You guys, we're about to get into some amazing weather, according to the forecast. Listen carefully, on Thursday, we could get to 70 degrees! SAY WHAT?! I plan on wearing a dress to welcome the occasion.

Grocery shopping sure is a process right now, am I right? I'm been using Grocery Pickup (formerly Clicklist) via Fred Meyer (which is a Kroger affiliate) since it launched three years ago and have never had so much trouble scheduling an order to my groceries until now. Are you in the same boat? I basically have to have my grocery list and weekly menu planned out a week in advance, which means that by the time I go into pick up my current grocery order, the next list and menu needs to be on the verge of being completed.

It's a lot of brain work. No wonder I'm tired of cooking and planning by Thursday.

But, hopefully these menus offer you a little bit of dinner inspo that helps make your own grocery list and menu planning a little bit easier.

Last week of March, guys! For me, this is the home stretch of the school year. We usually end up finishing school the last week of April for the kids who don't have state testing. Grace still has her British Literature class that will extend into May, and it's a testing year for her, but, to be quite honest with everything going on with the world, I'm not completely sure what that will look like come May...

I think I mentioned last week that we were going to be enjoying spring break - and I think despite being stuck in the house, we had a lot of fun. I let the girls do my makeup some of the days, we played games, cooked at home for every single meal, and spent time talking and resting. Honestly, it's been good, all things considered.

This week, I'm cooking entirely with the food in my freezer. I didn't buy any proteins (other than eggs) from the store. I'm trying really hard to supplement with items that I'm actually legit out of and working to create menus that are pantry friendly and I gotta say, I'm actually pretty excited about the meals I'm cooking this week.

Speaking of this week's menu, here it is and take a look! Write down a few recipes that look good and let's get cooking!

Are you guys on spring break yet? Our kids finished school last week, so we're officially on spring break and this homeschooling mom is ready to take a break from school and focus on just having fun and lightening up the mood with movies, games, and baking. Which is perfect because the weather is supposed to be on the rainy side all week - typical spring break weather for Oregon, I'm afraid.

I'm working on two more recipe roundups for you guys during this whole quarantine/lockdown/stay-at-home thing. Last week, we shared a post on easy pantry and freezer meals that you can make. We were flattered to be included in a Parade Magazine round up featuring 20 recipes from various food bloggers that are easy, cheap meals from the pantry. The two recipe roundups I'm currently working on are for recipes that use ground beef and then meatless, vegetarian, and vegan meals. I don't do a ton of vegan cooking, but we

have a few meals that work for that category. Stay tuned for those!

[Read more...]

Wow! So much has changed in a week. Schools have closed. We're in a national state of emergency. Travel is banned. Gatherings like church services have been postponed. We've never seen anything like this before - at least we're in this together, as a world. 

I'm not going to be discussing too much COVID-19. I talked about it quite a bit in my IG stories and every where I look it's a topic of discussion and now I'm just feeling like I need to step back and take a much needed break for my own sanity and stress levels. With that being said, I know a lot of people are going to be cooking from home more and I want to encourage that cooking to consist of more than pre-made frozen meals! Hopefully if you have to be stuck at home, you can be stuck at home cooking hearty meals with aromas that waft into the hallways of your home make everyone a little happier to be there.

Don't underestimate the power of cooking a meal from beginning to end. Cooking from home can save money, bring joy to the home, fill kids with a feeling of security, give us more control over fat, salt, sugar, etc. It can also reduce calorie consumption and help promote a healthier lifestyle. 

We want to be a resource for meals you can count on to feed your family during this time! Don't hesitate to reach out and ask questions or even just say hi. We're around... [Read more...]