posted but if I don't I will forward them to Jodi at NeverPayRetail she is working on growing her Blog to the best on the web!

PS, If you or yours are Gluten Free - PLEASE EMAIL ME! as many of you know I have considered this for a LONG time but it is so overwhelming to me. I am looking for good Gluten Free products to try before we dive right in. I specifically need help with Pasta, Pizza Dough, Soy Sauce and Breakfast Bars and/or Cereal. Thanks!

Yeah its Monday! Time to share my attempt at an organized life "Menu Plan Monday"
For those of you that have been following this thread you will be happy to know that last week I served all of my breakfast and lunches and 5 of my dinners! (Now we are getting somewhere!) In fact the only reason I skipped one of the meals is while doing triples I scored a $1 pound of Backfin Crab meat (yes $1 after coupons) so I had to whip up some Crab Cakes and Aioli... I mean who could pass that up right? So this week I only have one carry over meal... the pork loin - yummO!
That said this is still a short week as we will be out of town this weekend for the commissioning of my Aunt's mission trip and my birthday lunch at Memas. Mmmmmmm.

So wait no longer... this weeks "Plan" is:

Breakfast
Choice of Egg in a Hole, Cereal & Bacon, Oatmeal and Fruit, Yogurt and Toast, Biscuits and Homemade Gravy

Monday
L Chef Boyardee and/or Smoothies
D Beef Back Ribs, Leftover Broccoli Slaw and Creamed Corn

Tuesday
L Cool Zuchinni Pizza
D Pepercorn Pork Loin, Oven Fried Squash, Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday
L Grill Cheese and Smoothies
Ladies Night Out (Have I been blessed with a lot of these lately?)
D Mr. J will serve: California Pizza Kitchen & Garden Salad

Thursday
L BLTs or Corn Dogs
D Smoked Sausage, Dirty Onion Rice and Sliced Garden Tomatoes

Friday
L Mac&Cheese or Leftovers and Fruit

Snacks
Choice of 100 Calorie Muffins, Crunch&Munch, Cereal Bars, Yogurt

Desserts
Leftover Blueberry Cheesecake, Luigis Italian Ice and Klondike Bars.

So, be honest... do you feel Inspired? I feel hungry - LOL. If you Menu Plan or have a tip fo rme I would LOVE for you to share it. Leave me a comment. In the mean time be sure to check on the Link Love at OrgJunkie... those ladies have AMAZING Menu Plans!

Menu Plan Monday

This weeks MenuPlanMonday (episode III) is an interesting one as we are on vacation in Sunny Coastal GA. On our arrival day we had hot dogs, slaw and chips. Yesterday I made Overnight Sticky Buns for breakfast and Tuna Pasta Salad for lunch then last night we ate at Tubby's Tankhouse in Thunderbolt (the shrimp was amazing but the oysters were not very good). Today I made biscuits and my MIL made eggs and bacon (wakey wakey eggs and bakey!) For lunch it was "Do Your Own Thang" and tonight we are having Fisgus' Chicken Divan (only we add rice to s t r e t c h one recipe to feed all 7 of us).
Starting tomorrow breakfast will be "quick and easy, do it yourself" (except for Cooper I guess I will feed the 3y but everyone else is on their own will I sip my coffee on the deck - hehee)
My other "mealplanning" for the week includes "lunch fixins" like Egg Salad, Chicken Salad, Turkey & Munster, Roast Beef & Provolone, Bologna & Cheese, and PB&J. Our snack plan includes Raspberry Salsa, Homemade Pico&Guac, Cheese & Crackers, Homemade veggie dip and bugels, blueberries, strawberries, raisins LOTS OF GOODIES (that is what is great about vacation, yummO)
We have some super "blogger recommended" restaurants picked so my only real plan to cook is Suzanne's Lemon Pepper Shrimp on either Tues. or Wed. night. It sounds so good I will include the recipe below. Hmmm. Other than that I will play it by ear so I don't freak out GG and MawMaw with my "OPD" (over planning disease - hehee).
We leave on Saturday and I don't have a plan for that night or for Sunday so if one of you have a FAST suggestion that includes things I likely have at home, drop me a comment.

