Food Planning is fun!

The weekly menu planning that I did was a success all around! I do have to admit that I was suppose to cook last Friday, but with working my ass off {literally} at work, I needed a huge break and a cold draft beer. I picked up where I started and continued on with the last two meals of the week though! So, no food wasted. Phew!


My favorite thus far of last  week's menu was the Wasabi & Panko Crusted Pork Chops with Gingered Soy Sauce.  Although I didn't follow the recipe to the T, like I didn't use egg whites and I didn't have any Sherry or Sake on hand. It still came out pretty darn flavorful and I think I'm going to keep this recipe in rotation! 

For the upcoming week, here's the plan. 

Thursday: Vietnamese Sandwiches, aka Banh Mi Thit Heo Nuong

I've been craving these sandwiches like no other these days. I think I can seriously eat these every single day. They are that good. Let's hope they taste as good as the Vietnamese places where I purchase them.








Sunday: Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp 

Monday:  Chicken with Artichokes and Angel Hair Pasta

Tuesday: Spinach Cheese  Manicotti

Wednesday: Flank Steak with Mashed Potatoes

Taking Control.

The other day I blogged about how I want to start effectively plan out my meals at home.  Well today is the day! I officially started the planning and I gotta say that I'm pretty darn proud of myself. Again, let's hope that I can stick with this plan. I'm counting on the fact that I can keep myself accountable by blogging my weekly meals here and then discussing them afterwards. 

Since I work night shifts, I only planned the meals on nights when I'm off. Hubby is pretty much on his own on my work nights and I'm not too worried as he can make do on his own. 

I also tried to plan out meals with ingredients we have at home already and need to use and plus I took the advice of HappeyWifey and stuck to ingredients that are sorta close together in order to avoid going way over budget. Capeesh? 

Here's my plan for the week of January 18th-January 24th.

Monday: Thai Chicken Saute.

Picture taken from Cooking Light

Tuesday: Wasabi & Panko Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce

Picture taken from Cooking Light

Friday: Homemade Pizza

I saw this recipe while perusing the food blogs I read. It was a pizza recipe with Cremini Mushrooms, Wilted Spinach, Butternut Squash and Feta Cheese. The picture is really what sold me, otherwise, if I saw this on paper only, I think I'd pass on it because really...it does sound like a hot mess.

Picture taken from Sugar & Spice by Celeste

Saturday: Celebrating my Mom's Birthday.

Sunday: Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies

Need I say more? The husband bought a sh*tload of potatoes yesterday and so what better way to use them by making up some whipped potatoes!

So there you have it folks! My meals planned out for the week! I'm super excited about this. I actually had alot of fun planning out the meals.

Dinner last night was a success! We actually invited a few guests over because one of them was living in the Phillippines for about a year. There's a slight chance that he may return back to the homeland and thus, we won't be able to see him for God knows how long again.

The hubs and I made Japanese Curry and Pork Tonkatsu. All of our guests had never before had the pleasure of eating Japanese Curry so they were really looking forward to the treat.  Unlike, Southern California, Japanese Curry is not really known up in Northern California. I think the closest Curry House is in Cupertino, Ca.

While making dinner, some of us enjoyed a glass or two of some really good white wine. I decided to open up a bottle that one of our good friends gifted us over the Holidays. It was a bottle of 2008 Blackstone Malvasia Bianca, Limited Release. If you like slightly sweet wines, then you may like this one, too! 

Post dinner, we enjoyed some hot tea and coffee and ofcourse some Ginger Elizabeth chocolates. It's a little chocolate shop that opened up in midtown Sacramento a few years ago. Cute chocolate boutique. Any woman would do a double take whenever they pass this store.  

I've been dying, quite literally, to get my butt over there to try and sample a few of their stuff. But, I could just never make it over there. Thankfully, one of our friends brought over a little brown box of chocolates for all of us to sample and enjoy our coffee/tea with.  Oooh, I think I was teased with a bit of heaven. Indeed, yes. 


I just wished that last night's dinner was on a weekend night so that we all could have stayed much longer and gabbed about anything and everything through the night.  Cheers!

New Resolution: Cooking More Often.

