Menu Planning Wednesday?! - March 24, 2010

I know I have been a major slacker this week, but in my defense, we were out of town all weekend & didn't get back until Sunday night. Then, the hubbs & I spent some time together for our anniversary night - ate the top layer of our cake, which was surprisingly still AMAZing! Yum! I had to go to work on Monday & I don't even wanna talk about how crazy work has been lately, add to that, I'll be out of the office for two weeks in mid-late April, so all of my customers are anxious to get everything they have for me before then. So, needless to say, I didn't feel like cooking yesterday. But, last night I my husband was nice enough to cook dinner, using my recipe of course, lol. He's learning, which is a GREAT thing b/c that takes some of the cooking pressure off of me.

This week's menu will start with yesterday & go thru this Sunday coming up:

• Tuesday, March 23rd:  Homemade Spaghetti & garlic bread.
• I will take a photo of this & post my recipe sometime a little late this week. People L-O-V-E my spaghetti sauce - I got it from my momma. ;op
• Wednesday, March 24th: Going to dinner with a girlfriend who's moving out of town.
• Thursday, March 25th: Either BBQ baked or pan fried pork chops, rice, green beans. (Did not get a chance to make this last week).

• I know, I know - fried is so bad for you...but we rarely eat fried foods, so I don't think there's anything with indulging every once in a while!
• Friday, March 26th & Saturday, March 27th:  EMFH &/or date night!
• We tend not to cook on Friday or Saturday since we either are not home, and if we are, we usually eat out. This will probably stop after we have children, but for now, that's our routine.
• Sunday, March 28th: Sweet & spicy shrimp with mixed veggies, white rice. (Never got a chance to make it a couple weeks ago).

• This is a WW meal out of a magazine I bought - it's super yummy & I added in the veggies on my own. I thought it was missing that element. I'll post the recipe & a pic of the actual dish this week after I make it! I know you will love it!

That's it for this week. I am going to try my hardest to actually remember to take pictures of the dishes that are my recipes. Hope everyone has a delicious week!

One year ago...

{err, this past Sunday - March 21 ;op} I married my best friend! I could not have asked for a better man & future father of my children. He is a caring, sensitive, loving, handsome, etc. I could keep going on & on, but I'll spare you guys.

I don't think I have ever shared many of our wedding photos on here because I started this blog a few months after we got married, so here are a few from the events leading up to the big day & the day itself. One day, I'll get around to posting a whole story on how we met & some pics throughout the years...that'll be a long one, so that will be later on, lol. Happy Anniversary Babe!

Bridal Shower ~ February 7, 2009

 Me & the bridal party!

My pretty cake

Bachlorette Par-tay ~ March 7, 2009

Rehearsal & Dinner ~ March 20, 2009

Dinner was catered at our little townhouse :o)

Our Wedding Day ~ March 21, 2009

Getting ready...

Ceremony

Reception

Funniest.moment.of.the.night. Period. LMAO - this is the hubb's cousin (who caught my garter) & my sorority sister (who caught the bouquet) putting the garter back on her, hahahaha. He did like a whole routine & she was sooo embarrased! ;oP

{End}

Wowza, that was a lot of pics...and that was the condensed version, lol. Hope you enjoyed getting a look at the greatest day of our lives. And PS - I realize I haven't posted my menu for this week yet & for good reason - I haven't cooked! I plan on posting it tonight...sorry for the delay.

Off to the Big Apple!

Tomorrow we are leaving for a weekend trip to New York! It's very exciting for me since I've never been to NY! The Mr. has, but I never have & it's not too far away & pretty affordable. While in NY, I want to do as much as possible; here are a few of the things I want to do while I'm there:

Broadway - I have wanted to see a show on Broadway for soo long, hopefully we will get the chance this time!

I hear they have tours to Ground Zero; I'd really like to go see it in person & to say a prayer for everyone who lost their lives on September 11th.

Statue of Liberty - just something I've always wanted to visit!

Horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park - how romantic, right?!

I'm so excited & this will be our first anniversary trip! Sunday is our anniversary...I can't believe how quickly the first year has flown by. Besides the trip, we still have the top layer of our wedding cake, so I will take that out tonight & put it in the fridge to defrost over the weekend. I'm kinda scared of it, lol. I actually didn't want to save it, but my husband did - hahaha. What man cares about something like that?! And we will cap off the night by watching our wedding video. Ah, I can't wait to reminisce with him about one of the happiest days of our life!! I'll post a full trip recap early next week & a special anniversary post on Sunday. :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Menu Planning Monday - March 15, 2010

Wowza, I can't believe it's Monday again! Time flies when you're having fun right? I don't know if what I've been doing necessarily counts as fun - been SUPER busy at work & have had no time to Nest or blog! In any event, I am here to confess that last week's menu planning Monday was a epic FAIL. Out of my list, I only made the WW Pan-Fried Flounder. I am still going to definitely try to make the rest of the meals soon, but our weeks have just been so hectic!

What's that saying though? If at first you don't succeed, try try again....right? So, I am trying again with my third edition of Menu Planning Monday. hopefully I'll make most, if not all, of the meals this week!

• Monday, March 15th: Spicy Chicken Alfredo (I am going to take a photo of this dish & post the recipe tomorrow), garlic bread.
• Originally found this in my first-ever cook book my momma gave me - Sandra Lee's semi-homemade meals! It's amazing...seriously.
• Tuesday, March 16th: Campbell's French Onion Burgers w/ cheddar cheese, tater tots, tossed salad.

