Meal Planning 101: Week 8

(Disclaimer - This is a catch up post! If you just want the meal plan, scroll to the bottom.)

Oh hi there. I took a little unplanned vaca from cooking and blogging.

Good news? I'm back with tons of cooking and blogging inspiration and vowing to not eat anything prepacked or frozen for at least a month.

Bad news? I got a little over inspired and spent more than my planned grocery budget. Oops. I now vow also to not eat out for a while (good plan anyway, but I kinda used the eating out budget for groceries).

Since it's been a while, let's catch up. My life since the last time we chatted can be summed up in three words.

Moving. Instagram. Birthday. 

Since I missed you, and I'm certain you missed me back, can I walk you through a quick picture recap?

Birthday. I'm officially "almost 30." I have now begun my last year in the "20 Somethings" age range. I have to say it... #YOLO!

Since you've missed me and my rambliness (and my ability to make up words like rambliness) let's linger on YOLO. Just for the record, I think YOLO, the acronym and common hashtag for "you only live once," is the cheesiest, silliest, most ridiculous hashtag/acronym/buzzword out there. BUT... it makes me giggle. And hey, sometimes it just fits. While we're interjecting and rambling about YOLO I have a quick story. On the last night of the semester, my RAs and I kept joking and YOLO. At the RA Banquet, we decided that we had to have a YOLO moment that night, our last night together as a staff. Our version of YOLO turned out to be "borrowing" a whole pineapple from the fruit table. We "borrowed" it all the way home, cut it up, ate it and tweeted a picture with the infamous #YOLO hashtag. Yeah. We're cool.

Back to business. The beginning of my last year as a 20 Somethings was great! There was lots of food, lots of friends and lots of love.

Birthday Breakfast (Starbucks - duh!)

Birthday Dinner at KEIFER'S

FREE Birthday Frozen Yogurt

My first Tervis Tumblers! 

Favorite flowers from Melony

Crafty sewing book from the RDs

Moving. We know I hate it. Packing. Unpacking. It stinks! But I'm being positive and making the most of it. I brought all my favorites, finally unpacked, and am loving my quirky kitchen for the summer. 

A happy entrance makes me feel better about
walking in to the pseudohome. 

It has buttons for the eyes and it's yellow! 

I brought ever single kitchen gadget I own.
I couldn't part with them, even for 2 months. 

Favorites make it homey. Pictures and owls are a must. 

Instagram. I've had it for ages, but finally figured out how to use it last week. I'm certain I've been driving people crazy with my instagramming updates. But hey. It's a social media driven world, I'm just living in it. I also also use Diptic (for collaging and taking darkness out) and Picfx (for fun light filters) like nobody's business. 

I finally got my Starbucks Gold Card! (And
learned how to do the cool fade technique.)

Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappe with Chocolate Whipped
Cream = NEW FAVORITE!

First Home Goods Visit and the isle the captivated me.

Okay so, I had a lot of Starbucks last week. 

Coconut shavings - my new favorite thing ever. 

No more shipped tahini! My local grocer carries it now.

Monday:

Veggie Stuffed Peppers, Homemade Salsa and Smashed Beans

Tuesday:

Chicken Florentine Pasta and Wedge Salad with Zesty Avocado Buttermilk Dressing

Wednesday:

Leftover Pasta

Thursday:

Leftover Fancied  Up Salad

Friday:

Grilled Tilapia, Grilled Corn and Mexican Quinoa Salad

Saturday:

Leftover Tilapia

Sunday:

French Dip Cups, Caramelized Onion Dip with Asparagus Spears and Wonton Chips and Baked Onions

This weeks meals can be summed up in one word. Green! Look at all the green in my fridge. I don't hate it.

Extras: 

Dr. Pepper Ten Brownies - Inspired by Diet Coke Brownies. Made Saturday night. Brought to small group on Sunday night. Recipe coming this week.

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole - Three or four times a year, mostly during the breaks that students are gone, we have a potluck breakfast in the our office suite. This past fall I brought a Pumpkin French Toast Casserole with Coffee Whipped Cream. We're having another breakfast this Tuesday. I have that think where I think pumpkin only works in fall and winter months, but this was requested by multiples! I'm breaking my rule because I like my coworkers a whole lot.

Chai Banana Bread Muffin Cupcakes - I have bananas that need to be used. This seems like a perfectly good destiny for them.

Creamy Pineapple Dessert - Whipped up an altered more healthy version of this tonight. Recipe coming this week. Perfect for lunches or a quick healthy sweet tooth fix. And quite summery!


Can we still be friends? Even though I took an unannounced vaca and just posted a million and five pictures?

What's for dinner at your house this week?