Wow, so far this has been 3 posts within a 4 day timespan. Not bad, Stacy... Not Bad. Let's hope that I can keep this up.

Last night, I tried out a new recipe. It was the Beef Stragonoff from the Cooking Light website. In the past, I usually make Beef Stragonoff the easy way which was brown up some steak and throw in a can of Cream of Mushroom, a little bit of water, and let it simmer for a half an hour or so. Any of you guys make it this way?

It was super easy to make and tasted pretty good considering that I didn't add the Dry Sherry and the Fresh Flat Leaf Parlsey (um, why did I just capitalize the first letter of each word? LOL) because I just couldn't find it in my local grocery store.

I did feel pretty good about eating it, too! Made it with whole grain egg noodles and low fat sour cream. It was creaaaaaaaamy all the way! 

I'm pretty sure that this recipe would be good with grilled chicken, too!

This cooking thing has got me thinking. My friend, Bernbaby, subscribes to the Cooking Light magazine and her routine is to choose recipes for the week, go grocery shopping and make a different dish everyday. I really want to try or get somewhat near Bernbaby's routine. It's not only cost effective but more healthier, too! 

Tonight's dinner is Pork Tonkatsu and Japanese Curry. By the way, if you are in the market for a good Japanese Curry, try out the brand,  Kokumaru.  It can be found at your local Asian market or for sure at your local Japanese market.

I'll also probably make a heaping bowl of turkey chili since the weather we've been having has been kinda chilly.

Have you guys started cooking more?

Over the weekend, I participated in celebrating my sorority sister's, aka running buddy, baby shower.  It was held at her parents house and hosted by another one of my sorority sister who is her BFF.

 

No details were spared as her BFF did an excellent job in decorating the place, providing the yummy food, and creating the games.  Heck, Running Buddy even had a sash around her.

I gotta say that the diaper game where you melt chocolate candy bars in the diaper and guess what candy bar is in them was pretty hard. She pretty much got a few candy bars that looked the same. No Snickers, c'mon??? Guess what though? Appparently, I've been eating way too much candy because I knew what I was talking about! I won!

I won me some $5 Footlonooooooooooooong! Woo to the Hoo! Should come in handy when I'm broke as a joke and need me some lunch.

I gotta say that I loved all the various onsies hanging around the kitchen and family room. They were so cute!!! By the way, she's having a baby girl and honestly, girl clothing are way more cuter than boys. I had the hardest time choosing which outfits to buy her. I wanted to buy Baby A every single item I saw!!!

There was so much yummy little finger foods. My personal fave. The homemade potstickers which were running buddy's grandma's recipe. Her grandma gave her the secret recipe and not her mom. Hah. Gotta love that story and awww at the same time that she would give it to her only granddaughter. Running Buddy... do you take orders?

I had a great time spending time with everyone and showering Baby A with plenty of gifts.  If you guys are interested, you can follow Running Buddy's pregnancy journey here.

Hello There. Let me re-introduce myself. It’s been a minute too long since I’ve blogged. I blame myself and my mental laziness. I swear, one of my goals for 2010 is to blog more even if I have absolutely nothing to talk about.

Let’s see. Ahh yes. Christmas. Well, Christmas was nice. No Holiday cards sent out this year, although we did receive a heaping amount of them this year. I really, really, really wanted to send out Holiday cards and a letter update of our 2009 year, but alas, we had no printer ink and so there went that idea.

The hubs and I received a wad of cash from the parents. Needless to say, it’s already gone. Spent it on the house. Got a lovely ledge mantel for our fireplace. I’ve been itching for one all year long and even more in November and December as I wanted to hang our stockings. But, sadly, our stockings were instead hung over our couch and a bit on our front door handle as we didn't get to purchase the mantel until post Christmas. Ahh, maybe next year, yes?

It’s the LACK wall shelf in black-brown from Ikea. It’s a super steal of a price for $29.99 and much much longer in length compared to Pottery Barn’s maximum of 4 feet.

We also purchased a ledger to hold various sizes of framed pictures eventually. Also another steal of a bargain at Ikea for $14.99.