• Yummy in mah tummy good! We have made these once before & this one was a special request from the mister as we were grocery shopping this weekend. These are sooo good! And even better...they are quick & easy to make! We use whole gran or whole wheat buns & 2% milk cheddar cheese slices to lessen the fat content a bit. :o)
  
•  Wednesday, March 17th: EMFH night!

• Woot, no cooking! I try to give myself a break during the week.We actually have a neighborhood watch meeting this night, so it's best that we don't plan to cook.
• Thursday, March 18th: Either BBQ baked or pan fried pork chops, rice, green beans.
• I know, I know - fried is so bad for you...but we rarely eat fried foods, so I don't think there's anything with indulging every once in a while!
• Friday, March 19th - Sunday, March 21st: Absolutely NOTHING...well, we will be eating, but I won't be cooking, hehehe. Our 1st anniversary is on Sunday - yay!!! I will be posting a little year in review later this week, but we are going on a mini-vacation up to New York from Friday-Sunday & I can't.freakin.wait. I've never been to NY & I'm looking forward to doing as much as we can in the 3 days, 2 nights we are there!  

Stay tuned the rest of this week for my New York trip plans - it would really be great if anyone from or familiar with NY gave me some pointers on must see/must do stuff! Good luck with any new recipes you try this week - if you decide to try any of mine, please let me know what you think. I promise if you hate it, it won't hurt my feelings...most of the recipes I use, I got from other people or from cook books. Happy Monday!

Mood Board Monday - March 8, 2010

Here is my contribution to Sarah at pewter+sage's blog link party:

 

 Today's challenge was to design a room around one of two beautiful & bold area rugs. I choose to do my room around this Andalusia Rug.

 

Well, I have spring fever & am ready for warm weather, so I decided to do my mood board for a beautiful & bright sun room:

3/8 Mood Board Monday by Jen J. on Polyvore.com

Items in this set:
Andalusia Rug, 5'x8', Horizon/Ivory | west elm, $230
Seagrass 3-Piece Sofa | Pottery Barn, $125
Carved Wood Serving Bowl : Target, $30
Textured Solid Pillow Covers | Pottery Barn, $25
Furniture, Home Accents, Dining, Gifts & More, $1.95

I use Polyvore to do my mood boards...it's very user friendly & simple. Only a few links to the sources are listed here - and the good news is, most items were very affordable! Any items not listed here, are listed on the main page of my "3/8 Mood Board" Polyvore set.  I love the way my room turned out - what do you think of it? Sigh. It makes me wish I had a sun room & unlimited budget to get all these cute items!! Anywho, I digress - head over to Sarah's blog link party to check out all the cute mood boards everyone made today!

Menu Planning Monday - March 8, 2010

Hi there everyone! Just checking in for another edition of Menu Planning Monday! But first, I'll recap how last week went. I will admit, I am new at formally planning my menu ahead of time, sure I go to the grocery store & try to buy stuff to make for the next week or so, but I have never made a formal, written plan. Therefore, the Dennifers will likely go off course from time to time, but I am going to try hard to stick to the plan! Last week, I did make Gia's Chicken Puffs, which were amazing! So yummy & my hubby loved them too! I did not get a chance to make Ashley's Sloppy Joes, but plan on making them this week for sure. And we did breakfast for dinner last night instead of Saturday. Everything was so yummy, but I didn't take pictures. I promise to be more on top of it this week!

I also decided that since I post the menus on Mondays, that it makes sense to do the menus from Monday to Sunday, so this week's menu is from Monday, March 8, 2010 - Sunday, March 14, 2010. Using my Really Crafty Studio meal planner, this is the Dennifer menu for the week:

• Monday, March 8th: Pan-Fried Flounder (I use tilapia, because it's easier to find at the store I regularly shop at), broccoli, Lipton chicken noodles.
• As a former Weight Watcher, this is a recipe I have made many many times. My husband even loves it! He actually likes all of the WW meals I have made. If you like mild, white fish & want to try a new recipe, I highly recommend this one!
• Tuesday, March 9th: Ashley's Sloppy Joes, tater tots, salad.

• Since I never made it last week. :o/ Can't wait to try it!
• Wednesday, March 10th: Every Man For Himself (EMFH) night!
• Yay, off the hook from cooking!
• Thursday, March 11th: Sweet & spicy shrimp with mixed veggies, white rice.

• This is a WW meal out of a magazine I bought - it's super yummy & I added in the veggies on my own. I thought it was missing that element. I'll post the recipe & a pic of the actual dish this week after I make it! I know you will love it!
• Friday, March 12th & Saturday, March 13th:  EMFH &/or date night!
• We tend not to cook on Friday or Saturday since we either are not home, and if we are, we usually eat out. This will probably stop after we have children, but for now, that's our routine.
• Sunday, March 14th: Double-Decker Shepard's Pie.

• New recipe I found in the February edition of Rachel Ray's magazine (yes, I'm a subscriber!) & it looked good, so I decided to try it out. 

And that's it! ::drools:: Everything looks so amazing & I can't wait to try it all. I'll probably head to the grocery store tomorrow since I have all the ingredients for tonight's meal already. If you have any recipes on your blog that you'd like me to try out, please comment on this or any future menu planning Monday post with the link or shoot me an email at worldofdennifer@gmail.com. If I try it out, I'll post a  review along with a link to your page! Stay tuned today for my first installment on Mood Board Monday, being hosted by my Nestie/blog friend Sarah over at pewter+sage. Hope everyone has a great week!