Suzanne's Lemon Pepper Shrimp
2 lbs unpeeled shrimp
3 stalks celery, chopped coarsely
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, sliced thinly
4 whole lemons
2 sticks butter
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 2oz can peppers (I forgot to buy this)
½ cup lemon juice
2 tsp hot sauce
1 Tbsp salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place shrimp in 9x13 glass baking dish. Scatter celery, onion and garlic over shrimp. Cut lemons in half and squeeze over shrimp. Place squeezed lemon halves in baking dish. In small saucepan, melt butter. Add all remaining ingredients to butter and mix well. Pour over shrimp. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, stirring often. Serve with crusty French bread to soak up juices.

Waste Not Want Not -

MenuPlanMonday is going good! (heehe at least day 1 of 7 did!) I had to sub Trader Joe's Penette Pasta for the Rigatoni and I added olives and artichokes but it was great! (no leftovers!) However... last night's Banana Pudding did not set:-( but rather than toss it I had the bright idea to throw it in the ice cream churn today. Yummo Dessert Disaster Averted! (try that tongue twister outloud 3x- weeh!)

Menu Plan Monday

While blog browsing recently I stumbled across OrgJunkie.com (a site I NEED in my life). She (Laura) advocates meal planning (something I used to be better at) - in fact she feels menu planning is one of the best places to start in your "quest to get organized". Hmmmm. I am not looking forward to multiple weekly trips to the grocer with 3 kids in tow so the idea of being organized to do one run does sound appealing. Plus, I will admit despite my coupon skills (to lower the bills -heehee-) I do have a tendency to try to persuade Mr. J to take us out to eat (with coupon of course!) when summer stir crazies set in or Yummo to pick up Chinese take-out (a thing of the past now that Restaurant.com does not have $10 Wok coupons) when I forget to thaw out meat. The facts are more high dollar meals out mean less summer date nights and weekend family fun... and that will not do! So you have probably guessed where this post is heading... this is my 1st addition of what will hopefully be my weekly participation in Menu Plan Monday!
This week the Dickey Diet will include:


Breakfast - Do your own thing - Choices include:
cereal/cereal bars, bacon
egg & cheese sandwich(s)
oatmeal (only the princess and I willing eat this choice)
cheese toast, strawberries
yogurt smoothies

Lunch - with Mom-:
cheese quesadillas, grapes
chicken salad, strawberries
hoagies, carrots
corn dogs, apple sauce
egg salad, chips

Monday Dinner
WAS honey teriyaki chicken, rice and broccoli but hubby scored Cure tickets for tonight so NOW the kids and I are eating a homemade cheese pizza and field greens from MY garden (my 1st!)
Tuesday Dinner
we are invited to a cook-out if we do not attend (Mr J's work schedule and princess EB is in ALL day camp this week) we will have chicken salad, egg salad and tuna salad on lettuce with cantaloupe
Wednesday Dinner
"UnCut Heidi"'s child friendly taco puffs (yummO), corn on the cob
Thursday Dinner
Outback (Free Gift Card Baby! Thanks Mr J's work!)
Friday Dinner
spaghetti with Italian sausage, salad (hopefully from MY garden again)
Saturday Dinner
pork chops (need recipe! drop me a comment if you have one), potatoes and green beans
Sunday Lunch/Brunch
I am thinking Quiche... Mr J says ick, lets eat out... we will see
Sunday Dinner
shrimp & noodle stir-fry, maybe even eggrolls?

Does menu planning sound interesting to you? Want to hear more? Laura explains the WHY and HOW as well as providing aweseome links to recipes sites and various menu planning resources.