 It's comparable to the Holman Ledge at Pottery Barn but much, much more affordable. {Picture taken from Pottery Barn}

For our entryway, we also purchased a little molding filled with hooks to hang our jackets and for Maddie to hang her leash and harness. It's the LEKSVIK rack with hooks from Ikea. I just had to swoop it up when I saw that it was only $9.99.

While it ain't no Cast Iron Row of Hooks from Pottery Barn, 

they will do perfectly. I like it, the hubs likes it, and  my wallet loves it. 

I have to say that Ikea has definitely stepped it up these past couple of years. They are the FOREVER 21 version of a furniture store and I absolutely love it.

Hope everyone is having a great start of a New Year! Here's to having a great 2010! I can't wait! Bring it on, baby!

It has been quite the busy weekend for me. My weekend began on Thursday. Only had to work 2 nights last week. Yes!!! I just have to mention again how I love working 12 hour shifts. They are the best!

Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

Friday I turned a whopping 34. Big Fat F. I can’t believe I’m 34 and inching closer and closer into my late 30’s. Life is moving way too fast for me. My mom was right when I was a young 18 year old. She said, “ Stacy, just you wait. Once you turn 21, it will all go way too fast for you. “ I wanted to grow up so fast so badly. I hate to admit it, but she was so right on the money. Every year seems to go by faster and faster.

I spent the day with my good friend, No Fear. We brunched on some French food and ended it with some good ole’ Mexican Hot Chocolate. I’m so blessed to have No Fear in my life. We spoke for hours about running, work, relationships, our fears, our doubts. It’s so good to have a friend where you can pour out your heart and soul to.

The hubs and I dined at a local restaurant called Boulevard Bistro. It’s located in a part of Sacramento that I would never have thought would hold such a place. No offense, Elk Grove, but when I think of fine dining, it’s really not the first place that comes to mind.

We enjoyed the restaurant very much. It was a good “bang” for your buck. I especially enjoyed the cozy warm feeling of the restaurant. It’s a house that was built in 1908. Inside, it still feels and looks like a regular home; just without all the typical furniture of a home. We sat in front of a huge fireplace that had a gorgeous mantel. Poor hubs was taunted every 20 minutes or so about the gorgeous mantel. I've been wanting a mantel for our fireplace and have been saying to him every single day with our Christmas stockings in hand that, " I wish we had a mantel to hang these!"

At times,  I did forget that I was in the city of Elk Grove, but when I looked out the window and saw the lighted "open" sign across the street, I was taken back to reality. Dam. 

On Saturday, it was my little brother’s college graduation from Sacramento State. He graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences and I’m so happy and proud of him. Attaining a degree is no easy feat. It took him about 6 years, just one year more than me (phew!). But, he did it and I’m an extremely proud big sister! 

 

His girlfriend and friends made some pretty cool signs and blew up his graduation picture. I thought it was pretty funny and cute at the same time!

On Sunday, we were supposed to attend our annual Christmas gathering with our friends. But, sadly, we couldn’t make it. So bummed about it, but hence there is always next year! I can’t believe that we’ve been keeping up this annual Christmas gathering for quite some time now. I think it’s been over 10 year now and we still manage to gather even with all of life’s changes.

I pretty much spent the day baking all day on Sunday. I don’t think I ever baked this much in my entire life! It was fun though. I made a batch of Mexican Wedding cookies that I’ve been dying to try. I even contemplated making these as our wedding favors. What stopped me is the thought of baking a gazillion of them a week before the wedding. I didn’t want to deal with the stress. I also made Giada’s Florentine Sandwich cookies. Instead of using semi-sweet chocolate, I used Nutella. Can’t go wrong with that right? Finally, I had to make some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. They looked pretty basic when paired next to the other two cookies, but I’ve been wanting to make them for some time and drink a heaping glass of cold milk.

I’ll be working the next three nights, but I do get to have Christmas day and the day after off! I can’t believe Christmas is literally just around the corner. I have a few more Christmas gifts to purchase and probably will do that all tomorrow. I’m crazy, I know. But hopefully, it won’t be as crowded. Here’s to wishful thinking! Pray for me, please!