Sunday, February 14, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Week 3 & Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! The kids have been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks and just love celebrating each holiday in both big and small ways. We decided to forego any Valentine gifts or baskets this year in order to keep things more simple. Leading up to Valentine’s we had a valentine exchange with our homeschool group, made heart garlands and added hearts into our everyday baking when possible. One of our traditions is to always make a fun dessert. This year the kids decided to choose the dessert and baked it themselves, they chose a flourless chocolate cake topped with homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries. Oh my, it was absolutely delicious! We also made homemade donuts using Grands Biscuits. This was also a huge hit and tasted just like a funnel cake! We’ll be making these again and again.
After indulging in some extra sweets this weekend, our meal plan for this week is focused on lots of vegetables as sides. I feel the need to boost our produce intake along with water. I’m always terrible about drinking water, it’s something I’ve always struggled with, but I can tell my pregnant body is holding on to things more than usual and I’m not feeling my best self. Hopefully this week I can help curb all of that and get back on track.
Monday, February 8, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Weeks 1 & 2
Last week came and went quickly and I didn’t share our meal plan, so sorry friends! If you ever noticed I missed posting here, I likely still shared on my Instagram account @rachbraden I would love to have you follow along there as well. Sometimes I share recipes over there that don’t always make it over here.
It’s interesting, some are surprised we meal plan for all seven days of the week. I never really thought about it because it’s just something we’ve always done. We love spending time at home and we all love to cook. There are days that come along and it’s just been one of those hectic and exhausting days where no one is up for cooking, even if we’ve meal planned. On those days we may grab something easy from the freezer or order take out. And sometimes if we’re out and about we change our plans and stop at one of our favorite restaurants and go out as a family.
We love planning dates nights too, but we really have to plan those in advance. We have amazing babysitters whom our kids love, but since we don’t live anywhere near family dropping them off last minute with grandparents or even over-night (what’s that like?!?!) is never an option. However, Mike and I are trying to make a point to plan a date night each week, and you’ll see them showing up on our meal plan because I don’t just make this for you -- we actually use it, but those date nights will mostly be at-home-date-nights where we make something easy for the kids, put them to bed early and just spend time together. It’s still pretty cold here, but in the next several weeks we should start seeing some warmer temperatures that will allow us to spend more time outside in the backyard around the fire pit and we’re so excited!
February: Week 1
February: Week 2
This week I’m pulling a couple recipes from a cookbook my sweet friend Heidi wrote with her sister called Food from the Heart. I adore family recipes and this book is compiled of just those from cover to cover! We’ve made a few different recipes that we frequently go back to because they’re so good. This week we’re trying their fluffy dinner rolls. Olivia actually was helping me meal plan and asked if we could make them for dinner tonight. We’re also trying the ‘Bama’ Chicken recipe. This is a true southern recipes and the first time we actually tried ‘bama sauce was a few months ago from a local bbq restaurant. oh my goodness, it’s delicious and that’s coming from a Kansas City bbq raised girl. I’m really excited to try Heidi’s version this week!
Healthy Bruschetta Chicken with Balsamic Glaze
Fluffy Dinner Rolls
(Food From the Heart Cookbook by Heidi Matson & Ann Traffie)
Beef Enchiladas
(recipes on my Instagram Account, originally from by brother-in-law)
‘Bama’ Chicken
(Food From the Heart Cookbook)
For the month of February in my wellness community we are taking on a Faux Lash Challenge. Over the last few years I have loved finding and learning how to swap in natural recipes for different ailments and even more so, beauty hacks!
We all know lashes are all the rage and of course we want fuller, longer, more luscious lashes and I’m sharing a recipe to help boost lash and hair growth naturally. Come join us as we take on this challenge as we’ll be starting February 14th!
1) Register for our February challenge by clicking HERE.
2) Not yet a Young Living member? No problem, it’s so simple to get started. Grab yourself a Basic Starter Bundle by clicking HERE.
3) Add the needed Young Living essential oils to your order and grab the other supplies through the links provided in the email.
4) Once your supplies arrive, go ahead and get started!
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 4
Over the last few years we’ve made a bigger effort in eliminating processed foods and making more things from scratch. We decided on this to really eliminate the amount of sugar, sodium and MSG that’s often hiding in foods, especially when it comes to spice blends, dressings, marinades and sauces. This week I added two recipes for dry seasoning mixes in place of buying the packets at the grocery store. I’m all about convince, but it’s easy to mix up a larger batch of seasoning mixes and dry rubs and store them in the freezer or refrigerator if you don’t feel like you’ll use them quickly enough.
Same goes for salad dressings. Try making some of your own to control the amount of certain ingredients. They also taste so much better than the many found on the shelves at the store. For this week’s Cobb Salad, I suggest you use your favorite go to recipe, I always mix things up when it comes to Cobb salad because anything really goes. But instead of using a store bought dressing try making it yourself. This week we’re using Joanna Gaines’ Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from her first Magnolia Table cookbook. We also love using Ree Drummond’s from The Pioneer Woman.
*Buttermilk Tip: to make your own buttermilk use milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice.
For 1 cup of buttermilk use 1 tablespoon lemon juice/vinegar and fill the rest of the way with milk
3/4 cup use 2 1/4 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
2/3 cup use 2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/2 cup use 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/3 cup use 1 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
1/4 cup use 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
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