Food Round Up and "a Boy and His Dinosaur"

Food
I've been meal planning for a month at a time. It doesn't seem to be helping in the $ category but it's been keeping me a little more sane, and we have had something to eat for dinner every night, without frantic trips to the market. It's been nice.

A few weeks ago our Sunday school class had a Souper Bowl and had a great time trying different soups and having some wonderful bread. I won the best overall soup with a slightly altered version of Amber's recipe for Green Chili Chicken soup. It's one of our favorites around here.

Green Chili Chicken Soup
2 cooked chicken breasts shredded or chopped (I used leftover crockpot chicken and loved it)
1 can diced green chilies (I use more sometimes)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom (or celery)
1-2 cups milk
Mix all together and bring to simmer, allow to simmer stirring frequently for 15-45 minutes
16oz block of Velveeta
Cut up and melt in soup before serving over Fritos

It's a taste that reminds me of Texas :)

Along with the meal planning I realized how lame our eating schedule is. I mean how many nights in a month can you have frozen pizza anyway? Tonight I tried a recipe from an old church recipe book called Brush Pile Pork Chops. It was a feeble try because Adam has an aversion to pork chops. It didn't win him over but at least he ate most of it anyway. The rice was really good.

Brush Pile Pork Chops

4 pork chops
1 cup quick cook rice
1 packet onion soup mix
Brown chops in a bit of oil and remove from pan. Stir rice in with drippings and mix in soup mix. replace chops on top of rice and add enough water to just cover chops. Simmer until tender and water is mostly evaporated (about 15 minutes or so maybe a little longer).

For youth group yesterday I was in charge of the "snack." We usually have a meal type thing (pizza, chili, sloppy joe, etc.) but I decided we would have what every kid dreams of for a meal. Brownies, chips, and soda. The regular brownies were a hit and the S'mores Brownies had a mixed review. They were one the side of the box. It was worth a try, but I threw away almost half a pan of them today. Luckily there's not marshmellow on my couch.



Lastly I made these for a Valentine's Day treat. I actually made two batches and both times proceeded to eat them until they were gone. They are dangerous delicious things.

Pretzel Turtles

mini pretzels
rolos
pecan halves
place the pretzels on a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper on it. place the rolos on top and put in oven for 4 minutes at 250 degrees. Press pecan down on top to squish it all together a little. Put in fridge or freezer to solidify chocolate again. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.... That's why there's only one left on the plate.

Max
Today Max had his 9 month check up. He weighed in at 22 lbs 13 oz (82%) and 28.5 inches (59%). The doctor was impressed with his motor skills, he's standing for 5 seconds at a time on his own and cruising along all the furniture, and loved how social he was.

He was so excited to see the nurse that came in to give his shots, but when she turned on him, he gave her the most betrayed look, that we both laughed really hard. He doesn't get mad about the shots themselves, he gets really mad that you are pinning him down. Poor kiddo he's had a low fever all the rest of the day and has been really sleepy, but luckily cuddly, so sweet.

This afternoon he was in love with his pet dinosaur, he was even wearing his dino shirt today.